Carole entertained thousands of soldiers during World War 2. In September 1942 she began a five month U.S.O. tour with Kay Francis, Martha Raye, and Mitzi Mayfair. Their group was part of the "Feminine Theatrical Task Force". They went to England, Bermuda, Africa, and Ireland. The group traveled more than 50,000 miles by plane, truck, and jeep. They made 150 personal appearances and performed in 125 shows. Kay introduced the show, Martha told jokes, Mitzi danced, and Carole sang. Her specialty was the song "Strip Polka". The four women became close friends during the tour. Kay was bisexual and developed a crush on Carole. When they were in Africa they went through four air raids. They survived an earthquake and numerous illnesses. Carole had her appendix removed and nearly died from an e. coli infection. She lost fifteen pounds while on the tour. Carole wrote several magazine articles about her experiences during the war. In 1943 she was asked to write a book for Random House. The title of the book was Four Jills In A Jeep. She told stories about traveling with the other women and performing for the soldiers. Most of the book is about her romance with her husband Tommy Wallace. Carole had the help of a ghostwriter named Edwin Seaver but she wrote the majority of the book herself. She dedicated it "To the Officers and Enlisted Men Who Made Our Tour So Inspiring". In December 1943 Four Jills In a Jeep was serialized in The Saturday Evening Post. When the book was published in the spring of 1944 it sold well and got rave reviews. Before the book had even come out Fox decided to turn Four Jills In A Jeep into a movie. Filming began on October 18, 1943. The movie was directed by William A. Seiter. Carole, Kay, Martha, and Mitzi agreed to play themselves. They were all excited to see their adventures on the big screen. Carole's onscreen romance with John Harvey was based on her real-life relationship with Tommy.
The all-star cast included Phil Silvers, Dick Haymes (in his film debut), Betty Grable, Jimmy Dorsey, Carmen Miranda, and Alice Faye. The costumes were designed by Yvonne Wood. Carole was furious when the censors refused to let the actresses wear sweaters. In one scene she wore her own wedding dress. There are numerous songs including "How Blue The Night" and "You'll Never Know". Most of the songs are sung by Dick Haymes. The highlight of the film is Carole singing her only solo number "Crazy Me". All of the musical numbers were staged by Carole's close friend Don Loper. Before the opening credits there is a prologue that reads "This story is based on the experiences of four of the many performers who take entertainment to America's men in uniform in the theatres of war as well as in the camps at home. Actors who serve in this global entertainment program consider it a privilege to lighten a little the hardships endured by our fighting men and to share, in a measure, their experiences in combat zones. The producers gratefully acknowledge the work of USO-Camp Shows, Inc., the Hollywood Victory Committee and the Special Service Division of the War Department". Unfortunately Carole and the other actresses had no creative control over the making of Four Jills In A Jeep. The movie ended up being mostly fiction. The plot made their journey seem easy and it completely ignored all of the struggles they went through. Many of the scenes and characters in the movie did not even come from the book. Carole was very unhappy that it turned out to be just a fluffy musical. Four Jills In A Jeep was released on March 17, 1944. The movie was not a hit and a lot of critics panned it. Carole told a friend "I'm afraid the picture hasn't had as good a press as I hoped". Although she had proved she was a talented writer Carole would never write another book. In 1945 she was asked to wrote the forward to Vic Herman's cartoon book Winnie The Wac.
Here are some excerpts from the book -
"We were all dressed to the hilt for the boys, with our last remaining pair of silk stockings, high-heeled shoes and the best dresses we could muster. Suddenly, all hell seemed to break loose. The kids who were serving us didn't wait for any officers to materialize. They just grabbed us and flung us out of that building so fast we didn't know what happened to us. Across the pitch-black field, with the ack-acks blazing away like sixty, they dragged us headlong, in our silly high-heeled shoes, with out gas masks banging against us. We stumbled, fell and were flung into a hole, and crawled the rest of the way through the mud on our hands and knees. We were in a trench that had been boarded up overhead for protection against shrapnel. At either end of the trench was an entrance, and the boys kept piling in from both sides, with the four of us in the middle. Kay and Mitzi were lucky; they were wearing their trench coats. But I had on my silver fox and Martha was wearing her mink. And we were sitting in about three inches of mud."
"The platform was slippery from the rain and, to make matters worse for Mitzi, one of the boards was broken. All during her dance she had to keep her eye on that loose board. She got around it and danced beautifully, even though one of her shoes came off in the middle of her number. Mitzi just kicked off her other shoe and went on dancing in her stocking feet. The rain was bad enough, but the wind blew in our faces, and when I tried to sing, it was like singing under water. "Let's Do It," I sang. "Let's glub, glub," and then I would gulp down a mouthful of Bermuda's liquid sunshine and go on with the song again. It was no use trying to sing. "Gosh," I said, "I'm pretty nervous being up her all alone with a thousand men." (Ohs and ahs.) "Well, you can understand how I feel. After all, how would you like to be all alone with a thousand girls?" (General bedlam.) Before the show was half over, we were all drenched to the skin, but a hot dinner served in the officers' mess tent at the top of a nearby hill helped dry us out."
What Carole Said . . .
About the tour: "We had a wonderful time everywhere overseas. But it was hard. For five months we never gave less than five shows a day. It was too cold to sleep nights and there wasn't water enough to take a bath. We bathed and shampooed in cold water - there was no hot. I had to do my own washing. And I ate more sand and fog, than food. I was hairdresser for the gang; at that we didn't look too bad."
About the book: "The studio gave me two ghost writers but they stunk it all up. I finally decided to talk it to a steno typist. Naturally with some Scotch and soda under my belt. Yes, it was very droll. I'd go out to the kitchen and sneak a drink, and come back again with a lot of new inspirations. I had too many swear words, like Hell, damn and Christ in it. Edwin Seaver, the writer whom I know, went over it and he said , "I think this part stinks", or "that part stinks"...and I cut a lot out. But I sweated it out and wrote it."
About making the movie: "Every time we make a suggestion someone tells us to go sit in the corner. When the boys we entertained in Africa see the picture, I hope they know the meaning of dramatic license."
About not wearing sweaters in the movie: "That's what we wore all the time in England and Africa. It was freezing cold. Wait till you see the dresses I'm wearing. I don't think people will miss the sweaters. It's a "whistle" dress".
* Four Jills In A Jeep is available on DVD
* Deleted scenes are included on Hidden Hollywood II
* The soundtrack is available on CD
* The book is out of print but you can buy used copies
