Entertaining the American army : the American stage and lyceum in the World War

Front matter

Class JIlw_53

Book. ,E8 £"^ Copyright )l^

COESRIGHT DEPOSIT.

Foreword

No doubt every book published should have a dedication to the public, for by them it will be read and by them judged, but in presenting this particular history in narrative form, one must realize that while it may bring much interest to the general reading public, it belongs by its very title to those women and men who wisely saw the writing on the wall and indifferently turned their backs upon their everyday life with its creature comforts, never counting the cost nor exaggerating the danger, but gladly joining the great crusade.

History repeats itself! But in this present book there is no repetition — for, search as we may through the annals of past wars, we can find no precedent for a work of this nature. In very fact, when the opportunity came and the idea grew into a resolve, those who believed in the gospel of recreation realized that by the creation of just this particular type of amusement, an anachronism was being inaugurated. But by the very nature of its novelty it found a hearty response in the minds of the men in the camps in this country and overseas, and by its inherent opportunity for service it commended itself to the women and men who had no other chance of showing how solidly they stood behind the representatives of their country.

From its very moment of inception it carried with it the support of two men, without whose whole-hearted assistance it must have failed — Mr. William Sloane, Chairman of the War Work Council of the Young Men's Christian Association, and Dr. John R. Mott, its General Secretary. Through its early stormy days, when the skeptical and the timid hesitated at the very innovation of the proposition, they stood absolutely convinced of the power of

Yii viii FOREWORD

entertainment, and by the very authority of their coagency carried with them the more doubtful and hesitating.

Where shall we turn for an adventure more novel than that undertaken by those valiant people who crossed the seas that they might bring maybe the last smile to those "going over the top," that they might be perhaps the first "real American" girl the doughboy had seen since he sailed from the land of Home?

Into the theatre or the cow-barn, to the tent or station platform, they brought the gospel of laughter, and even while the shells burst over their heads or whizzed by like rent cloth, the song of sentiment soared like a wave of comfort to tired and homesick men.

No sympathy need be extended to those who went — only to those who did not see the opportunity to get out of themselves and learn the joy of losing, that others might be the gainers, the joy of relinquishing a real money-making position and going out to meet whatever came, so that when the roll call is answered they will not be ashamed to answer to their names.

No record, however complete, could tell all the individual sacrifices that were made, or the story of the soldiers' appreciation, but this volume is offered as a lasting tribute to those who went, that their contribution may be recorded and their offering chronicled.

That the Young Men's Christian Association was privileged to be the instrument through which this presentation was made it feels duly grateful, for the recollection of this service will last when others may be forgotten.

To each and every man and woman who did his and her part in this work and received an honorable discharge, this book carries a greeting from those whose privilege it was to be the instrument through which this service was consummated. The work was an inspiration and the service rendered adds the only comment necessary.

Thomas S. McLane.

CHAPTER

Contents

PAGE

Foreword vii

Preface xi

Preface

The greatest books of the War have not yet been written. While we now have contemporary records of incalculable value, upon which many future judgments will be based, the permanent histories of the conflict are yet to come. The General Staffs of all the Governments are now preparing their military records. The diplomatists have only just begun to write their memoirs. The time has not arrived when standard works, weighed in the scales of historical perspective and scientific research, can begin to give the final judgment of the world struggle.

It is with this understanding that we ask the privilege of submitting to contemporary records a phase of America's participation in the World War which might otherwise be overlooked. The purpose of this volume is to sketch some of the adventures and experiences of what we may term "our American troubadours," professional, semi-professional, and amateur, who followed our Army through the War; to show what the entertainers, the American stage and lyceum, did in the World War; how they undertook one of the most important missions in the struggle; how, like true soldiers, they did their duty to the end.

