Fred Kolb: First Allied magician in occupied Japan?

The Empire of Japan formally entered World War Two on 27 September, 1940, joining Germany and Italy as one of the major Axis Powers. For five years, the Allies fought to halt Japan's aggressive expansion and to roll-back and defeat her armed forces.

In July 1945, the British Empire, China and the United States called for the unconditional surrender of Japan's military. After this diplomatic engagement failed, the United States detonated an atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima, on 6 August. Three days later, a second bomb was dropped; this time on the city of Nagasaki. Hours earlier, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan. With an Allied invasion of Japan's main islands imminent, Emperor Hirohito ordered Japan's surrender.

The formal signing of the surrender took place on 2 September, bringing the hostilities of World War Two to a close. Victory over Japan, or V-J Day, was celebrated around the world.

Japan's foreign affairs minister signs the Japanese Instrument of Surrender

(Source: Public domain)

A few days earlier, on 28 August, the Allied occupation of Japan began, led by General Douglas MacArthur as Supreme Commander for the Allied Forces. Within days, a division of troops was airlifted into the Tokyo area and more troops followed. Along with the frontline forces, other elements were sent into the country, including welfare staff and performers to keep the troops entertained.

Among these was Frederick Kolb (1915-1985), a magician and mentalist. Less than a month after the occupation started, Kolb and colleague Major Lanny Ross co-starred in the "first G.I. show in Japan". The show opened in Yokohama, Japan's second-largest city by population. Opening night was 20 September, 1945. 

The show later moved to Tokyo and went on to tour the expanding U.S. bases in Japan. On his travels, Kolb found time to entertain Japanese children with impromptu shows among the bombed out areas of the cities he visited. After Japan, the show toured Korea.

Japanese children holding a copy of a magic magazine (Sep/Oct 1945)

(Source: Frederick Kolb)

Kolb's early career was as a semi-professional magician, specialising in card magic, thimble effects and mental magic. Later he performed magic full-time. Billing himself as the 'Master of Mystery', he developed both a magic act and a mentalism act. He contributed to several magic magazines and wrote a couple of books for magicians.

It is believed he served with Special Services, the entertainment branch of the American military.

So, was Fred Kolb the first magician to perform in occupied Japan, as he claimed in an October 1945 letter to The New Conjuror's Magazine? (also submitting a photograph of Japanese children holding his copy of an earlier edition of the magazine):

"I am proud to sat that I am the very FIRST magic man to perform in Occupied Japan. I landed shortly after the proclamation of V-J Day and have been performing regularly in all the theatres and hospitals and on the ships in nearby waters." he wrote.

Japan is comprised of many islands, almost 7,000 of them. By the time of the surrender, some of these had already been occupied by Allied forces, including Okinawa, one of the smaller 'main islands'.  More than likely, magicians had performed in some of these islands before Kolb. For example, professional magician turned solider, Captain H. Adrian Smith served in the Okinawa campaign and may have entertained his fellow troops with a few tricks. Post-war, in 1948, Smith became president of the International Brotherhood of Magicians. Chinese magician De Yip Loo also served in Okinawa, after becoming a U.S. citizen in 1945. Under the water, Ralph C. Pierce performed magic in and around Okinawa in a Navy entertainment unit attached to a submarine division.

Then, of course, a distinction can be made between amateur magicians and professionals. Among the thousands of troops which poured into Japan, some of would have been amateur magicians, who performed a card trick or two for their fellow serviceman. Captain E. F. Forsythe, for example, was an amateur magician serving on General MacArthur's staff, and was probably in Japan from the start of the occupation. And MacArthur's personal bodyguard in Japan, Girard 'Jerry' Hawkins, also an amateur magician.

But Kolb was, more likely than not, the first professional magician to perform in Occupied Japan's largest and most populous main island, Honshu (home to Tokyo, Yokohama, Hiroshima and other major cities).

Other magicians followed Fred Kolb's lead, as ninety-one U.S.O. entertainment units were sent to the Pacific area after V-J Day; before U.S.O. operations stopped in 1947.

Related article: H.M.S. Wizard was present in Tokyo Bay when the Japanese surrender was signed on 2 September 1945. After, H.M.S. Wizard helped evacuate prisoners-of-war from Japanese P.O.W. camps. Blog link

Related article: General Douglas MacArthur, who officially accepted Japan's surrender and oversaw the Allied occupation of post-war Japan, joins the Society of American Magicians. Blog link