Organised entertainment, whilst designed to raise troop morale, could be a double-edged sword and erode morale if it was of poor quality. Whilst good quality performances demonstrated a sense of paternal commitment to the troops by the military authorities, poor quality acts signified for the troops that the authorities (and worse, those back home) did not care enough about them.[1] Even if the entertainment was of the very highest quality and provided by the highest paid performers, it could lower morale if badly organised. This is best illustrated in the story of Gracie Fields’s tour of North Africa and Sicily during September 1943.
The troops loved ‘Our Gracie’ and she told them that she would be glad to follow them wherever facilities permitted. It is difficult to understand Gracie’s appeal looking back from the 21st century. Writing in the 1970s, Spike Milligan described Gracie Fields “as funny as a steam roller going over a baby.”[2] But he was in a minority, it seems. Naomi Jacob attempted to describe her home-spun, Lancashire charm:
“There are very few, possibly you could count them on the fingers of one hand, artists who have a personality which hits their audience “where they live.” It is not only Gracie’s singing, or her songs, for some of them are poorish stuff; it is not her appearance, for there are plenty of better-looking and younger women. It is an indefinable “something” which makes her “Our Gracie,” which makes people argue concerning her, and argue fiercely in her defence, should anyone be so sufficiently unwise as to criticise her. In addition she has that tremendous warm-heartedness which is typical of the Land which Lies North of the Humber from whence she hails. Added to that a complete lack of self-consciousness.”[3]
Our Gracie’s positive effect on Britain’s war effort was so huge that she was declared an enemy of the Third Reich by the Germans early in the war. Merriman underlines her impact on morale and describes how
“A German propaganda magazine publicised, in a somewhat threatening manner, her work for the British war effort: ‘Gracie Fields has earned for England the equivalent of a hundred new Spitfires. She is adjudged a war industry and should therefore be treated accordingly.”[4]
In August 1943, Gracie Fields returned to Britain after several years in the US to rapturous crowds. Her return to her home town of Rochdale, accompanied by a grinning Basil Dean (Director of ENSA) was captured by this British Pathe newsreel.
After playing to the troops at home, in September Fields left for her first overseas tour since France 1939-40. She was accompanied by Virginia Vernon, who writes of her reducing thousands of men to tears with her renditions of ‘Ave Maria’.[5] Whilst in Sicily towards the end of the month, she received a signal from Field Marshal Montgomery asking her to extend her tour and hop across the Straits of Messina to play to the Eighth Army on mainland Italy. An official invitation from Monty to perform on the Italian mainland this time, rather than bribing a fishing trawler to land on the beaches at Regio (see George Formby article). Beryl Formby would have been fuming!
Due to a pre-existing contractual obligation with a radio station in New York on 5th October 1943, her manager (and husband, Monty Banks) urged Gracie to return to the US. A flurry of urgent telegrams were exchanged between ENSA, Gracie’s manager, and 8th Army HQ, but to no avail and she left for New York in early October. The troops in the Eighth Army felt snubbed, let down, and angry. Their vitriol spilled over into The Crusader – the Eighth Army serviceman’s newspaper – on 21 October when it published a bitter open letter criticising Gracie Fields:
“you, as the rest of the topliners who have paid us a flying visit, would have been a greater trouper if you had forgotten your contracts and commitments and stayed with us a little longer.”[6]
Fawkes describes the incident in his book, Fighting for a Laugh, that Gracie had simply left to fulfil a radio contract.[7] However, the story is more complex. Civilian performers were spread thin, especially stars like Gracie Fields. Our Gracie had not returned to New York only to line her own pockets, but to raise money for the war effort, an important job for entertainers when not performing for the troops. Virginia Vernon describes how upset and torn Fields felt in having to leave the Eighth Army in her handwritten diaries.[8] The Crusader’s attack on this national treasure even provoked questions and defense for the performer in the House of Commons.[9]
Gracie Fields was not only a British sensation, she was also a big star in the US and the story was covered by Variety magazine later in the year. Al Jolson was asked to comment on the situation with an eye on avoiding similar mistakes with US entertainers being sent overseas by the USO. He defends Miss Fields but blames the organisation responsible for routing and scheduling performers:
“When you get to Casablanca, Algiers, or Sicily the performer has no idea whether he’s going to play before 200 boys, 6000 or 20,000. Hence, with no planned schedule you often can’t get out to all the boys. The others are hurt and hurt deeply. They’ll call you all kinds of names and deservedly.[10]
Was this therefore, ENSA’s or the Army Welfare Service’s fault? Perhaps the answer is both as these two organisations failed to collaborate effectively in the supply of entertainment to the troops.
This incident, however, illustrates the sensitivity of the troops with regards to live entertainment and the popularity of Gracie Fields. If not properly managed and expectations set at the highest levels, entertainment could deepen the troops’ feelings of dislocation and lower morale.
Perhaps influenced by this experience, Field Marshall Montgomery revisited the topic of entertainment in 1944. He writes,
‘Morale suffers as a result of boredom. Boredom is usually caused by lack of variety, not by lack of anything to do. Baths, clean clothing, entertainment, newspapers and many little things which good administration will provide, all kill boredom, but they must be properly organized. Entertainment, if a man misses his meal to see it, is of little value.’[11]
This underlines the importance of carefully managing the supply and demand of organised entertainment for the troops.
Gracie’s reputation with the Eighth Army was never quite the same after this incident, but for the majority of the British troops she remained ‘Our Gracie’ and an important weapon in maintaining morale.
[1] Looking at the Army Welfare Meeting Minutes of 1944 the issue of poor quality ENSA shows in Italy was raised but interestingly the committee concluded that quantity was more important than quality. The role played by the Army Welfare Service in managing the supply and demand of entertainment will be explored further as part of my research.
[2] Spike Milligan, Mussolini: His Part in My Downfall, 4 (Viking, 2012), p. 54.
[3] Naomi Jacob, Me and the Mediterranean, First Edition (Hutchinson & co., ltd, 1945), p. 35.
[4] Andrew Merriman, Greasepaint and Cordite: The Story of ENSA and Concert Party Entertainment during the Second World War (Aurum, 2012), p. 31.
[5] Merriman, p. 122.
[6] ‘Variety: New Controversy on Entertainment for Overseas Forces Spurred by Algiers Criticism of Gracie Fields’, Variety (New York, 27 October 1943), p. 3.
[7] Richard Fawkes, Fighting for a Laugh: Entertaining the British and American Armed Forces, 1939-1946 (Macdonald and Jane’s, 1978), pp. 141–42.
[8] ‘Documents.7473: Virginia Vernon Diaries’, Documents.7473: Virginia Vernon Diaries.
[9] https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1943-11-23/debates/71c47c53-dfcb-4bec-8e9e-c61f2908991d/CommonsChamber#contribution-7b21152e-adff-4d1b-8397-ee23d701f982
[10] ‘Variety: New Controversy on Entertainment for Overseas Forces Spurred by Algiers Criticism of Gracie Fields’, p. 3.
[11] Field Marshal Montgomery, C-in-C 21 Army Group, ‘Some Notes on the Conduct of War and the Infantry Division in Battle’, November 1944, p. 38.