Rita Hayworth in the USO
United service organization commonly abbreviated as USO is a non profit making organization that is private. It offers recreational and morale services to the US military members, with programs spread in more than one hundred and forty centers worldwide. Ever since USO was established in 1941, it has worked closely with the defense department and has offered entertainment and support to the armed forces of the United States. The organization mainly relies on private donations and on goods, services and funds from the defense department. Although it is chartered congressionally, USO is not an agency of the American government. During the period of the second world conflict, USO became very useful in entertaining the US military troops. American women involvement in USO was one of the several ways through which they participated in the second world conflict. One of USOs women who featured prominently in the WWII was Rita Hayworth she was one of the greatest pinup starlets (Vignola, 2004).
Rita Hayworth in the USO
The art of pinup reached its climax during the period of WWII and several experts in the field of art have a strong feeling that this art will probably never be the same again. Pinup refers to a poster representing the dream of every man in a woman who is considered to be perfect. American soldiers in the WWII displayed several pinups since they provided them with something alluring and sexy to look at and assist in getting off their minds with the violence graphics of the conflict they had gone through all day long. Rita Hayworth, a significant starlet of pinups of the 1930s and 40s had a long acting career that was also fulfilling. Rita immensely assisted in the efforts of war by selling the war bonds that were being broadcasted on radio shows. More than five million copies of Rita Hayworths photo in which she was in the lace and satin nightgown appeared on the cover of life magazine in 1941. They were later sent to sailors, marines and soldiers fighting in WWII. This lively redhead particularly did not like being called a symbol of sex, but if Rita Hayworths photos provided the American soldiers with courage and assisted them to recall what they were fighting for upon returning home, then Rita was certainly for it (Simmon, 1978).
It is in on doubt that Rita Hayworth is one of the greatest actresses of the 20th century. She is also one of the most celebrated movie stars in Columbia pictures. Born in New York City in 1918, she was taught how to perform and dance at an early age by Casino, who was her father. As she grew up and gained more and more dancing skills, Rita became a dancing partner to his father and together they traveled in circuit clubs where she was initially discovered by one of the executives of Fox Film. She started her career in the film industry at 20th Century Fox where she was performing in movies of low budget. She later signed a contract in 1937 with Columbia pictures. Rita made some few more pictures in this name, before changing it to Rita Hayworth, which she did by taking up the maiden name of her mother. In the year 1938, alongside Cary Grant, Rita Hayworth was cast in Only angels have wings this gave her the boost that she needed so much in taking her career to a higher level. This particular casting also brought about sharp attention from Harry Cohn, the studio head (Pettijohn II Tesser, 1999).
Several of the key foot soldiers included in the mission of USO were American women who were charged with the task of providing the US troops with friendly diversion. Most of the US troops were teenagers or were in their twenties. The centers of USO world wide recruited thousands of female volunteers to dance, serve doughnuts, and chat with the US troops. Julia Carson, a USOs historian describes this as a nostalgic hour that was designed to comfort and cheer the American soldiers. Black American women rushed to rally the society around the American soldiers and created several programs for them. By the year 1946, the hostesses were serving more than two thousand American soldiers each day. They could also provide facilities for the soldiers who were wounded and convalescent to those on leave. The American women went to fraternal organizations and black businesses so that they could get sponsorship for the USO organization (Vignola, 2004).
Women were the main entertainers performing at shows. Various stars such as Judy Garland, Marlene Dietrich, Rita Hayworth and Betty Grable had traveled for more than one million miles. In a single tour, Rita Hayworth managed to visit six US troops camps giving thousands of autographs before coming back from Texas, where she was reported to have nervous breakdown that was full fledged due to over enthusiasm. Lily Pons, an opera singer, after performing a serious song to the US troops serving in Burma, an applause blew off that ended up stunning even the performers who were most seasoned. In a letter that she wrote later, she said that each and every American woman puts on a halo, and those women who represent her should not put theirs off, they should instead keep it on (Vignola, 2004).
Life at USO was very busy for the American women serving in the organization, they were charged with the responsibility of entertaining the military troops based both overseas and locally. In most cases, these entertainers placed their lives in severe danger as they either perform or travel under highly hazardous conditions in fact some of them lost their lives while in service. The nature of their duty involved a lot of traveling and spending sleepless nights. This could lead to exhaustion of these women who at times could get very little time of resting. The fatigue resulting from the nature of their work is one of the possible reasons that led to the break down of Rita Hayworth (Pettijohn II Tesser, 1999).
