Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1944-06-30
Entertainers Travel Rough and Peri|ous Circuit
Taking US0-Camp Shows 10 Remote FiQhtnq Fronts
One Hundred Troupes
Play to Soldiers in
Open Air Theaters

That familiar truism of the
trouper-"th e'show must go on"
has taken on a new and vastly
different meaning since the adj
vent of USO-camp shows-those
travelling troupes that follow
our troops all over the world.
True to tradition, the show, of
course, does go on-from the
back of an army truck mired in
the jungles of New Guinea, to
the accompaniment of grinding
winches on a dock alongside
troop transport, amid the icy
glaciers of the Arctic, at base
hospitals behind firing lines, in
the shadow of smouldering We
suvius, or on newly won terri
tory in Europe.
No longer, however, does the audi
ence 60 to the show; the show is
taken to the audience-an audience,
by the way. that now numbers
more than II 100000 men and wom-
en- of our armed forces to whom, by
orders of the War department., the
show goes on in combat zones in
every area where our fighting forces
are located.
It's something new for both the
show business and the army to in
clude travelling troupes in the
army's special services. That is, it
was new until Pearl Harbor. Now
they're as much a part of the army
fare as CT chow, and equally as
essential. One is physical neces-
slty, the other a psychological
Stimulant.
In the last two and a half years,
USO-Camp shows have grown from
a mere experiment to far-fung
activity that would stagger the most
Travelled old trouper to contemplate.
Today, USO-Camp shows operate
approximately 100 units in COM
bat zones in every sector of the
fighting fronts. For obvious reasons
of military experience no estimate
of the "house count" at these per-
formances has been made public,
but it's a safe guess that the "SRO"
sign was out at every one. In the
western hemisphere another 100
USO-Camp shows are appearing at
army camps and naval bases, with
an estimated monthly attendance of
100000 men and women of the
armed forces who are kept laugh
ing by professional entertainers of
stage, screen and radio.
USO-Camp shows are operated as
an activity of USO Omitted Service
organizations) and are financed by
the National War fund, of which
USO is a member agency.
Stage Stars Volunteer.
From headquarters occupying
half a dozen floors in a building at
q West Fortieth street, New York
City, USO-Camp shows plan, pre-
pare and direct the assembling of
both talent and programs for the
various units. Paid entertainers,
recruited from theatres, night
clubs and vaudeville booking agen-
cies, constitute the permanent or
ganlzatlOn of the worldwide cir
cults. Augmenting the regular staff
are stars of Broadway and Holly
wood, together with well-known
radio personalities, who volunteer
their service for limited period.
In obtaining volunteers from the
screen colony, USO-Camp shows has
the cooperation of the Hollywood
Victory committee which has en-
listed many of the foremost stars
of motion pictures. Among notables
of the cinema who have been men,
bers of USO-Camp shows to enter
tain our boys in combat zones we're:
Joe E. Brown, William Gargan,
Marlene DIETRICH, Adolph Menjou,
Paulette Goddard, Gary Cooper.