Entertaining the American Army

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER I THE PERFORMERS ENTER They hare their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts. As You Like It. It is June, 1917. An aristocratic old mansion at 31 Avenue Montaigne, Paris, is the. scene of the beginning. This former palace, with its-; masis.of; gilrikg: flrartr?rs, and...
More Description

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER I THE PERFORMERS ENTER They hare their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts. As You Like It. It is June, 1917. An aristocratic old mansion at 31 Avenue Montaigne, Paris, is the. scene of the beginning. This former palace, with its-; masis.of; gilrikg: flrartr?rs, and satin upholstery, is transformed suddenly from its stately elegance into the headquarters of our troubadours; a movement through which those in America are to touch hands with their sons along the battle fronts of France. It is here that the pioneers start the plans for the stupendous achievement. Six months later, we find the old palace unable longer to hold the rapidly expanding forces, and in December, 1917, all the splendor is left behind for a commodious French office building at 12 Rue d'Aguesseau. Let us climb to the fifth floor. It is reached by a winding marble stairway, or a personally conducted French lift holding four people. The building is unfinished and unheated and the plaster is oozing moisture. Mail sacks block the hall and all the near-by office entrances, since next door is the post office and mailing room. Parties of Americans, just arriving from home or coming in from the front, sweep along the hallway, hopping over mail sacks and struggling with the knob of the door leading to the two rooms known as the Entertainment Department on this fifth floor. The office is horribly crowded and grows worse week by week as the Americans are coming on every ship, climbing the long staircase, tripping over their hand-baggage, seeking information regardingtheir destinations, demanding to be sent right out to the front line, and finally waving good-by as they disappear with their red permits and start off on their individual missions. So great di...