The World War II Programs at US Military Installations

[Roman]

It hasn't been commented much here on just how supportive Jack Benny was of our soldiers and sailors during World War II. While we all know about Bob Hope's visits to the troops, I hadn't realized, until I began listening to the radio shows on MP3, just how often Jack brought his show to military bases during the war. Even before Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, Jack broadcast a show at the San Diego Naval Center. Within the first few months after Pearl Harbor, Jack took his show to several more installations, and he continued to do this regularly throughout the war. This must have imposed enormous logistical problems on the writers and producers who had to rework the show on such short notice. Jack also traveled overseas extensively during the war to entertain our men and women in uniform. In many ways, Jack led Hollywood in enlisting in this effort. Jack's (and Hollywood's) support of our military personnel during World War II stands in sharp contrast to the indifference shown by most of today's entertainers to our men and women serving overseas.

[Roman]

It hasn't

[LLeff]

It hasn't been commented much here on just how supportive Jack Benny was of our soldiers and sailors during World War II. While we all know about Bob Hope's visits to the troops, I hadn't realized, until I began listening to the radio shows on MP3, just how often Jack brought his show to military bases during the war. Even before Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, Jack broadcast a show at the San Diego Naval Center. Within the first few months after Pearl Harbor, Jack took his show to several more installations, and he continued to do this regularly throughout the war. This must have imposed enormous logistical problems on the writers and producers who had to rework the show on such short notice. Jack also traveled overseas extensively during the war to entertain our men and women in uniform. In many ways, Jack led Hollywood in enlisting in this effort. Jack's (and Hollywood's) support of our military personnel during World War II stands in sharp contrast to the indifference shown by most of today's entertainers to our men and women serving overseas.

I have heard it asserted that Jack did as much performing for the troops as Bob Hope did, just didn't "cash in on it" as much. Someone (although exactly who escapes me at the moment...perhaps Larry Adler) noted that Hope would play a lot of very short shows at bases. Jack's, in contrast, was a complete show that was longer and he tended to stay at a base longer than Hope did in order to interact with the enlisted men and women, often taking home names and numbers of family, friends, and loved ones that the enlistees wanted to reach.

Per the comments on the other Forum about Phil opting to be separated from his family, Jack dedicated his entire summers of 1943 (Africa), 1944 (Pacific), and 1945 (Eastern Europe) to entertaining the troops (he also was in Korea for a time). You can insert your own joke here about Jack being away from Mary, but he also had Joan who was only nine when Jack did his first overseas summer. And if you want to spin it another way, Jack himself was nine years older than Bob Hope while he was doing these tours.

I'm not looking to play down Hope's involvement with the troops, but highlight that Jack was just as involved.

Per the comment about the logistics issues with the camp shows, I'd suggest listening to several of them in rapid succession. You'll find a lot of "fill in the blank" jokes that could easily be customized to military locales. In general:

* Jack and Don do jokes about the locale
* Mary does jokes about fraternizing with the military guys
* If a Naval Base, Jack talks about being in the Navy in WWI
* Phil does jokes about the nearest bar/nightspot
* For a while, Mary reads a poem about the place/the boys/etc.
* Interruption from a soldier or officer, leading into a gag
* More jokes about the food, the local bus, an officer, etc.
* Middle commercial
* Second half can be a skit about Jack and the gang interacting with the military, about the area (e.g., Founding of 29 Palms), or the introduction of a guest star.

The only one who defies strict categorization is Dennis, who was in the military for some of these shows and Larry Stevens was just not as involved.

Not every single camp show followed this format, but a lot of them did. And it makes sense, so that the moveable feast didn't create writer indigestion.

And to give credit where it's due, I believe that Al Jolson was the first one who really initiated getting entertainers over to the boys and girls in WWII. Incidentally, he also did his bit for the boys and girls in WWI.

[David47Jens]

And to give credit where it's due, I believe that Al Jolson was the first one who really initiated getting entertainers over to the boys and girls in WWII. Incidentally, he also did his bit for the boys and girls in WWI.

Yeah, but Jack was the only one who entertained 'em as far back as Valley Forge!

[scottp]

Didn't Jolson also go to Korea shortly before his death in 1950?

[Roman]

This is what I found on Al Jolson's wartime entertainment (from the Jewish Virtual Library website - http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jso ... olson.html):

Al Jolson was never a soldier in the United States Army, but he did his best to support it in four wars. When he was fourteen years old, he tried to enlist during the Spanish-American War; during World War I, he sold Liberty Bonds; and he entertained the troops at home and abroad during World War II and the Korean War.

......

During World War II, Jolson performed at the USOs at home and abroad. During the Korean War, he gave 42 shows in 16 days. Proud of the soldiers, he said, after returning home, "I am going to look over my income tax return to make sure that I paid enough. These guys are wonderful."

