Ebook: Greasepaint and Cordite: How ENSA Entertained the Troops During World War II

Cover; Title page; Dedication; Contents; Glossary; Chronology of the Second World War; Prologue; 1 Unexpectedly Available? Telephone Temple Bar 1575; 2 Wartime Engagements; 3 Painting the Clouds with Sunshine; 4 Glittering in Khaki; 5 Through Adversity to the Stars; 6 Overpaid, Oversexed and Over Here; 7 A Higher Revelation; 8 Inoculations, Siroccos and a Fez; 9 Gathering Lilacs; 10 Chindit Warriors and Shakespeare Wallahs; 11 Opening in Berlin; 12 The Party's Over; Acknowledgements and Permissions; Select Bibliography; Index; Copyright.;The extraordinary story of the young entertainers sent out to war to dance and sing. Once the Second World War had broken out, it soon became clear that morale would be crucial in the military effectiveness of our armed forces. And so was born the Entertainment National Services Association, or ENSA? to send the nation's best singers, dancers, musicians and comedians, from Noël Coward to Gracie Fields, to entertain the troops, however far away they might be. Over the course of the war ENSA gave their first break to such postwar stars as Tommy Cooper and Frankie Howerd, as well as enshri.