The cemetery is home to many notable interments, including over seventy Commonwealth war graves, the Buxton Memorial, the Lancaster Memorial and notable actors, artists, diplomats, entertainers, sculptors, writers and many more.
However, the grave that I had come to see was that of someone I had heard about when I was growing up, as he was mentioned on 'The Paul Daniel's Magic Show'.
The grave for which I searched was that of the American William Ellsworth Robinson, who the world of the early twentieth century would come to know as Chung Ling Soo.
After passing rows of graves and tombs I found it.
So, how does an American, born with Scottish ancestry, become known by a Chinese name?
William Ellsworth Robinson was born in New York, USA, on Tuesday April 2, 1861, to James Campbell Robinson and Sarah Robinson. James Robinson toured the country in Charles White's minstrel shows, performing under various variations of his name. His act included hypnotism, impersonations, ventriloquism and magic tricks. Some of these magic tricks he taught to his son, William.
In 1875, at the age of 14, William performed his first magic act. He then went on to tour the Vaudeville circuit, performing under the name 'Robinson, the Man of Mystery'.
In 1887, he started performing his 'dark art illusions' under the name 'Achmed Ben Ali'. He was making a decent living, but wanted to branch out on his own, rather than appearing on the billing with others.
In 1896 he branched out on his own. A few years later, in 1898, Ching Ling Foo, a Chinese magician, brought his travelling magic act to America and William went to see the act. Ching would astound his audience by breathing fire and smoke or produce ribbons and a 15-foot-long pole from his mouth. Ching would offer a prize of $1,000 to anyone that could duplicate his water bowl trick. This involved producing a huge bowl, full to the brim with water, from an empty cloth. He would then pull a small child from the bowl.
William, who had studied Ching's act, tried to claim the prize but was refused by Ching as William had tried to claim the prize once before. This angered William who wrote and published the book 'Spirit Slate Writing and Kindred Phenomena', which exposed tricks used by slate writers and mediums who said that they could communicate with the dead. And so began a feud between the two men.
In 1900, William learnt that the Folies Bergère in Paris, France, were looking for a Chinese magician to perform a magic act. William applied and accepted the job, designing his performance around Ching Ling Foo's act. He took to shaving his facial hair, wearing his hair in either a queue or long ponytail and wearing traditional Chinese clothing. He also used greasepaint to darken his complexion.
He began by using the name Hop Sing Soo, but by the time he had perfected his act and was touring London he was performing under the name of Chung Ling Soo. He even developed a convincing backstory about himself.
He never spoke on stage, but used an interpreter and occasionally used broken English, if the need arose. He was assisted by his Chinese wife, Suee Seen, who was in fact a lady named Olive Path.
In 1905, while performing at the Hippodrome, Cranbourn Street, his rival Ching Ling Foo was appearing at the Empire Theatre, Leicester Square. Ching already knew that Chung was really William Robinson and vowed to expose him, announcing that he would duplicate at least half of Chung Ling Soo's illusions, to prove that he was the real 'Original Chinese Conjurer'. Soo accepted and the two met at a press conference in the offices of 'The Weekly Dispatch'. However, when Ching realised that no one was interested in Chung's true identity Ching left the press conference and forfeited the challenge.
This resulted in Ching Ling Foo having his appearance at the Empire Theatre cut to just four weeks, while Chung Ling Soo would continue to perform at the Hippodrome for three months.
In 1915, Chung Ling Soo greeted World War I veterans at a benefit performance.
On Saturday March 23, 1918, Chung Ling Soo was performing his most famous trick, 'Condemned to Death by the Boxers', at the Wood Green Empire, Haringey. The trick involved two of his assistants, dressed as boxers, each taking a gun on to the stage. Two audience members would then each 'mark' a bullet that was then loaded into the guns. The boxers would then fire the guns at Soo who appeared to catch the bullets in mid-air, before dropping them on a plate that he held in front of him. In actuality, Soo palmed the bullets, hiding them in his hand during their examination and marking. The muzzle-loaded guns were rigged so that the gunpowder charge fired in a chamber below the barrel so that the bullets never left the gun.
These guns were kept in Chung Ling Soo's dressing room, with no one allowed to touch them until they were taken by Soo onto the stage.
Throughout the week Chung Ling Soo had, much to the surprise of his assistants and management, opened up about how unhappy he was, saying that he much preferred it when he was younger, earning just £5 per week, rather than the £500 per week he was getting now. His demeanour only seemed to worsen over the days prior to his death.
On this fateful night Chung Ling Soo decided not to wear the bulletproof waistcoat, that he was contractually obliged to wear. This would prove to be his biggest mistake. Dan Crowley and Jack Grossman, his assistants, were each handed their pistols and the trick began. As the triggers were pulled some of the gunpowder exploded, firing the 'show' bullet, from one of the guns, which entered Chung's chest and pierced his lung. As he fell to the ground he said, "Oh my God. Something's happened. Lower the curtain." This was the first time, since taking on the Chung Ling Soo persona, that William had spoken English in public.
He was taken to the local Cottage Hospital, but died the following morning from his injuries. Following his death the public were shocked to learn that he was not Chinese, so convincing had his act been.
There are conspiracy theories that believe that Chung Ling Soo was murdered, possibly by friends of Ching Ling Foo. Others believe that Chung Ling Soo, unhappy with his life, 'fixed' one of the guns in some sort of act of suicide by magic.
Trivia
On Saturday November 6 1982, one of the assistants that had fired one of the guns, Jack Grossman, appeared on 'The Paul Daniel's Magic Show', where he assisted Paul Daniels in successfully recreating the trick.
Below is the only known footage of Chung Ling Soo, taken while greeting World War I veterans
at a 1915 benefit performance.
No comments:
Post a Comment