The show business
Mª José Hinojosa, Alberto Santoyo and Katherine Valderrama
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Most day-to-day activities changed during the war days, including the show business. Listening to the radio, going to concerts, dancing or watching films at the cinemas were the most popular entertainments that were used to keep civilians busy during the Second World War (WWII). It became a way of escape from the hardships of wartime life. With the theatres closed, the cinema and the radio grew like foam. Every week in Britain, between 25 and 30 million cinema tickets were sold and the radio was affordable almost for everyone.
From time to time theatres were opened for holding concerts for British civilian workers. Even the National Gallery hosted a series of lunchtime concerts throughout the war, featuring Hess and other classical performers. The radio was used to inform the families about the war development, encouraged citizens to join in the war effort (share propaganda) and offered entertainment. Here is where Vera Lynn, known as the 'Forces Sweetheart', clearly triumphed.
This Londoner was, without a doubt, the most popular singer in the UK during those hard years. She had her own radio show on the BBC, called Sincerely Yours, where she sang and passed on messages to the troops serving overseas, away from their families. Her melancholic theme “We’ll Meet Again” became an authentic anthem for the soldiers and their families, and it is still an essential piece of any playlist of WWII music. Other of her massive hits were “The White Cliffs of Dover”, “Whishing” or “Yours”, heading the charts. Nowadays Vera Lynn is 101 years old and she has got the record for being the oldest singer to record an album, at the age of 97.
Another remarkable song at the time was “Lili Marleen”. It crossed the borders and became very popular among the troops in different countries. Its lyrics were based on a poem written during the First World War by a soldier named Hans Leip. Probably, Marlene Dietrich made the most internationally famous cover.
Far from the UK, in the United States, we can find a female trio of sisters from Minnesota, The Andrews Sisters (America’s Wartime Sweethearts). They were a singing group of swing and pop music with a huge following that was considered by the people of the WWII generation as the Beatles of those days. During that period, with their songs, they cheered the allied troops, they made shows at military bases and hospitals in the USA, Italy and Africa. Among all their contributions, they recorded The Victory Discs to be distributed among the allies and they also made a cover of the song "Any Bonds Today?" to motivate Americans to buy war bonds.
We could not finish without naming another important women artist in WWII, the Austrian-American actress-inventor Hedy Lamarr. She was eager to defeat the Axis powers (Germany, Italy and Japan) because her first husband, who was obsessive and controlling, sold munitions to them knowing she was a Jewess. In 1941 she worked hand in hand with the American composer George Antheil on the development of a Secret Communications System which is the precursor of GPS and wireless phones. Despite her giving the patent of this invention to the US Navy, they did not use it during WWII because they considered it was not useful. Instead of that, they suggest that she helps bringing in donations. To this end, one night she sold kisses for $50,000 and she managed to collect $7 million.
The extension of this page does not allow us to talk about all the women that were important in the show business during WWII, but we have given you some examples to encourage you to find out more and discover all the roles that women played in this horrible war.
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