Magic at War

As war clouds loomed, foreign magicians performing in Europe had to gamble. Should they continue to fulfil their theatre contracts, or run for the border. If they stayed, they might find the borders closed, their act confiscated, and their company interred as 'enemy aliens'. These dilemmas also faced visitors to Germany in the months leading up to the war and magicians touring neighbouring countries. Most magicians decided to get out in good time, but some took this decision right to the wire.... Charles Larson Magic collector Charles H. Larson (1870-1950) ran the Larson Museum of Magic in New York City in the 1930s and 1940s. His collection contained nearly 40,000 items and he frequently made trips to Europe in search of magic. In autumn 1938, he visited magic shops and clubs in Berlin, Germany but suddenly realised he was the only person staying at his hotel: "I went to the American Counsel's representative,... and he said 'We are advising everyone to leave at on...

Hungary has a proud history of magic. Famously, Harry Houdini (Erich Weisz) and his younger brother Hardeen (Ferencz Dezso Weisz) were born there. When magician Charles H. Larson visited the country in 1938, he wrote, "Magic and Budapest compares with the best I have seen...Magicians here are [the] highest type professionals and business men. Magic should be proud of such dignity." One of these professionals was  Dr. Laszlo Rothbart. B orn in Budapest in 1897, he was an educated man with good language skills. Rothbart's main occupation was a Doctor of Medicine. He led a successful career, and by his late thirties, was Chief of Hospital Staff, owning a three-story town-house hospital and x-ray laboratory in the capital city.  Rothbart was a member of the Magyar Amateur Magusok Egyesulete (M.A.M.E.) (translates as Hungarian Amateur Magicians Association), the leading magic club for amateurs in Hungary between the world wars. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, he served on ...