Magic at War

Hidden away in the magic column of a 1942 edition of The World’s Fair (a newspaper for entertainers) is this single sentence:  “From The Mahatma Circular, we learn that a member of MAHATMA CIRCLE OF MAGICIANS, Sergeant Charles Ryder, 947433, is a prisoner of war in Stalag VIII-B, Germany (P.O. War No. 9592).” This is a tantalising fleck of information for a blog focused on magicians in World War Two. I pulled on that thread and weaved together the additional information I found into the blog below…  The Mahatma Circle of Magicians was a magic society based in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1915, in the second year of World War One, it was a breakaway club from the Northern Magical Society.  From 1915 to 1955, the society’s official in-house magazine was The Mahatma Circular . Evidently, The World’s Fair had picked up the news about Ryder in the Circular and repeated it.  Early Twentieth Century copies of  The Mahatma Circular (Source: The Magic Circle) Pre-War...

The benefits of magic performances for prisoners-of-war For Prisoners-of-War (POWs) of all theatres of war, entertainment in prison camps provided much needed enjoyment and escapism. During the performances, the entertainers and their audiences might escape for an hour or two into a happier world. A performer on an improvised stage and open-air auditorium in the Changi POW complex (Source: Public domain) Working creatively and cooperatively with other performers and stage staff, gave those involved a focused goal and a sense of team spirit. It kept their minds active and positive. For British POW-magician Fergus Anckorn, the interactions with other actors during rehearsals were a major factor in his survival: “ I remember when we rehearsed and all that sort of thing, you quite forgot that you were in these terrible circumstances. We were learning a script and getting on with it, and doing our little show. Lots of laughs backstage, and that sort of thing... and it undoubtedly h...