December 15, 1944: "Hollywood Canteen" Premieres

Joan Crawford and Dane Clark

December 15, 1944: Hollywood Canteen premieres, providing World War II-era audiences with more stars than General Patton could shake his riding crop at.

It was technically a companion film (if not a sequel) to the 1943 film Stage Door Canteen. The real-life Stage Door Canteen operated at the 44th Street Theatre at 216 West 44th Street in New York from March 2, 1942 to December 31, 1945, after which the building was demolished.

Its West Coast equivalent, the Hollywood Canteen, was at 1451 Cahuenga Boulevard, just south of Sunset Boulevard, in Los Angeles, running from October 3, 1942 to November 22, 1945 (Thanksgiving Day). The club offered food, dancing and entertainment for servicemen, usually on their way overseas. It was open to servicemen of allied countries, as well as women in all branches of service, and admission, and everything else, was free to those in uniform.

The driving forces behind its creation were actors Bette Davis and John Garfield, along with Jules Stein, President of Music Corporation of America. The movie, directed by Delmer Davis, was filmed on location, and starred Davis, Garfield, and, among others, these performers, all of whom had volunteered for the real thing, in alphabetical order: The Andrews Sisters, Jack Benny, Eddie Cantor, Kitty Carlisle, Joan Crawford, Jimmy Dorsey (but not his brother Tommy), Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, Ida Lupino, Dorothy Malone, Janis Paige, Barbara Stanwyck and Jane Wyman.

And, yes, in his role of Ralph Kramden on The Honeymooners, Jackie Gleason was right: Hollywood Canteen was produced by Warner Brothers, and it premiered the cowboy song "Don't Fence Me In," written by Cole Porter, and introduced by… Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers! They also sang their theme song, "Tumblin' Tumbleweeds." Roy even rode his famed horse Trigger onstage.

Oh, yes, there's an actual plot among the musical numbers. But, the place being Hollywood, and the time being World War II, its not a complicated plot: Robert Hutton plays Slim Green, the 1 millionth "GI" to be admitted, and he wins a date with actress Joan Leslie. He's on leave with his buddy, Sergeant Nolan, played by Dane Clark, who gets to dance with Crawford.

Speaking of whom: If you're looking for evidence of the feud between Crawford and Davis, you won't find any in this film.

A CNN studio and a parking lot are now on the site of the Hollywood Canteen.

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December 15, 1944 was a Friday. It was also the day that the Battle of the Bulge began, Glenn Miller disappeared over the English Channel on the way to a series of holiday concerts in Paris, and the first five-star Generals were promoted. I have separate entries for those events.

Baseball was in the off-season. The NFL Championship Game was played 2 days later, with the Green Bay Packers beating the New York Giants, 14-7 at the Polo Grounds in New York. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. And, while the NHL was in-season, no games were scheduled for that day. So there are no scores on this historic day.

October 31, 1962: “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?” Premieres

Davis (left) and Crawford.

At the time, they were, respectively, 54 and 58 years old.

October 31, 1962: Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? premieres. Halloween was a good choice for a premiere date for this film.

Directed by Robert Aldrich, it starred Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. Davis played Jane Hudson, once a child vaudeville star known as Baby Jane, favored by both parents over her older sister, Blanche, played as an adult by Crawford.

But as sound films come along, Blanche becomes a film star, and the now-grown Jane seems like a 20-year-old relic, and she becomes an alcoholic. Blanche promised their mother that she would help Jane's career recover, talking producers into casting her. But in 1935, Blanche is paralyzed in a car accident, which everyone presumes to be Jane's fault, although she is not criminally charged.

By 1962, Blanche and Jane are living together in a mansion purchased with Blanche's film earnings. Blanche's mobility is limited due to her reliance on a wheelchair and the lack of an elevator to her upstairs bedroom. Jane has become a grotesque, mentally unstable alcoholic who regularly abuses Blanche.

When Blanche's old films begin airing on television, renewing her popularity among her fans, Jane becomes increasingly jealous and resentful. She fixates on the success and adoration she once had as a child star, and decides to revive her old act with hired pianist Edwin Flagg (Victor Buono).

When Blanche informs Jane she intends to sell the house, Jane correctly suspects Blanche will commit her to a psychiatric hospital once the house is sold. She removes the telephone from Blanche's bedroom, cutting her off from the outside world.

During Jane's absence, Blanche desperately drags herself down the stairs and calls her doctor for help. Jane returns to find Blanche on the phone and beats her unconscious before mimicking Blanche's voice to dismiss the doctor. After tying Blanche to her bed and locking her in her room, Jane abruptly fires their housekeeper, Elvira (Maidie Norman), when she comes to work. While Jane is away, the suspicious Elvira sneaks into the house and attempts to access Blanche's room. Jane kills her, using Blanche's wheelchair to move Elvira's body to her car.

A few days later, the police call to tell Jane that Elvira's cousin has reported her missing. Jane panics and prepares to leave, taking Blanche with her. Before they can go, a drunk Edwin is escorted to the house by police, who leave him there. Upon discovering Blanche bound to her bed, Edwin flees and notifies the authorities. Jane, in a fit of infantile regression, takes Blanche to a beach where she sang as a child.

