Index

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More articles coming soon!

091: We're taking a short break... (1 September, 2023)

090: Even more WW2-themed magic tricks (15 August, 2023)

089: Will Ayling: The Genie joins the army (1 August, 2023)

088: Werner Reich: Learning magic in Auschwitz (Part 2) (13 July, 2023) 

087: Werner Reich: Learning magic in Auschwitz (Part 1) (8 July, 2023) 

086: Further WW2-themed magic tricks (15 June, 2023) 

085: Ramón Galindo: An American-Latino soldier-magician (1 June, 2023)

084: More WW2-themed magic tricks (15 May, 2023)

083: WW2-themed magic tricks (1 May, 2023)

082: Nivelli: A death camp magician (Part 2) (15 April, 2023) 

081: Nivelli: A death camp magician (Part 1) (1 April, 2023) 

080: Robert Harbin: A magical genius entertains the troops (17 March, 2023)

079: Sydney Piddington: telepathy in a Japanese POW camp (Part 4) (1 March, 2023)

078: Sydney Piddington: telepathy in a Japanese POW camp (Part 3) (14 February, 2023)

077: Sydney Piddington: telepathy in a Japanese POW camp (Part 2) (1 February, 2023)

076: Sydney Piddington: telepathy in a Japanese POW camp (Part 1) (15 January, 2023)

075: Anton Trouvat: A Dutch magician in the Far East (1 January, 2023)

074: James Stewart: Hollywood movie star, war hero and magician (15 December, 2022)

073: Eric Ryder: Liverpool magician makes magic in a German POW camp (Part 2) (1 December, 2022)

072: Eric Ryder: Liverpool magician makes magic in a German POW camp (Part 1) (20 November, 2022)

071: Captive prisoners, captive performers: magic shows in POW camps (1 November, 2022)

070: Halloween Special: Using a Ouija board to escape captivity (31 October, 2022)

069: Mark Raffles: A pickpocket at war (1 October, 2022)

068: Fergus Anckorn: The Conjurer on the Kwai (Part 4) (15 September, 2022)

067: Fergus Anckorn: The Conjurer on the Kwai (Part 3) (5 September, 2022)

066: Fergus Anckorn: The Conjurer on the Kwai (Part 2) (16 August, 2022)

065: Fergus Anckorn: The Conjurer on the Kwai (Part 1) (1 August, 2022)

064: Danny Varney: Magic and the Home Front at the Hackney Empire (Part 2) (15 July, 2022)

063: Danny Varney: Magic and the Home Front at the Hackney Empire (Part 1) (1 July, 2022)

062: Lionel King: The King of Cards conjures with ENSA (15 June, 2022)

061: Vic Taylor: Reminiscences of a showman (3 June, 2022)

060: New Book: The Colditz Conjurer (16 May, 2022)

059: Cortini: A prisoner of the Japanese (3 May, 2022)

058. Maldino: A master illusionist uses magic to bridge between foes (17 April, 2022)

057. The Great Tihany: A circus impresario's narrow escape (1 April, 2022)

056. Five stories of magicians in captivity before World War Two (15 March, 2022)

055. Jasper Maskelyne: How to escape and evade (1 March, 2022)

054. Barbed Wire University: Another lesson in magic (10 February, 2022)

053. Barbed Wire University: A lesson in magic (1 February, 2022)

052. Calling Dr. Ruben! Magician escapes Denmark and becomes life-saving doctor (19 January, 2022)

051. Ben Ali Libi: Dutch magician murdered at Sobibor (1 January, 2022)

050. Wilfred Ponsonby: a conjuror in captivity (Part 3) (15 December, 2021)

049. Wilfred Ponsonby: a conjuror in captivity (Part 2) (1 December, 2021)

048. Wilfred Ponsonby: a conjuror in captivity (Part 1) (15 November, 2021)

047. Jac Olten: A magical escape and a chance encounter (1 November, 2021)

046. Sawing a woman in half... using a machine gun!! (14 October, 2021)

045. Hitler's V-Weapons: Magicians and the battle against the V-1 and V-2 (1 October, 2021)

044. Punx: A POW magician in Wales (and the story of the friendship clock) (15 September, 2021)

043. Bill Bowes: England and Yorkshire cricketer becomes POW conjurer (1 September, 2021)

042. Verdini: Czech magician escapes Nazi blitzkrieg three times, fights in the Battle of Britain... and joins E.N.S.A. (14 August, 2021)

