Word: lastfogel
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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Stars & Garters. The supreme commander behind U.S.O.'s army of entertainers is chunky, chubby Abe Lastfogel, 47. Affable Abe, who worked his way up from office boy to senior partner of show business' Wm. Morris Agency, was asked to organize U.S.O.-Camp Shows...
...only "desirable but essential." He had a big job recruiting entertainers, who were leary of the hardships and pay (the U.S.O., which is subsidized by the National War Fund, pays run-of-the-mill entertainers $100 a week, topflight volunteers $10 a day). But by hook & crook, Lastfogel rounded up thousands of smalltime entertainers. These troupers, formed into small variety companies, were (and still are) the backbone of U.S.O.-Camp Shows...
...Lastfogel made two trips overseas, found that even entertainment-hungry G.I.s complained when the shows were second-rate. Nobody would object, he found, to more big-name performers, especially if they looked like Marlene Dietrich. Determined to satisfy his audience, Abe went to work on Broadway and Hollywood. By V-E day, when the Army gave him a solid green light for transportation, he had his quota of stars and garters. Ready for action were smash-hit shows, top-bill specialty acts, operatic and concert stars, any and every other kind of talent...
...tour was the idea of Theatrical Agent Abe Lastfogel, dollar-a-year head of U.S.O. Camp Shows, who thought a visit from cinema actresses might be good for the morale of U.S. soldiers abroad. The girls traveled light (three suits and two dresses apiece). Their pay: $10 a day for expenses. For two months they toured England and Ireland, giving two or three shows a day, six days a week, for soldiers, sailors, factory workers. Each Sunday they returned to London's Savoy, washed their underwear, flopped into...
Last week the team, easily the biggest war-front entertainment hit of World War II, had been disbanded. Miss Landis was honeymooning in England with a U.S. officer she married during the tour (TIME, Jan. 18). But Mr. Lastfogel had begun to organize similar "live shows" for other U.S. fighting fronts. Miss Francis & Co. had found out what soldiers want. Said she: "All we had to do was say 'Boo' and they howled with delight...
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