"Exit stage right... and quickly!" Allied magicians rush to escape Germany as war is declared
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 once and thought all Americans were already out of Germany'. Well, he put a real fright into me so I packed up and checked out of the hotel the very next morning: September 30th. All boats leaving German ports were being recalled and borders were rapidly being closed."
Germany had started low-intensity fighting against Czechoslovakia on 17 September 1938. As a result, Europe teetered on the verge of war. This was only narrowly avoided when Great Britain, France, Italy and Germany concluded the Munich Agreement on 30 September. Czechoslovakia was coerced into giving up territory and British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain returned from Munich declaring the agreement achieved "Peace in our time."
From Germany, Larson had planned to travel to Czechoslovakia, but, of course, found the border now closed. Realising war clouds were looming, he cut-short his visit, keen not to get caught up in what was to come.
Charles H. Larson
(Source: Genii, The Conjurors' Magazine)
The Great Levante
When Hitler's finally forces marched into Czechoslovakia on 15 March 1939 (having annexed only the Sudentenland part in 1938), Australian illusionist The Great Levante (Leslie George Cole) (1892-1978) was appearing in the Netherlands at The Hague's Scala Theatre.
"Whilst playing to very excellent business, I was awakened one morning to the sound of marching feet in the street. I looked out the window and I saw a lot of reservists marching up the street," he remembered after the war.
The Great Levante (Leslie George Cole) (c1940)
(Source: Public domain)
Learning German forces had invaded Czechoslovakia, the Dutch government immediately called up its military reserves. Realising that his company of Australian and British citizens could be at risk, and particularly concerned about the girls in the show, Levante cancelled his remaining dates in the Netherlands and extracted the show back to the UK. The company arrived in England on 1 April 1939. Two days later, Hitler issued a top secret directive code-named Case White, ordering the preparation of military operations against Poland for any time from 1 September.
Theatre flyer for The Great Levante (1940)
(Source: Public domain)
Emil M. Loew
Emil M. Loew was a Dutch-Jewish businessman and magician. His business activities included extensive travel through Europe. This provided an opportunity for him both to see live magic and to perform himself. Wherever he went, Loew made it his mission to locate professional or amateur magicians to share magical knowledge and develop friends in the magic community. In 1939 he was living with his wife in Finland, managing his company's affairs there. In October that year, communist Russia made territorial demands for part of Finland, which were refused, resulting in the Russo-Finnish war, on 30 November. Some months later, as the war intensified, the Loews barely caught the last ship from Finland to Sweden, making their way home to the Netherlands from there.
Neutrality had protected the Dutch in World War One but on 10 May 1940 in a dastardly surprise attack, Hitler's armies and paratroopers invaded the Netherlands. As a Jew, the war could have turned out very badly for Loew.
"I attribute my survival of the Holocaust in Holland during World War Two to my magical activities. During the first week of May 1940, I was scheduled to entertain the Dutch armed forces stationed at the German border. The show was suddenly cancelled due to the serious situation. I left Holland on 9 May 1940, and on 10 May the invasion took place. I travelled to France via Belgium and was in Bordeaux when France capitulated. From Bordeaux I found my way to England by freighter and reached London when the Blitz started. Like every person during that time residing in the British Isles, I received a bag containing a gas mask. I soon replaced it with magical equipment to be ready for shows in air-raid shelters."
In October 1940, Loew emigrated to America, where he corresponded with Charles Larson and was soon introduced to other magicians who helped him settle in the country. The next year, he joined the Parent Assembly of The Society of America Magician in New York City. Years later, he became the assembly's president and dean.
Emil M. Loew
(Source: The Magic Circular)
Dante
Dante (Harry August Jansen) (1883-1955), a Danish-born American citizen was the world's leading illusionist in the late 1930s. Appointed as the successor to grand illusionist Howard Thurston, Dante had travelled the world with his spectacular Sim Sala Bim show.
Dante
(Source: Public domain)
In the summer of 1939, Dante was appearing at the Scala Theatre in Berlin. His touring illusion show was a huge production and earned a visit by Hermann Göring, Hitler's second-in-command. Both Göring and Hitler were well known as fans of variety acts and the circus.
Declassified Office of Strategic Services report on Adolf Hitler
(Source: Public domain)
While at the Scala in the middle of August, Dante received news that Hitler's army was about to invade Poland. The theatre director released Dante from his contract, scenery was struck, and the show immediately packed. Even though most of Dante's cast was American, a country that kept out of the war until late 1941, the risk of staying in Germany any longer was too great. With due haste, the company escaped by train to Denmark (Dante's native country), just hours before the borders were closed.
From Denmark, the show moved to neutral Sweden, then back across the Atlantic to the safety of the U.S.A.
Murray
Murray (Murray Carrington-Walters) (1901-1988) was an Australian-born escapologist. In fact, many attribute Murray for popularising the term 'escapologist' and possibly independently inventing it. World famous escape-artist Houdini was actually the first to use the word in print, in 1910, but he rarely described himself as an escapologist in his advertising.