The next morning, the news of Elvira's murder and Blanche's condition is on the radio, and the police are on the lookout. Weakened and near death, Blanche confesses to Jane that she caused her own accident. On the night in question, Blanche tried to run Jane over because she was angry at her drunken sister for mocking her at a party. Blanche's spine broke when her car struck the gates outside their mansion, and she dragged herself in front of the car's hood to stage the accident and frame Jane. Blanche took advantage of Jane's shock and subsequent bender, concealing the real cause of the accident from her, which subjected Jane to a life of guilt, loneliness, and servitude.

Now aware of the truth, a saddened Jane responds, "You mean, all this time, we could have been friends?" When Jane gets ice cream for herself and Blanche from a nearby refreshment stand, she is recognized by two police officers, who ask her to lead them to Blanche, attracting the attention of nearby beachgoers. Jane dodges the officers' inquiry and dances before the crowd of curious onlookers. The officers find Blanche nearby and rush to save her.

In 1991, this film was remade, with the Redgrave sisters: Vanessa played Jane, and Lynn played Blanche. In 2021, the comedy team of Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders did a sketch, "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane Austen?"

Davis and Crawford hated each other in real life, too, to the point where a miniseries was made about it in 2017, titled Feud. Susan Sarandon played Bette, Jessica Lange played Joan, and Catherine Zeta-Jones played Olivia de Havilland.

Lucille Fay LeSueur, a.k.a. Joan Crawford, died in 1977. Ruth Elizabeth Davis, a.k.a. Bette Davis, died in 1989.

Also on October 31, 1962, Girls! Girls! Girls! premiered. I don’t know if this is still true, or if it ever was, but I once read that, of all of Elvis Presley’s movies, it was the one that had been shown on television the most.

*

October 31, 1962 was a Thursday. Baseball season had ended 15 days earlier, when the New York Yankees beat the San Francisco Giants in Game 7 of the World Series. Football was in midweek. There were 3 games in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Los Angeles Lakers, 115-95 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. Jerry West scored 35 points.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Detroit Pistons, 115-100 at Cobo Hall (now Huntington Place) in Detroit.

* And the Syracuse Nationals beat the St. Louis Hawks, 126-108 at the Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis.

And there was 1 game in the NHL: The Montreal Canadiens beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-3 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

September 28, 1945: "Mildred Pierce" Premieres

Ann Blyth (left) and Joan Crawford

September 28, 1945: The film Mildred Pierce premieres, directed by Michael Curtiz, and based on the 1941 novel by James M. Cain. Two other Cain novels also became great film noirs: The Postman Always Rings Twice and Double Indemnity.

Joan Crawford plays the title character, whose ex-husband is accused of murdering her 1st husband, but (Spoiler Alert) the real villain of the story is Mildred's daughter. After Crawford died, the idea that her daughter would be bullying her turned out to be ironic.

On an episode of M*A*S*H, Colonel Sherman T. Potter (Harry Morgan) read a letter from his wife, Mildred, which deeply moved him and his officers. Captain B.J. Hunnicutt (Mike Farrell) told him, "You oughta marry that woman." Captain Ben "Hawkeye" Pierce (Alan Alda) told Potter, "If you don't, I will." B.J. said, "Nah, then, she'd be Mildred Pierce!"

*

September 28, 1945 was a Friday. Two baseball games were played. The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-2 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. Luis Olmo, the 1st Puerto Rican to star in the U.S. major leagues, hit a home run. And the St. Louis Browns beat the Cleveland Indians, 2-1 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.

And there were 6 college football games played that night:

* Temple beat Syracuse, 7-6 at Temple Stadium in Philadelphia.

* The University of Maryland beat Guilford College, 60-6 at the original Byrd Stadium in the Washington suburb of College Park, Maryland. Maryland had a 1st-year head coach, who moved on to the next stop the following year: Paul "Bear" Bryant. Guilford, in Greensboro, North Carolina, now competes in NCAA Division III.

* This was the last year of World War II, when some military bases fielded football teams that played college teams. The Army Air Forces Eastern Flying Training Command team, based at Maxwell Field outside Montgomery, Alabama, beat Auburn, 7-0 at the Cramton Bowl, in Montgomery.

* The University of Detroit beat Alma College, 32-0 at University of Detroit Stadium. UD dropped football after the 1964 season. In 1990, the all-male UD merged with the all-female Mercy College to form the University of Detroit Mercy. Alma, based in the Michigan town of the same name, now competes in Division III.

* Saint Louis University beat Kirksville State, 96-6 at Walsh Stadium in St. Louis. SLU -- which has always spelled its name out, "Saint Louis," never abbreviated as "St. Louis" -- dropped its football program after the 1949 season, though they remain a notable basketball school.

Kirksville State, actually named Northeast Missouri State Teachers College but based in Kirksville, became Northeast Missouri State College in 1968, Northeast Missouri State University in 1972, and Truman State College in 1996, named for Harry Truman, the Missouri native who became President in 1945. They now compete in NCAA Division II.

* And the University of Kansas beat the University of Denver, 20-19 at Hilltop Stadium in Denver. UD dropped football after the 1961 season.