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The Hollywood Victory Caravan

© Earl Rickard

On a late April afternoon in 1942, Eleanor Roosevelt stood on the White House lawn greeting a reception line of Hollywood stars. When each performer stepped up to shake her hand an aide announced their name. A middle-aged scholarly looking man lacking his outrageously large greasepaint mustache and his cigar stepped forward. "Mr. Groucho Marx," the aide said. "I'm very happy to welcome you here, Mr. Marx." "Are we late for dinner?" Groucho shot back. And Groucho was just warming up. After limber comedienne-dancer Charlotte Greenwood was introduced to Mrs. Roosevelt, the dancer showed the first lady her special high kick by swinging her leg over Mrs. Roosevelt's head. Groucho leaned over to the President's wife and said, "You could do that too, if you put your mind to it." The Hollywood Victory Caravan had arrived in Washington D.C.!

After Pearl Harbor the Screen Actors Guild and the motion picture industry's trade guilds formed the Hollywood Victory Committee: An organization committed to supporting American servicemen around the world. The committee created shows and touring troupes to appear at military bases and USO centers. Of course, Hollywood, being Hollywood, had to kick things off with a touring extravaganza: The Victory Caravan -- a train carrying Hollywood's top stars.

The stars on this coast to coast to coast jaunt were Desi Arnaz, Joan Bennett, Joan Blondell, James Cagney, Claudette Colbert, Jerry Colonna, Bing Crosby, Irene Dunne, Cary Grant, Charlotte Greenwood, Olivia De Haviland, Bob Hope, Francis Langford, Bert Lahr, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, Groucho Marx, Frank McHugh, Ray Middleton, Pat O'Brien, Merle Oberon, Eleanor Powell, Rise Stevens, Spencer Tracy, and seven Hollywood starlets.

Also on board were the shows producer-director Mark Sandrich (director of many Astaire-Rogers movies) and famous motion picture musical director Alfred Newman. These two men put together the show's special material including songs, dances, comedy bits, dramatic scenes, and an operatic aria. The material was written by Hollywood heavyweights Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse, and Broadway legends George Kaufman and Moss Hart, with original music by Jerome Kern, Johnny Mercer, Frank Loesser, and Arthur Schwartz.

The stars boarded a special train at Union Station, Los Angeles and headed east for Washinton D.C. The Southern Pacific Railroad offered, free of charge, seven pullman cars with seperate berths for all the performers, a dinning car, and a lounge car with a fully stocked bar and a piano. Around the piano every night the performers rehearsed their acts and sang old songs to entertain each other. Groucho sang bits from Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, Pat O'Brien and Frank McHugh wailed Irish songs, and, according to Groucho, you could also hear Bing Crosby the " million-dollar crooner straining his voice to top the sound of the train and trying to outdo an obscure baritone who insisted he was Bob Hope.