The entertainers were not necessarily well-known film stars or stage actors. They were vaudeville performers, painters, and dancers amongst others. Any entertainer was welcome.
Being a big film star, such as Bob Hope and Bing Crosby did not mean that you would get to entertain on the Victory Circuit. Many famous entertainers performed on the Foxhole Circuit, in some cases coming under enemy gunfire and paying the ultimate sacrifice. Entertainers sometimes performed as many as thirteen shows in one day, from the back of a pickup truck to a gun emplacement.
Keeping up morale was so important that certain entertainers, such as Bob Hope, were blocked from joining active service by direct order of the President. For those who were unabel to see any of the Camp Shows, the War Department created the Armed Forces Radio Service. The radio service would broadcast the shows live and ship them to broadcast locations.
Interestingly, the German and Japanese armies forbade any entertainment for thier troops believing that it would distract their troops from their main mission. The United States took the opposite approach believing that entertainment and morale boosting was top priority.
