Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, August 22, 1993                   TAG: 9308220175
SECTION: HORIZON                    PAGE: F-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Reviewed by ROBERT I. ALOTTA
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

THE WAR AS SEEN FROM THE STAGE

The subtitle of "Over Here, Over There" might be a little misleading. The book is a story more about the USO stars during World War II than about the Andrews Sisters themselves. That is not to say that it's a disappointment.

Far from it, the book is a joy to read, especially for those of us who lived during the World War II period and equate the entertainment of the times with these three women. Maxene, Patty and LaVerne were the Andrews Sisters. To be quite frank, they were never separate individuals in the minds of many listeners - and watchers.

The togetherness of their music, we learn, was also expressed in the closeness of their relationships. There was no attempt for one to upstage the others; for one to rush and and do her own thing jeopardizing the group.

World War II arrived at the point when the Andrews Sisters were just making it to the top. If they had been a male group, chanced are that they would have been broken up by patriotism or the draft. But they were women, and women who wanted to do their share in the war effort. Whenever they had the opportunity, they performed for the military throughout the United States. When they finished a show, they would go to the USO canteen and entertain there.

One of their main goals was to go overseas and entertain troops there. The war ended just as they got permission to go abroad. Some entertainers might have backed out then, but not the Andrews Sisters. They felt the GIs still needed them and they were right!

"Over Here, Over There" is a delight, especially when Maxene gets into the little footnotes of entertainment history such as:

Pvt. Mickey Rooney being given a general's staff car to use, and returning every salute thrown at him. After all, the salutes were not for him, they were for the car.

Singer Kathryn Grayson, a Southerner by birth, refusing to sing before a segregated audience. The black men, she said, "were giving their lives for their country, and we were treating them like that." She got her way.

Ann Moray, a popular singer of a bygone era, promising a young soldier that she would sing "Abide With Me" at his funeral. It will be many years before I honor the request, she told the wounded man, but two days later she stood in the mud at his grave at Anzio and sang the hymn.

An Army officer chewing out the Andrews Sisters for being late, even though the plane that was carry them to their destination was late because of crew problems.

This is warm and friendly book with that Andrews Sisters tempo. If only it were longer. Maxene must have more stories to tell, so who knows? There might be a sequel.

"Over Here, Over There" shows a side of World War II that most of us have never seen, but a side that most veterans of that encounter will never forget.

Robert I. Alotta teaches at The Catholic University in Washington, D.C.

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