Long Tack Sam

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Long Tack Sam (1885 - 1961) was a world renowned magician, acrobat, and vaudeville performer born in Northern China.

His magnificently dressed troupe played major cities across the globe in the early 1900's. Although largely forgotten as a performer today, he is considered one of the "greatest vaudeville acts of the early 20th century". 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 and eventually retired in Linz, Austria, the hometown of his bride Leopoldini (known as Poldi). Long Tack Sam died in 1961 at the age of 76. Poldi died one year later.

Documentary film

The greatest source of historical information we have of the performer's life comes from a Canadian documentary The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam. Written, directed, researched and animated by Long Tack Sam's great-granddaughter Ann Marie Fleming, the story is an in-depth research of the man's life. Through six years of research and traveling the world to interview relatives, professional acrobats, and magic historians, Fleming uncovers many missing holes in the historical record of her great grandfather's life.

Graphic Novel

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.