Eyewitness 1943: Purchase of a war bond bought view of the stars
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Mickey Rooney and wife Ava Gardner in Jan. 1942.
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Lucille Ball's sheath gown was so tight that she couldn't walk up steps and had to be lifted onto the temporary stage set up at Forbes Field for the Hollywood Bond Cavalcade.
She was one of about 50 movie stars and starlets who visited the city on Sept. 12, 1943, as part of a bond drive to help pay for the nation's participation in World War II.
"Pittsburgh and a trainload of visitors from Hollywood had a swell time yesterday while giving Hitler and [Japanese Emperor] Hirohito a 71-million dollar kick in the teeth," Gilbert Love wrote in the next day's edition of The Pittsburgh Press.
The day's events included a parade through the Golden Triangle and an evening vaudeville show at the Pirates' home in Oakland. It featured Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Harpo Marx, Fred Astaire, Kathryn Grayson and Betty Hutton.
When the performers arrived by train around noon at Pennsylvania Station on Liberty Avenue, they were greeted by 5,000 fans. That crowd was dwarfed by the number lining city streets to catch a glimpse of Greer Garson, Dick Powell and band leader Kay Kyser as they rode by in automobiles.
"Police officials estimated that more than 150,000 persons witnessed the early afternoon parade in the city's most crowded Sunday since World War I," the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported on Sept. 13.
"Girls trembled as Dick Powell rode by, but soldiers hurled their hats into the air and even old men raised their canes when the beautiful Irish red head -- Miss Garson -- and the topnotch jitterbug of the nation -- Miss Hutton -- passed by," according to the Post-Gazette.
The Pittsburgh region was at its smokiest during World War II when its plants and factories turned out finished goods like railroad cars and landing craft and raw materials like glass and steel. The arrival of the actors and actresses, however, brightened the city for a few hours.
First Published September 18, 2011 12:00 am
