Double Victory (27 page)

When Julie Gardner, blues singer Ann Lewis, and comedian Flo Robinson arrived with a camp show in New Caledonia in
the Southwest Pacific in June 1944, the military police were called out to clear the roads for the 8,000 soldiers who had heard that the women were in the area. The black soldiers had been in the jungles of New Caledonia for two years and hadn't seen any women in a very long time. The men weren't disappointed by the show. Flo and her husband performed their comedy act, ending with a jitterbug swing. Julie was the star of the show with her accordion, playing and singing “Hit That Jive, Jack,” “Kow Kow Boogie,” and “Don't Cry, Baby.” Ann Lewis, with her flame-red upswept pompadour, followed Julie's act. She finished with her performance of “St. Louis Blues” and danced the boogie and the shorty George.

Julie Gardner headed off to Alaska in October 1945 along with three other black entertainers—pianist Gladys Cooper, singer Rosetta Williams, and acrobatic dancer Dollie Pembrook. The four were part of a camp show sent to entertain black troops on the Aleutian Islands. Their first stop was Attu, at the end of the island chain. Bad weather kept the show on Attu for more than a week, but the soldiers didn't mind. They hadn't seen a black woman in three years, and some of them cried at the sight of the three entertainers. They honored the women by naming their jeeps after them.

Five black USO entertainers were in Italy in late 1944 with USO Unit 249—the first black troupe in the European theater of operations. Along with master of ceremonies Doc Wheeler, pianist-accordionist Jack McGuire headed up the male segment of the show. But the real hits were the three women: “the exotic darling of the unit” singer Ethyl Wise, “the bluest of blues” singer Sandra Lee, and “five foot package of dancing dynamite” Iva Bowen.

Caterina Jarboro was trained as a classical singer and had made a name for herself as a soprano in the opera world in
the United States and Europe. In 1944 she headed up a USO tour in Italy. USO Show Number 384
—Concert Time
—featured Caterina in New Year performances in Naples and Rome. From there the show toured the entire front, entertaining the soldiers of the 92nd Division. Caterina was accustomed to performing for audiences in fine concert halls, but she adjusted to entertaining in wartime Europe too. When war first broke out, Caterina was living and working in Europe; sometimes she could be found singing in air raid shelters as bombs dropped from the skies.

USO Troupe Number 339 arrived in the Persian Gulf in early 1945. The all-black troupe had come to entertain the soldiers of the 380th Port Battalion, the 675th Port Company, and the 153rd Bakery Unit. Lillian Thomas and Cora Green were performers with the troupe and the first American black women the soldiers had seen in two years. Lil Thomas played the “St. Louis Blues” with “a solid bass that brought raves from the packed house.” And she finished her set of several encores with “My Ideal” in a “sultry sweet and low voice.” Cora Green was a hit with her renditions of “The Laziest Gal in Town” and “Stormy Weather.”

In September 1945 the black USO show
Plenty Potent
arrived in the Dutch East Indies to entertain soldiers and sailors who had been in the Pacific theater of operations for 30 months. It was the first black troupe to appear there. The 75-minute shows that were offered for seven nights featured pianist Bernice Harris and Iva Bowen, who tap-danced to boogie-woogie. Rosalie Young sang for the troops—“Save All Your Honey for Me,” “When They Ask About You,” “I'll Get By,” and “I'll Walk Alone.” The soldiers and sailors sent this message back home: “Please send more colored performers!”

The Gal Who Set Two Continents on Fire

When Alberta Hunter set out on her USO tours across the globe in 1944 she already had made a name for herself as the “gal who set two continents afire” in the 1920s and '30s. A captivating performer, Alberta was a regular at the Chez Florence, Paris's “smartest café.” It was at the Chez Florence that England's Prince of Wales—the future King Edward—came to hear Alberta sing “Time on My Hands.” She played at the famous Dorchester Hotel in London and had a six-week engagement at the Palladium. It was reported that Alberta Hunter had “seared the hearts of men” across Europe.

