Samuel D. Porteous - Ching Ling Foo: Americas First Chinese Superstar

CHING LING
FOO

Americas First Chinese Superstar

Samuel D. Porteous

Published by
Drowsy Emperor Press
Unit 507, 5/Floor
Chinachem Golden Plaza
77 Mody Road
Tsim Sha Tsui East, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Copyright 2020 by Samuel D. Porteous

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by in any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law.

Manufactured in the United States of America, or in the United Kingdom when distributed elsewhere.

Porteous, Samuel D.
Ching Ling Foo:
Americas First Chinese Superstar
ISBN: 978-1-951943-20-2
ebook ISBN: 978-1-951943-21-9
LCCN: 2020909447

Cover design by: Samuel Porteous (Scobie)
Copyediting by: Kevin Anderson & Associates
Interior design: Medlar Publishing Solutions Pvt Ltd., India

All images and illustrations in Ching Ling Foo: Americas First Chinese Superstar unless otherwise indicated are copyright Drowsy Emperor Ltd. and not to be reproduced without written permission.

www.ChingLingFooBio.com

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

T his book would not have been possible without the support and contributions of my wife and partner, Zhang Guo Li (), who for over five years has worked with me at Drowsy Emperor and on our wider China in the Western Imagination project, of which this Ching Ling Foo biography is but one part. Thanks, too, are owed to Dai Ming Jian (), John McBride, Gordon LaFortune, and Jim Hildebrandtessential initial supporters of this work.

Scholarly support was provided by Jim Steinmeyer whose advice and insight as I brought the various elements of this book together proved invaluable. Harvard Universitys Houghton Library, the Shanghai Public Library system and its unmatched collections, Magic Circle Librarian Bill Goodwin, James Hagy, the China Documentary Research Center, and the Conjuring Arts Research Center stand as notable examples of all the other numerous individuals, private collections, museums, and educational and professional institutions, in China, the U.S. and elsewhere who so selflessly and often so cheerfully assisted me in the years-long search for one more piece of information on a fascinating and not-to-be-forgotten turn-of-the-century Chinese conjurer.

A NOTE ON NAMES

C hing Ling Foo () was the stage name used by Zhu Liankui (), also known as Chee Ling Qua. In referring to this visionary performer and polymath, this biography, which is primarily focused on his public life as seen in the West, will to avoid confusion use the name Ching Ling Fooand just Foo, in most instances, as was the practice of most Western media at the time. In doing so, we note the stage name Ching Ling Foo was adopted by the magician at least a decade before his first triumphal tour of America in 1898. It should also be noted that Ching, not Foo, would have been the performers surname in proper Chinese usage.

For claritys sake, the book will in most cases also use the current Romanized spelling of Chinese personal and place names, where possible. For example, the name Beijing will be used instead of the older spelling Peking, and Tianjin will be used instead of Tien-Tsin.

Finally, given its negative connotations, the word Chinaman, which was a term commonly used during Foos career, will be replaced (except where explicitly important to the context) with Chinese or Chinese man, depending on the usage.

Jean-Baptiste Perroneau, Magicien Chinois, 17381745. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY.

Magic is the only honest profession. A magician promises to deceive you and he does.
(American magician Karl Germain, 18781959)

All history becomes subjective; in other words, there is properly no history, only biography.
(Ralph Waldo Emerson, 18031882)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE
Ching Ling Foo, The Early YearsMan and Mythology

CHAPTER TWO
The 1898 Omaha Worlds FairFirst Step towards Unprecedented Fame and Fortune

CHAPTER THREE
After OmahaHopkins Helps Foos Troupe Find a Larger Stage

CHAPTER FOUR
The Sensational Deportation Trial of Ching Ling Foo

CHAPTER FIVE
May 1899January 1900Post-Deportation Trial; Peak Foo: Acme of Fame and Fortune

CHAPTER SIX
January 1900 to April 1900Peak Foo CrestsThings Come Apart

CHAPTER SEVEN
As Chung Ling Soo Emerges and the Boxers Upend Tianjin, Foo Returns to China

CHAPTER EIGHT
Soos Fame Grows as Foo Back on his Feet in Shanghai Prepares for his Next Tour

CHAPTER NINE
Foo vs. Soo The 1905 World Championship of Chinese Magic

CHAPTER TEN
19061911, The Interim Years: A Prolonged Victory Lap for Soo and a Golden Era for Foo Imitators in America and Elsewhere

CHAPTER ELEVEN
OctoberNovember 1911Foo Produces Chinas First Documentary, Wuchang Uprising; Plays Significant Role in Collapse of the Qing Dynasty and Emergence of the Chinese Republic

CHAPTER TWELVE
November 1912Hes Back! Foo Returns to America to Triumph at Hammersteins

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Foo the Wildcatter Takes on the United Booking Office (UBO) Monopoly and Headlines the Legendary Ziegfeld Follies

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
May 1913Post-Follies, Foo Continues Wild Success, Overcomes More UBO Shenanigans, Disrupts Vaudevilles Small Time/Big Time Continuum

CHAPTER FIFTEEN
October 1913Foo Tours with Legendary Diva and Dictator of Fashion Lillian Russells All Star Feature Festival

CHAPTER SIXTEEN
November 1913January 1914Another Tour, Another Diva; Foo Tours with Avant-Garde Entertainer Gertrude Hoffman, The Woman Who Dares

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
January 1914October 1914More Contractual Troubles and Difficult Bookings Force Foo to Europe, and Unknowingly, Straight into World War I

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
November 1914March 1915New York to California; Foo Returns for a Triumphant American Farewell

CHAPTER NINETEEN
1916Foo Eases into Semi-Retirement in Shanghai

CHAPTER TWENTY
19171922Soo Makes an Anti-Climatic WWI Era Visit to Shanghai; Soo, Then Foo, Pass Away

APPENDIX A
Illustrations

APPENDIX B
End Notes

FOREWORD

by Jim Steinmeyer

O nce upon a time, a long time ago, a mysterious landa land of mysterious traditions and concealed artsdecided to introduce itself to the rest of the world.

It did this not with a statesman or craftsman or poet, but by sending its greatest wizard to demonstrate what he could doto impress and charm and inspire awe about the mysterious land. It was actually a diplomacy of magic.

Theres no question that he was a great wizard. The rest of the world quickly proclaimed him so. He changed the way other wizards thought, and what they considered possible and impossible. He inspired imitations and began contentious arguments about his miraclesand, of course, intrigued everyone about the mysterious land that could have produced such a man.

He was also wise enough to realize that every culture had its wizards and had developed its own sort of magic. As he made magic, he also watched, learned, and was inspired. And so, he returned to his own mysterious land a far greater wizard than hed been before.