Camp Adair Sentrv
Friday, May 19, 1944.
Shutter-Bugs Line the Way; Get Candid Shots of Radio Stars
C AMERA HOL NDS know no boundaries, and everyone of
the dan. from GIs through the ranks and including officers, were
on hand Sunday to get candid shots of the Benny performers.
Trailblazer Ptieto
They are lined up here as members of the troupe departed the
70th Division Officers' mess. At extreme right is assistant 70th
Division chaplain. Major Luther Vann.
Shoulder Patch Intrigues Rochester
Third Meeting at Army Post
I
I rpilhbixpr PhMo
THE SILVER VOICE of Pfc.
Luther Balliet. 27«th Inf. Medical
Ttet.. • charmed millions Sunday
when he. appeared as featured whi
lst on the Jack Benny program.
Gl's Voice Thrills
In Broadcast Debut
a
’
Ni
lì
Pfc. Luther Balliet
In Big NBC Air-Show
The folks sitting around their ra
dios back in Wilkes-Barre, Penn
sylvania, did a “double-take.”
Trailblazer Thoto
Had Jack Benny said “Luther
THE TRAILBLAZER SHOULDER PATCH is explained to
Rochester
by
Cpl.
John
G.
1
‘
apcun.
70th
Division
Hq.
Co.
Balliet’*?
He had, and it was Pfc. Luther
Balliet, of Wilkes-Barre, and the
276th Tnfantry Medical Detach
ment, whose tenor voice floated out
of loud-speakers in Wilkes-Barre
and throughout America as the
By Tee 5 Ed Araold-
that they were just right.. Lines
Benny show went out over, the air
A couple million people from were changed right up tu and
from Camp Adair last Sunday.
coast to coast laughed and chuckled including the broadcast.
at the Jack Benny broadcast Suu.
Mortician—Vocalist
After rehearsal, the comedian
Balliet, who was a Wilkes- day from Camp Adair but. for .up- and his players were dinner guests
Barra mortician before joining preciation and enjoyment, they at the 70th Division Special Troops
up with Uncle Sam, is well- couldn’t compare to the. Gl¡audi officers' mess. There, copies of the
known as a vocalist throughout ences who saw the impromptu acts Trailblazer Magazine (adv.) were
¡that Benny and his troupe put on given to the cast and they immedi
his section of Pennsylvania.
ately started reading with one hand
He was a member of the Orpheus here.
I
Says Benny: 'Waukegan is Corvallis
With Air'; Comedian Perfectionist
Remember the skit they did in and eating with the other (Ed. note
Glee Club, and sang with the Civic
the broadcast where Jack and his —that’s totalamuch adv., Cpl. Arn
Opera Company of the city.
Pfc. Balliet was also the tenor gang got lost on a hike? It had old).
soloist for St. Stephen’s Episcopal a basis on fact because the whole | Before the broadcast, which
troupe managed to shake loose its packed Theater 2 to the Plimsol
Church.
His number for the Sunday escort and wander about camp for Line, the audience was warmed up
broadcast was “This Is a Lovely an hour Sunday morning looking with a brilliant display of verbal
for the theater where they were to p>ro-technics. Benny and Phil Har
Way to Spend an Evening.”
This week Pfc. Balliet was out rehearse.
ris lounged about the stage, casu-
in the field as usual, but he was
The rehearsal itself was the sully sauntered up to the mike, let
looking forward to the barrage of | only sorrows part of the day's loose a nifty or two and slouched
letters he’s sure to get from | event« and that was plenty seri- back to their chairs.
Wilkes-Barre folk, all saying, in
different ways, "We were listening
ous. Benny is a perfectionist
and scenes were run over and
over again until he was satisfied
Time to Get Nervous
Th re. mi nut o. before the show
went on the air. Benny informed
the audience that he'd have to
take time oat to get nervous and
thereupon went into a mild
spasm of St. Vitus dance.
As usual, Benny himself was the
butt of lots of the ribbing. During
one of his fiddle numbers, Don
Wilson and Hairis showered him
with pennies. He played about
three measures and then admitted
he “couldn't wait any longer” and
began picking them up.
Benny's description of Wauke
gan. hi« hometown, as “Corvallis
with air” brought down the house.
Tr.Ubl.ier Pbvla
FOR THE SECOND TIM
f. C. Berger.
7*th Combat MP Platoon. was i
escorting the
Jack Benny troupe around an Army pout. One year earlier, to the
day. he guided them through Dow Field. Bangor, Maine; one lime
between, thev met—at Ft. Custer. Mich.
------- .-------------------------- ,------------------- q,
--------—
Ex-Adair Officer
Now at Ft. Lewis
Lt. Co). James W. Fraser, direct'
or of supply at Adair before his
recent transfer, has been appointed
Post Ordnaiice Officer and Deputy
Director of Supply at Ft. Lewis,
Wash., according to Col. Max W.
Sullivan. Ft. Lewis Post Com-
*
mander.
DIRTY. UN-IRISH TRICK
New York (CNSt An anti-Irish
thief stole a truck laden with 500
| pounds of Cornell beef in midtown
I Manhattan on St. Patrick's Day,
Three Times in.
One Year Div. Lt.
And Benny Meet
Ja«k Benny is getting to be a
habit with Lt. W. C. Berger, of the
70th Division Combat MP Platoon.
On May 14, 1943, the Benny ra
dio show troupe arrived at Dow
Fl* Id, Maine, and on hand to greet
I them ar.d escort them over the post
was iM Sgt. W. (.'. Berger, Chief
j of Police for the field.
I
| At that time, the Serguant was
'
a member of the H'ITth Guard
I Squadron, the Air Force equivalent
' of the MPa. •
| depriving many restaurant pa
Sunday, May 14, 1*44, when th*
trons of their traditional holiday
Jack Benny troupe arrived at ¡ amp
dish.
Adair, 1st Lieutenant W. C. Berger
Chicago (CNS)— Larry Klein was again on hand to escort them
asked the court to cut hia alimony through the Camp.
I
Just to make the story really
payments from $15 to $10 a week.
When the judge asked why, Klein good, though, the Lieutenant added
replied that he needed the extra I one mote touch—while at Camp
five dollars so he could conduct a Custer, Mich., between the two
courtship—with hia forrper wife. I data. aboM, he mat Benny again!
His writers had collected a great | Camouflage blinde the enemy!
deal of local color, even to calling i Terre dziwn hands, face and equip-
the Golden Pheasant restaurant ment, Kef Irritons aUraet the
“The Brass Duck.“
> enemy.
!
Dress Rehearsal: Preview of Big Broadcast
I
'I rain-l.zer I'HU
HEBE THE .PRINC IPALS of the Beany troone gather on the stage of Theater 2 (or two ar-
done« hours of rehearsal proceeding the afterneoo NBC broadcast.
f