1945–46
ENDINGS
N orth Platte’s World War II Canteen, strictly speaking, was neither the first nor last of its kind. And yet, to millions of service members, it was one of a kind. It lacked the star-studded allure of Broadway’s Stage Door Canteen and Tinseltown’s Hollywood Canteen, both of which (inevitably) were captured on film. “Stage Door Canteen” was released in 1943 and “Hollywood Canteen” in 1944, both featuring cameos by “everybody who was anybody” on the American stage and screen. Both had shorter lifespans than the North Platte Canteen. Broadway’s opened March 2, 1942, and didn’t even make it to V-J Day; it closed June 30, 1945. The Hollywood Canteen didn’t open until Oct. 3, 1942; it closed Nov. 22, 1945. As the USO was getting started, it opened the Chicago Serviceman’s Center on Aug. 7, 1941. Popularly referred to as a “canteen,” it ended its World War II-era service on Sept. 2, 1946, though it would reappear during the Korean War. But, as North Platte residents never tired of saying, neither the USO nor the Red Cross had any official ties to their Canteen.
There was talk about putting it in a Hollywood film, sort of. The Telegraph’s Feb. 23, 1945, story about Gene Slattery’s California trip (see Chapter 6) said Warner Bros. employee J.I. Jackman — the one who gave Gene a pony, then kept it lest Gene sell it for the Canteen — had been authorized “to make Gene an offer for his story.” But Jackman and Gene’s father, Ben, kept him and brother Larry away from the studio. “Gene would have to stay in Hollywood for a month or so and miss school,”The Telegraph wrote. … “ ‘If they find out he’s here,’ Jackman told Gene’s father, ‘you’ll never get him back.’” The North Platte Canteen never was about fame. It was about service. It had true imitators, its customers would say. But the North Platte Canteen was there for them long before the others. And though it would close somewhat earlier than planned, it was there for them long after the others, too. The troops called it one of a kind. That’s fame enough.
OPPOSITE: Uniformed men and women pass through the Canteen’s serving line in this 1945 photo.
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