Current news, old news in the comics scene, and an auction of circus memorabilia I fully intend to bid on have me thinking about a certain historical occurrence. But first, some background.

Folks, this is magician Ching Ling Foo.

Born Chee Ling Qua, the man who would use the stage name Ching Ling Foo was a merchant and magic hobbyist that went pro at 30, garnering recognition in his home country and being the first East Asian magician to achieve worldwide fame.

Other illusionists really respected him.

His style of magic was largely unknown outside of Asia, and featured pulling streamers and poles out of his mouth, fire breathing, and beheading an assistant with a sword who would then turn and walk, headless, off stage.

He was a BIG hit.

And just so you got your money's worth? Ching Ling Foo toured North America and Europe with a group of Chinese women in tow, including his wife/stage assistant, Chee Toy, most of whom had bound feet. Exotic! Foreign! Mysterious!

The marks ate it up.

BTW, during a North American tour, Ching Ling Foo decided to drum up some publicity.

His act featured a trick where he hauled a huge bowl of water onto the stage, then, magically, pulled an entire child from the bowl.

He offered anyone who could duplicate it $1,000.

(Are you ready for shit to get WEIRD? Cuz it's about to get WEIRD. BAD weird.)

It turns out, a workhorse, lifer, vaudevillian magician, a guy named William Ellsworth Robinson, who had been on the stage since age 14? He'd figured out the trick, and he tried to claim the prize.

Ching Ling Foo REFUSED to meet with Robinson. Flat-out.

Turns out, Robinson had ALSO figured out a previous trick of Ching Ling Foo's, which Ching Ling Foo had ALSO offered a reward for cracking.

I guess he retroactively decided One Prize Per Customer.

Or his pride was hurt.

Either way, Robinson didn't get his $1,000.

Which made him mad. REAL mad. Adjusted for inflation, that's over $30,800 in 2020 money. You'd probably be mad, too.

Anyway, Ching Ling Foo kept touring.

And then, 1900 came. Ching Ling Foo was still a pretty big deal, still touring. Except now, he had comeptition.

Chung Ling Soo, The Marvelous Chinese Conjurer!

Assisted onstage by his lovely wife Suee Seen, Chung Ling Soo's act featured pulling streamers and poles out of his mouth, fire breathing, a large bowl that-

... wait.

Wait, what the fuck?

WHAT THE FUCK.

UUUUH. Wow.

WOW, YOU ARE REALLY DOING THIS, HUH.

Yeah, everybody, in case you haven't guessed? This is William. A few years post-$1,000 snub.

Answering an agent's call for a Chinese-style magic act, William Robinson wholesale copied Ching Ling Foo's tricks, gave himself a sound-alike name, and began working THE SAME CIRCUIT.

And he (and his lover/assistant!) played the part to the HILT, grease-painting his face to match Ching Ling Foo's complexion, dressing in a Chinese style, wearing his hair in a queue, and refusing to speak anything but highly-infrequent broken English in public.

Y e a h .

There's even film footage of "Chung Ling Soo," shown here greeting WWI vets before a benefit performance in 1915.

(Yes. 1915. He did this for YEARS.)

"Uhhh, WTF, why would anyone believe that man is Chinese?", You might wonder.

Well, William had a story for that, claiming to be biracial; His father was a Scottish missionary, and his mother a Cantonese beauty.

And I guess that was enough, for everyone.

Well, everyone except Ching Ling Foo. OBVIOUSLY.

In 1905, both men found themselves on the London leg of their tours simultaneously. Ching Ling Foo had been aware of "Chung Ling Soo" for YEARS at this point, and took the opportunity to publicly denounce him to the press.

Hoping to drum up publicity for himself as "The Original Chinese Conjurer," Ching Ling Foo announced he would reproduce the entirety of Chung Ling Soo's copycat act. The papers bought into this rivalry immediately, arranging a press conference between the two men.

But then, a weird thing happened.

Ching Ling Foo backed out of the press conference, and the challenge he himself has issued.

This would do wonders for William's/Chung Ling Soo's career, making him the victor of the feud in the public eye.

But why did go down like that?

Some believe it was because Ching Ling Foo recognized that the press, and the public, didn't actually CARE that William was faking. That they wouldn't shame him, or drum him out of show business. And so, why bother?

But there's another theory.

Cuz ya'see, Chung Ling Soo's act had an extra trick Ching Ling Foo's never had. "Condemned to Death by the Boxers."

Promoted as the actual trick Soo had used to survive an execution attempt during The Boxer Rebellion, It involved him catching a bullet in his hands, in mid-air.

Not REALLY, of course; it was an illusion, and the bullet, which an audience member would be called up to authenticate as genuine for the rest of the audience, would never even leave the gun barrel, despite the impressive noise and smoke.

This trick was a real showstopper.

And it ended up stopping William.

One night on stage, in 1918, the secret chamber in the muzzle-loader meant to catch the (very real) bullet failed, and the bullet truly fired, hitting William in the lung.

And William Robinson, AKA Chung Ling Soo, formerly "black illusionist Achmed Ben Ali (YEAH THIS WAS KIND OF HABIT)," in his shock and pain, spoke perfect English in public for the first time in 18 years.

"Oh my God. Something's happened. Lower the curtain."

He died the next day, in hospital, leaving behind a wife, another wife, and a girlfriend. Oh, and five kids.

Yeah. He was just as sloppy in love as he was with gun maintenance.

He would be buried in East Sheen Cemetery, in a London suburb, where his crumbling monument (that leaves out two of his kids and two of his lovers, which is pretty LOL I must say) still stands.

Ching Ling Foo would outlive him by four years, dying in 1922 in Shanghai. So at least he got that level of satisfaction, I guess.

And hey, for a little bonus content?

The 2006 film "The Prestige" features a Chinese magician performing a bowl trick, played by an actually-Chinese actor (Chao-Li Chi), but named "Chung Ling Soo," after the yellowface impersonator.

Strange.

Imagine, pretending to be another race, just for the attention other white ppl exoticising you might garner, when your own mediocrity wasn't doing the job. And furthermore, NEVER being meaningfully penalized, but PROSPERING.

W E I R D .

Anyway. https://www.theverge.com/2017/12/18/16792070/marvel-editor-in-chief-akira-yoshida-cebulski-cultural-appropriation