$3,800
Chung Ling Soo (William Ellsworth Robinson). Chung Ling Soo. Ashton Under Lyne, Horrocks & Co., ca. 1915. Half-sheet (20 x 30") color lithograph depicting a full-length portrait of Soo in Chinese garb, a Chinese skyline and sunset behind him. Minor chipping to margins, otherwise very good condition. Linen backed.Robinson is best known today for his tragic death. He perished on stage, in full view of a paying audience at the Wood Green Empire in London on March 23, 1918, during a performance of the Bullet Catch trick. He was born in New York in 1861, and worked for Kellar and Herrmann as chief assistant and illusion inventor (and sometimes as a performer), before striking out on his own. After a few false starts, he scored great success as Chung Ling Soo, touring British music halls and Australia with a stage-filling spectacle.
Auctioneer:
Potter & Potter
Date:
2011-03-26
