Dates

• Existence: 1861 - 1918

Biography

Chung Ling Soo was an American magician called William Ellsworth Robinson born in 1861.

William’s induction into performance started with his father, a vaudeville performer of Scottish descent, whose specialty acts included impersonations, ‘dialect singing’, hypnotism, ventriloquism and magic tricks.

William started to travel the vaudeville scene at fourteen, as ‘Robinson, the Man of Mystery’. At twenty six he adopted his first persona as ‘Achmed Ben Ali’, which help him add exoticism to his act and set him apart from the competition. His major act as Chung Ling Soo, did not come to fruition until later on, after he answered a called for a Chinese magician at the Folies Bergère in Paris in 1900. His act was inspired by an actual Chinese magician called Ching Ling Foo, with whom William maintained a professional rivalry throughout his career.

William performed an elaborate personal transformation to fit within his Chinese character, he wore traditional Chinese clothing and modified his physical look to appear Chinese in race. His stage name at that time was ‘Hop Sing Soo’, which together with his act eventually evolved into ‘Chung Ling Soo’.

As Chung Ling Soo, William achieved fame around Europe and became one of the highest-paid performers on the vaudeville circuit. One of his most famous acts was called ‘Condemned to Death by the Boxers’. This illusion consisted of catching bullets fired at him on stage. This very act would lead to his death in 1918 when a malfunctioning gun fired a life bullet into his chest. He is buried in East Sheen Cemetery, London.

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