Magic at War

During World War Two, Lionel King (real name Lionel Klimsch) was one of hundreds of magicians employed by national governments to entertain sailors, soldiers and airmen.   When the war started, not all men and women were required to join the armed forces. Some were too young or too old, in reserved occupations, or failed the medical standards. King was too old to be conscripted. Instead, he served in a different capacity, as an entertainer-in-uniform. Lionel King - The King of Magic (c1945) (Source:  ‘Card   Tricks Without Skill, ’  edited by Paul Clive) Born just before the start of the Twentieth Century, Lionel King was an established act in the British music halls by the onset of World War Two. A professional magician he was a long standing member of The Magic Circle. Billing himself as ‘The King of Cards,’ or ‘Joker-Ace High,’ he earned a living with an act which used just a pack of playing cards and his personality to entertain the audience. His act was the epit...

A shorter article this time, retelling a few stories from Vic Taylor's wartime experiences as a magician and showman... When World War Two came, thousands of magicians and other performers across the United Kingdom and other nations joined the armed forces. Some did so voluntarily. Others were conscripted, or else were forced to sign-up due to reduced levels of theatrical work during the war years. Vic Taylor, an Englishman born in 1900, had experienced this before. As a youngster, he'd learned magic from his father, a travelling magician. Young Vic suffered for the sake of art, cramped into a little box as the working parts of 'Zeedah, the Mysterious Talking Hindu Head,' (a fake automata) until he progressed to learning tricks and developing his own act. With his father, Vic spent m ost of his teenage years touring the south of England, working at fairs and seafronts. A natural showman, Vic's act  embraced magic, hypnotism, ventriloquism and Punch and Judy.  Vic Ta...