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Cedar Rapids Actor Back From Pacific USO Tour
Downing, Cedar Rapids native, spent four months as stage manager and actor with USC Camp Shows in The Man Who Came to Dinner. He performed 62 shows for troops in the Pacific, reaching 137 725 servicemen, often outdoors aboard bases with improvised scenery and lighting. He recalls meeting Moss Hart, Tyrone Power, Boris Karloff, and Maj. Maurice Evans, and notes USO policy of dining with enlisted men and visiting hospitals. He plans to return to Broadway after a month with his mother prior to a new stage project.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
As. Downing
Cedar Rapids
Hollywood
Broadway
Fighting Men
USC
Downing
Hawaiian Islands
Marianas
Kwajalein
Johnston Island
The
Pacific
Tmwctd
Dr. Bradley
Moss Hart
USO
Islands
Hart
Maj
Maurice Evans
Special Services
America
Army
Tyrone Power
Marines
Saipan
Dickie Moore
Boris Karloff
President Roosevelt
Robert Downing
Washington High School
Don DeFore
Melodrummers
Chicago
CBS
Lynn Fontanne
Lunt-Fontanne
Lunt
Fontanne
Lunt and Fontanne
Boston
Eileen
United States
Gypsy Rose Lee
Mexico
Catherine
Chamber of Commerce
Cherry Sisters
Grant Wood
Mae Downing
Moliere
Europe
Man
South Pacific