This Is The Army - Broadway Musical

Broadway Musical

In May 1941, ex-Sergeant Irving Berlin was on tour at Camp Upton, his old Army base in Yaphank, New York during World War I. There he spoke with the commanding officers, including Capt. A.H. Rankin of Special Services, about restaging his original 1917 Army play, Yip! Yip! Yaphank. Gen. George Marshall approved a Broadway production of a wartime musical for the army, allowing Berlin to conduct the arrangements and rehearsals at Camp Upton much like he had done during World War I. Sgt. Ezra Stone was selected as director for the new contemporary play, and the two set up on base during the weekdays to put together the story and crew. Insisting on integration, Berlin was granted the chance to add African Americans into this play, which he was not allowed to do in Yip, Yip Yaphank. This would not be unconventional for Berlin, but it would be for the United States Army—no whites and African Americans would appear on stage simultaneously. Though progressive in that regard, Berlin was still planning on opening with a minstrel skit. Ezra Stone told his civilian boss that it would be impossible to get 110 men out of blackface in time for the next number. It would be a saving grace for an admired songwriter who was stuck on old ideas. Casting aside his minstrel show, Berlin instead wrote a "new" "Puttin' on the Ritz", calling it "That's What the Well-Dressed Man in Harlem Will Wear".

The retooled play ran on Broadway, at the Broadway Theatre from July 4, 1942 to September 26, 1942. The show was directed by Sgt. Ezra Stone, choreographed by Cpl. Nelson Barclift and Sgt. Robert Sidney.

The show was such a success that it went on the road. The national tour of the revue ended in San Francisco, CA on February 13, 1943. By that time, it had earned $2 million ($23 million in 2006 dollars) for the Army Emergency Relief Fund. The company of men that staged the play were the only Army outfit to be fully integrated, but only so off-stage.