Broadway During the War Years

By Kathy Kovach

New York’s Broadway theater district firmly established itself in the early 20th century. It was during this time that the world was gearing up for war, and we needed entertainment and a chance to forget, if only for an evening.

The Great White Way (Broadway), met the Great War (WWI) with compassion, humility, and determination through a band of six theater women led by playwright and director Rachel Crothers. Together, they formed the formidable Stage Women’s War Relief in 1917. They recruited members of the theater community to sell war bonds to the tune of $7 million dollars, nearly $200 million today. They also collected articles of clothing and performed for troops.

The Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, effectively ending the war between Germany and the allied powers. The war relief organization then turned its efforts to veterans and civilians suffering the effects of war.

As the country healed, the Stage Women’s War Relief eventually disbanded. However, several years later, the world was drawn once again into conflict. Two years before the US entrance into WWII, the federal government tasked Crothers to reactivate the organization. Under the new name of The American Theater Wing, they raised money and supplies to aid British civilians affected by the war.

Then the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in December 1941.

Thrust back into war, the US now had to concentrate on their own home front. The American Theater Wing rose to the challenge, and, with the help of actresses Jane Cowl and Selena Royale, began the search for a recreational facility where service members could relax and unwind. They found one in the basement of the 44th Street Theater. The owner, Lee Shubert, allowed the space to be remodeled, and materials were donated by theater trade unions. Seven hundred volunteers showed up with the caveat that they would work through the duration of the war. They were told if they missed a shift, they had to get someone to take their place. Cowl announced, “These men are going to the Philippines. They are going to the Burma Road. Nothing is too good for them.”

Stage and film actress Elizabeth Inglis serving donuts at the Stage Door Canteen.
(Inglis is also the mother of Sigourney Weaver.)

By March 1st, just three weeks after construction began, the Stage Door Canteen opened for preview. The only admission charged was food supplies for the kitchen. More than a half ton of sugar was collected. The canteen measured 40 by 80 feet and could contain 500 people at a time. When it opened for business the next day, a system was devised that allowed patrons in for only two hours. Thanks to donations of supplies from generous New Yorkers and various fund raising efforts, admission for US and allied service members was free.

In order to serve this many people, celebrities from the entertainment community volunteered their time. They did so in a variety of ways, from performing acts to making and serving sandwiches. At any given time, one could find a favorite stage star washing dishes. Actresses danced with the boys who craved female companionship.

During the canteen's four year run from 1942 to 1946, the radio station WMCA asked for donations of non-perishable goods. Shubert held two benefit matinee performances in his Imperial Theater to raise money. In addition, songwriter Irving Berlin wrote “I Left My Heart at the Stage Door Canteen” and contributed all of the proceeds.

Because of the success of the Stage Door Canteen, the American Theater Wing helped other similar venues to open around the country, as well as London and Paris. Hollywood got into the act and opened their own version, the Hollywood Canteen, utilizing movie celebrities to entertain and serve. I wrote about that in my article “The Hollywood Canteen – Patriotism at Its Finest”

Actor Lon McCallister in the film Stage Door Canteen

Throughout the war years, the canteens never saw decline. The Broadway Stage Door Canteen welcomed its 2 millionth guest on Valentine’s Day 1944. They gifted the lucky person tickets to see the new musical Oklahoma. And what about the food? Regarding the sandwiches during the first two years, The New York Times reported, that “if placed from end to end would stretch from here to Berlin and back if anyone wanted to feed the enemy.” As a side note, milk was the preferred beverage in the alcohol-free establishment.

In June 1945, Germany was defeated. For whatever reason, as the war wound down, the Broadway canteen had to vacate their space. They found a new home in the Crystal Room of the Hotel Diplomat on 43rd Street. Volunteers from the military and theater communities paraded all of the furnishings, decorations, and equipment around the block to the new facility. New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, who had called the canteen “a great institution of which the city is very proud,” led the way carrying a chair. An 8-piece band playing marching music followed. This was accomplished in one day, and they were open for business that evening.

U.S. Veterans’ Hospital, Augusta, Georgia

After the war, all of the canteens disbanded, but the American Theater Wing remained strong in its resolve for patriotism. They helped create recreational programs for patients in the Veterans Administration hospitals and provided a theater school for military members returning from overseas. They are also responsible for the formation of the Tony Awards.

As the wife of an Air Force veteran, I salute the tenacity of the American Theater Wing, and the women who inaugurated its existence.

Titanic: Legacy of Betrayal

A TIME-SLIP NOVEL

A secret. A key. Much was buried on the Titanic, but now it's time for resurrection.

Follow two intertwining stories a century apart. 1912 - Matriarch Olive Stanford protects a secret after boarding the Titanic that must go to her grave. 2012 - Portland real estate agent Ember Keaton-Jones receives the key that will unlock the mystery of her past... and her distrusting heart.

