Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1942-07-31
Let's Laugh
Army Actors
Get Crowds.
Lille Pay
u, S. Pays Them $2.35
o Day for Efforts
BY HENRY McLEMoRE

BY HENRY McLEMORE
JINGLE SANS own show,
~ This Is the Army" is New
York's biggest hit.
To get a ticket to il is as
tough as getting Donald Mel
son and all the little Nelson's
to spend a weekend with you.
Every time the doors TO the
show are opened, the customers
stage a miniature Oklahoma land
rush, and If you get to your
seat with your coat on, il shows
you have pull.
The honest-to-goodness soldiers
who form the cast have COM
pletely overshadowed the famous
actors and actresses who are
appearing in other plays along
Broadway.
Eva LeGsllienne finds herself
outshone by a corporal from
Missouri.
Howard Lindsay takes a back
seat to a private 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 a great show.
l. II pulls in around $44 900
week for the Army Relief Fund.
II pulls in that much because of
talent.
The first nights tickets were
bought out Of patriotism, per-
haps. but since then it has stood
strictly on its own as one of
the finest musical comedies of
all time.
All Of which is an introduction
to a complaint. From now on,
this column Is a fussing one. an
ornery one, one in which Uncle
Sam is pictured as a misery old
gentleman, who'll take care of
everybody else. but who won't
take care OF his own.
This is plea for 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
country, a tap dancer from a
Texas camp. a trumpet player
from Idaho, a singer from
Boston. pianist from Florida.
TT WASN'T volunteer stuff.
Il They were picked up from
the camps where they were
training and told 10 go to New
York and start working in the
show.
They went.
They all have 10 live in New
York City. They don't go 10
nearby camps when their work
is done. They have to live in
hotels. pay their transportation
to and from the theater, buy
all their meals, take care Of
their laundry. and all the other
10l incidentals.
Would you like TO know what
Uncle Sam gives the boys to
take care of the difference be-
tween 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 A DAY!
liver try to get room and
IA board for S1645 a week in
New York;
1t can be done. sure, but not
very comfortably.
or course. the boys get their
basic pay. but they are using
every cent Of il and more try
ing 10 live decently in New
York while they put on a show
that brings In $4,000 a week.
talked to lot of them. They
are bunking together in hotel
rooms. They are eating at hide
away joints. They haven't a
penny TO take their girls out
for an evening.
It's scratch and rustic and
hope the pennies will last until
next pay day. They are wash
ing their own socks and pants
and undershirts and ties.
Oh. yes, these boys aren't
just having holiday playing in
a show.
They drill every day. From
10 to IL they get the same work
they would be getting If they
were in their camps. The boys
are doubling in brass - nine
shows a week as actors and
every day as soldiers. A drill.
A matinee. A night show.