While it is conceded that this was one of the most effective arms of the Army, and it is generally understood that the American stage and lyceum performed a great service, the magnitude of it is little known by the pubhc. It is realized that the American stage was one of the powerful forces behind all the Liberty Loans, Red Cross drives, and United War Work campaigns; that it was directly instrumental in raising hundreds of millions of dollars; that it recruited the entertainers from every available source, including actors, lyceum entertainers, lecturers, xii PREFACE

singers, musicians, song leaders, motion picture stars and operators, vaudeville performers, soldier shows, stock companies — all merging in this achievement, which required the organization of play bureaus, costume and scenic factories, transportation offices, and the leasing of many of the most famous theatres in Europe; that it enrolled in its operations at home and abroad more than 35,000 men and women.

We trust that the experiences and anecdotes related will give a new insight into the hearts and characters of our soldiers. Names are named, not so much to honor individuals, as to illustrate situations. The problem has been to select. There are almost endless records of mirth and misery, romance and tragedy, such as the bards of other days used in ballad and epic. This volume is submitted, therefore, as a tribute not only to the entertainers, but to the American Army — one more contribution to the records of America's fight for humanity in the World War.

The readers of this book are particularly indebted to Miss Neysa McMein, Miss Anita Parkhurst, and Miss Ethel Rundquist, entertainers all, who have brought the very life of overseas service into these pages through the illustrations they have contributed.

Chapter I The Performers Enter

"They hare their exits and their efi trances; And one man in his time plays many parts."

As You Like It.

It is June, 1917. An aristocratic old mansion at 31 Avenue Montaigne, Paris, is the scene of the beginning. This former palace, with its mass of gilding, mirrors, and satin upholstery, is transformed suddenly from its stately elegance into the headquarters of our troubadours; a movement through which those in America are to touch hands with their sons along the battle fronts of France. It is here that the pioneers start the plans for the stupendous achievement. Six months later, we find the old palace unable longer to hold the rapidly expanding forces, and in December, 1917, all the splendor is left behind for a commodious French office building at 12 Rue d'Aguesseau.

Let us chmb to the fifth floor. It is reached by a winding marble stairway, or a personally conducted French lift holding four people. The building is unfinished and unheated and the plaster is oozing moisture. Mail sacks block the hall and all the near-by office entrances, since next door is the post office and mailing room.

Parties of Americans, just arriving from "home" or coming in from the front, sweep along the hallway, hopping over mail sacks and struggling with the knob of the door leading to the two rooms known as the "Entertainment Department" on this fifth floor. The office is horribly crowded and grows worse week by week as the Americans are coming on every ship, climbing the long staircase, tripping over their hand-baggage, seeking information regarding their destinations, demanding to be sent right out to the front Hne, and finally waving good-by as they disappear with their red permits and start off on their individual missions.

So great did the office and other activities become that it was found necessary to move again to larger quarters and take over a house on 10 Rue de I'Elysee — a street running from Faubourg St. Honore down to the Champs Elysee, along the west side of the President's palace. The Entertainment Department was housed on the third floor and given overflow rooms over the stables in the courtyard, the driveway leading through the house in regular French fashion. And the Department filled these quarters and "cried for more."

What scenes there were through all the hours of the day and late into the night — rehearsals, tuning instruments, trying out songs, costuming, playwriting, all going on at the same time with the regular office routine of booking and routing. You met doughboys, medieval ladies, knights in armor, and French widows, hurrying to rehearsals, up and down the carved and frescoed marble stairway. Out on the Rue de I'Elysee big army trucks were drawn up to the curb, loading and unloading musical instruments, and the sidewalks were covered with bass drums, banjos, trombones, and violins.

This, then, is the story of how the American stage and lyceum sent out an army of volunteers which finally numbered more than 35,000. It tells how they furnished entertainment in cantonment and training camp, in cities and towns, in shipyards and ports of embarkation for more than 4,000,000 men who at one time and another passed through the great war organization of the American Army; how they followed the A. E. F. through the campaigns and out to the battlefields; and how they fought and won

THE PERFORMERS ENTER 3

continuous battles against a common enemy — gassed, bombed, and under fire in the greatest crusade in the world's history.

