Abstract:
Born in a small village in southern China, Man-Fong Tong left home at 15 to become an acrobat. From 1929 to mid-20th century America, his career intersected the major events of our time. Man-Fong toured Europe in the 30s and 40s, met and married a Hungarian Jewish acrobat in occupied Denmark, spent the last years of WW II in Budapest. He eventually came to America, where he performed on “The Ed Sullivan Show” and in venues across the country. Reunited with his wife Magda and two sons in 1957 after a ten-year separation, he began a new life in Queens, NY.