This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 10/26/2024
CHUNG Ling Soo (William E. Robinson, 1861 - 1918). A Few Facial Expressions During the Fire Trick. Birmingham: J. Upton Lith., ca. 1910. Stone lithograph with twelve offset comic portraits of Soo in oval frames, against a bamboo mat-type background, the whole inside a printed wooden frame. 30 x 20”. Linen backed. A. RARE VARIANT of this classic poster and the only example with this design we have encountered. Includes a partial paper Chung Ling Soo label in the shape of a fan, badly torn, that was removed from the poster in the process of linen backing.
Soo’s fire trick was a centerpiece of his stage show. The effect began with the magician lighting cotton wool and stuffing the burning material into his mouth. He then belched fire and smoke, and, eventually, produced a multitude of colorful ribbons, streamers, and even a long barber pole from the embers in his mouth. It has been said that while this comical poster captures the elastic-like poses he made during the performance of the feat, it also reveals a harsh reality: Soo’s teeth were badly damaged and blackened by the trick, and thus none of the photographs on this poster show them to the viewer. Another view of the effect can be seen in the poster offered as the next lot.