The Riddle of Chung Ling Soo - The Marvellous Chinese Conjuror

1955 first edition
Chung Ling Soo the marvellous Chinese conjuror, bowed to the tense Saturday night audience, breathlessly awaiting the climax of his act. He walked to the back of the stage and held a plate above his head. A rifleman aimed a gun loaded with marked bullets and fired. Soo with a flourish caught the bullet on the plate. He held the plate above his heart, the rifleman fired again and Soo crumpled, blood pouring from his chest, and died. Accident? Suicide? Murder? With his last and most melodramatic performance Soo left the police and his world-wide public a mystery that was never entirely explained. And with his death was revealed one of the great illusions that this master of illusions had perpetrated - his own identity. For Soo, whose home in Barnes was a masterpiece of Oriental luxury, who spoke not a word of English and always had an interpreter with him for interviews, Soo, who was the idol of the British Music Hall, was plain Billy Robinson, once of New York City. For this biography of the Marvellous Chinese Conjurer, the author has gathered material from all over the world. He tells of Robinson's early experiences in the United States: of his first appearance and calamitous failure at the Folies Bergeres as Hop Sing Soo - and his great success the following night as Chung Ling Soo: of his battle with Ching Ling Foo, a genuine Chinese magician, that delighted the English Press - Did Foo Fool Soo? and Can Soo sue Foo? were typical of the headlines in the Press of the day. His biographer has revealed the truth behind the greasepaint and the Oriental mask, and yet retained all the glamour and colour of a great illusionist and a great personality. Fascinating. ..