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"You won't be able to stand it." they warned prima donna MacDonald before she left for a concert tour of Army camps. "If the boys can stand it, I can!" said Jeanette. Here is the exclusive story of her experiences
By Elizabeth Wilson
Jeanette graciously loaned us her only photos of her tour. Facing page, she sings at Soldiers' Arena, Camp Robinson, Arkansas. At right, at William Beaumont Hospital, El Paso, Texas. Top, left, at Fort Sill. Top, right, her most poignant moment of all: meeting Private Gene Raymond at Reilly General Hospital, Springfield, Mo. Jeanette's husband, Lieut. Gene Raymond, is now overseas.
say for Jeanette. That one "gives" only when she tells how much she enjoys being able to entertain the boys hi the service.
The tour got off to a bad start at Fort Bliss, El Paso, Texas. At four o'clock Monday afternoon there was a cloudburst. It rained the proverbial cats and dogs, and kept it up until nine o'clock that night. The outdoor concert had to be canceled. Jeanette felt pretty grim about it (California wouldn't have done that to her) but she brightened considerably when they told her that there would be time for two full concerts at the two hospital bases there. At the William Beaumont General Hospital one of the photographers from Fort Bliss asked her if she would have her picture taken with the boys singing a popular number, but every time the photographer's bulb failed to go off. "I'm beginning to suspect." said
Jeanette with a laugh, "that we are singing the wrong song. Let's try our luck with God Bless America. That time the bulb worked beautifully.
The concert at Sheppard's Field, Texas, on Wednesday night was a great success — despite the fact that Jeanette didn't get off the train until five that afternoon, and had to be up on the rostrum at eight. (And I can remember when Jeanette insisted upon a day's peace and quiet before giving a concert.) A young private I know, who boasts that he polishes everything at Sheppard's Field from buttons to bathrooms, wrote me an account of the concert : "Miss MacDonald was reallv lovely. She sang under a new moon for two hours. As a matter of fact when her time was supposed to be up. she insisted upon singing all the requests the boys wanted. There were thousands of boys. (Please turn to page go I
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