Long Tack Sam
| Long Tack Sam | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Lung Te Shan September 16, 1884 Wuqiao County, Shandong Province, China |
| Died | August 7, 1961 (aged 76) Linz, Austria |
| Other names |
Sam Tack Long Tack Sam Long |
| Occupation | Performance Artist |
| Years active | ? - 1958 |
| Spouse(s) | Poldi Rössler Long |
| Children |
Nina (Ni-na), Neesa (Nee-sa) and Francis (Frank) |
Sam Tack Long
Nina (Ni-na), Neesa (Nee-sa)
Long Tack Sam, was a world-renowned Chinese-born American magician, acrobat, and vaudeville performer.
Long Tack Sam, also known as Tack Sam Long and Sam Tack Long, was the stage name of performance artist Lung Te Shan. He was born in Wuqiao County, an area of Shandong Province in Northeast China that is internationally understood to be the birthplace of Chinese acrobatics. On most official documents over his life in America, he used Sam Tack Long as his legal name.
His origins in China are limited; what is known is that he joined a group acrobats around the turn of the century called the Tian-Kwai and went on world tour. Several years later with unrest in his homeland, Long Tack Sam brought his own troupe of entertainers to America. where he soon found success. His magnificently dressed played went on to play major cities across the globe in the first decades of the twentieth century. Although largely forgotten as a performer by contemporary audiences, he was considered one of the "greatest vaudeville acts of the early 20th century". Long Tack Sam was also remembered as a 32 degree Freemason.
His career brought him to the opening act for the Marx Brothers and he even became a mentor to Orson Welles. In 1922, he became a member of Houdini's Magicians Club. Bennett Cerf once wrote of an incident of theater lore that occurred at the Palace Theatre in New York when entertainer Bert Fitzgibbon became enraged upon learning Long Tuck Sam was billed above him in the night’s card and that he was scheduled to follow the magician on stage. Later that night as Sam was ending his show, Fitzgibbon walked on stage and handed him a bundle of dirty shirts and snarled, “I want these back by Saturday night and go easy on the starch!” As a result of an uppercut, Fitzgibbon had to be carried off stage while the audience roared their approval. It’s unclear on whether or not Fitzgibbon was able to make his appointed curtain call.
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Wikipedia