Let us line up our forces for review: The first line is composed of the 1,064 who were sent from America overseas to France and the 300 recruited from the French; the second line consists of the recruits whom they trained in the American Army in France, 4,000 soldier-actors, who in turn coached 11,000 more from their own ranks for soldier shows; the third line comprises the 200 trained song leaders with their forces augmented by 1,000 recruits; the fourth Une brings the 1,500 enrolled in the motion picture service; the fifth line presents the 200 lecturers augmented by 500 more recruits and volunteers; the sixth line includes the costumers, theatre managers, general staff, and transportation service, over 300 more — the field strength now exceeds 20,000. Behind this are the reserve entertainers in America, working in the home camps or in the War Fund drives, numbering 15,000, bringing the fighting strength to 35,000. "v.-^

In estimating the full service of the profession in the foregoing forces, it is necessary to mention the American theatre owners who opened their houses for war service in whatever capacity needed; the actors working from all the stages in the loans; the managers delivering personal appeals, and purchasing bonds in the millions; the soHcitors working in the aisles of the theatres. More than 25,000 theatres (motion picture and legitimate) throughout America became the central points for all the organized efforts.

It is impossible to estimate the huge funds raised in the theatres. Such favorites as Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin, and William S. Hart alone raised more than $17,200,000 on their tours through the country. It is further safe to state that there probably was not a professional or semi-professional entertainer in America who did not give his services either among the soldiers in their camps or at benefit performances during the War. They became one of the most powerful arms of the Government and ''did their bit" in the true tradition of the profession.

It is to the war experiences of the troupers 1,064 strong who went to France, and their augmented forces, that this volume must largely confine itself, with occasional reference to those who served at home. To put through this tremendous task there was organized the biggest entertainment enterprise in the history of amusements:

It gave 109,794 separate performances to the soldiers, with an approximate attendance overseas of 87,000,000 and more than 40,000,000 at home.

It gave overseas 157,000 movie shows aggregating over 8,000,000 feet, or more than 1,500 miles, of film. The aggregate attendance at these movie shows alone (between April, 1918, and July, 1919) was over 94,000,000 at 5,261 different places. It is estimated that in the United States and overseas the gross attendance at motion picture shows reached 210,000,000.

It gave performances by stock companies and performances by soldier shows throughout the area of the American Army.

It organized four great ''play factories" which were centers for rehearsals and costume equipment. It improvised plays and vaudeville acts.

It provided overseas alone 23,000 costumes and accessories, 18,000 musical instruments, and 450,000 pieces of sheet music.

It took over and ran in the leave areas and important cities behind the fighting line the largest circuit of theatres, casinos, and amusement halls ever administered under one management.

The adventures of these modern troubadours, if each

THE PERFORMERS ENTER 5

could be persuaded to relate his own experiences, would give a deep insight into the most human side of the War. There would be tales aboard ship, nights on submarined seas, the first hours ashore at the base ports, the journeys into the bleeding heart of France, the last march on the road to battle.

From trench to stevedore camp, from the leave areas to the great supply centers, in dugouts, ruined chateaux, cathedrals, barns, village squares, and trucks backed against barns, these couriers of cheerfulness and sanity and courage, the troubadours of our time, sang the American Army on to victory, the splendid consummation of its mission across the sea.

Throughout the whole range of the profession, from the Shakespearian actor to the burlesque comedian, from the classical singer to the juggler, the ventriloquist, and the chalkologist, no one could set a limit to their enthusiasm or their devotion. One little jazz soubrette, whose lightning dance steps brought her to complete exhaustion after a single performance in America, coming across a trainload of forlorn, show-hungry soldiers, gave this amazing dance eighteen times at different sections of the train, and then exclaimed, "All right, go on with the War!"

But let us now observe how this crusade was put into operation and become acquainted with the forces behind it.

Chapter II The Men Behind The Scenes

"Turn him to any cause of 'policy, The Gordian knot of it he will unloose, Familiar as his garter."

King Henry V.