In late August 1939, like Dante, Murray was appearing in Berlin. Although a smaller show than Dante's, Murray's escapology-themed illusion show was a popular attraction. While Göring saw Dante's Sim Sala Bim, the German Chancellor himself, Adolf Hitler, went to watch 39-year old Murray perform during his run at the Wintergarten Theatre.
After completing the engagement in Berlin, Murray's touring company moved on to Hamburg in northwest Germany. They arrived in the city on Friday 1 September, ahead of a week of performances starting the following Monday. Most of the show's magic props, scenery and costumes - around 20 tons worth valued at several thousand pounds - were still at the Wintergarten Theatre in Berlin, as they were not due to be shipped to Hamburg until the weekend.
Unlike Dante, who had made the call to move his show out of Germany as quickly as possible, Murray gambled that international sabre-rattling and the latest rumours of troop movements wouldn't turn into war. But, just as Murray arrived in Hamburg, Hitler's forces were rolling into Poland.
Both Great Britain and France had given public guarantees to Poland that they would declare war on Germany if Polish independence came under threat. World War Two was starting and everyone knew it. When later asked why he hadn't evacuated earlier, Murray replied, "I thought sanity would prevail - but it didn't."
Murray
(Source: Public domain)
Murray's hope - and the world's hope - that war would be avoided were dashed. Theatre contracts and financial concerns went out of the window, as he now desperately tried to get his company out of Germany. And to make matters worse, he had to abandon his props. "You can have no idea of the courage it called for to leave behind an act I have worked a lifetime for.” he said after the war.
But, there were no ships travelling to England from the Port of Hamburg. So, his next option was to head overland, 100 miles north to Denmark, a neutral country (until it was occupied by the Germans in April 1940).
Keen not to be interred as 'enemy aliens', the company of six Australian and British citizens, managed to get on a train from Hamburg, heading to Ebsjerg, a Danish city on the Danish-German border. Their escape plan worked until the train they were on unexpectedly halted 30 miles from safety. They got off and needing alternative transportation, Murray bought five bicycles from a railway employee. Resorting to pedal power, the performers starting heading north again. One of Murray's two girl assistants couldn't cycle, so he took her on the cross-bar of his bike. They had almost no supplies with them and managed to get only bread and water from the locals during their journey.
When the bedraggled magic company reached the border, they faced another obstacle…it was closed:
"At the frontier, a furious argument took place with Nazi guards, and the escapologist had to do five hours' solid talking before he was allowed to pass into neutral territory."
However, after a long day, the company safety crossed over into Denmark, from where got a ship back to the U.K. "This has been my finest escape in a long career," Murray said, when he crossed the border.
Two days later, on Sunday 3 September 1939, honouring her guarantee of Poland's borders, Britain declared war on Germany.
In the best traditions of the escape artist, Murray just got out of Nazi Germany in the nick of time.
News article of Murray's escape from Germany
(Source: British Newspaper Archive)
On returning to London, Murray immediately dropped into the Davenports magic shop on New Oxford Street, London. During a conversation with the manager, Gilly Davenport, Murray asked if Gilly was interested in buying the props from his touring show. Fergus Roy, who married into the family, tells the story of what happened next in The Davenport Story (Volume 3):
"Well, Gilly was flabbergasted, but delighted and immediately went into negotiations for their purchase. It was concluded to Gilly’s huge satisfaction as the price Murray was asking was really quite modest. A handshake sealed the deal and Gilly, who couldn’t wait to get his hands on the props, asked Murray where there were in order that he could have them collected. 'At the Wintergarten Theatre in Berlin,' he replied and immediately bolted through the door laughing his head off! Of course, he was pulling Gilly’s leg and had no intention of conning his friend as he never believed for one moment that Gilly would be able to acquire the props. However, Gilly had the last laugh, as he immediately contacted friends in Germany and arranged for the props to be shipped back to the U.K. via Denmark, even though a state of war officially existed. This process took quite a while, but many of the props are still in the Davenport collection today."
Finding that London's theatres were closed as a war precaution, Murray put together a small show to replace the one he'd left behind in Germany and headed overseas again. By November 1939, he was “working the cabarets in Bombay and doing well”. Later, he would often use the phrases 'last British subject to leave Germany after the declaration of war' or 'escaped from Hitler' in his bill matter.
Notes: Reports of Murray's escape from Germany vary. Some suggest he was still in Berlin when the Germans invaded Poland and that he started his escape from there, travelling by train to Hamburg and then onto Ebsjerg. Another report said that he was forced to leave his cash behind, but saved half of his clothes and equipment. Later accounts omit the fact that Murray was travelling with a company and the story becomes one of him escaping alone from the Nazis.
Related article: Entertaining Hitler: Gogia Pasha, the gilly-gilly man (and war worker), a blog about gilly-gilly man, Gogia Pasha, who performed for Adolf Hitler. Blog link.
Research supported by The Good Magic Award 2021 from The Good Thinking Society
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