The Glorious Deception: The Double Life of William Robinson, aka Chung Ling Soo, the "Marvelous Chinese Conjurer"

This book has been on my "to read" list for a couple years and was able to finally read it. It's an amazing historical record from a time long past in the world of magic and live entertainment. Chung Ling Soo was an intriguing figure I remember reading about as a kid. But, in my opinion at that the time, he was one of those "not as famous as Houdini" magicians. He was in fact a major draw, innovator, and showman earning a fat living and touring the world.All of these illusionists were thieves and liars to some degree...but Chung Ling Soo carried out the ruse on and OFF the stage. A quick check of his Facebook page would have blown the lid off all his nonsense!But alas...Yes, Steinmeyer shares several secrets of these century old magicians, but not for revelation's sake. The secrets are part of the story and the era. Audiences in the 1900's really wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a live tiger and a man wearing a tiger skin?? Well..I guess not. They also couldn't tell the difference between a white dude wearing yellow grease paint and a real 'Chinaman'! This was a time before magicians had to remind an audience that there's "nothing up my sleeve" because that level of exposure hadn't occurred yet.As the story unfolds, it seems as though ALL of these magicians took turns being 'the Masked Magician' of their era. Hire their rival's assistant so they could steal his tricks or...sell his secrets to magic magazines and book publishers.4 stars because once he gets shot in the first chapter, it takes a while to get going. Over the next few chapters, there are so many names and stories thrown at the reader, it gets overwhelming and hard to follow. But, the pieces fall into place making this a fascinating read!

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.

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!

Catch a bullet in your teeth? The things some people do to earn a buck! A by-gone age comes alive as the "double life" of William Robinson is recounted in this well-researched volume. Highly recommended!

419 pages - good size print.Absolutely absorbing, fascinating story of the life of William Robinson aka Chung Ling Soo.Jim Steinmeyer's style of writing draws you into the world of this great conjurer of the late19th early 20th century. in dealing with Robinson's early life -- the feuding Keller & Herrmann,the creation of Black Art, the fascinating Ching Ling Foo, The Great Lafayette, the lying,double crossing, the other family, tragedy, secret after secret, with Steinmeyer's storytellingyou are drawn back in time as if you were a spectator watching it all unfold. Utterly compelling,an Absolute Must Read for anyone. why has television or film never picked up this story.The Prestige (2006) film about victorian magician's a totally fictious story-a Good film-but theTruth is better. Mr Steinmeyer- THANKYOU.

A fabulous journey through the golden age of Music Hall and Vaudeville, and the grand international performers who ruled the business, with genuinely fascinating insights into the intertwined lives of the larger-than-life characters, whose fame dwarfed that of modern "stars". Exceptionally well written. Can be enjoyed by anyone who appreciates a twisting true tale and the hard but glamorous lives of those who performed in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

This was a present for my son from his sister in law. It happened to come up in conversation three days before Christmas when she was struggling to know what to get. It arrived on Christmas Eve and my son was delighted on Christmas Day.

Well written and a surprisingly good read, and I am not 'into' magic.I picked up the title from a TV program I was half watching and Googled the title.

A fine book