Home Front Friday: Cut! That’s a Wrap!
Home Front Friday is a regular series that highlights the can do spirit on the Home Front during World War II and illustrates how that spirit is still alive today!
Joe DiMaggio, Bob Barker, Jackie Coogan, Johnny Carson, Hugh Hefner, Julia Child, John F. Kennedy, and Joe Lewis. Aside from being famous Americans, these celebrities all directly served their country during World War II—on the ground, in the air, at sea, conducting covert research, driving military vehicles, or writing for military newspapers.
Celebrities served a great purpose on the Home Front as well. During the war celebrities and films were great at invigorating morale, not only for people at home, but for soldiers on the base as well. Casablanca is perhaps the most famous movie to come out of the War Era. The movie promoted the anti-Nazi sentiment and reinvigorated the very same sentiment on the Home Front. It romanticized the war on the African front, quite literally, while also denouncing the Nazis by painting them in a negative light. The movie was extremely popular and was highly rated by critics across the board.
Casablanca, 1942.
Additionally, some celebrities traveled across the States in order to promote the sale of War Bonds to Americans all over the country. Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Bette Davis are some of these celebrities, to name a few. Besides promoting the sale of war bonds, these celebrities also traveled around the country in order to entertain soldiers on military bases, increasing their morale.
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- Taken from the original 1942 Casablanca Movie.
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- Bette Davis with Soldiers at Fort Benning, GA. 1944.
http://ww2online.org/image/bette-davis-and-group-watching-village-fighting-demonstration-fort-benning-georgia-6-october
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- Rec Center & Movie Screen. Bob Hope entertained here once. New Caledonia, South Pacific. 1944-45.
Come join us at BB’s Stage Door Canteen on August 26th for a documentary screening of If That’s So, Then I’m a Murderer. For more information about this event, please click here! There are daily showings of the museum’s film Beyond All Boundaries, but check out our calendar for more information about other film screenings in the future.
Posted by Catherine Perrone, Education Intern and Lauren Handley, Assistant Director of Education for Public Programs at The National WWII Museum.
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