Stars Over the Front

Variety called them the Lady (Kay Francis), the Sweater Girl (Carole Landis), the Hoofer (Mitzi Mayfair) and the Hoyden (Martha Raye). They got together last fall as a pickup team, only slightly acquainted with each other, for a tour of fighting fronts. Last week their "captain," Miss Francis, was home with the liveliest trouper's tale of the war. The four actresses had traveled 37,500 miles, had left the memory of their perfume in camps on three continents, won the praise of General Dwight Eisenhower and established themselves as sweethearts of the A.E.F.

The tour was the idea of Theatrical Agent Abe Lastfogel, dollar-a-year head of U.S.O. Camp Shows, who thought a visit from cinema actresses might be good for the morale of U.S. soldiers abroad. The girls traveled light (three suits and two dresses apiece). Their pay: $10 a day for expenses. For two months they toured England and Ireland, giving two or three shows a day, six days a week, for soldiers, sailors, factory workers. Each Sunday they returned to London's Savoy, washed their underwear, flopped into bed.

Their show was a fast, 58-minute routine: Miss Francis told stories; Miss Landis sang (one of her numbers: Strip Polka) ; Miss Raye clowned and Miss Mayfair danced, winding up her act by cutting a rug with a soldier and then carrying him offstage like a sack of meal. When they learned that their audiences hungered for the scent of perfume, the girls conserved their small supply by wearing it only at performances.

In North Africa the girls went up to the front lines to give their show. In steel helmets and trench coats, their faces caked with mud, they sometimes went a week without changing clothes. They ate in the soldiers' mess, watched the boys bid wads of francs for the privilege of escorting them to their tables. They performed in the rain, in halls lit only by torches; once, in a boxing ring. When they lacked a musician, a soldier rapped on a table to keep time for Mitzi's dance. Often under fire, the girls had to interrupt their show one night and lie in a slit trench with a company of soldiers. When the raid ended, they powdered their noses and went on with the show.

Last week the team, easily the biggest war-front entertainment hit of World War II, had been disbanded. Miss Landis was honeymooning in England with a U.S. officer she married during the tour (TIME, Jan. 18). But Mr. Lastfogel had begun to organize similar "live shows" for other U.S. fighting fronts. Miss Francis & Co. had found out what soldiers want. Said she: "All we had to do was say 'Boo' and they howled with delight."

CURRENT & CHOICE

The Hard Way (Ida Lupino, Dennis Morgan, Joan Leslie, Jack Carson; TIME, March 1).

One Day of War (MARCH OF TIME; TIME, Feb. 8).

Air Force (Harry Carey; TIME, Feb. 8).

Saludos Amigos (Jose Carioca, Donald Duck, Pedro; TIME, Jan. 25).

Shadow of a Doubt (Teresa Wright, Joseph Gotten; TIME, Jan. 18).

Commandos Strike at Dawn (Paul Muni, Lillian Gish; TIME, Jan. 18).

In Which We Serve (Noel Coward, Bernard Miles, John Mills; TIME, Dec. 28).

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