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Show i During Mr. Winchell's absence through month o) August, his column will be conducted by guest columnists. By JUDY GARLAND Young Screen Star You don't have to sing or dance to entertain the soldiers. All you have to do is talk. Just pull up a chair, sit down and be prepared to answer a lot of questions. That s one thing I found out during my tour of the Army camps. All the fellows want to know about Hollywood and the motion picture stars and I wanted want-ed to know all about them. If the soldiers asked me questions, it didn't compare with the quiz I put them through. All my life I've wanted to travel throughout the United States, staying a week or two in each town. I wanted to meet people from different parts of the country. When you live in one town, your scope is narrowed. Of course, a trip like that would be impossible for a working girl, boys from every city and state in each camp I met and talked with boys from every city and State in the Union. It was everything I expected ex-pected and more than an education. I had to know about each one, where he came from and what he did. The thing that touched me most was that they were equally interested in me. If it hadn't been for the boys at Camp Robinson, I would never have had a wedding cake. WEDDING CAKE DONATED TO ME BY SOLDIERS The day we played there was my wedding anniversary. My husband, David Rose, who accompanied me on the trip, and I were talking about it. The boys overheard and that night we were given a surprise party. par-ty. The highlight of the evening was a huge wedding cake topped by a tiny bride and groom. A wedding cake was the one thing I felt cheated of when we were married. Now I had that, thanks to a bunch of swell people. The first time I sang for the soldiers sol-diers I was seared to death. My knees shook and my voice trembled with a severe case of stagefright. It beems silly now, as I look back on it. Every performer dreams of stopping a show, but believe me, no show was ever stopped with the thunderous applause and appreciative apprecia-tive response that greets an entertainer enter-tainer playing to a group of soldiers. TOURING CAMPS LIKE 'OLD HOME WEEK' In a way, touring the camps was like my old vaudeville days. Making overnight jumps on milk trains and playing four-a-day instead of the usual two. It was like "old home week." Many of the performers were people with whom my mother and father, as well as my sisters and I, had played in vaudeville. . It was wonderful to see these people, peo-ple, headliners twenty-five years ago, return to bring the house down in Army camps all over the country. coun-try. One of the troupers told me he never hoped to experience a greater moment than the day he opened at the Palace Theater eighteen eight-een years ago. But he did when, with the same act, he received an even greater ovation at Fort Knox in Louisville, Kentucky. A NEW CRADLE FOR TALENT Willie Shore, the "Abba-Dabba Man," who was my favorite comedian come-dian when I was a little girl, played with us at one camp. He does an act with a seltzer-water bottle and I used to sit out front with the soldiers sol-diers and watch him. It never failed that when he squirted the water it would land on me. This often resulted re-sulted in my appearing on the stage in a slightly wet and bedraggled condition, but it was wonderful. These performers were all my old friends and it was grand to see them back in front of an audience where they belong. Camp shows have not only brought entertainment to the soldiers, they have revived vaudeville and opened a new field for young hopefuls who up to now have had no opportunity to appear before an audience. A new cradle for talent has been found. We did four shows a day. One at the reception center where, the newly new-ly inducted boys gather, one in the hospital and two in the auditorium. At each show I sang two set songs and then did request numbers. It seems the boys favor the old songs and in my case the two outstanding requests were "Over the Rainbow" and "Dear Mr. Gable." The first time they asked for the "Gable" song I was stumped. It had been a long time since I had sung it, but after' ad-libbing the lyrics a few times, the original ones came back to me. The shows were all at night and my days were spent touring the camp. There's one thing about the army It has a swell sense of humor When I started out I couldn't tell the dif ference between a private and a general. I was introduced to a colonel colo-nel one night and to the great amusement of all the boys I ac knowlcdged the introduction wilh a "I'm very happy to meet you Cor poral!" They howled and when I arrived home they sent me a huge chart listing all the insignia and what each stood for. Just to keep me straight they wrote. b |