Existing comment:
Hollywood Victory Caravan
"Cary Grant, Joan Bennett, Claudette Colbert, Joan Blondell, Charles Boyer, James Cagney . . . It was really a tough trip . . . You were lucky if you could mention your own pictures once every half hour."
- -- Bob Hope, 1942
On April 30, 1942, more than twenty Hollywood stars were invited to the White House by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt before opening their musical revue extravaganza that during the next two weeks played in fourteen cities and netted $800,000 for Army and Navy relief funds. The "Hollywood Victory Caravan," traveled cross country in a special train, performing songs, dances, skits, playlets, operatic pieces, and spectacular ensemble numbers. The production, emceed by Bob Hope and Cary Grant, was considered by the New York Times to be "the most ambitious money-raising project ever staged by the theatrical world."
Eleanor Roosevelt on White House lawn with "Hollywood Victory Caravan" entertainers (seated, from left) Oliver Hardy (1892–1957), Joan Blondell (1906–1979), Charlotte Greenwood (1890–1977), Charles Boyer (1899–1978), Risë Stevens (b. 1913), Desi Arnaz (1917–1986), Frank McHugh (1898–1981), writer Matt Brooks (1907–1990), James Cagney (1899–1986), Pat O'Brien (1899–1983), Juanita Stark, Alma Carroll; (standing, from left) Merle Oberon (1911–1979), Eleanor Powell (1912–1982), Arleen Whelan (1914–1993), Marie McDonald (1923–1965), Fay McKenzie (b. 1918), Katharine Booth, Mrs. Roosevelt (1884–1962), Frances Gifford (1920–1994), Frances Langford (1913–2005), Elyse Knox (b. 1917), Cary Grant (1904–1986), Claudette Colbert (1903–1996), Bob Hope (1903–2003), Ray Middleton (1907–1984), Joan Bennett (1910–1990), Bert Lahr (1895–1967), director Mark Sandrich (1900–1945), writer Jack Rose (1911–1995), Stan Laurel (1890–1965), Jerry Colonna (1904–1986), and Groucho Marx (1890–1977), April 30, 1942. |