Oriental Magicians

Asian magicians or those who performed as an Oriental character

Anything with an Oriental theme was fascinating to audiences in the late 1800s and into the mid-1900s. A number of Asian magicians, most notably Ching Ling Foo, had great success with their exotic Chinese-themed acts. Many other magicians, however, simply capitalized on the public's taste for the "mysteries of the Orient" and portrayed Chinese magicians onstage. The most extreme example was Chung Ling Soo, really William Robinson, who portrayed a Chinese man so realistically that he never allowed himself to be seen out of character. In fact, when he was accidentally and fatally shot onstage, the subsequent reveal of his secret caused a major sensation in the press.