She was an integral part of one of the world’s most famous
magic acts but died in obscurity in the United States. Suee Seen, Chung Ling
Soo’s assistant was a sensation when she toured Australia in 1909 with her
famous husband.
Augusta Pfaff also known as Olive Path, was born around 1863
in Cleveland Ohio. She was a short petite young girl and at an early age worked
in a vaudeville chorus line. From this she met first, magician ,Harry Kellar
and then, magician , Alexander Herrmann.
These men were legendary performers, and Olive, a small statured lady
who stood under five feet tall, was an essential on stage assistant for both.
She was skilled, discreet and deft, all vital characteristics for magic
performance.
Through Herrmann she met William Ellsworth Robinson, a man
who specialised in making magical apparatus. Robinson had ambitions to become a
magician, but lacked charisma on stage.
After seeing a Chinese Magician, Chung Ling Foo, Robinson decided to create an
act capitalising on the fad for all things eastern. He also blatantly stole
some of Foo’s tricks. In a classic example of Orientalism, Robinson became the
‘Chinese’ magician Chung Ling Soo, and Olive, who he nick named ‘Dot’ became
his assistant as Suee Seen, and later, his second wife.
By 1909 . Soo was widely regarded as one of the most skilful
magicians and illusionists in the world. Australian Tivoli Theatre owner, Harry
Rickards, in an amazing coup, managed to persuade the magician and his
assistant, Dot, to tour Australia and New Zealand that year. They were one of
the most successful and popular acts ever presented on the Tivoli Circuit.
Chung Ling Soo decorated his set in elaborate Asian style,
with heavy curtains and oriental accoutrements. His presentation was as Chung
Ling Soo, a man of half Scottish, half Chinese ancestry, although he had no
Chinese ancestry at all. Suee Seen, Dot, did not claim to be Chinese, but
appeared as Mrs Chung Ling Soo, in long robes and plaited hair.
Robinson and Olive had been together for a long time, and
William was a bit of a playboy. In 1907 he met Louise Blatchford and they had a
child together. Dot and William’s relationship was quite strained due to this.
But when they travelled in Australia they mostly appeared together, with Dot
stuck to William’s side.
Olive was an integral part of the Chung Ling Soo phenomenon.
She palmed props, appeared and disappeared at the whim of the magician and
played her role as Mrs Chung Ling Soo to perfection. She also appeared on
several postcards alone as Suee Seen.
In Australia she appeared in almost all the on stage
illusions.
There was the dice trick. A tower of large dice was stacked
on a small table, Chung Ling Soo covered
it, and seconds later, Suee Seen would
appear magically from thin air.
In what Charles Waller called ‘a beautiful illusion’
Suee appeared in a many sided crystal
lantern floating above the stage by a chain, and when covered by a cone she magically
transformed into a blooming orange tree.
In the cauldron illusion, a large pot was placed on stage. The
Magician poured buckets of water, a dead pigeon, rabbits and fowls into it.
Then a fire was lit, the water boiled, steam poured out and from the haze
stepped tiny Suee Seen
Then there was the arrow trick. Chung Ling Soo, hoisted an
arrow attached to a string in a bow. The magician aimed at a target, pulled
back the string, but Suee Seen would run
in front of him, and was accidentally shot with the arrow. The string was seen
running through her stomach from front to back.
In the bullet catching trick. Where the magician would catch
bullets fired from a gun in his teeth and spit them out into a plate, Dot was
responsible for the sleight of hand that ensured the marked bullets appeared in
the right place at the end of the trick
According to a New Zealand newspaper,
When she is not hanging from a hook, she is bouncing from a trap- or being cooked in a cauldron- or changing costume in a moment, in the twinkling of a hook and eye
Her role in all these illusions was essential to the success of the act. So much so , that after the marriage collapsed, Chung Ling Soo retained her services as his assistant at a wage of 25 pounds a week. A very generous sum for the time. The pair maintained a professional relationship as William continued his affair with Ms Blatchford. Although officially married, Dot and William did not share rooms on the road and had separate residences outside their touring schedule.
Dot worked with Soo and Company until a dark night in March
1918 in England. That evening, the bullet catch trick went horribly wrong, and
Chung Ling Soo, magician and pretender died on stage from a bullet wound.
Dot was there that night and stayed by his side as he was
taken to hospital. She was inconsolable when he passed away.
Dot stopped performing. Unfortunately she was barely
remembered in Robinson’s will, inheriting only one third of the estate, the
majority of which went to Louise Blatchford and her children with the magician.
Dot stayed in England until 1922, then moved to the US where
she lived in relative obscurity until her death in 1934
She was originally buried in an unmarked grave. However, an
online campaign led by magic historian Diego Domingo, resulted in her burial place
being recognised in 2016. Today she is
regarded as one of the most famous and skilled magician assistants in history
