foreign
[Music]
speaking to you from Hollywood and about
to introduce a few of my neighbors let's
see there's Jack Benny Audie Murphy
Milena Dietrich Danny Thomas Eddie
Cantor Francis Langford Bob Hope Tony
Romano I know yes Dinah Shore greeting
you directly from Cedars of Lebanon
Hospital where she became a mother the
other day
nine and husband George has been
spending his spare time hand carving a
cradle for the baby and he tells me most
of the shower gifts were made by the
ladies who brought them I suppose that
sounds odd to those who rely on Gossip
for what's what in other words
but there are a lot of people out here
who don't live in Technicolor we have
babies and problems taxes headaches and
get wet when it rains just like you
also like you we have neighbors
and when something comes up that
requires a meeting of the neighbors we
get together
and that's what this is today
a get-together of some Hollywood
neighbors to pay tribute to a friend of
ours who's leaving The Profession
yep he's putting away his makeup kit and
letting his Union card lapse
I guess when he started he never
suspected he'd break every record in
entertainment history but he did over 60
000 times he walked out on the stage
over 80 million pairs of hands applauded
him he played wherever he was asked to
go he traveled more than 5 million miles
and yet he never charged his audience a
penny
perhaps that's why we hate to say
goodbye to that old Trooper called Uso
[Music]
this week Uso Camp show is officially
closed a glorious career to types of
Americans are here to ring down the
final curtain great performers who
girdle the globe to entertain and those
of us who were in uniform as part of
their audiences
today we reenact for you actual segments
of Uso shows actually and exactly as
they were presented to fighting men
around the world
some of what you hear will sound a
little out of date
nothing conceals its age with less
success than a topical joke or some
but this is for the record and this is
an index to a treasured memory and
you'll hear it as it happened
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
lucky forward is the code designation of
this operation of Old Blood and Guts
pattern looking forward
it'll be but how lucky no man can say
she came early very early because the
44th Engineers were crossing the Moselle
today
the sun there would be no tomorrow
she stood inside the little church
contemplating its bombed Out roof this
would be her improvised theater
Lowe's moselves she christened it
later after the tired money combat men
filed in she heard a voice announce
ment The Uso presents the star of our
show lovely Marlena Dietrich
the loveliest limbs in all the world
and they want their GIS yet
they're on the banks of the moselves
and then Marlena sat down took out a saw
from a case and played it like a violin
it sounded exactly like this
oh
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[Music]
[Applause]
ER and now that the Uso has closed up
shop I suppose you will put your soul
away I have a better idea done I gladly
give the saw to somebody if they'll use
it to build some of the houses we
promised the veterans they'd have when
they come back home
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[Music]
aditry and here friends is a Viewpoint
from the other side of the portable
Footlights I am proud to present a great
Soldier most decorated hero
Audie Murphy
[Applause]
thank you Doug you know before I ever
visited Hollywood one of the things I
always wanted to see was the footprints
of the stars in the lobby of Grandma
Chinese Theater
in the Army I saw something even more
impressive I saw the footprints of the
stars on NGO beach in Arkin thanks to
Uso Camp shows they turned up just about
everywhere the Army and Navy did in all
theaters
never was blackout so dark but some
Hollywood stars came out
I lived in America for 18 years without
ever seeing a movie star in person
I won't forget that the first one I met
was Marlena Dietrich in France
I saw her play that same song she played
today
[Applause]
you know when you're guarding a lonely
Outpost or checking your ammo for the
next move forward it's pretty wonderful
to know that even though you can't go to
the show the show can come to you and
when you watch it well
it feeds something deep inside of you
that food can't satisfy
one of the peculiarities of war that the
generals discussed things privately and
the privates discuss things generally
but a smile is a great common
denominator and I know both dentals and
privates will face their problems with
lighter hearts that cause the Uso Camp
shows I'm sure I speak for all of my
buddies and all branches of the service
when I say thank you to the Uso
[Music]
thank you and good luck Audie Murphy
now we're in spiranis Italy the date is
May 15 1944.
