Oz was meant to let the people of the Great Depression escape into a Technicolor dream, and for a few hours, the people from Topaz did. Many who did not work outside camp missed the chance because our movie theater in Topaz was a barrack hung with blankets to seal off the light and a simple projector on a table that you could hear throughout the movie. I still remember seeing the moths flying around the light and getting vaporized as they flew too close. But here in Provo, we were able to see a color movie on a big screen in air-conditioned comfort.
Heaven only lasted 100 minutes; and then we had to leave to get back to our little camp by the creek. When we got back some of the women gave us stew that they had for dinner and then we moved our cots outside to sleep in the relative cool of the evening under a starry sky so bright that it was painful to stare at. You have to go somewhere with no light pollution to see stars spread across the sky like that.
Note: “Utah was more tolerant of the Japanese than the West Coast states and was especially helpful in establishing a strong emphasis on accredited camp schools in that state. The Mormon farmers, many of whom we worked for during harvest time, were generally supportive and often shared their hoarded food with us including things that were hard to get like meat, butter, and sugar… They could not pay very much for our labor, in fact, they didn’t pay as much as they would have paid regular pickers. However, they sent us bushels of apples at the holidays so that we could bob for apples and even have caramel apples, the great gooey gift of the mess hall cooks for the kids at Thanksgiving. I have read of Japanese people from Topaz being mistreated by hooligans in Provo, where many, including us, went to pick fruit. But we had only good experiences in our leaves from camp to work on the farms.” (From Chapter 7 of Jon’s memoir)
About the contributor: Jon Yatabe was born in Berkeley in 1937 and grew up in Redwood City, where his father (Tak Yatabe) grew flowers. He was four when his family was sent to Topaz. His father joined the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and fought in Europe. The Yatabes settled in Berkeley after the War. Jon graduated from UC Berkeley and received a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois. After a long career in Washington and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, he retired and divides his time between Alaska and Colorado (where he loves spending time with his grandchildren).
“The Wizard of Provo” is excerpted with edits from Chapter 19 (“The Wizard of Oz”) of Jon Yatabe’s memoir, Letter to my Grandchildren. Copyright 2019, Jon Yatabe.
I did not know about the movie theater experience in Topaz or in Provo. The apples for the internees is a great story, much appreciated.
I love the comparison of the WofOz’s Kansas tornado to the Topaz dust storms!
The young girl in the Provo tent photo is my late cousin Leiko Joan Yamasaki. Leiko accompanied her father, Frank Taketo Yamasaki to the Provo tent city in the summer of 1943. The woman sitting next to Leiko is not her mother, Toshiko (Kitano) Yamasaki, who had to stay back in Topaz due to morning sickness; her 2nd daughter Taeko was born on February 17, 1944 in the Topaz Hospital.
The Topaz “movie theater” was the Rec Hall in Block 32, the Topaz High School block. Don’t know if movie shows were transferred to the newly built h.s. gym/auditorium in 1944