Suee Seen (Olive "Dot" Path Robinson) & Chung Ling Soo (William Ellsworth Robinson) | Husband and wife

Suee Seen (Olive "Dot" Path Robinson) & Chung Ling Soo (William Ellsworth Robinson)

Suee Seen and Chung Ling Soo Marvellous Chinese Conjuror. Birmingham: James Upton Lith., ca. 1909

Color lithograph poster (29 5/8 x 19 5/8 in.; 753 x 501 mm). Some marginal soiling, chips, tears, and repairs, some at lower margin just into text. Laid down on linen.

An intriguing design, with the character of Robinson's wife, Suee Seen, being given billing above his own stage persona of Chung Ling Soo. Suee Seen's image is given more prominence on the poster as well. Chung Ling Soo appears only as a portrait on the panel of a blue and white vase with gilt dragon-form handles. The vase itself is puzzling: typically only Chinese export works have reserved panels decorated with a portrait but the vase itself is depicted to evoke a sense of the work made for the Chinese domestic market with its various design elements. 

Prior to adopting a fictitious persona to join her husband on the stage, Dot Robinson had worked as an assistant for both Alexander Hermann and Harry Kellar—as had Will Robinson.