22 000 men of the second replacement
Depot said on their helmets and staging
area awaiting the signal for the big
push
up on an outdoor stage steps an obscure
Uso performer quite unaware that he'll
become one of the brightest post-war
stars of radio and scream here he is to
relive the scene word for word as it
happened
[Music]
Danny Thomas
[Music]
thank you very much fellas the only
reason I came overseas is to give you GI
is a rough idea what kind of man is left
in the states
this is it
so get this thing over and hurry back
home you are sorrowfully needed
I uh
I tell you I'm enjoying living with the
Army and being a civilian it's well it's
an invigorating life it's great here I
can hardly wait to drop dead
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ERS and we're not really in the Army but
we are
we get a card and it says
congratulations you are now a member of
the Armed Forces though you are a
civilian
in case of capture you are a captain
[Applause]
and then of course there's some real
small print and it says in case of
emergency you will take orders and the
commanding officer and do it exactly as
told and directed July
committed a certain colonel from
Providence Rhode Island took one look at
my push he declared a state of emergency
the past nine weeks I've been living
like a soldier this is wonderful I tell
you without basic training here
I uh it's great I mean you get to lay
around in bed till about five o'clock
every morning
that gives you plenty of time to get
washed and dressed to make the bunks and
so forth by 5 10.
and at 5 15 you stand outside and shiver
while somebody blows the bugle
my electrical transcription
this bomb doesn't either
so after you are reasonably chilled
who broke your way through the darkness
I say through the darkness we have
beaten the Sun by three hours and 14
minutes
nothing animated is around but I we're
up
and we March into you should excuse me a
thousand times the missile
well I want to tell you the 101 things I
could talk about I I I I wish that the
show wasn't as long as it is out here in
the field but I know you boys have a
more important job to do but I'll tell
you this I've spoken to you all you the
men of the Fifth Army and I give you my
word of Honor that I will do you this
service and never take a bow for it I
promise you I will deliver for you that
message
and it was which you haven't trusted me
the message to the people back in the
States who are making spam
thank you Danny Thomas
Now ladies and gentlemen here's the man
here's a man with tremendous lot of
talent so much in fact that enough is
left over to spread around in Africa
Italy France Hawaii Australia
Guadalcanal and assorted other anime
targets where American men were fighting
I'm happy to present
[Music]
Jack Benny
thank you Doug I'm going to read a poem
something I've never done before
years ago when a good Straw Hat cost a
measly dollar bill we had an institution
that was known as Vaudeville
to a day with a matinee spit weeks in
one night stands and the thing you
wanted more than your pay was Applause
from people's hands
your notices in Dallas said this kid
might go somewhere so you dream to play
the palace and became a millionaire
they loved you in Milwaukee Cincinnati
was your meat they didn't mind the
coffee in the cakes you had to eat
you're traveling a day coach jump from
Boston to Decatur and your world was in
your trunk
and on the lid it said theater
your eyes were on the roxies and the
paramounts and strands and the thing
that kept you going
for the Applause for people's hands
eventually you made it hit the top and
played Times Square
flaws was what you wanted here was where
you'd get your share
I've heard Applause that thrilled me
around the country far near but the
greatest Applause I ever got
I didn't even hear
was on the old yeah spam circuit back in
1943 in Africa
a wounded soldier on a and me
not far away the mortar burst each bomb
and Epitaph I feebly told my little
jokes and never got a laugh
no tears or clapping did I hear not but
that was not my prize I I read my
greatest press review in a wounded
soldier's eyes
yeah the greatest date I ever played
we're there on the Libyan Sands
and the loudest Applause I ever heard
from a kid who had no hands
[Music]
Jack nothing I could say could neither
add or detract from that wondrously
beautiful sentiment coming from the
great and Generous Heart
but now our retrospective calendar reads
August
1944. this evening
and a merciful dusk is closing in on the
horrible Rubble that was once the quaint
Valley City of San Luis
the man post is an old French Monastery
on the rim of the Hill a blacked out
weapons carrier approaches gingering the
Sentry challenges who's there captain
man and party approach captain man get
the password
[Applause]
you may proceed sir nice oh stop right
son pulling God beautiful there's a Uso
Joe yes sir especially me being a
Tennessee boy
and just then a pretty voice from
underneath the tarpole into the weapons
