Perhaps the most famous Magician who performed the bullet catch was a ‘Chinese’ magician, Chung Ling soo. He is a very oriental style magician from late 19th and early 20th centuries who was shot dead when a piece of shrapnel from the gun was accidenttly fired at him live onstage. After his death many mysteries about this man began to unravel. When rushed to hospital and upon removal of his clothes, it was discovered that he was actually an American by the name of William Robinson. Only then did the world discover that he was not Chinese. This event ended the popularity of the bullet catch trick for almost 70 years.
The bullet catch is also the illusion that is never been performed by Harry Houdini. Harry Houdini, one of the best known magician received a letter from his friend the then Dean of Magic, Harry Keller reqquesting that he not do the bullet catch magic performance. Keller warned Houdini that there were too many things that cuold go wrong doing the bullet catch performance. Harry Houdini, it seems, heeded his advice. Dorothy Dietrich becomes the first women in history to successfully complete the bullet catch trick.
