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The Glorious Deception: The Double Life of William Robinson, aka Chung Ling Soo, the "Marvelous Chinese Conjurer" | 
| Author: Jim Steinmeyer
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Category: Book
List Price: $27.00
Buy Used: $3.43
You Save: $23.57 (87%)
Rating:  18 reviews
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 336
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.5
ISBN: 078671512X
Dewey Decimal Number: 793.8092
EAN: 9780786715121
ASIN: 078671512X
Publication Date: May 10, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Ex-Library. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More.
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| Customer Reviews:
 A fascinating account of William Robinson and the world of magic at the turn of the century July 28, 2008
Bookenator
I've always been a fan of magic, and had heard of just about every magician in this book except for William Robinson. This amazing story touches on the lives of all the greats and gives you a peek into the world of turn of the century entertainment and magic. With detailed descriptions of the theaters, costumes, the magic tricks (even some of the secrets behind them) and the colorful personalities of the time, this book sets the stage for the amazing tale of William Robinson and his evolution into Chung Ling Soo. If you have any interest in magic, or just want to learn more about vaudeville and the rough and tumble world of live entertainment in the late 1800s and early 1900s, this book takes you on an amazing journey. Highly recommended.
 A long but interesting list January 2, 2007
Sneezer Tulane
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I'm puzzled by the many rave reviews for this book, which I enjoyed but found took effort to get through. The book reads like a list of stories about Robinson's life, told without the benefit of insight into the magician's psyche, and lacking much of a plot or theme to pull them into a continuous whole. At times the book seems to be a collection of loosely related encyclopedia entries. Moreover, the writing style is overly simple and lackluster, as if dumbed down. Fortunately, the stories are often interesting -- the tales of the Great Lafayette are entertaining.
A Magical Experience June 29, 2006
William Brehm (Ontario, Canada)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Jim Steinmeyer gives us a labor of love with this fantastic book. For the professional or the curious, the book tells the story of magic during that exciting time of Keller, Herrmann, and Houdini (and many others)from the perspective of a man who touched the lives of each of them and contributed to their success as magicians. Only someone with the technical and historical knowledge and experience of Steinmeyer could explain the life of William Robinson aka Chung Ling Soo in the depth and with the understanding that this book achieves.
Compelling, Valuable Book January 1, 2006
William Sills (Smyrna, GA USA)
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
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.
 A Magician's Trick Gone Wrong. October 4, 2005
Betty Burks (Nashville, TN)
1 out of 7 found this review helpful
This book is about the world of magic in the early 1900's full of illusion and sometimes deception at the time vaudeville was being formed. Described as a combination of minstrel (Al Jolson), circus (fire-breathing acts), and variety saloons (singing, dancing), along comes William E. Robinson who leads a double life.
He'd been the backstage manager for Hermann the Great, America's #1 magician, and married his assistant. They re-invented themselves as the "Marvelous Chinese Conjurer," Chung Ling Soo, and Suee Seen (Water Lily). He was a New Yorker and performed in the Black Art act, costumed as a king at the Bijou before he went out on his own. Harry Kellar, born in Erie, Pennsylvania, was the #2 magician at the time.
As the Chinese marvel, Robinson wore an oriental costume with long pig-tail and slippers with up-turned toes. London had a whole troup of Chinese performers led by Ling Soo, and they arrived at the theaters in a long red Panhard touring car, top down, in style. In England, he also formed a second family with wife, Lou, and three children, Hector, Mary, and Ellsworth.
There is a picture on p. 387 of him in costume, about to catch the bullet with a porcelian plate, the act in which he was killed. After his death, an investigation revealed the deception played out on the world stage, not just Amreica.
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