carrier calls out did you say Santa
[Music]
that's about all there is to the story
except that when Tennessee's own Dinah
Shore heard that a Tennessee boy had
missed her performance down in the cow
pasture she established two new records
in Uso Army relations a it was the first
time she did her entire act for an
audience of exactly one person B it was
the first time a PFC outranked the
captain who took over the guard duty
while the boy from Tennessee listened
ladies and gentlemen
we take you now to the cities of Lebanon
Hospital in Los Angeles where the card
on the door reads Mrs George Montgomery
[Applause]
thank you Douglas Fairbanks now you can
add another first to those
accomplishments it's the first time I've
ever spoken into a microphone that's
been sterilized the baby and I are just
fine and George is doing as well as can
be expected
when Dr Crohn reluctantly agreed to let
me broadcast from here I had to promise
to limit myself to 100 words I I told
him it takes a woman that many words
just to get out of neutral but what I
want to say won't run me out of breath
are you out of patience it's just this
there's no higher honor a profession can
have than to give away its own skills
where it's needed in love it's the
public defender in medicine it's the
great surgeons almost all of whom find
time for painless patients in Show
Business it's things like the Uso
I'm proud of my profession and its world
record not so much the stars from its
high rank imposes the obligation but
more so the less publicized Talent and
The Unsung people behind the scenes
I hope my baby won't ever have to see
her Daddy back in uniform or Amigo
traipsing off again with ticker Freeman
and our little portable piano to far
away places with unpronounceable names
but I'll remember that we were there
and that so many of those we love still
lie there beneath the ground they died
to liberate
thank you and God bless you
an orchid to you Dinah as if you needed
it with that room full of flowers
what's this
[Music]
1943 that bay out there is a massive
camouflaged LST their Lantern Charles
opened wide the swell of the men and
material that tomorrow will invade
Sicily
the rise pen across the Kake and blue
uniforms and you see a man mount a
platform on the rear of a mammoth truck
and say to yourself what have I seen him
before and then you know yeah who else
it's the star of that great picture the
road to wherever Uso thinks I'll do the
most good Bob Hope foreign
[Applause]
tourists
nice to see you do me a favor and point
those guns in some other direction will
you remember me I'm on your side
but it's great to be here in Africa with
you Africa lovely this is Texas with
Arabs
you all know what America is that the
guy that gets up in the morning and
takes a sheet with him
[Music]
but we're having a nice trip on this USO
tour and anyone who can figure that joke
out can go on KP with Gypsy Rose Lee
She's peeling tomorrow
but I want to tell the boys here have
certainly treated me great last night I
slept for them over in the barracks you
know what the barracks are that's a crap
game with the roof and what a place
and what a place to expect to meet
professional gamblers oh what a craft
game I won't say I won't say they were
loaded but it's the first time I ever
saw dicely skid marks
but I just want to tell all you boys the
United States is still there and it's
still the same old land of opportunity
what a land of opportunity take Sinatra
and Crosby for instance where else could
a piece of spaghetti and a meatball wind
up with so much gravy
don't get me wrong I don't want to knock
old Happy Hips Bing he's one of my
favorites among the older singers and
sinatras
and Sinatra's having enough trouble
right now his head is suing his body for
non-support
before I left he got a letter from the
blood bank he's overdrawn again but here
ladies
dear ladies and gentlemen is the
orchestra for our band of Uso gypsies
Tony Romano right here
all right
like the president's Smile For A
Carnegie style
your priceless
like a Fred Allen gagged for a good
crying jet hmm
what was that line like a what you mean
like a Fred Allen gay is that what you
said
what's the matter you blowing your roof
kid
yeah I know but you know who you're here
with don't you
remember next time you go to England
you'll come back by drain side keep
singing
[Music]
just like Dottie lamore's clothes for my
pal Bob Hope's nose you're
oh baby you are Priceless
to me
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Romano that's our boy took skinnyannis's
place on this tour they got skinny you
know he's in he's releasing a whack for
active duty
and I'll never forget when he went down
for his physical the doctor took one
look at his body went outside and
lowered the flag
he said I don't think I'll make a dog I
got bad eyes that I said we don't
examine eyes anymore we just count him
now
but if you've got bad eyes you'll put
you up front where you can see
everything
flying first
