Evening star., 1942-03-01
Army Actors
Stage Their
Own Shows
Camp Upton Unit
Even Has a Road
Tour Route
By John Ferris,
Wide World News.

Wide World News.
CAMP UPTON, YAPHANK, N. p.
The tradition of Irving Berlin and
1917 is still strong at this big Army
Induction center, but the boys of the
new Army have gone the song writer
one better, with authentic Broadway
shows and road tours through the
I'd Corps Area.
Officially there are about a dozen
men, all selectees, listed as members
of the theater section of the Special
Service Branch of the I'd Corps Area.
Their ambitious program is matched
only by their energy and resource
fulneSs, and for some time now the
word has been going around Broad
way that their productions were
something to see.
Come down and have a look, |"
one of the men said. There's
nothing hike it in the Army
Bitter winds were blowing across
the wide stretches of scrub oak and
pine and the face of the sentry who
halted our car had a frozen look.
He jerked his arm stiffly and the
car rolled rapidly down the road
past a dozen buildings to the Opry
House.
All Were Experienced.
Before the men took it over and
converted it into a theater, the
building had been a 10-car garage.
They had built stage out of scrap
lumber, installed switchboard and
lights and a couple OF dressing
rooms. The stage looked small
enough, but there was virtually no
space in the wings.
A rehearsal of "Three Men on a
Horse" the John Cecil Holmes
George Abbott Broadway hit OF 1885
Sc was under way. At the moment
they were in Irwin's home IN Ozone
Heights, N. j. The r1imeograpned
programs listed the cast as Corpl.
Jose Di Nonato, Pvts. Stanley Salo-
man, Ezra Stone, Michael Wardell,
Tileston Perry, Pinkie Mitchell, Ross
Elliott, Dick Browning, Alyan Man
son, Gary Merrill and the Misses
Barbara Leeds and Sara Seegar.
All the men had had Broadway
experience in the theater in one
form or another. They had built
the sets showing the Ozone Heights
living room, the lobby of the Lavil-
lere Hotel and a room IN the hotel.
The theater seats about 600 men
on long benches. When the officers
attend, the benches are removed and
folding chairs installed. The re-
hearsal and later the show definitely
were Broadway caliber, but all con-
cerned took it casually and without
that self-consciousness OF the am
ateur.
Brother Rat" Toured.
"This is our second play" one OF
the men explained. 1--WE have al
ready done Brother Rat and have
toured in it."
The touring consists of one-night
stands in 81 camps in the I'd Corps
Area. which has its northeast corner
at the Platsburg Barracks, its north
west at Niagara and its southern
most at Fort Miles, Del. New Jersey
lies in the corps area, too, and that
State includes Fort Dix, Fort Mon
mouth and Fort Hancock.
The sets are carried in a 11a-ton
Army moving van. The actors and
scene shifters travel in one staff and
five reconnaissance cars.
The q camps, from all indica-
tions, loved the show. Many of the
men-and this is true OF the new
comers at Camp Upton-never had
seen a legitimate show, so that at
the end of the first act they wan
dered out, thinking the show was
over. Ushers explained to them
that they should grab a smoke in
the intermission and come back for
more.
A typical week at Camp Upton
when no show is touring produces
this program: Monday, Brother
Rat: Tuesday, "My Year." a one
hour revue; wednesday, We're
Ready" another revue; Thursday,
band presentation; Friday, Three
Men on a Horse; Saturday matinee,
a variety show at the hospital; Sat-
urday night, variety amateur show.
Cannot Be Advanced.
In addition to these presenta-
tions, the unit has organized a six
piece band to entertain groups of
men on outlying duty-men like
anti-aircraft crews and others scat
tered in lonely places guarding i'm
portant bridges, roads or plants.
Most of the material used to out
fit the Opry House at Camp Upton
and the theaters in the other camps
was found in w. P. A. storeyards.
The theater section seeks out tao
tical units of any size which are
passing through Fort Dix or Camp
Upton, to find the basis Zone or two
mem in such units of an entertain
ment spearhead. This stimulates
the men to set up their own little
theatrical organizations.
All those detached at Upton can
not be advanced in rank or pay
while engaged in the work. Most of
them have had considerable mill
tary training in spite of their the
ater work.
The section has the enthusiastic
Endorsement not only of 1t. Col. H.
S. Brenizer, commandant of Camp
Upton, who has suggested variety
show ideas, but of Maj. Gen. Irving
j. Phillipson of the I'd Corps Area.