Hollywood Victory Committee
Hattie McDaniel was the Chairman of the Negro Division of the Hollywood Victory Committee, providing entertainment for soldiers in hospitals, and those stationed at military bases.
The shows were originally organized under great secrecy and sent initially to the British Isles to entertain American troops stationed there.
This program was not heard by American civilians but broadcast by short-wave radio to America's fighting forces on all battle fronts.
Major General A.D. Surles, Director of the War Department Bureau of Public Relations, said that the troops "sit with ears glued to the radio every Sunday."
[4] One of Gable's first decisions as chairman of the Hollywood Victory Committee was to enlist the aid of his wife, Carole Lombard, also a successful actress, to sell war bonds.
In a hurry to return home to her husband in California, Lombard purchased seats on TWA Flight #3 from Indianapolis to Burbank.
She talked her way onto the final leg of the flight by reminding military officials that she had sold over $2 million in war bonds.
After his wife's burial in California, Clark Gable joined the Army Air Corps and flew B-17 missions from England.
[5] Prior to World War II America adopted an isolationist policy and sought to avoid involvement in the growing conflicts in Europe.
On December 18, 1941, President Roosevelt addressed Hollywood and asked them to help change Americans into supporters of the war effort.
[6] Gable, the first chairman of the Hollywood Victory Committee, encouraged his fellow actors to not only support the war effort with their talents but to actively join the military.
In 1938, as the highest-paid actor in Hollywood, Cagney was accused of communist sympathies and was brought before the House Committee on UnAmerican Activities.
During his involvement as Chairman of the Hollywood Victory Committee, James Cagney participated in long domestic and overseas tours to entertain the troops and worked tirelessly to sell war bonds.
[8] George Murphy was another Chairman of the Victory Committee, and like good friends James Cagney and Ronald Reagan, he would also serve as President of the Screen Actors Guild.
Like Reagan, he became active in politics after Chairing the Hollywood Victory Committee and organizing entertainment for the Armed Forces during the Second World War.
Film stars Bob Hope and Bing Crosby would keep the memory alive in their 1945 movie about a young woman's attempt to travel to Washington DC to visit her brother who was a soldier.
