Long Tack Sam

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Long Tack Sam
Linz, Austria
Other namesSam Tack Long Tack Sam Long
OccupationPerformance Artist
Years active? – 1958
SpousePoldi Rössler Long
ChildrenMina (Mi-na),

Poldi (Nee-sa)

and Francis (Frank)
RelativesAnn Marie Fleming (great-granddaughter)

Lung Te Shan 郎德山 (September 16, 1884 – August 7, 1961), known by his stage name Long Tack Sam, was a Chinese-born American

magician, acrobat, and vaudeville
performer.

Early life and career

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

Shandong Province in Northeast China that is internationally understood to be the birthplace of Chinese acrobatics. [1][2][3][4][5]
On most official documents during his life in America, he used Sam Tack Long (the Cantonese pronunciation of his Chinese name) as his legal name.

Little is known about Longs' early years; what is known is that he joined a group of acrobats around the turn of the century called the Tian-Kwai and went on a world tour. [2] Several years later, with unrest in his homeland, Long brought his troupe of entertainers to America,[6] where he soon found success. His magnificently dressed troupe went on to play in major cities across the globe in the first decades of the twentieth century. Although forgotten mainly as a performer by contemporary audiences, he was considered one of the "greatest vaudeville acts of the early 20th century".[citation needed]

Long's career brought him to the opening act for the

Palace Theatre in New York when entertainer Bert Fitzgibbon became enraged upon learning Long was billed above him in the night’s card, meaning that he was scheduled to follow the magician on stage. [7] Later that night as Long was ending his show, Fitzgibbon walked on stage and handed him a bundle of dirty shirts and reportedly said, "I want these back by Saturday night and go easy on the starch!" Long responded with an uppercut, resulting in Fitzgibbon being carried off stage as the audience applauded and roared their approval. It is unclear whether or not Fitzgibbon was able to make his appointed curtain call. [7]
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Sam and his family decided to travel to Australia and New Zealand, bringing his act to new audiences. He promoted his show by skydiving into Bondi Beach, dropping leaflets offering free tickets to that evening’s performance. Sam and his ‘wonder workers’ performed in countless theatrical spaces across Australia during the 1920s and 1930s, including Sydney’s State Theatre, Melbourne’s Tivoli Theatre, Adelaide’s Regent Theatre, Hobart’s Prince of Wales Theatre, Perth’s Ambassadors Theatre and Brisbane’s Wintergarden Theatre.” [8]

In 1958, Long’s final performance was also staged in New York, at the Roxy Theatre. He performed his famous water bowl trick, in which he did a somersault at age 73 and ended up standing with a goldfish bowl in his left hand.[citation needed]

Personal life and death

Mi-na Long circa 1920

After decades of performing and travelling extensively around the world, Long and his wife Leopoldi (known as Poldi), a native of

Linz, Austria, not far from her hometown. Long Tack Sam died there in 1961 at the age of 76. Poldi died in Vienna two years later. [4][5][9]

Documentary film

The greatest source of historical information available on Long Tack Sam's life comes from a Canadian documentary, The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam. [11] Written, directed, researched and animated by Long's great-granddaughter Ann Marie Fleming, the story is an in-depth research of the magician's life. Through six years of research and the assistance of several magic historians, Fleming uncovered many missing holes in the historical narrative of her great-grandfather's life.

Illustrated memoir

In September 2007, The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam: an Illustrated Memoir by Ann Marie Fleming was published by Riverhead Books, a division of Penguin Publishing. The book expands on the information in the biographical film and puts Long Tack Sam's life in a more historical context. In 2008, the book won

The Doug Wright Award for best book. The book features artwork by Julian Lawrence. [12]

References

  1. ^ "Wuqiao: Home of Chinese Acrobatics". Archived from the original on 2011-06-24. Retrieved 2011-09-08.
  2. ^ a b c Vaudeville Old and New by Frank Cullen, Florence Hackman, Donald McNeilly - 2007 pg. 700
  3. ^ Index to Petitions for Naturalization filed in New York City, 1792-1989 Record for Sam Tack Long (1954)
  4. ^ a b Passenger Manifest SS President McKinley Sept. 6, 1932
  5. ^ a b Reports of Deaths of American Citizens (Sam Tack Long) August 7, 1961
  6. ^ Sessional indexes to the Annals of Congress: Register of Debates, Volume 2 By United States Historical Documents Institute< (1908)
  7. ^ a b Winona Daily News (Minnesota) Friday, October 11, 1957, p. 6.
  8. ^ "East meets West: The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam". National Australian Maritime Museum. Retrieved 2024-02-16.
  9. ^ a b Reports of Deaths of American Citizens (Poldi Long) September 6, 1963
  10. ^ Asian and Asian American Magicians
  11. ^ NFB collections page, Long Tack Sam
  12. ^ "Ann Marie Fleming on the "Long Tack Sam" graphic novel". AsianAmericanFilm.com. Retrieved February 20, 2010.

External links

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