Just a Kid from Hell's Kitchen - In Remembrance of TC Murray

HOLLYWOOD GOES TO WAR AND THE USO’S RIGHT BEHIND
At the age of nine, I was old enough to go to the movies on a Saturday afternoon with
some of my pals. It was on the silver screen that I was introduced to some of my favorite
wartime actors. At the time, motion pictures were reviewed, and in many cases censored,
by Hollywood’s Production Code Administration and the Roman Catholic Church’s,
Legion of Decency. Now Hollywood had to work in concert with the government’s
Censorship Agency and the War Department. The “Hollywood Commandos” produced
short recruiting and training films and enlisted Hollywood’s finest to star in them.
“Tinseltown’s” liaison, General “Hap” Arnold, gave USAF commissions to Jack Warner,
John Houston, Frank Capra and thousands more in the entertainment industry to produce
the needed film footage.
In spite of cutting room and censorial measures, many wartime classics were
produced…and I probably saw them all. One of the earliest war films was Flying Tigers,
a screenplay about a group of fliers in World War II China. Plenty of action and
dogfights galore contributed to the success of this “gung ho”(not a character in the film)
movie. The film’s star was John Wayne who immediately became my screen idol. I saw
him in The Fighting Seabees and Back to Bataan and would become a lifelong fan of the
“Duke”. I cried as I saw Thomas Mitchell and Anne Baxter portray the parents of The
Fighting Sullivan’s. I remember seeing Crash Dive with Tyrone Power and Thirty
Seconds Over Tokyo with Spencer Tracy. Of all the wartime movies produced,
Casablanca has to be my favorite. Revised, again and again, as the movie was being shot,
it featured Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, and a host of Hollywood’s greatest stars.
It was shown in my United States History classes during my latter years as a teacher and
remains my all-time favorite movie. “Play it (again), Sam”.
Complementing a good war movie was the newsreel. This was the closest one could get
to the war fronts, thanks to the cameramen who risked their lives to film the action on the
spot. RKO Pathe and Movietone News were among the major newsreel producers. With
the strains of a Sousa march playing as a lead in to a news piece, Lowell Thomas, Dan
Herilhy, and other celluloid commentators with sonorous male voices, would bring
history to the silver screen. Being a frequent moviegoer, I followed the progress of the
war through the lens of newsreel cameras. A major military setback would find a somber
theatre audience and the images of any of the Axis leaders would prompt an obligatory
“boo”. Attendees, especially the younger matinee kids, like myself, would yell, applaud
wildly, and throw candy or popcorn at the announcement of an Allied victory. Of course,
the newsreels covered items of interest over here as well.