A ''Jeep Show'' was a

Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to: Military frontiers *Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (Russian Empire), a majo ...

European Theatre of Operations The European theatre of World War II was one of the two main theatres of combat during World War II. It saw heavy fighting across Europe for almost six years, starting with Germany's invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 and ending with the ...

initiative to bring entertainment to rapidly advancing American troops.

Bringing entertainment to a rapidly moving front

During the Second World War the United Service Organizations and Army's Special Services brought entertainment to American servicemen and women in both the United States and overseas from isolated outposts to military bases near the front lines. However, in late 1944 the American military was advancing through Western Europe so fast that entertainment units could not keep up with them. Major

Joshua Logan Joshua Lockwood Logan III (October 5, 1908 – July 12, 1988) was an American director, writer, and actor. He shared a Pulitzer Prize for co-writing the musical '' South Pacific'' and was involved in writing other musicals. Early years Logan ...

then an officer in Special Services noted that the advancing

G.I. G.I. are initials used to describe the soldiers of the United States Army and airmen of the United States Air Force and general items of their equipment. The term G.I. has been used as an initialism of "Government Issue", "General Issue", or " ...

s were "never in one place long enough to see a show". He was credited with coming up with the idea of small quick moving entertainment units to entertain at rapid notice called "jeep shows". A jeep show consisted of three unarmed soldier entertainers, often including a serving soldier who had been a well known celebrity from Broadway,

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

, the

Golden Age of Radio The Golden Age of Radio, also known as the old-time radio (OTR) era, was an era of radio in the United States where it was the dominant electronic home entertainment, entertainment medium. It began with the birth of commercial radio broadcastin ...

or club entertainment such as

Mickey Rooney Mickey Rooney (born Joseph Yule Jr.; other pseudonym Mickey Maguire; September 23, 1920 – April 6, 2014) was an American actor. In a career spanning nine decades, he appeared in more than 300 films and was among the last surviving stars of the ...

Bobby Breen Isadore Borsuk (November 4, 1927 – September 19, 2016), better known as Bobby Breen, was a Canadian-born American actor and singer. He was a popular male child singer during the 1930s and reached major popularity with film and radio appearanc ...

and Red Buttons. The small troupe usually comprised a comedian, dancer/singer and musician. They traveled in a

jeep Jeep is an American automobile marque, now owned by multi-national corporation Stellantis. Jeep has been part of Chrysler since 1987, when Chrysler acquired the Jeep brand, along with remaining assets, from its previous owner American Moto ...

with their musical instruments and other equipment carried in a quarter ton trailer that would be converted into a stage. They broadcast their show through a public address system using the jeep's battery. Each show lasted an average of 45 minutes and troupes could be combined into nine or 18 man shows for larger shows. The jeep show troops carried easily transportable musical instruments such as guitars, saxophones, banjos, accordions and drums. The troupe presented songs, skit, jokes, dancing, and

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speaking ...

Rooney recalled his first show being between two

Sherman tank } The M4 Sherman, officially Medium Tank, M4, was the most widely used medium tank by the United States and Western Allies in World War II. The M4 Sherman proved to be reliable, relatively cheap to produce, and available in great numbers. It w ...

s three miles from the front in Belgium for 60 soldiers. Rooney's troupe sometimes put on seven shows a day and covered 150,000 miles in a year, One unit of 54 men served the Western European front, another unit of 15 men served in the

Mediterranean Theater of Operations The Mediterranean Theater of Operations, United States Army (MTOUSA), originally called the North African Theater of Operations, United States Army (NATOUSA), was a military formation of the United States Army that supervised all U.S. Army forc ...

. Before

Victory in Europe Day Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945, marking the official end of World War II in Europe in the Easter ...

the jeep shows played before 23,749 troops in eighty-one performances.p. 23 United States Army. Army, 1st ''Report of Operations: Oct. 20, 1943/Aug. 1, 1944-Feb. 23/May 8, 1945, Volume 12, Issues 1-8'' United States Army

Notes

{{reflist Military history of the United States during World War II Western European Campaign (1944–1945) United States Army in World War II Military units and formations established in 1944 Entertainment organizations