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Show Entertainers Travel Rough and Perilous Circuit Takinn USO-Camp Shows to Remote Fiohtinq Fronts : - , r j t , c .,-. i St i i r" . v ' :" ' . ., i-. Sgt. iCohcrt Hank's pulse and respiration went up several points wht'n this band of entertainers dropped into this hospital tent in the Aleutians. Players left to right are Naomi Stevens, Mary Lee, Grace and Harry Masters, and George Cerutti. One Hundred Troupes Play to Soldiers in Open -Air Theaters That familiar truism of the trouper "the show must ;:;o on" iuis takc-n on a now and vastly different moaning since the advent of USO-camp shows those traveling troupes that follow our troops all over the world. True to tradition, the show, of course, does go on from the back of an army truck mired in the jungles of New Guinea, to the , accompaniment of grinding winches on a dock alongside a troop transport, amid -the icy glaciers of the Arctic, at base hospitals behind firing lines, in the shadow of smouldering smoul-dering Vesuvius, or on newly won territory in Europe. No longer, however, does the audience audi-ence go to the show; the show is taken to the audience an audience, by the way, that now numbers more than 11,000,000 men and worrj-en worrj-en of our armed forces to whom, by orders of the War department, the show goes on in combat zones in every area where our fighting forces are located. It's something new for both the show business and the army to include in-clude traveling troupes in the army's special services. That is, it was new until Pearl Harbor. Now they're as much a part of the army fare as GI chow, and equally as essential. One is a physical necessity, neces-sity, the other a psychological stimulant. In the last two and a half years, USO-Camp shows have grown from a mere experiment to a far-flung activity that would stagger the most traveled old trouper to contemplate. Today, USO-Camp shows operate approximately 100 units in combat com-bat zones in every sector of the fighting fronts. For obvious reasons of military expedience no estimate of the "house count" at these performances per-formances has been made public, but it's a safe guess that the "SRO" sign was out at every one. In the western hemisphere another 100 USO-Cnmp shows are appearing at army camps and naval bases, with an estimated monthly attendance of 2.000,000 men and women of the armed forces who are kept laughing laugh-ing by professional entertainers of stage, screen and radio. USO-Camp shows are operated as activity of USO (United Service organizations) and are financed by the National War fund, of which USO is a member agency. Stage Stars Volunteer. From headquarters occupying half a dozen floors in a building at 8 West Fortieth street. New York City, USO-Camp shows plan, prepare pre-pare and direct the assembling of both talent and programs for the various units. Paid entertainers, recruited from theatres, night clubs and vaudeville booking agencies, agen-cies, constitute the permanent organization or-ganization of the world-wide circuits. cir-cuits. Augmenting the regular staff are stars of Broadway and Hollywood, Holly-wood, together with well-known radio personalities, who volunteer their services for a limited period. In obtaining volunteers from the screen colony, USO-Camp shows has the cooperation of the Hollywood Victory committee which has enlisted en-listed many of the foremost stars of motion pictures. Among notables of the cinema who have been members mem-bers of USO-Camp shows to entertain enter-tain our boys in combat zones were: Joe E. Brown, William Gargan, Marlene Deitrich, Adolph Menjou, Paulette Goddard, Gary Cooper, Una Merkel, George Raft, Phyllis Brooks, Frederic March. Louise AI1-britton, AI1-britton, Andy Arcari, Jean Clyde, Bob Hope, Keenan Wynn, Al Jolson and John Garfield. Although the screen luminaries volunteer for a minimum of 12 weeks, some of them trouped the various circuits for as long as 30 weeks, enduring all kinds of inconveniences incon-veniences and hardships, but taking them in stride and actually enjoying the experience. Many of the lesser-known lesser-known paid entertainers on "sleeper-jumping" tours of 50,000 and 100,000 miles have been out for as long as 11 months, visiting little outposts out-posts in remote regions, isolated camps in Central and East Africa, army transport command stops in the Arabian wilderness, or lonely road camps in the snow-covered mountains of Iran. The business of obtaining the talent tal-ent and putting together a show unit is the function of USO-Camp shows, a function usually conducted on specific spe-cific orders from the army special services division which requisitions entertainment by much the same method as GI supplies are ordered. In typical army terseness, a directive direc-tive will be issued to camp shows for a certain type of entertainment to be provided by a specified number of performers for a designated area and time. USO-Camp shows follows instructions. At the designated