:35:41
Then one day he thought the way
to make money...
:35:43
there are a lot of...
a lot of people who had
exotic backgrounds in vaudeville.
:35:48
There was a Chinese magician named Ching Ling Foo
who was doing really well.
:35:53
So Billy Robinson sort of disappeared
and he resurfaced
as a Chinese magician
:35:58
named Chung Ling Soo.
:36:00
He had his hair cut off
and made into a queue...
you know, one of those long queues at the back of his neck.
:36:06
And he uh...
he had himself made up
o look like a Celestial.
And he became incredibly well-known performing...
:36:15
- Was he a prophet?
..in England.
No, he was a magician. He was a stage magician.
:36:18
- Oh.
- He did these really wonderful shows.
:36:21
And the real Chinese magician,
Ching Ling Foo, got
outraged
:36:25
and he tried
o have a competition with him.
There was headlines in the paper,
:36:29
"Soo fools Foo,"
"Foo sues Soo."
:36:32
You know, they had
this amazing rivalry.
Basically, the guy who wasn't
Chinese kind of won the contest,
:36:37
as this great Chinese magician.
The other thing he did...he actually tried
o catch a bullet in his teeth on the stage.
:36:43
- What? - And marksmen would get up.
They'd have a bullet autographed.
I mean, you would nick with your nail an initial into the bullet,
:36:50
and a rifleman
would fire it at him.
And this Billy Robinson dressed up
as Chung Ling Soo would stand...
:36:55
stand on the stage with a plate
in front of his mouth,