The cast of characters in this dramatic invasion is so great that if given in the method of the profession it would include, directly or indirectly, every celebrated name on the American stage. It will be necessary, therefore, to select the characters as they appear and watch them in action, that we may judge the work of many from the experiences of a few.

It will be well, however, to stop a moment behind the scenes and meet some of those who planned, developed, and kept this continuous campaign of entertainment in operation throughout the War. Here in America we find the forces of the Red Triangle, under the direction of the National War Work Council, as the motive power behind the whole achievement, with Mr. William Sloane, an able and progressive administrator, as its chairman. We meet Thomas S. McLane, as Chairman of the Overseas Entertainment Bureau, in "command" of the recruiting and movement of the entertainment army across the seas to France; we meet James Forbes, the dramatist, with his able lieutenant, John Briscoe, in command of the forces of the Over There Theatre League.

Those in France, we find engaged in the constantly expanding headquarters described in the preceding chapter. Here is the "Director General" of all the operations of the A. E. F.-YMCA, Edward C. Carter, who entered the War in India at its outbreak in 1914, followed the

THE MEN BEHIND THE SCENES 1

British-Indian armies into the campaigns in Mesopotamia, came to the seat of operations in London, and, upon America's entrance into the War, went to Paris, extending full cooperation in any and every capacity in which the organization which he represented might be able to serve.

We have looked into the crowded headquarters of the Entertainment Department, from which we found the operations of the Troupers being directed. Here, in command during the big campaigns were a progressive business man from the Midd e West, Charles Steele; Walter H. Johnson, Jr.; and one of the most lovable personahties in the whole army, A. M. Beatty, a man who probably knows more actors intimately than any man who went to France. With all these men and many more we shall be face to face in the coming chapters.

The First Division arrived in France in June, 1917, and settled in its training areas around Gondrecourt by the middle of July. By the end of October the other divisions of America's first contingent began to arrive. Within a few days of each other, early in November, the Second, Twenty-Sixth, and Forty-Second Divisions landed in France, and went into training quarters. The Forty-First Division arrived at the end of the year, and by January, 1918, there were something over 190,000 American soldiers in France, of whom about two thirds were combat troops. The Second Division, including the Marines, went into quarters around Bourmont; the Twenty-Sixth, the Yankee Division, composed of the National Guard units from the New England States, spread out around Neuf chateau; while the Forty-Second, the Rainbow Division, made up of National Guardsmen from all over the country, moved into the Rolampont Area between Chaumont and Langres.

These were pioneers of the commonwealth of fighting Americans from whom the world expected so much. They settled in an area something less than fifty miles in diameter around the newly founded General Headquarters at Chaumont, occupying in all over one hundred and fifty villages and towns, strung out for the most part along the lines of communication, but concentrated here and there in centers outnumbering the neighboring French villages five and even ten to one.

Hard work and indomitable cheerfulness carried the Americans a long way through the almost unrelieved monotony of their routine in this environment. The courtesy and hospitality of the French inhabitants aided enormously in staving off homesickness and keeping up the spirits of the troops. But the American soldier is the most social human being in the whole world — and he soon began to realize, amid the dreary rain and mud of the fall and winter, how completely he was cut off from home. The mails had failed. The leave system was still undeveloped. Leisure time after work became a thing rather to dread than to enjoy.

Our action begins here. The American soldier felt free to express his real feelings— he wanted to hear American voices, American jokes, American laughter, and American songs, to see American girls, American movies, American shows. In September and October, Chief Secretary Carter had cabled to New York urging that an organization be set up immediately to fill the demands of the soldiers for entertainment. Every army in the War had been forced to meet this same situation.

Already ''back home" in America the profession was beginning to take up the call. Hundreds of volunteers were performing among the American camps and the ranks soon swelled into thousands. Before the first demands from overseas were heard, in September, 1917, Dr. Paul Pierson had brought a long experience in managing Chautauquas to the task of covering the home camps with entertainment troupes and had established, under Mr. William Sloane, a central booking office in New York.

