Evening star., 1941-06-29
Army's Morale Plans Puzzle
And Exosperote Billy Rose
/. Snowman Offers
! Lot of Ideas, but
Gets Nowhere
BY IRA WOLFERT,

"a DCCll lIlNlbCu by
the morale division of the United
States War Department (Brigadier
General Ulio in commando went to
Washington, teeming with ideas and
blueprlnts and programs for carry
ing them out. Now he's back, eX-
ssperated and puzzled, and also
grumbling about soldiers commit
ting suicide out of sheer boredom"
What happened?
Nothing" Mr.. Rose said. They
told me the blueprints were Won
derful, the ideas were wonderful and
! was wonderful. Then they said
good-by. That's what happened
That's all l expect to happen and
after July 4, there ISM going to be
any more even of the little Broad
way has been giving them.
Mr. Rose was invited by the War
Department as probably the most
successful outdoor entertainment
man since the original Barnum.
His reputation has extended even
into the Army, since his shoWs-on-
trucks have been the only successes
the Army morale division has scored
to date
I'LL tell you what the trouble is"
Mr.. Rose said. Those morale Of
ficers are all nice guys. All those I
met were really wonderful fellows,
but they don't know what to do or
how to do it. This is the tip-off.
I've seen a lot of morale officers,
supposed to be showmen in part;
shows is part of their job. Well,
I've talked to plenty of them, majors
and so forth, but I haven't met one
yet that Id give job to-
A Serious Problem.
Mr.. Rose said he wouldn't be
talking like this about men he
liked and regarded as friends if
the problem of Army morale we're
not so serious-"serious as guns and
butter
The general idea down in WASH
ington," he declared, lis that we're
going to have to have an Army of
100000 men every year for the next
five years at least, whatever happens
in the war, and maybe 10 years or
more.
This idea has penetrated every
where except down through the
morale division. Barracks have
been built twice as durably as in
1917. but the morale division-run
by former lawyers, former business
men, former everything except mo-
rale builders-iS still going along
on a day-to day basis, as if they
go to sleep every night expecting
the soldiers to disappear by morn
ing. like dream, maybe.
What have they done so far? I
don't know. 1, don't think they
know, either. They've got lao camps
in the country, and they've built
s6O.000 theaters in every one of
them. Some of the big camps have
five or six theaters. Every one of
them that I saw is painted a
prison gray. Blue and white paint
costs Just as much as prison gray,
but that's what they've done-prison
gray. -r
Offered Artistic Design.
II had a plan designed by Al
bert johnson for these S3,500o0O
worth of field houses they're going
to build. meaning clubhouses. 1t
was beautiful, with arched effects
that made it look like Radio City.
It was so beautiful the Army got
scared. But had saved the best for
last-this was going to be cheaper
to build than anything they could
think of.
so then they showed me their
plan-a building 200 feet long and
Is feet high. 1t cost more than my
building. but it looked like a ga
rage, grim, depressing, something
dumped down there, so l guess
they thought it was the most ef-
ficient.
You know what it is? They just
don't know, that's all. They're
charging the boys IA cents ticket
for their movies. That isn't right.
and it doesn't have to be. Enter
tainment builds man up like beans
or a cot to sleep on, and soldier
shouldn't have to pay for what
builds up his morale any more than
he pays to rehearse for fighting
war.
But the Army, instead of ap-
preaching the movie people the
way they should have, went off and
made a deal with some distributor
who buys pictures and then sells
Il. - tl,4 A1-y,1X at a
rally, the distributor can make
more money buying a picture of
Gene Autry or some other B made
five years ago than he can buying
BoomtoWn'
so our soldiers-most of them
fresh from civilian life where they
bought the best movies made for
dime up-are now paying IA cents
TO see old good pictures or new bad
ores.
Take Year Out of Lives.
"The way I look at it. shows,
movies and all that kind of enter
tainment is only dessert for
soldier as it is for a boy in private
life. What Id hoped to see being
worked out in Washington was some
schedule of self entertainment for
the boys during the eight hours
when they're not sleeping or re-
hearsing for war-an even better
kind of entertainment than
would be available for them in their
own neighborhoods if they were
home. It's got to be better. They're
making sacrifices. They're taking