Long Tack Sam

Lung Te Shan (; 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 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 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 Long's 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. 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".

Long's 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 theatre lore that occurred at 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. 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.

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.

Personal life and death

After decades of performing and travelling extensively around the world, Long and his wife Leopoldi (known as Poldi), a native of Ybbs, Austria, retired to New York City. Long was also a Freemason and achieved the notable step of 32nd degree within the fraternal order. He presumably maintained his associations with the order while residing in New York. Later, following a bad car accident, he and Poldi went to 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.

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.