The Glorious Deception: The Double Life of William Robinson, aka Chung Ling Soo, the "Marvelous Chinese Conjurer" [ILLUSTRATED] (Hardcover)

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Key Phrases: ramrod tube, bullet catching trick, trick pistol, Chung Ling Soo, New York, Ching Ling Foo (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In the boisterous heyday of the vaudeville music hall—an era that featured renowned magicians like Herrmann the Great and Harry Houdini—the mysterious and exotic Chung Ling Soo was considered among the greatest. Thus, his shooting death on a London stage in front of a packed house in 1918 was cause for scandal and rumor. In this affectionate and informed biography, Steinmeyer (Hiding the Elephant) tantalizingly picks along the trail of the magician's life back to his birth—not in China but New York. As a stunned public would discover, Soo was really William Ellsworth Robinson. That Robinson was able to maintain the fiction for so many years in the relentless spotlight of worldwide fame might have been a delicious tale. Unfortunately, there's no rabbit in this hat. Steinmeyer quotes Robinson himself to the effect that the public probably suspected and didn't care. Fans of the magic arts will appreciate Steinmeyer's intimate and colorful portraits of craft. The author is less successful in unraveling the complex riddle of Robinson's personal life; his forensic speculations and judgments are underexplored or simplistic. Who was William Ellsworth Robinson? That question remains unanswered. B&w illus.
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Product Description

In a biography woven from equal parts enchantment and mystery, Jim Steinmeyer unveils the secrets behind the most enigmatic performer in the history of stage magic, Chung Ling Soo, the "Marvelous Chinese Conjurer"—a magician whose daring made his contemporary Houdini seem like the boy next door. Soo’s infamous and suspicious onstage death in 1918 mystified his fellow magicians: he was shot during a performance of "Defying the Bullets," in which he attempted to catch marked bullets on a porcelain plate. When Soo died, his deceptions began to unravel. It was discovered that he was not Chinese but a fifty-eight-year-old American named William Ellsworth Robinson, a former magicians’ assistant and the husband of Olive Robinson. But even William Robinson was not who he appeared to be, for he had kept a second family with a mistress in a fashionable home near London.

Here is a look at the rough-and-tumble world of turn-of-the-century entertainments, the West’s discovery of Oriental culture, and Soo's strange descent into secrecy as he rose to stardom—written by the foremost chronicler of magic’s history and culture. Due to the scandals surrounding Robinson’s death, this is the first time his full story has ever been told.

Photographs are included.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (May 10, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 078671512X
• ISBN-13: 978-0786715121
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #711,420 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lively, Compelling Tale of Deception, Magic and Tragedy, June 7, 2005

By	E. Rothstein "erothstein" (STUDIO CITY, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I am a recent inductee into the world of magic, and found Jim Steinmeyer's latest offering - about the strange life, and tragic death of turn-of-the-century magician William Robinson, better known as the 'Marvelous Chinese Conjurer' Chung Ling Soo - utterly fascinating.

Steinmeyer beautifully limns a portrait of the scrappy but sophisticated world of magic in the early days of vaudeville and music hall and brilliantly captures the personalities of the master magicians who commanded up to $5000 a week performing for rapt crowds who came to see miracles, and were rarely disappointed.

But more than that, Steinmeyer gives us an insider's look at the rivalries and deceptions that fueled the magic - the stealth and deception magicians practiced on each other in a desperate bid to become or remain a headliner on the vaudeville circuit.

His impeccably researched book details the strange dual life of Bill Robinson, who failed to captivate audiences as himself, but became one of the highest paid and most sought after mystifiers in the world as Chung Ling Soo - an elegant pastiche of a Chinese magician. Killed on stage while performing the infamous bullet catching trick, Harry Houdini (a friend and colleague who wisely refrained from ever attempting the trick) later theorized that Soo had been deliberately murdered, or committed a bizarre form of suicide. Steinmeyer's book not only illuminates what really happened during Soo's tragic final performance the night of March 23, 1918, he weaves a fascinating tale of deception, rivalry, and illusion in the dark world of magic 100 years ago.

Whether you're a historian, a magician, a theatre buff, or simply looking for a good summer read, "The Glorious Deception" delivers magic aplenty. Don't miss it!

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling, Valuable Book, January 1, 2006

By	William Sills "Clay Sills" (Smyrna, GA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I don't give out a lot of 5 star reviews. This book gets 5 stars from me because of 3 reasons:

1) It's a great story about a complicated and interestingly flawed person. Will Robinson was an ambitious showman, who recoginzed the flaws in his professional self and worked tirelessly to overcome them, but failed to overcome the flaws in his personal self, leaving an estranged wife and an abandoned son behind him. That he's a world-class illusionist and turn of the century entertainer makes him a lot more interesting.

2) The author is a great historical writer, and he brings turn of the 20th century vaudeville to life in a real page-turning way. He does a great job exploring not just the main character and his wives and children, but the giants of magic at the time. Will Robinson spent a lot of time going back and forth between the two greatest magicians of the day, who were also bitter rivals. You learn so much good stuff about Kellar and Herrmann that the book feels like it's two or three books in content, without being two or three books in length. The author must've worked really hard to keep the book this packed and this short and accessible.

3) And to me, this is what earned the 5th star in a big way: the author actually explains how the cutting edge (at the time) illusions worked. In detail. With no warnings about how "the brotherhood of magicians would kill me if they knew" or other such blather. He warns us at the beginning that illusionists don't protect the secrets from the audience, but the audience from the secrets. Once you know how it's done, you a) don't enjoy the trick anymore and b) feel foolish for not figuring it out yourself. So, knowing that ahead of time, when he reveals all the ingenious stuff the magicians build and skills they learn, he does it in a way that makes you feel like an insider, like a performer or production assistant. It makes you (well, it made me... your mileage may vary) feel like a part of the story somehow, since the discovery, invention, and espionage behind illusions is an important, sexy, and treacherous part of being a professional conjurer in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Anyway, that's why I love the book and give it a perfect score. Can't wait for his next one.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Engaging, Magical Biography, June 12, 2005

By	duncandr (Aurora, IL) - See all my reviews

A great story. A Chinese vaudeville magician, shot on stage by one of his own tricks; his colleagues are fooled; his associates are bewildered; his wife insists it must have been an accident. And then the truth begins to unwind. He's not Chinese. He has another family. And his magic tricks are just the beginnings of his deceptions.

It sounds like an Agatha Christie mystery, or a Hitchcock film. But its actually a true story about one of the world's greatest magicians.

I was a fan of Steinmeyer's previous book, which was an examination of how magicians accomplished their tricks and the weird personalities behind the scenes. And Glorious Deception is even more exciting, a look at the world of magic, with colorful, amazing descriptions. The true tale of Chung Ling Soo will be a real surprise to many readers, and I recommend it highly. I loved this book.