Evening star., 1942-07-30
McLemore-
Urges More Poy for
Army Show Cost
By HENRY McLEMORF.


NEW YORK.-uncle Sans own
show. This Is the, Army" Is New
York's biggest hit.
To get ticket to 1t is As tough
as getting Donald Nelson and all the
little Nelson's to spend the week end
with you.
Every time the doors to the show
are opened the customers stage q
miniature Oklahoma land rush. and
if you get to your seat with your
coat on, 1t shows you have pull.
The honest to- goodness soldiers
who form the cast have completely
overshadowed the famous actors and
actresses who are appearing in other
plays along Broadway. Eva LA
Galliene finds herself outshone by
corporal from Missouri. Howard
Lindsay takes back seat to = pri-
vate first class from California.
Bobby Clark and Gypsy Rose Lee.
Olsen and johnson, Willie Howard
and Paul Draper, and many others
whose names have been in lights
since Edison was a pup. have to be
content with place money since
Uncle Sam. Irving Berlin and the
soldiers hit town.
It's great show.
1t pulls in around $4,000 a week
for the Army Relief Fund. It pulls
in that much because OF talent. The
first nights tickets were bought out
OF patriotism, perhaps, but since
then 1t has stood strictly on its own
as one of the finest musical comedies
of all time.
All Of which is an introduction
to complaint. From now on this
column is a fussing one, an ornery
one, one In which Uncle Sam Is
pictured as a miserly old gentleman.
who'll take care of everybody else,
but who won't take care of his own.
This is a plea for a little better
pay for the enlisted men who form
the cast OF This Is the Army"
There are nearly 800 of them in
the cast. They were brought to New
York from every section Of the coun-
| try, a tap dancer from a Texas
camp, a trumpet player from Idaho,
a singer from Boston, q pianist
from Florida It wasn't volunteer
stun. They were picked up from
camps where they were training and
told to 60 to New York and start
working in the show.
They went.
They all have to live in New York
City. They don't 60 to nearby camps
when their work is done. They have
to live IN hotels, pay their transpor-
tation to and from the theater, buy
all their meals, take care OF their
laundry and all the other hundred
and one incidentals.
Would you like to know what
Uncle Sam gives the boys to take
care OF the difference between living
In an Army camp, where meals and
room are free, and New York City?
| Okay, this IS what Uncle Sam
gives them: Exactly $2.35 day!
Ever try to get room and board
for $16.45 week In New York?
1t can be done, sure, but not very
comfortably.
| OF course, the boys get their basic
pay, but they are using every cent
OF 1t and more trying to live de-
Gently In New York while they put
on a show that brings in $4,000 q
week.
talked to a lot of them. They
are bunking together in hotel rooms.
They are eating at hide-away joints.
They haven't q penny to take their
girls out for an evening. It's scratch
and rustic and hope the pennies will
last until next payday. They are
washing their own socks and pants
and undershirts and ties.
oh, yes. these boys aren't just hav-
ing a holiday playing in show.
They drill every day. From 10 to
IL they get the same work they
would be getting II they were in
their camps. The boys are doubling
in brass-nine shows week as ac-
tors and every day as soldiers. A
drill. A matinee. A night show.
| One of the boys told me this,
When the second front opens, we'll
be ready to 60. We haven't missed
a bit Of training. We can 60 right
from the stage to the battlefield and
we're ready to do it."
For this spirit, this talent, this
willingness to raise hundreds OF
thousands Of dollars for the Army
Relief Fund, and at the same time
keeping their bayonets sharp, the
boys in This Is the Army" gets Sass
= day.
They are doubling in brass, as.
said before. They are soldiers
actors.
| Uncle Sam Is tripling in brass
when he agrees to treating these
soldiers so niggardly.
distributed by McNausht Syndicate. Incl
Sailors Get q Line
| LAWRENCE, Kans. (R.-They'ye