I’m an author doing some research for a WW2 novel, set in 1944 on the Homefront in WW2. One subplot has my main character, a B-17 pilot, brought home to be part of a USO War Bond tour that includes Hollywood celebrities.
I’m finding bits and pieces and the occasional photo about these War Bond rallies, but not any details. Like when they happened, which stars were on which tours, what cities were visited, etc.
Anyone know of any internet links that cover this aspect of the War?
Dorothy Lamour (December 10, 1914 – September 22, 1996) was an American actress, born in New Orleans, Louisiana, died in Hollywood, California.
Lamour’s birth name was Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton; Lamour came from a variation of the name of her step-father, Carlo Lambour. After winning the title of Miss New Orleans in a beauty pageant she moved to Chicago, Illinois in 1931, hoping to become a professional singer. She first attracted some attention singing with the band of Herbie Kay, who became her first husband. In 1935, she had her own fifteen-minute weekly musical program on NBC Radio. She also sang on the popular Rudy Vallee radio show.
She was among the most popular actresses in motion pictures from 1936 to 1952. She appeared in the classic series of Road movies, such as Road to Morocco, also starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope in the 1940s and 1950s. The movies were enormously popular during the 1940’s, and they regularly placed among the very top moneymaking films each year as a new one came out.
During the World War II years, Dorothy Lamour was among the most popular pin up girls among American servicemen, along with Betty Grable, Rita Hayworth, Jane Russell, and Lana Turner. Lamour was also largely responsible for starting up the war bond tours in which movie stars would travel the country selling war bonds for the US Government to the public. Lamour alone promoted the sale of over $21 million dollars worth of war bonds, and other stars promoted the sale of a billion more.
I did see these threads. I searched this site for anything, and I did glean things like this, which will be helpful. It seemed to me this USO tour thing was pretty big, getting most of Hollywood involved. I sort of expected to find some detailed websites on it (so many great WW2 sites). But haven’t found any.
If they don’t exist, I guess the upside is, since I’m writing fiction, if I fictionalize a tour in my book, using bits and pieces like this, there won’t be too many to complain I didn’t make it more accurate.
Major Allen V. Martini, 23, Army Air Forces hero, told 30,000 people in Wilmington, Del., to ask themselves: “What have I done today that a mother’s son should die for me?”
Time Magazine 3 July 1944 http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,852019,00.html
At dawn, reinforcements found this Marine resting his head at the edge of his pit. The line had held. Nearly 100 sprawled enemy dead were around his cut-off outpost. At least 38 enemy dead were credited to this Marine, many killed at arms length. The day was Oct. 24, 1942 and his name was Gunnery Sgt. Basilone. For his actions he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Upon returning to the United States, this Raritan, N.J. native traveled across the country on a war bond tour that prompted $1.4 million in pledges. He met Hollywood starlets and his picture even made the cover of Life magazine.
The Marine Corps offered to make him an officer and let him spend the rest of the war in Washington, but he reportedly turned them down stating, “I’m a plain soldier, and I want to stay one.”
After his war bond tour, Gunnery Sgt. Basilone requested to be reassigned to a gunner unit with the 27th Marines. He could have continued to sell war bonds or he could have even stayed back in the states. But this man instead chose to live his life as a Marine.
You might find some more detail about a war bond tour in a biography of the actress Carole Lombard, who died in a plane crash on one. There’s a bit of celebrity and drama to weave into your book.
I bookmarked this a while ago when I was looking for a particular photo of Linda Darnell It has a lot of photos and such from hollywood at that time including the Hollywood Canteen! P.S. You guys listed some of my favs!
It would have been nice for Dan Walsh to acknowledge the information freely offered here to him to enable him to write a book from which he hopes to make money.
I get pissed off with clowns like him bouncing into specialist sites to benefit from members’ knowledge, posting their stuff all over forums because they’re too lazy or too stupid to do their own research.
Rising Sun, he may have simply forgotten. Sometimes people don’t use the “notification feature” that is available for each post. I don’t think calling him a “clown” is necessary until we know for a fact that he took the info and ran. We want to welcome future authors and historians who come here looking for information. I’ve already had emails from people who wanted me to cancel their membership because of the attitude of a few people in this forum. Lets welcome them with open arms and show them this is a friendly place to be. You could email or PM him directly, too. Afterall, he did thank George for the info. It’s not like George could charge him for the researching unless he started a business doing so (and George certainly has the credentials to do it!).
I’m a bit jaundiced about this, having been on various sites where people with no interest in the subject matter bounce in to flesh out their article or novel or whatever.
I don’t seen Dan bloody Walsh defending himself here.
Because he’s bounced in, got what he wanted, and pissed off.
I’m sick of these clowns, and I repeat clowns, who thrust themselves into sites like this to bleed the members.
WTF had Dan bloody Walsh contributed to this site?
Bugger all!
Defending him and his ilk is a waste of bandwitdth.
If Dan bloody Walsh doesn’t like it, let him respond.
But he won’t, because he’s been here and got or failed to get whatever he wanted before pissing off to write the Great American Novel.
Gee, and Dan the Man still hasn’t been back to thank anyone for helping him out.
I guess he’s just the sort of guy who uses people up, or thinks his great contribution to literature is so eternally valuable that everyone else should run around doing his research for him because he’s too bloody lazy or stupid to use Google properly.
It’ll be funny when this thread gets linked to his publisher’s blurb about his hugely original new book and how Dan the Man is a WWII know all.
Just to interrupt Dan’s big creative novelistic moment, typing away in a garret or some weathered weatherboard shack with a bleak beach view over Cape Cod or maybe a la James Patterson in his privileged enclave with his multi million dollar water view, I’ve just sent Dan the Man an email with the thread title as the title and the following text.
The infamous, notorious Dan Walsh here. I beg your forgiveness. I got very sick in Jan, and my mom died the first part of Feb. Had my hands full, first with family coming in from all over, and then sorting out her affairs. Had to put my book research on hold.
I do appreciate all the responses, and will try to take some time to dig in now that life is returning to normal.
I’m not sure what happened, but I thought I set things to notify me if any responses came. Unfortunately, I didn’t set my email filter properly and none of the notices came in. I just happened to check the filter a few moments ago and caught this last email.
I thought, “Oh great, someone responded.” Then I came on and found out I have become someone else here.
