sorry i keep needing help but does any one know if the events such as ching ling soo happening in dandelion wine, did they really happen in real life?


when colonel freeleigh tell charlie woodman, john huff, and douglas spaulding about ching lin gsoo getting shot in the boston theatre ob oct 1st 1910, in real life did that event really take place?

I remember reading (or hearing) about a Vaudeville act much like the one depicted in Dandelion Wine. The artist was shot and died in front of the audience. Also, there was a character known as Pawnee Bill who became quite well know for his turn of the century (late 1890-early 1900's) Wild West Shows.

Curiosity got me and I did a couple of quick references for you:
Ching Ling http://www.hardboiled.org/2-2/chung.html

Pawnee Bill http://www.open.org/~alfa/PawneeBill/

That's really interesting! Sounds like a fictional version of a real-life event very Bradburyesque in nature, in that he's written elsewhere on the theme of an "accidental" killing for revenge during an act. That's what it sounds like to me, as the bullet-catching trick should have been performed by firing a blank gun, then the bullet "catcher" spitting out a bullet already concealed in his mouth--what sort of idiot would accidentally put real bullets in a stage gun? (Probably not like the fatal accident of Brandon Lee, in which real bullets were put into a prop gun to make it look loaded on film. One lodged in the chamber during an earlier discharge and was eventually fired at Lee, but doesn't seem a likely explanation in this case.) Next up: someone please search microfilm of Waukegan newspapers circa 1926 for reports of the crimes of "The Lonely One," and Los Angeles newspapers circa 1935 for the fatal accident which turned Ray off driving. It would be interesting to learn of the details and people involved.

I remember as a kid watching something similar to this on the old Saturday afternoon Wide World of Sports (you know Roone Arlidge, Jim McKay, the "thrill of victory and the agony of defeat"!).

There was a martial artist type performer that would conduct the feat in front of a huge crowd at the original Madison Square Garden in NYC. He placed some sort of metal cup (as I recall) in his mouth and then had a sharpshooting assistant fire a small caliber bullet from a rifle from across the boxing ring in which the stunt was being performed. As a kid it was really enthralling and unbeliveable to watch.

I am quite sure he ultimately met the same demise as Ching Ling Soo!! Does anyone recall this WW of Sports exhibition. It was on a few times over the years.

[This message has been edited by fjpalumbo (edited 09-04-2003).]