041. Double-bill: Hungarian and Italian magicians make POW 'home runs' (1 August, 2021)

040. Miss Blanche: 'The Lady Magician' uses magic to survive Nazi experiments (14 July, 2021)

039. Day-Glo! Magician brightens up the war to save lives (1 July, 2021)

038. "Exit stage right... and quickly!" Allied magicians rush to escape Germany as war is declared (20 June, 2021)

037. Hungarian magician, Dr. Laszlo Rothbart, survives Nazi concentration camp (1 June, 2021)

036. "For you, the war is over...": American POW makes secret radio (18 May, 2021)

035. 'Bush' Parker: The Escapist (Part 2) (2 May, 2021)

034. 'Bush' Parker: The Escapist (Part 1) (26 April, 2021)

033. 'Never in the field of human conflict...": a magician is one of the few (1 April, 2021)

032. Tommy Cooper: comedy magic legend at war (19 March, 2021)

031. Sol Stone: Shot down US Army Air Corps navigator uses magic to bring relief to refugees (8 March, 2021)

030. Good Magic Awards: 2021 Winner! (28 February, 2021)

029. The Magician of Stalag Luft III (Part 3) (1 February, 2021)

028. The Magician of Stalag Luft III (Part 2) (15 January, 2021)

027. The Magician of Stalag Luft III (Part 1) (2 January, 2021)

026. "Look, Duck, Vanish!": magicians in the Home Guard (18 December, 2020)

025. "A magician is an actor playing the part of a magician" (2 December, 2020)

024. Louis Van Dyck joins the Belgian resistance (14 November, 2020)

023. Entertaining Hitler: Gogia Pasha, the gilly-gilly man (and war worker) (1 November, 2020)

022. H.M.S. Wizard (12 October, 2020)

021. Controversial edition of Hitler's Mein Kampf translated by magician (3 October, 2020)

020. Dutch magician deported to extermination camp (12 September, 2020)

019. Magic over the airwaves (2 September, 2020)

018. Conjuring up war-winning aircraft (16 August, 2020)

017. Oswald Rae: Magician leads E.N.S.A. company through a firefight with Japanese troops! (3 August, 2020)

016. Heroic magician saves lives in Portsmouth Blitz (13 July, 2020)

015. General Douglas MacArthur joins Society of American Magicians (2 July, 2020)

014. U.S. Government orders magic books for troops all over the world (14 June, 2020)

013. Fred Kolb: First Allied magician in occupied Japan? (2 June, 2020)

012. Bertram Otto: Fake Chinese pick-pocket magician a hit with frontline troops (10 May, 2020)

011. Kindertransport magic (1 May, 2020)

010. Evacuees: memories of magic (17 April, 2020)

009. New book: Magician at War (6 April, 2020)

008. Magic at the movies (19 March, 2020)

007. Magic Marine awarded U.S. Medal of Honor (2 March, 2020)

006. Jasper Maskelyne: War Magician? (15 February, 2020)

005. Making money appear! (3 February, 2020)

004. Leslie Lambert: enigmatic Bletchley Park code-breaker (13 January, 2020)

003. Paul Potassy: "Magic saved my life" (1 January, 2020)

002. Operations MAGIC and MAGIC CARPET (15 December, 2019)

001. "Don't be fright!": radio magician's catchphrase helps reassure the nation (1 December, 2019)

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Magic at the movies

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During wartime, cinema remained an extremely popular pastime. In Britain alone, between 25 and 30 million cinema tickets were sold each week.  Movies provided war-weary audiences an escape from the turbulence and sacrifice of war, while also providing an opportunity for nations to boost morale, through government-funded propaganda films.  The epic American film  Gone With The Wind  (1940) was the smash hit of the war, but British films such as  In Which We Serve  (1942) and  Millions Like Us  (1943) were also highly successful.     Magic-related plots, scenes, or magician characters were a steady feature in films released during World War Two. Here's a selection : The Magician's Daughter (1938). Playing in British cinemas in the summer of 1939, as war was breaking out across Europe, The Magician's Daughter is a 'movie short' made by MGM Pictures.  Billed as a "miniatu re musical" the title character falls in love with a magaz...
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Entertaining Hitler: Gogia Pasha, the gilly-gilly man (and war worker)

