🎙️ Program Overview
Orchestra: Claude Thornhill Orchestra

MC: Dennis Day (from the Jack Benny Show)

Performers: Dennis Day, Tommy Riggs & Betty Lou, Jackie Cooper, Mort Abrahams (accordion), Riley Morehouse (clarinet), Ted Vesley (trombone)

Purpose: Entertainment for Navy personnel stationed in the South Pacific, produced in cooperation with Naval Welfare & Recreation.

🎶 Musical Highlights
Orchestra opens with Woodchopper’s Ball.

Dennis Day sings Irish ballad Killarney and later Now and Forever.

Mort Abrahams plays accordion piece Holiday for Strings (humorously introduced with Pacific island names).

Betty Lou & Tommy Riggs perform comic duet Take Your Hands Out of Your Pockets and Put Your Arms Around Me.

Riley Morehouse plays Back Home Again in Indiana on clarinet.

Ted Vesley performs Danny Boy on trombone.

Ensemble numbers and orchestral interludes throughout.

🎭 Comedy & Variety
Dennis Day jokes about sending his allotment check to Jack Benny.

Betty Lou provides light banter, teasing Dennis and Tommy Riggs.

Jackie Cooper, serving in the Navy, shares stories of his film career (starting at age 3, Skippy at age 8) and his drumming hobby. He performs Bugle Call Rag on drums.

🪖 Context
Broadcast from New Caledonia after tours through Guam, Saipan, and other Pacific bases.

Designed to preview the live stage show performed at local theaters and camps for servicemen.

Supported by Vice Admiral William Calhoun, Commander of South Pacific Forces.