- Author
- Thomson, Max
- Subjects
- History - WW2, Humour
- Tags
- None noted.
- RAN Ships
- HMAS Hawkesbury I
- Publication
- December 2005 edition of the Naval Historical Review (all rights reserved)
Live shows and big bands
(Source: NHSA Archives)
But the truly big occasions lay in the rare opportunities to enjoy a live show. Harry Dearth’s renowned wartime concert party; the Tasmaniacs and other groups that visited the forward bases were ever-popular. A highlight always was an invitation to hear one of the big-name bands of the wartime big band era, such as Artie Shaw and his Orchestra performed usually on one of the US capital ships, with invitations to neighbouring vessels to send men across to enjoy the rarity of such a show.
Just occasionally, some of old films of those wartime years are dusted off and used in the graveyard hours of midnight to dawn television. You see them advertised occasionally in the TV listings, reviving memories – not so much of the films themselves, but of the fascinating locations and the remarkable and uncertain circumstances under which they were viewed all those years ago, when they offered a brief interlude in the stark wartime environment of our Navy men.