I am finally home! Singapore was great – beautiful country, extremely nice people. I took the opportunity on the long trip back to read a book by Jim Steinmeyer entitled GLORIOUS DECEPTION. It is a fascinating glimpse into the complicated “double life” of William Robinson, aka Chung Ling Soo – a very famous magician of the early 1900’s. The book chronicles his life and the mystery surrounding his performing career as well as his personal affairs. Tragically, he died at the height of his career as a result of an illusion gone wrong.
This history of magic from the late 1800’s through the early 1900’s is very interesting. I was inspired to read how magicians were often the featured performers in many of the world’s most famous theatres, commanding high salaries because of their ability to bring in sold-out audiences.
One of the things that struck me about William Robinson was the relationships he was able to maintain with other professional magicians at the time – Kellar, Herrmann, Houdini, etc. There were also dozens of other magicians who were performing, many of them copying the illusions in his production as Chung Ling Soo. In a letter to a fellow magician, William Robinson wrote:
When will conjurers learn they can make more money doing what the other chap does not do? Other magicians are now giving my show, trick for trick. Now all this is good for me and detrimental to the copyist. I am always working for a large salary. Every other conjurer doing the show of Chung Ling Soo is an advertisement for Chung Ling Soo. The principle I work on…keep away from another man’s show as much as I can.
Those are excellent words of advice! In today’s competitive world of magical entertainment, a lot of “less professional” magicians are constantly seeking to copy the more successful performers because they feel it will bring them success when, in reality, they are only an “advertisement” for the show they are copying.
I used to wonder if it was only a “new generation” that was looking for a short cut to success by “borrowing” the ideas and presentations of other magicians. After reading this book, I guess I was wrong…and some things never change.