To buy: Amazon

Kathleen E. Kovach is a Christian romance author published traditionally through Barbour Publishing, Inc. as well as indie. Kathleen and her husband, Jim, raised two sons while living the nomadic lifestyle for over twenty years in the Air Force. Now planted in northern Wyoming, she's a grandmother and a great-grandmother—though much too young for either. Kathleen has been a longstanding member of American Christian Fiction Writers. An award-winning author, she presents spiritual truths with a giggle, proving herself as one of God's peculiar people.

Website
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The Queen of American Etiquette by Cheryl Rae Johnson

When writing historical romance, the rules of courtship can be a tricky thing to get right. The standard for a lady in England might not hold for a lady in New England, and that standard might not hold for a lady in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where my historical romance series takes place. An eighteen-year-old will have different marriage rules to follow than a twenty-four-year-old, who by the late 1800s would not at that age be considered an old maid like she once might have been.

by Mrs. M.E.W. Sherwood, 1884

So when I came across a published copy of the 1884 book, Manners and Social Usages, by Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Wilson Sherwood, I wasn't just thrilled to have a vintage copy of this book, I was in awe at the goldmine of American dating etiquette as well as the glimpse it provided into American culture during the late 1800s.

As I tell my American Literature students, we study the past to help us understand the present and the future, how far we've come, and in some instances, how much we've regressed. This book teaches us a little of both.

So who was Mrs. Sherwood and what made her such an authority on this topic that the women of her time took her word as the gold standard of manners and etiquette?

Mary Elizabeth Wilson Sherwood
as a young woman
Mary Elizabeth Wilson Sherwood, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Mary Elizabeth Wilson was the oldest of seven children, and although it is unclear when her mother died, by the time her father was elected to congress in 1847 when she was eighteen years old, her mother had passed, leaving Mary Elizabeth to take care of her father's house in Washington D.C. and to act as his hostess for political events. In 1851, while still in D.C., she married Mr. John Sherwood, a lawyer from New York City. It was after her marriage that she made many trips to Europe, where she became acquainted with Queen Victoria and Margherita of Savoy, the Queen of Italy. The time spent in Europe, and perhaps even in the presence of these Queens, is what allowed her to make the continuous comparisons throughout the book between Europe and America but she did conclude in her preface that, "...with us the South, the North, the East, and the West differ as to certain points of etiquette. All, however, agree in saying that there is a good society in America whose mandates are supreme." 

Mrs. Sherwood published a total of seven books and wrote many poems. She was acquainted with such literary greats as Charles Dickens, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Daniel Webster, and William Makepeace Thackeray.

She knew both wealth and financial hardship when in 1883, she and her husband were forced to sell their home and many of their belongings. Through it all, she continued her literary pursuits. She raised money for charity, even during her own difficult times. Now that is the height of good manners.

According to Mrs. Sherwood, "There is no more generous, kindly, or better people in the world than the standard American, but he is often an untrained creature." This shift in not knowing how to act or what to do came about after the Civil War, when the older ways died along with the older generation. But after the Civil War, something else happened, the acquisition of "new" money with the railroad, mines, and land acquisition. And that meant a whole new crop of wealthy people needing to know what fork do we use when? What coat is worn for what occasion? And a general question of what is the proper thing to do? Mrs. Sherwood set out to answer everyone's questions and teach America proper etiquette. She began this task through contributions to popular lady's magazines such as Harper's Bazaar and literary magazines such as Scribner's Magazine and Frank Leslie's Weekly before eventually turning her knowledge into a publication of over four hundred pages.

One of my favorite insights is that of a married woman's role in light of her husband. Sherwood states: "As for titles for married women, we have only the one word, 'Mrs.,' not even the pretty French 'Madame.'" She goes on to say: "The truth is, women have no real names. They simply are called by the name of father or husband, and if they marry several times may well begin to doubt their own identity. Happy those who never have to sign but one new name to their letters!" 

The opening page on Sherwood's
chapter on Balls and Dances.

And although she was known to be conservative, I dare say she was hopeful women would have the right to vote, as her phrasing indicates, "when women are allowed to vote," and not if they are allowed to. She passed away on August 12, 1903, having never seen that right come to fruition. 

I have made good use of Sherwood's advice in my writing, thankful for the loosening of etiquette as my characters live in Chattanooga and not in the more refined New England. That does not mean all courtship standards go by the wayside. Book 4 of the Chattanooga Hearts Series, Loving Miss Lucy, released this month, and the book incorporates Manners and Social Usages into its narrative. Click on the book cover to pick up your copy.

About Cheryl Rae Johnson: 

Cheryl Rae Johnson writes historical romance set in the American South. She has made her home in all corners of the US, but is now settled on the eastern edge of Texas, where she teaches writing and literature at her local university as well as ministers alongside her husband of over forty years in her local church. She can often be found drinking coffee and hanging out with her ever-growing brood of grandchildren. She loves to connect with readers. You can join her at: 

Cheryl Rae Johnson Website

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