Alberta's dazzling career was interrupted by Hitler's advancing armies. She fled Europe with unfulfilled contracts in Denmark, Greece, and Germany. Alberta's star power was as bright in the United States as it had been in Europe. And for a few years Alberta was happy to work her magic on American audiences. But when the USO offered her the opportunity to travel the world again, she couldn't resist.

“We are in the jungles of Burma,” wrote Alberta Hunter in her column for the
Afro American
newspaper in late 1944. “Before arriving in this area, we witnessed our first actual air raid and have become quite accustomed to stepping over dead bodies. We have to keep our doors and windows closed for fear that some kind of wild animal will pay us an unwelcomed visit. One recently plunged through the screen window of a hut and mangled its occupant.”

Alberta took her USO show
Rhythm and Blues
to the black servicemen who were carving a road through the jungles on the legendary Ledo Road. Alberta planned to be in the China-Burma-India theater of war for six months. In addition to managing the
show, she sang; during her spare time, she wrote for the
Afro American
newspaper back home in Baltimore, Maryland.

In February 1945, Alberta wrote from Assam, India, where she and her troupe—consisting of Taps Miller, a male trumpet player; the Three Rhythm Rascals, three male musicians who specialized in boogie-woogie; and Mae Gaddy, a female singer from New York City—were a treat for the weary soldiers.

In her newspaper column Alberta reminded readers that she and her fellow performers were doing their part for the war by entertaining the troops: “We are in one of the most picturesque countries of the world making history. We are the first colored unit to play this country; in fact, we are blazing a trail, where no artists have played.” She begged readers to do their part for the war effort by sending more mail to the troops.

While Alberta entertained the troops in Burma and India in the winter of 1945, the war in Europe entered its final stages. In May 1945 victory was declared by the Allied troops in Europe. General Dwight D. Eisenhower of the US Army—nicknamed Ike—had established his Allied headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany. Ike and military leaders from two of America's allies—Field Marshall Sir Bernard Montgomery from Britain and General Gregori Zhukov of the Soviet Union—met to discuss what to do with defeated Germany.

The challenges facing the leaders were enormous. The world was watching them as they made decisions that would affect millions of people across the globe. With so much responsibility on their shoulders, the generals needed an occasional break from their work. Alberta Hunter's energetic USO show was just what the generals needed to take their minds off their obligations for a few hours. The black press reported that Ike had passed up a list of popular white stars who were in Europe—including Sonja Henie, Mickey Rooney, and Marlene Dietrich—and requested
Alberta Hunter's USO Troupe
Rhythm Carnival
to provide the respite for the generals. Ike's personal aide ordered a special plane to transport Alberta, the Three Rhythm Rascals, singer Mae Gaddy, and trumpeter Jean Starr to Frankfurt.

The three generals reportedly hummed along to the popular American songs—“Straighten Up and Fly Right,” “G.I. Jive,” and “Deep in the Heart of Texas.” And Ike—the supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force—sang along with Alberta Hunter as she performed one request after another. When the general refused to let the entertainers depart, word had to be sent to the next camp where the stars were scheduled to perform to cancel their show. It had to be disappointing to the soldiers at the next stop, but who could say no to the three war heroes who were deciding the future of the postwar world?

Alberta wrote her newspaper column in July from France. She and her troupe had just left Paris, where they had performed. She reported running into some black Americans who had been freed from Nazi concentration camps where they had spent the war years—famous trumpeter Arthur Briggs and Edgar Wiggins, a reporter for the
Chicago Defender
newspaper.

In September 1945, Alberta wrote about performing in Zell am See, Austria, where they toured the palatial home of Nazi Hermann Goering. She reported that the walls of the house were covered in thick satin and lined with priceless paintings of religious scenes. The dining room held a silver table that she wrote would require “10 to 15 men to move.” She commented on the beautiful horse stables at the estate, which was hidden among the trees. She wrote about performing at Bad Gastein in Austria and observed, “Words cannot describe the beauty of Austria.”

From Austria, Alberta and her troupe returned to France, where they entertained the soldiers of the 482nd Medical
Battalion at the city of Metz. Then on to Reims, where the treaty ending the war in Europe had been signed. She said the soldiers were so excited about her show they stood in line in the streets and alleys waiting to get in. Alberta wrote from Dijon, France, in November 1945.

