Looking Ahead: The Post-War World

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Broadcast and Commercial Recordings of Speeches and Interviews of World War II-era Personalities.

Winning the Home Front

War-related Entertainment, Propaganda, and Ads Targeting World War II-era Radio Listeners.

G.I. Jive

Popular and Topical Songs of World War II.

Boogie Woogie Bugle Boys

USO Shows, Armed Forces Radio, V-Discs, and Other Morale Efforts Targeting the Military.

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War Reports, News Flashes, and Informational Programs Regarding World War II.

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World War II-era Broadcast and Recording Technology.

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Boogie Woogie Bugle Boys

Interestingly enough, the demise of wartime music programs did not coincide with the end of the war. The popular V-Disc record was not phased out until May 1949, while the Armed Forces Radio Service (AFRS) persevered through the Korean War, the rise of television and new musical trends, and even the start of the Vietnam conflict before folding in the late 1960's. Moreover, the atomic bomb, new military terminology, and shore-leave exploits provided plenty of additional inspiration for post-war songs. For some Americans, the Japanese surrender indicated a return to normalcy; but for others, the ways of war proved tough to purge from their systems.

The six songs presented here come from the 78 rpm and LP disc collections and the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service collection in the Marr Sound Archives.

Song #1
Among the many WWII terms to infiltrate the everyday vernacular is the title to this Leonard Feather-penned composition that Shorty Sherock waxed on January 31, 1946. An acronym for 'Situation Normal All Fouled Up,' "Snafu" sarcastically referred to standard military operating procedures. Since World War II, it has received an official dictionary entry and is used as a catchall phrase for any mistake, oversight, or general state of confusion. Lexicologists be warned: some adamantly claim that "fouled" is a watered-down take on another "f" word.

Song #2 Cut 2: "Jamming' on a V-Disc"
Touring with Norman Granz' Jazz At The Philharmonic, a group of jazz heavyweights appeared on the April 5, 1947 broadcast of WNEW New York's "Saturday Swing Show." Illinois Jacquet, whose characteristic tenor sax squeals electrified a JATP audience in 1944, ignites this all-star recording that includes Roy Eldridge, Count Basie and Buddy Rich. Musicians were "Jammin' On A V-Disc" until May 1949 - proof that the popular record format had not lost its ear for military entertainment in the post-war era.

Song #3 Cut 3: "Whoa Sailor"
Whether horrific or humorous, fabricated or true, countless stories accompanied enlisted Americans back home. While not all of them were appropriate dinner table topics, many provided colorful conversation pieces or, as this post-war radio broadcast demonstrates, inspiration for a song. Billed as "The Most Colorful Hillbilly Band In America," the Maddox Brothers and Rose were no strangers to radio, building a strong reputation on the airwaves before the outbreak of World War II. Like many bands, though, the family act went on hiatus for Uncle Sam before reforming after the war with a renewed vigor and, no doubt, plenty of tales to tell. On "Whoa Sailor," bassist Fred Maddox has storytelling honors for this amusingly trite account of shore leave dawdling.

Song #4 Cut 4: "Worth Duckin'"
On June 5, 1947, V-Disc producers paired two musicians of disparate backgrounds for a recording session at RCA Victor studios in New York. Bassist Leroy "Slam" Stewart, who gained notoriety in the jazz world for bowing his bass and simultaneously humming an octave higher, joined musical forces with Brazilian crooner and pianist Dick Farney for the V-Disc effort, "Worth Duckin'." Farney's spirited piano work plays dutiful foil to Stewart's trademark antics on this take-off of the noted army cadence call, "Duckworth Chant."

Song #5 Cut 5: "Bikini"
On one hand, "Bikini" typified the jazz revolution budding after the Second World War. On the other, it raised ethical questions about nuclear technology. Its full-length title, "Bikini Blues: All Men Are Cremated Equal," sardonically commented on the Cold War activities being conducted on Bikini Atoll, one of 29 atolls and five islands that form the Marshall Islands. Strategically located in the remote Central Pacific, Bikini hosted a series of nuclear tests in 1946 that left uprooted natives swindled and deprived for decades. On March 1, 1954, the United States government furthered its scientific experiments on Bikini, detonating a hydrogen bomb that registered five times larger than anticipated and nearly a thousand times the size dropped on Hiroshima or Nagasaki. The unexpected results exposed communities as far as 125 miles away to the fallout ash of the 15-megaton blast. When "Bikini" hit record stores in 1947, few listeners connected the instrumental to the initial tests, or were inspired to contemplate future ones like that of 1954. For most, the Dexter Gordon side was nothing more than a new release by a preeminent be-bop label.

Song #6 Cut 6: Elvis Presley sings "Santa Bring My Baby Back (To Me)"
In contrast to the Christmas crooning of Bing Crosby, this Elvis Presley disc from the late 1950's exemplified how far the Armed Forces Radio Service had evolved in the name of military morale. For Presley, the string of television appearances in 1956 had cemented his legacy - evidence of his staggering popularity, not to mention TV's swelling audience. As early as 1948, the AFRS recognized this trend and began following popular radio artists to television, a difficult endeavor considering how visually oriented the new format was. For two decades more, AFRS discs reflected the sounds of both mediums, christening releases that featured television performers as "Armed Forces Radio and Television Service." The WWII-born music program endured such shifts in cultural consciousness, all the while never deviating from its original commitment of catering to every programming taste. After all, when it came to spreading holiday cheer to enlisted ears, why couldn't Elvis' "Santa Bring My Baby Back (To Me)" play alongside the perennial Crosby favorite "White Christmas?"

Text by Kelly McEniry, Marr Sound Archives
Digital Audio by Scott Middleton, Marr Sound Archives

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