Shortly after returning from a strenuous entertainment trip to Korea, Jolson had a heart attack and died in San Francisco, on October 23, 1950. He was given a Jewish funeral and interred at the Hillside Memorial Park, in Los Angeles. He left millions to Jewish and other charities and received posthumously the Congressional Order of Merit.

[Alan]

While i've never been a fan of Hope the entertainer, i've always tremendously respected his USO service....it was mostly well before my time, but wasn't he was ~always "over there" during holidays? etc...over the VERY long-term, even when he was in well advanced years...i don't want to presume for those who experienced it, but my perception was that even just the consistancy of having a latter-day "Bob Hope show" was of some comfort.

Of course, JB's service is a facet of the man that i particularly admire.

I didn't know about Jolson....i must admit, my personal sound-bite summary for him had been negative, but i certainly have learned alot in this thread

[LLeff]

During World War II, Jolson performed at the USOs at home and abroad. During the Korean War, he gave 42 shows in 16 days. Proud of the soldiers, he said, after returning home, "I am going to look over my income tax return to make sure that I paid enough. These guys are wonderful."

Shortly after returning from a strenuous entertainment trip to Korea, Jolson had a heart attack and died in San Francisco, on October 23, 1950. He was given a Jewish funeral and interred at the Hillside Memorial Park, in Los Angeles. He left millions to Jewish and other charities and received posthumously the Congressional Order of Merit.

Jack wasn't able to be there for the funeral because he was to be in New York for his first TV show. He actually thought about cancelling it because the loss of Jolson was so tremendous. But the story goes that Mary reminded him that Jolson, of all people, would tell Jack that the show needed to go on. And of course it did. So a year later, Jack spoke at the one-year yahrtzeit (death anniversary) and unveiling at Hillside. It's a very nice speech and published in at least one of the books.

It's my understanding that Jolson was actually *the* man who started the camp shows in WWII, but I'd recommend rechecking that factoid. He also met his last wife, Erle, during his service, as she was overseas working as a nurse.

And another Benny connection. After Jolson's passing, Erle eventually married..........Norman "like a moose needs a hatrack" Krasna.

[Roman]

Jack's eulogy to Al Jolson can be found on the Al Jolson Society website (http://www.jolson.org/). Since it's a bit difficult to navigate around this site to find the eulogy, I copied it here for those who are interested. It's a great tribute to Al Jolson, the man and entertainer, and particularly to his commitment to our soldiers in Korea. The Al Jolson Society website also has a link to the actual recording of the eulogy.

Jack Benny
Eulogy for Al Jolson
September 23, 1951

Today, there is something new under the sun. For under this California sky has risen a monument of unmatched beauty, which stands as a memorial to the World's Greatest Entertainer, one of its greatest benefactors ... and our friend.

As I looked upon this glorious shrine, I was struck by two thoughts: what it meant to Mrs. Jolson, and to Al's many, many friends. And then there was the thought of the generations not yet born who will visit here.

I was heartened by the realization that they will not ask why an ediface of this magnitude was built. For this shrine in all its magnificence, is only proper and fitting to the man in whose memory it was erected.

I consider it a high tribute that I was asked to speak at this dedication. I feel the choice was governed largely by the fact that I have recently returned from Korea where Al gave his last full effort to his fellow man.

Before I left Tokyo for Korea I was told, I think as a warning for my personal feelings, that I would hear Al's records being played everywhere I went. Truthfully, I was apprehensive. I was almost prepared for a prolonged emotional depression. But when I got to Korea, this foreboding vanished. Al's voice was everywhere. Wherever I went, Jolson was singing again. His voice rose from the rear areas, the grouping points; the front lines; indeed it seemed at times to spring from those rugged hills. On the faces of the thousands of boys who listened was no sadness, but rather a look of rapture and of gratitude for what had been left them.

To bring laughter and entertainment to the world during one's lifetime is a wonderful and gratifying thing. Those who, during their span of years, have brought happiness to countless millions can find a purpose to their lives enjoyed by a relative few. But to be able to leave behind so much, so much of one's self, so much of one's heart, is a far greater recompense. Thus was Al Jolson doubly blessed.

It is more or less accepted that memory is a fickle thing. That it fades in proportion to time, made necessary by the press of day to day events. To us, whom Al has left behind, time has been unusually kind. It has helped erase the sorrow of his passing, yet has left his memory a bright and living thing. His great gift to mankind, his voice, is with us now and forever.

Before I finish, I'd like you to know that this isn't the only shrine to Al Jolson. Eight thousand miles from here, nestled in the hills of Korea, is an outdoor amphitheatre, where our troops are entertained. This amphitheatre is within a few miles of the disputed thirty-eighth parallel, and it is called the AL JOLSON BOWL. To those boys, eight thousand miles away, who gather there every day, the memory of Al Jolson, as with us, will never die.