Although the war was over in Europe by May 1945, the USO and government officials knew it was still important to keep soldiers' morale high as they occupied the war-torn lands in Europe. That's why the USO sent a rash of shows to Europe in mid-1945. Alberta Hunter was called upon to set out on her world tour for the USO, and the International Sweethearts of Rhythm were called to Europe.

The Sweethearts

Black entertainer Anna Mae Winburn was in France about the same time as Alberta Hunter. For Anna Mae the journey to Europe was in some ways exciting, but it was also very sad. She was the leader of an all-girl band that was making history: it was the first integrated girl band to tour the war front. And Anna Mae hoped this trip would give her the chance to run into her brother, who was serving somewhere in Germany. But Anna Mae knew she wouldn't run into her other brother—he had died in Normandy, France, during the D-day invasion in 1944.

Some Americans didn't seem to care about the sacrifices Anna Mae's family had made for the war effort. When they looked at Anna Mae they didn't see a young woman whose family had made the supreme sacrifice for their country. They didn't see a young woman who had two brothers who fought to defend democracy in a dangerous war zone. They didn't see a talented musician and singer. When they watched petite Anna Mae Winburn as she led an 18-piece swing band, they saw a
black girl mixing with white girls—and for many Americans that was unacceptable. In fact, they had made it against the law in some states, and they believed that law should be enforced.

Anna Mae was the beautiful and talented leader of the International Sweethearts of Rhythm. The band had been a hit in the United States since 1941 when they had gone professional. Originally the International Sweethearts of Rhythm had comprised girls from the Piney Woods Country Life School, a school for black children in Mississippi. The group had been formed to help raise money to support the school. But by 1941 when the band went pro, the members were no longer students; they were talented female musicians who loved to perform—and made money doing what they loved. What made the International Sweethearts of Rhythm unusual was not that they were women—there were other “all-girl” bands performing across the United States in the 1940s.

What made the International Sweethearts of Rhythm stand out was that the band members were from a variety of racial backgrounds. That's how the word “international” became part of the band's name. The African American, Mexican, Asian, American Indian, and Puerto Rican part of the band didn't cause a problem for most people—because none of these musicians was white. Nonwhites working, traveling, and eating together were of little interest to most white Americans—as long as they didn't use white restaurants and restrooms. But it was the
white
part of the band that caused problems.

The International Sweethearts of Rhythm traveled from coast to coast in their own sleeper bus—Big Bertha. Traveling in Big Bertha made life easier for the women in the band because it was difficult to find hotels that would allow the black women—including Anna Mae Winburn, Helen Jones, Evelyn McGee, Pauline Braddy, Clora Bryant, Vi Burnside, Tiny Davis, and
Johnnie Mae Rice—to stay. It also made it easier to conceal the white women in the band—including alto sax player Roz Cron.

The fact that Roz Cron and other white women played with the band caused problems in the southern United States, where Jim Crow laws made it illegal for white people to work, socialize, or eat with black people. It was illegal for black and white people to share a park bench. It was illegal for a black person to stay on a sidewalk when he or she met a white person. The black person had to step off into the gutter to let the white person pass. And it was illegal for black Anna Mae Winburn to head a band that included white women. Yet the International Sweethearts of Rhythm defied the law and played throughout the South. But when they performed it was not unusual to see white police officers pacing back and forth in front of the bandstand—trying to figure out if any of the band members were white. Roz Cron wore dark makeup to cover up her white skin and permed her hair to make it curlier.

In Birmingham, Alabama, the International Sweethearts of Rhythm ran into a potential problem with police one night after a performance. The women were on Big Bertha preparing to travel to their next show in St. Louis, Missouri, when they heard from some friends that the police were suspicious about a few of the Sweethearts. The band manager got the white girls—and the ones who
looked
white—off the bus as quickly as she could. They hailed a cabbie, who demanded the girls ride out of sight on the floor of his cab, and made their way to the train station, where they boarded the whites-only train compartment to meet up with the rest of the band in St. Louis.