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Gogia Pasha (1910-1976) fooled the world by pretending to be an Egyptian for most of his career. In fact, he was born Danpat Rai Gogia in British India.  Gogia originally trained as a doctor and had studied medicine in Cairo and Edinburgh. But, he abandoned medicine to turn to the stage. Donning a turban and a set of brightly coloured robes, Gogia adopted the persona of a 'gilly-gilly' (or ‘gali-gali’) man, after the Egyptian slang for magic.    He became an established act, touring internationally with a large troupe, mostly his family; and even appearing in several movies.   According to historian John Zubrzycki: “ Gogia’s shows combined comedy, comment and humorous patter with tricks, and incorporated dancers between sets. His signature acts included cups and balls, producing live chickens from his mouth and a levitation feat where his assistant was placed upon the points of three swords, two of which were removed, leaving only one under her neck to supp...
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Miss Blanche: 'The Lady Magician' uses magic to survive Nazi experiments

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This is the amazing survival story of Miss Blanche (aka Ruth Iris Wachsmann) who was one of the leading female magicians in pre-war Europe. An expert manipulator, she headlined in venues across the continent, until war intervened... Ruth Iris Wachsmann was a German Jew. Born in Berlin in 1910, she first trained as a ballerina. In her mid-teens, after seeing a performance by Austro-Hungarian magician Larette (Cornelius Hauer), she switched from dancing to magic. Wachsmann became Larette's student and she learned the art of manipulation. She could manipulate billiard balls and playing cards, but showed special aptitude for cigarette manipulation. Miss Blanche, performing cigarette manipulation, 1936 (Source: Artefake) Inspired by a brand of cigarettes designed to appeal to female smokers by the Rotterdam-based Vittoria Egyptian Cigarette Company, she adopted the stage name Miss Blanche. Larette was sponsored by Miss Blanche cigarettes and helped promote Wachsmann as another act to ma...
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The Magician of Stalag Luft III (Part 3)

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Part 3 of a three-part blog telling the compelling story of John Casson, magician, navy pilot, and Stalag Luft III prisoner-of-war. His part in The Great Escape and how magic and performing helped him and others survive captivity. In this part, Casson's arrives at Stalag Luft III, where he becomes a leading producer of camp entertainment, continues sending coded messages to M.I.9 and supports The Great Escape. The Stalag Luft III commandant provides an additional introduction to this blog, with this quote: “The [POWs] were always pitting their brains against our camp systems, more or less on the lines of each man being an individual magician working out a trick to escape. This meant that in the camps we were faced with a lot of brainy young conjurors who had plenty of time in which to work out their various tricks against us…”  Showtime   In early April 1942, Lieutenant Commander John Casson was transferred to Stalag Luft III, a newly built  Luftwaffe -sponsore...
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"Don't be fright!": radio magician's catchphrase helps reassure the nation

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Sirdani was the most popular magician to entertain on British radio during World War Two.  Over the airwaves, he entertained millions of people, bringing  light   relief  to dark times. Although he played the role of an Egyptian gilly-gilly man, Sirdani's real name was Sid Daniels. He was born in Mile End, London in 1899. World War One broke out when Daniels was 16 years old.  Like many others, he enlisted by falsifying his age. He went on to serve in three campaigns, in West Africa, German East Africa and France.  A keen amateur magician, Daniels used to mystify his fellow soldiers in the trenches with his tricks. It was when shells came whining over just as he was in the middle of a particularly interesting bit of magic that he originated his famous phrase, "Don't be fright" . After his discharge from the army, Daniels took up magic full-time. He adopted the name Sirdani and the persona of an Egyptian gilly-gilly man.   Early in his career he perform...
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