The problem now arose of finding the right man for

THE MEN BEHIND THE SCENES 9

the important task of sending an army of entertainers overseas on a scale sufficient to cope with the vast need of the rapidly expanding Army in France.

One day early in October, 1917, there came into Mr. Sloane's office a man on his way to Washington to volunteer for war work. On Mr. Sloane's desk lay a cablegram from Paris, reiterating the extreme need of entertainment for the men in France, which he handed to the caller, and thus Thomas McLane became director of what was soon to be the greatest entertainment enterprise in the world's history. The following twenty months wrote a new tradition into the history of America's entertainment.

Mr. McLane first organized a successful campaign for ''that spare ukelele on the top shelf." He searched the country, in other words, for new and secondhand instruments, sheet music, plays, and sketches. This was but one of his jobs. He then organized a ''drive" to reach every professional and amateur in America, to impress them with the need on the other side of every eligible entertainer. And the volunteers responded by the thousands — by letters, by telegrams, and in person — all the way from eminent actors down to stage-struck girls and the elevator boy who wanted to play Hamlet.

From four to six every afternoon he "received" hopeful talent. For months a quiet New York home resounded to the clatter of jazz-dancing feet, the wheeze of saxophones, the chirping of lady singers, the gusto of male quartets, the patter of monologuists in all dialects and known forms of speech — all to save the soldier from a career of crime. There were times when life for Mr. McLane was one long round of tragediennes telling him wrathfully that "The Hun Is at the Gate," large ladies in white singing "Good-By Summer" (in January); and breezy soubrettes always leaving for the "Darktown Strutters' Ball."

Mr. McLane looked for three main qualifications: First, the ability to entertain; second, a watertight list of recommendations; and third, personality as tested by his own instinct. Using these standards, he traveled out to Chicago and Pittsburgh. Later, Francis Rogers, when he came back in the spring of 1918 from a six-months' tour of entertainment ''over there," consented to trying out candidates in his own home.

All this, however, was only the beginning of the McLane campaigns. His was the foresight which endorsed and forwarded the plan to send dramatic coaches to France, as well as actors and entertainers. Thomas Wood Stevens, a professor of dramatic technique at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, and Joseph Linden Smith, a well-known pageant director, were the principal protagonists of this idea. After months of firsthand experience in France, Stevens, in cooperation with Dean Bossange of the Carnegie Institute of Technology, organized at Pittsburgh a short course in the technique of play directing which required but three weeks, and graduated a group of trained people, who, when they went over to France, stepped into action at once as trained personnel ready at hand to put on soldier shows. This was how the soldier show got its real chance for professional finish and expert leadership. A second course was all ready to open at the Carnegie Institute to prepare another group of directors when the Armistice cut across its plans.

As this story unfolds, the service of this man back in America bulks larger. For many weeks he was the link between the Army in France and the entertainment world. The results are known. The accomplishment is the more impressive when it is understood that Mr, McLane was neither a member of the profession, nor a welfare worker, but an American business man volunteer, who was searching for some form of service to the soldiers when he was swept into the task by Mr. Sloane.

Chapter III The Advance Guard In France

"/ would applaud thee to the very echo That should applaud again."

Macbeth.

The experiences of the first American troubadours in France begin with the arrival of the American troop — some four months before the crusade ''back home" was organized. In truth, they even preceded the arrival of Pershing in France.

The man to whom the honor should probably go of being the first American entertainer to go "overseas" after America's declaration of war is Jack Barker. This pioneer arrived in Bordeaux on May 16, 1917, six weeks before the arrival of General Pershing and the first American contingent. Barker was a young college man just graduated from Northwestern University. He was sent to England, where he sang his way into the hearts of the Britishers and got up shows, not only for the Americans coming through on their way to France, but also for many British camps. His gift of holding an audience and of conducting a sing-song made him invaluable. After more than two months in England he went over to France to cover the American camp circuit at a time when entertainers were "worth a regiment." With his "one man shows" and his popular sing-songs he covered the camps at Brest, Issoudun, Gondrecourt, Neufchateau, and elsewhere through the American sector. He was taken ill and lay for a time in Neuilly Hospital, returning home to enlist early in 1918.

