Magic at War

In this post, we discover three more examples of war-themed tricks invented by magicians to keep their acts topical for audiences and capture the national mood during World War Two. Twentieth Century Silks - Victory version ‘Twentieth Century Silks’ was invented in the late 1890s as the new century approached. The effect is generally accepted to have been created by American magician, Theodore Fritz. In it, two large silk handkerchiefs are knotted by one corner. Another silk handkerchief (normally of a different colour) is displayed, before being vanished by the magician. When the two original silks are picked up, the other silk is found to be tied between them. In this wartime version, the magician has two silk U.S. Stars and Stripes flags. The third silk is a Victory flag (yellow, with a large black ‘V’ printed on it). The two U.S. flags are tied together. The Victory flag is introduced and then vanished (by any number of methods). In a patriotic finish, the Victory flag is found kno...

In this post, we discover three examples of war-themed tricks invented by magicians to keep their acts topical for audiences and capture the national mood during World War Two.  Doomed Dictators For this variation of a ‘torn and restored’ trick, three printed papers are shown by the magician. One features Germany’s leader Hitler, another depicts Italy’s leader Mussolini, and the third shows Japan’s leader Hirohito. Calling on the audience to ‘boo’ the images of these three dictators, the magician rips up the papers to show his disdain for the Axis Powers. But, in a patriotic nod to the Allied victory hoped for by the audience, the magician restores and transforms the papers, forming a poster of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.  Raw materials to manufacture magic tricks were hard to get hold of as World War Two dragged on. Even paper was rationed. Nonetheless, London-based magic dealer Lewis Davenport & Co. managed to get hold of sufficient quantities of paper...