The Magic Of Chung Ling Soo
In this week’s History of Magic, we feature Chung Ling Soo. Perhaps one of his best illusions was although he was an American named William Robinson, throughout his life he disguised himself and performed as a Chinese magician. In full Chinese costume, everyone thought he really was Chinese. He fooled his audiences all his life, so I guess you could call that a really good magic trick. Robinson was born in Wechester County New York in 1861. His father was also a stage magician and from an early age, Robinson wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps.
He died when he was fatally shot while performing the notorious Bullet Catching trick in 1918. However his fascinating life and exploits have been recorded in the history books of magic. He was a silent performer, never speaking on stage and based his stage act on a real Chinese magician called Ching Ling Foo but they were bitter rivals. There is a special section about Chung Ling Soo’s career recorded in the London Magic Circle Archives.