just wanted you to see what you were
fighting for man
yeah so how are you Francis you look
wonderful he smells so good what have
you got on so now number five hmm you
smell good too Bob what have you got on
clean socks
[Music]
you know
are you enjoying the trip Francis oh yes
Bob and I want to thank you for taking
me out dancing in London Lauren you mean
at the embassy Club yeah well I thought
it was very nice even though it was a
little expensive action please Bob don't
talk like that you'll make me think I
spent my money foolishly
[Music]
stands for nothing you know say how uh
how did you like my performance on the
Dance Floor I guess I made all of
English society sit up and take notice
yes you did but all the other fellas had
partners
when you've turned me down by the way
what type do you go for anyway well I
like colors more like Charles Boyer
Charles Boyer what do you like about him
well I love the way he takes a girl in
his arms and flutters those long
eyelashes at you what do you want lover
air conditioning
then of course I like a fellow a lot
like with a lot of punch like Jimmy
Cagney the Cagney what's the matter with
me well you're a Punchy too but in a
different way
[Music]
and embrace me
my sweet
embrace me
[Music]
my ear replace
able
[Music]
tipsy
[Music]
you and you alone
[Music]
I love all
over many
times about you
[Music]
God
[Music]
come to your mind
[Music]
[Laughter]
[Music]
I've been serious thanks to Bob Hope and
to Francis Langford and Tony Romano
now friends one of the great
humanitarians of our time a doctor of
entertainment who for years has
compounded his own prescriptions for
laughter and dispense most of them in
the free clinics his pet project was and
is theatrical therapy for those in the
veterans hospital
I give you
Eddie Cantor
[Music]
thank you Doug and I'd like to mention
in passing that your record of five
years in the Navy uniform lived up to
everything the world might conceivably
expect from a fair Banks and that's a
plenty friends war is not a thing you
can cut off with a push button they say
that on VE Day Fifth Avenue New York was
crisscross with 10 tons of ticker tape
I wonder if anybody has bothered to
estimate the weight of the adhesive tape
unrolled since then in the veterans
hospitals
as of today Uso cam shows have completed
their mission
must remember that thousands of veterans
left wounded in body or Mind by the
Havoc of War still have battles to fight
for them each day is D-Day
the ammunition of peace is peace of mind
they must have it as long as there's one
boy or girl left in the Veterans
Hospital the entertainment profession
would put on live shows there so as an
outgrowth of Uso cam shows we now have
Veterans Hospital cam shows ready to
present regularly scheduled performances
in 101 hospitals as directed by the
Veterans Administration the Army and
Navy sponsored by 23 organizations drawn
from Motion Pictures radio theaters and
trade unions Guided by the same
brilliant executive who led Uso Camp
shows Mr Abe last spoken show business
will supply the stars but one of these
days will have to pass the hat to help
meet expenses of travel lodging an
operation along the roads to and from
the 101 hospitals when we ask for your
help
please be generous
now friends before I return you to Doug
Fairbanks may I remind you that many a
star once on a dressing room door
is now a gold star in a service flag
and may I humbly request
that all of us remain silent for a
moment
as we sound caps for the 34 performers
who gave their lives while saving the
Uso Camp shows in World War II
[Applause]
[Music]
all right
everything
[Music]
thank you Eddie Cantor Hello friends so
completely Democratic was the
organization of the Uso but most people
didn't even know whom it represented
delegates of six different organizations
the YMCA the YWCA the National Catholic
Community Service Travelers Aid Society
Jewish welfare board and the Salvation
Army I also a problem together all sat
down at a table and worked it out
together
three great faiths merging their
identities and working as one
city of the world today can't see an
example in that
what a shame that men can shake the
world with bombs but somehow can't learn
to shake hands
and now with a verbal distinguished
service cross for each individual
involved may I thank NBC for its
facilities
and you for your Pleasant company
[Applause]
Fairbanks Junior
farewell tribute to Uso cab shows and a
salute to its worthy successor Veterans
Hospital cap shows and The Supporting
Cast were Sarah burner herb Bagram and
Lou Krugman Walter Schumann conducted
the NBC Orchestra the program was
written produced and directed by Vic
Knight assisted by John Morris the
appearance of all performance was
arranged by the Hollywood Coordinating
Committee names places and dates were
all abetting and the program will also
be heard through the worldwide
facilities of the Armed Forces Radio
Service Doug gourlay speaking
[Music]
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