time and place, the show is turned over to the army, and thereafter it is practically as much a part of the army as the GI Joes. Where the show goes, when it goes, how long it stays and when it "does its stuff" are all prescribed by the army. Transportation, food, sleeping quarters are furnished by the army. Many performers give their service; others are paid nominal nomi-nal salaries. Troupers Endure Heat, Cold. Although details of the tours are handled by the army with characteristic charac-teristic military precision, putting on the show many times isn't exactly a cinch. In fact, it is often attended by difficulties, hazards or interruptions. Even the army isn't able to provide transportable theatres, the-atres, stage "props" and equipment. "Tramping the boards," a familiar expression of the trouper, is exactly that with Camp show entertainers, for the show is usually given from a crude, improvised stage of boards thrown up wherever the audience is stationed. The locale of a show may.be in a jungle where the temperature climbs to as high as 130 degrees; it may be at a lonely mountain side outpost, or in the midst of desert wastes. One USO-Camp show unit. landing unexpectedly between bombings on the Island of Pantel-leria, Pantel-leria, gave a performance in an underground airplane hangar. Another camp show troupe actually gave a show in a submarine. Returning from an 11-month tour, members of one camp show unit announced an-nounced that they had become authorities on the sands of the world. They had played in yellow sandstorms in Egypt; in red sandstorms sand-storms in Tunisia that had dyed their hair, face and clothes a bright red; and in white sandstorms in Iran that made brunettes look like platinum blondes. While up in snow-covered snow-covered mountains, they suffered sub-zero cold; down in the valleys, they had to wrap themselves in wet sheets in order to sleep in the 145-degree heat. Travel Through Mine Fields. Another troupe that spent months with fliers at advanced air-fields never took a trip to a nearby encampment when they didn't have to pick their way through mine fields. Once they parked their trailer truck two feet from a live land mine. It was the heartbreaking experience ex-perience of this troupe of getting to know some of the boys who were destined not to return from their missions. Once the troupe went miles, in their truck to give an unscheduled un-scheduled show when they learned that a certain squadron's commanding com-manding officer had been shot down that day. Another camp show unit that started a North African show with an audience of 1,500 soldiers, had the disconcerting experience of seeing see-ing ten men leave, then ten more, then another ten, until finally they were playing to a mere handful of restless soldiers. Afterward, they learned that a landing by enemy commandoes had been reported and thffir audience had been called out to track them down. Camp show performances are often attended by hazards and perils as well as discomforts and inconveniences. One troupe played seven weeks at road camps in the Iran mountains that were maintained main-tained to keep open the route over which supplies and arms were going go-ing to Russia. Bandits were in the neighborhood, and the troupers couldn't leave the camps without armed guards. Air Raid Halts Show. Sometimes sudden enemy action makes it necessary to halt a performance per-formance in the middle of its most dramatic or interesting moment. In Italy where the players are frequently fre-quently close behind the front lines, such interruptions are not infrequent. in-frequent. In one instance when enemy planes roared over during a performance, the audience and the troupers sat in darkness for hours until the alarm passed and the show could continue. One troupe touring the Iran valley outposts had to travel 140 miles through mountains, in a- caboose. There were 136 tunnels, and every time the train went through a tunnel tun-nel it was like going into an oven. At a mountain stop in Iran, thf players learned that the boys stationed sta-tioned there hadn't had fresh meat in weeks. They organized a hunt ing expedition and, armed with army pistols, shot 11 wild boars Their show was a great hit that night. "We gave them ham, and fed them ham, too," they said. Thus, day in and day out, the show goes on making every stop on the "Icicle Circuit" along the Al can highway in Alaska; the "Foxhole "Fox-hole Circuit" in the South Pacific; the "Desert Circuit" in Egypt. Africa, Iran, Lybia and Arabia. And as rapidly as our fighters advance, ad-vance, USO-camp shows are ordered up to entertain the battle-weary combat troops and provide an antidote anti-dote for operational fatigue. I t :v - ' v ... -s-v- h n I , V . -:. . i i - v" '- i Coiiiedian Joe E. Brown loured i ' -s-V'' ':"5f , "i the south Pacific area for manv '. . "r . . . ,T - vJ months, pushing into remote jungle ' ..- . j islands. Here he is shown cnter-" cnter-" s . j taining soldiers at an open air thea- tcr in Australia. . |