Women who served in the USO during WWII did a great job in making the American soldiers directly involved in the fighting to forget their worries and troubles for a moment and think about something attractive and appealing to their eyes. They entertained and took care of the US troops, and this gave the soldiers all the morale they needed to go on fighting and eventually win the war. For Rita Hayworth, just like the other starlets in performing for the US soldiers in different capacities, the task were at times overwhelming making them to be fatigued and break down. They however did not relent on their duty of encouraging the soldiers. WWII is therefore incomplete without mentioning the vital roles that were played by the American women through their USO organization.
Rita Hayworth in the USO
The art of pinup reached its climax during the period of WWII and several experts in the field of art have a strong feeling that this art will probably never be the same again. Pinup refers to a poster representing the dream of every man in a woman who is considered to be perfect. American soldiers in the WWII displayed several pinups since they provided them with something alluring and sexy to look at and assist in getting off their minds with the violence graphics of the conflict they had gone through all day long. Rita Hayworth, a significant starlet of pinups of the 1930s and 40s had a long acting career that was also fulfilling. Rita immensely assisted in the efforts of war by selling the war bonds that were being broadcasted on radio shows. More than five million copies of Rita Hayworths photo in which she was in the lace and satin nightgown appeared on the cover of life magazine in 1941. They were later sent to sailors, marines and soldiers fighting in WWII. This lively redhead particularly did not like being called a symbol of sex, but if Rita Hayworths photos provided the American soldiers with courage and assisted them to recall what they were fighting for upon returning home, then Rita was certainly for it (Simmon, 1978).
It is in on doubt that Rita Hayworth is one of the greatest actresses of the 20th century. She is also one of the most celebrated movie stars in Columbia pictures. Born in New York City in 1918, she was taught how to perform and dance at an early age by Casino, who was her father. As she grew up and gained more and more dancing skills, Rita became a dancing partner to his father and together they traveled in circuit clubs where she was initially discovered by one of the executives of Fox Film. She started her career in the film industry at 20th Century Fox where she was performing in movies of low budget. She later signed a contract in 1937 with Columbia pictures. Rita made some few more pictures in this name, before changing it to Rita Hayworth, which she did by taking up the maiden name of her mother. In the year 1938, alongside Cary Grant, Rita Hayworth was cast in Only angels have wings this gave her the boost that she needed so much in taking her career to a higher level. This particular casting also brought about sharp attention from Harry Cohn, the studio head (Pettijohn II Tesser, 1999).
Several of the key foot soldiers included in the mission of USO were American women who were charged with the task of providing the US troops with friendly diversion. Most of the US troops were teenagers or were in their twenties. The centers of USO world wide recruited thousands of female volunteers to dance, serve doughnuts, and chat with the US troops. Julia Carson, a USOs historian describes this as a nostalgic hour that was designed to comfort and cheer the American soldiers. Black American women rushed to rally the society around the American soldiers and created several programs for them. By the year 1946, the hostesses were serving more than two thousand American soldiers each day. They could also provide facilities for the soldiers who were wounded and convalescent to those on leave. The American women went to fraternal organizations and black businesses so that they could get sponsorship for the USO organization (Vignola, 2004).
Women were the main entertainers performing at shows. Various stars such as Judy Garland, Marlene Dietrich, Rita Hayworth and Betty Grable had traveled for more than one million miles. In a single tour, Rita Hayworth managed to visit six US troops camps giving thousands of autographs before coming back from Texas, where she was reported to have nervous breakdown that was full fledged due to over enthusiasm. Lily Pons, an opera singer, after performing a serious song to the US troops serving in Burma, an applause blew off that ended up stunning even the performers who were most seasoned. In a letter that she wrote later, she said that each and every American woman puts on a halo, and those women who represent her should not put theirs off, they should instead keep it on (Vignola, 2004).
Life at USO was very busy for the American women serving in the organization, they were charged with the responsibility of entertaining the military troops based both overseas and locally. In most cases, these entertainers placed their lives in severe danger as they either perform or travel under highly hazardous conditions in fact some of them lost their lives while in service. The nature of their duty involved a lot of traveling and spending sleepless nights. This could lead to exhaustion of these women who at times could get very little time of resting. The fatigue resulting from the nature of their work is one of the possible reasons that led to the break down of Rita Hayworth (Pettijohn II Tesser, 1999).
Women who served in the USO during WWII did a great job in making the American soldiers directly involved in the fighting to forget their worries and troubles for a moment and think about something attractive and appealing to their eyes. They entertained and took care of the US troops, and this gave the soldiers all the morale they needed to go on fighting and eventually win the war. For Rita Hayworth, just like the other starlets in performing for the US soldiers in different capacities, the task were at times overwhelming making them to be fatigued and break down. They however did not relent on their duty of encouraging the soldiers. WWII is therefore incomplete without mentioning the vital roles that were played by the American women through their USO organization.
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