MARTHA RAYE WAS THE BACKBONE OF THE USO

CHERISHING OUR VALLEY           2013

Martha Raye 1916 to 1994

Martha Raye, who lived in Encino, could well have been the reason why vaudeville invented the term "trooper". Martha was a comic performer who left an indelible mark as the indefatigable road star for the USO. She received the Motion Picture Academy's Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award Oscar in 1969 for her tireless volunteer support of America's troops in World War II and the Korean War.

JERRY COLONNA WAS ONCE ONE OF THE MOST RECOGNIZED COMIC VOICES IN THE USA

DISCOVERING OUR VALLEY   2011

 Most older San Fernando Valley residents know that Bob and Dolores Hope lived in Toluca Lake and are buried in the San Fernando Mission, but are less aware of Jerry Colonna's life among us.  Jerry, his wife and son lived in Encino. His son Bob graduated from Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks.

The much loved Bob Hope with his longtime radio and motion picture side-kick Jerry Colonna rehearsing their NBC radio show. Photograph gift to The Museum of the San Fernando Valley from Gary Fredburg 2011.  (click on image to enlarge)

Jerry Colonna and Bob Hope worked hard to keep up the morale of American service personnel during World War II in their highly popular USO shows, and continued to entertain GIs in later years as well. Bob Colona played in many films, and had one of the most recognized radio voices in America. He died after a lengthy illness in the Motion Picture Hospital in Woodland Hills.

THE SAN FERNANDO VALLEY'S STAR BOB HOPE

DISCOVERING OUR VALLEY    2011

One of the greatest entertainers in San Fernando Valley history was the great Bob Hope. This beloved comedian brought his USO shows to American and Allied service personnel around the world. Hope, who lived in Toluca Lake and worked out of the Valley, was a mega-star of stage, radio, television and motion pictures. He is buried at the edge of the Mission San Fernando in Mission Hills.

 comedians Betty Hutton and Bob Hope in the 1943 spoof on life in the military entitled "Let's Face It."  A Paramount Picture. Still photo - gift to The Museum of the San Fernando Valley from Gary Fredburg 2011. (click on image to enlarge) - Photograph 2862

 In his "song and dance" costume, Bob Hope points to his name on a dressing room door. Photo, gift to The Museum of the San Fernando Valley from Gary Fredburg 2011.  Photo 2863

Cartoonists had a field day with Bob Hope's nose. Refer to photo number 2864.

1942 A MISSOURI BOY FIRST ENCOUNTERS THE SAN FERNANDO VALLEY

DISCOVERING OUR VALLEY   2011

Photographs often tell more than viewers realize.

Family snapshots often tell more history than meets a casual glance. Here are three photographs that were among my brother James Fecht's effects, when he died last year. In three short years he went from a high school altar boy to a United States Marine in combat in the South Pacific. 

Altar servers at Saint Brendan Catholic Church in Mexico, Missouri - 1940.  (click on image to enlarge)  Photo 2853 - l to r: James Fecht, Joe Enslen, Jim Torrance, Don McLaughlin and Bob Phillips.

 In 1941, James Fecht was a recent high school graduate. anxious to make his mark in the world. This photograph was taken in Mexico, Missouri shortly before the outbreak of World War II. His hands were still swollen from an amateur boxing match earlier in the week. He boxed as a Marine recruit at Camp Pendleton the next year.  (photo 2854)

1942 on Elmer Avenue in North Hollywood, California.  (photo 2855) 

On his first leave after boot camp, Jim Fecht and his Marine buddy Webb McKelvey went to Los Angeles, where Webb introduced Jim to his cousin Joye Barnes from North Hollywood. Jim met Joye and several of her friends from Corvallis High School in Studio City, at the USO Cantina in Hollywood. Jim was dazzled. After the war, Jim and Joye were married and made the San Fernando Valley their home.

GENE AUTRY - TRUE NOTABLE OF THE SAN FERNANDO VALLEY

Home Gene Autry - Historic postcard collection of The Museum of the San Fernando Valley - gift of Gary Fredburg 2008 (click on image to enlarge)

When Gene Autry died in his Studio City home on October 2, 1998, he was 91 years old. His phenomenal legacy in American arts and culture still shapes our society today. Gene was "discovered" at the age of 22 by the great humorist Will Rodger. He had been featured on local radio in Tulsa as "Oklahoma's Yodeling Cowboy." Rodgers helped the young singer win his first recording contract.
In 1934, Gene Autry added motion pictures to his resume. By the 1950s, he had made the singing cowboy hero, a major genre of American film. Over a 100 million copies of his recordings were sold during his lifetime, and his Christmas recordings are still seasonal standard to this day.
Gene Autry could have easily used his popularity and fame to avoid combat service during World War II, but instead joined the U.S. Army Air Corps (now the Air Force) as a pilot. Gene and other courageous men transported weapons, fuel and ammunition over the Himalayan Mountains from India, across Burma and into China. When the fighting ended, Gene accepted a post war assignment to accompany a USO troupe in the South Pacific.
Using his "Melody Ranch" radio broadcasting experience, Gene Autry became one of the first great stars of the newly popular media called television. He not only produced his own show, but became the executive producer of other hit TV shows as well. Gene's instincts to do things the right way took him into the ownership of radio and television stations. By the early '60s he was into professional baseball, land investments and many other ventures.
In the 1980s, Gene Autry's vision of preserving America's western history began to take shape. By the end of the decade the Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum became a reality in Los Angeles' Griffith Park. Today an expanded Autry National Center protects, preserves and exhibits treasures of the Southwest Museum of the American Indian, the Institute for the study of the American West and the Museum of the American West.
Oklahoma's Yodeling Cowboy became a man whose is a living legacy for generations to come.