 The "Chinese" magician in this movie is Chung Ling Soo, who was  actually a British/American magician in disguise! He would give  interviews in phony Chinese, which would then be interpreted by his  assistant, who was actually his wife. Soo died when he was  accidentally shot during his famous routine where he would catch  bullets in a saucer that were fired at him by a group of his  helpers; one of the guns, which had been partially blocked by him,  fired at full force when the metal solder blocking the firing tube  ruptured.