The first American to go directly to the American Army

in France, was Gerry Reynolds. He sailed from New

York on July 29, 1917. (Barker was then in England.) Reynolds had been music director at a New York high school, a church organist, and an entertainment coach. He went to France as the first musical and dramatic director. He was at once assigned to the First Division at Gondrecourt. He tried continually to get into the Army as a volunteer and was rejected, but his spirit was irrepressible — he could sing, tell stories, and give rollicking imitations.

Gerry Reynolds spent twenty-six months in France when he had planned to spend two; he went up with the First Division in August, 1917, the first full-time entertainer in the field; he opened up the amusement enterprises in Paris in October and put on its feet the splendid organization for entertaining men on leave there, which later grew to such huge and capably managed proportions; he went to Aix-les-Bains as Entertainment Director in February, 1918, and wrote, rehearsed, and staged shows in a single day, led the local orchestra, took a chance as impromptu impresario of a real grand opera company, and handled the collective temperaments of the Comedie Frangaise Company, the finest players in France, as well as innumerable stellar French vaudeville attractions. He ran the Aix Casino, the social center of one of the most notable watering places in Europe, with dances, parties, and shows put on nightly to the delight of the soldiers on leave; he helped to organize entertainment circuits in the Riviera; he spent two months at Brest, of muddy misery; he reopened the Festhalle in Coblenz with a show that finished its last rehearsal five minutes before the curtain went up; he put on the show "Let's Go" and clothed his soldier chorus with amazing gowns which he had secured from the leading costumers of Paris.

The first male entertainer to appear among the fighting troops was a "song and piano" artist — C. E. Clifford Walker. He came over at the end of September, 1917,

E. C. Carter

Lt.-Col. R. M. Lyon

Major J. O. Donovan

Warren Dunham Foster

General YMCA Headquarters, Paris

THE ADVANCE GUARD IN FRANCE 13

and stayed about three months. Walker was with the First Division when they went into the Une. He had a piano on which he "vamped" as he told his various stories and gave his divers imitations, but as they neared the firing line he was forced to leave his piano behind, and at the front he simply let his legs hang over a stage and told stories to the boys.

Along the lines at this time was a magician, Maletsky. He was one of those marvelous one-man-shows, the rest of his company being made up of rabbits. He had to return to Paris every now and then to stock up on rabbits, as those he had with him grew amazingly and soon got too large to fit into silk hats. Maletsky could not speak a word of English and as he would say, "Eh, Monsieur, voila!" or "Alors, un, deux, trois, vous voyez?" the men took great delight in mimicking him and in counting in unison. Fortunately, besides being a prince of prestidigitators he had a great sense of humor, so, after all, he spoke the American language in his own way.

The first woman entertainer to appear with the A. E. F. was a grand opera contralto — Mme. Cobbina Johnson, wife of Owen Johnson, the novelist. This charming artist came up from Monte Carlo, where she had been singing with great distinction in the opera after successful tours through France and Italy. She volunteered to go with the First Division toward the end of September, 1917.

They wanted somebody to go out to the Mallet Reserve at Soissons for Christmas. It was in the French Zone and at that time there was great difficulty in getting the passes. They had planned to have her go with Nicholas Sokoloff, a fine violinist and conductor, and spend Christmas with the boys. Mme. Johnson was told that these boys did not have anybody to help them out on Christmas.

"I will go if you will get me my passes," she exclaimed.

''We can't."

"All right, I'll get them for myself."

She went to the French Embassy, got the passes, and spent Christmas with the Mallet Reserve. She lost her voice and could not speak for two months; then she went down to Aix in the summer of 1918. Mme. Johnson made a great hit because of her versatility and willingness. She would sing at any time, under any conditions, whether with a band, a piano, or alongside a canteen counter.