Agency through Otherness: Portraits of Performers in Circus Route Books, 1875-1925

Albert S. Uyeno: Japanese Performers and WWII

Albert Uyeno, born Shojiro Uyeno, immigrated to the United States as a child with his acrobat parents, who were traveling with the circus. Immigration records that list Uyeno’s profession as an acrobat indicate that Uyeno traveled with the circus when he was as young as seven years old.97

As an adult, Uyeno continued to expand on his career with the circus throughout the 20s and 30s. Continuing in the family tradition, he founded and led the Uyeno Troupe of acrobats. In one newspaper story, Albert shares a memory of a tiger escaping the John Robinson Circus and the chaos that insued afterward.98 The Uyeno Troupe traveled with Howe’s Great London Show, Sells-Floto, John Robinson, and the Ringling and Barnum and Bailey Combined Circus.

In 1941, the new Uyeno troupe was touring in Australia when war broke out in the Pacific theater. The troupe, including Albert, were subsequently interned at the Tatura Internment Camp in Victoria.99 This internment reflected a sad truth for Japanese performers all over the world: beloved by audiences for their impressive acrobatic feats, they were still considered an other. Uyeno had spent his entire life touring with the circus (quite literally his whole life - in his earliest immigration record, he is less than a year old).100 Still, unable to obtain US citizenship because of anti-Asian immigration laws, Uyeno endured internment until the Tatura camps closed in the mid-40s. After the war, Uyeno returned to Japan. He served as an interpreter for the United States in the early days of the occupation of Japan, working for the Navy until he was able to return to the United States and continue a career in showmanship.101

Uyeno continued to manage a new iteration of the Uyeno troupe, who traveled with the Barnum and Bailey Circus.102 In the 50s, he also worked as a talent scout for the Ringling Circus.103We have no records for Uyeno’s retirement or death, so one can only assume he spent the rest of his days as a circus man. 

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