London Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 19, 1942, London, Middlesex                                Pase 2the stars and stripes the stars and stripes daily newspaper of the . Armed forces in the european theater of operations. The stars and stripes is edited and published by and for the personnel of the . Armed forces in the european theater of operations. Printed by the times publishing company ltd., at printing House Square London. E.c.4. Telephone Central 2000. Contents passed by the . Army and Navy censors subscription is 26 shillings per year. Staff . E. M. Llewellyn associate editor 1st it. H. A. Harchar associate editor 2nd it. J. C. Wilkinson editorial Board staff sgt. Russell Jones staff sgt. Robert Moora Stalf sgt. Ben f. Price sgt. Bud Hutton pvt. Mark Senigo and Yeoman Tom Bernard us or. Vol. 3. No. 42. December 19, 1942 saturday dec. 19. 194, s a a Good go in North Afri the Mere fact that sugar is rationed is bad enough but some British restaurants Are making things worse by putting the precious White stuff in oversize sait shakers. We be gotten caught twice on the Deal lately. First time we slipped up by putting Salt in our Coffee. Then we spoiled the first scrambled eggs we be had in months with a Liberal sprinkling of sugar. It Ain t Good. It looks like the esteemed Hayes office is out to keep the american mind service clubs opened climate Good and so is wine the Best and the worst Hay g office african Branch America s Best and worst propaganda is provided by the movie Industry. Every Day and night in cities and towns scattered All Over the world millions of men women and children flock into motion picture houses for entertainment and quite incidentally for enlightenment about the world in which they live. Hollywood provides by far the greatest number of pictures shown in these Heaters and in Hollywood pictures America is painted with a distorted Brush. American soldiers since their arrival in great Britain Are for the first time seeing America from a distance and through the eyes of Hollywood. Every american Soldier will Tell you How on More than one occasion he has squirmed in his seat in a British theater. In absolute and Complete shame. No need now to explain to those of us in great Britain Why american Aims and aspirations Are misunderstood by the world or Why american ideals Are viewed with suspicion and alarm. From movies where gangsters play tag with Justice where bribery is pictured As the Rule and where even College athletes make a practice of cheating the world has gained a false and sorry picture of our country. At Home we View the thrills of a movie a a flick quot with pleasure. The gangster is a mythical a a Heel a that generally a a gets it quot in the end. The athletic cheat is the bad boy who always loses in the final game and the Drunken Playboy can be a villain or a Good fellow depending on the plot. To the foreign audience however he becomes typically american. There is Little Box office Appeal in an american with a big heart. The Beauty of Fields mountains and Rivers have value Only As Back drops for blood and Thunder thrillers with two gun Battles. Lives of our common people need to be Pepper up with a few Tommy guns and riots to pull in the Cash customers or so it seems to the american viewing our films Over Here. From the financial standpoint therefore a Hollywood picture is a a All to the Good a a but if Anglo american relations Are to improve and our two great nations Are to work together More closely in the future it will be necessary that our principles and purposes become known and widely understood. Men and women of the world must be taught that american principles and purposes Bear no relation to the smash and swagger nonsense which reaches them via Hollywood. There is no better medium for this purpose than the movies themselves for while we have painted Only the negative Side of a Hollywood epic we have All seen their positive Side. When a Hollywood picture is Good it is often very Good indeed. With slight modifications most american movies could work in the suspense and excitement without destroying american prestige in the eyes of the movie going world. Unsullied at any Cost and they apparently fail to grasp the fact that every War picture can t be another a a sergeant York. A making a War palatable for the kids in the second Row at the saturday matinee is a big order and whether they should sit through an epic whose dialogue in ludicrous contrast to the action depicts every fighting yank As a soft spoken Shelley is not for us to decide. But we do know that the current attempts of the Hayes Crew to tamper with an epic like a a in which we serve a and the March of time showing the . Marines in action in the Pacific is revolting to the men who have been in action and ridiculous to the theater going Public in general. But the Hayes office moves relentlessly on so Here s a tip. Trained cameramen and script writers Are filming the War on every front As she really is Sherman version preferred. So if you find yourself in Range of the camera we suggest that you play Safe by issuing your orders something like this a a of pshaw Here come those Little rascals again. Be firm with them men. Be firm with them a $ pc Wjk this Little item got sidetracked on its Way to the poets Corner i m just a modest Little girl i Don t smoke or drink or even dare to sit at night upon the River s brinks my parents think. A the Story going the rounds of a number of military Headquarters concerns the conversation Between two skeletons in a closet. Said one or. Bones a a if we had any guts we d get out of  a a is touching indeed is the Case of a j sergeant at fort Bliss Texas. The fellow s name with appropriate rank is sergeant deluxe. He will soon attain the height of sergeant perfection too. His papers Are in the promotional Mill and lie s slated to end up being known As master sergeant deluxe. Some class he need j. C. W. It s just six weeks since the americans swarmed into North Africa fabled land of arabs French legionnaires Swarthy veiled Maidens and Babel of competing patois. To Date news dispatches from various action Points there have told of Quick hard fights the yanks establishing themselves in key Points the collapse of Vichy opposition dramatic scuttling of the French Fleet and the push toward Tunisia. But that does t cover the first question yanks in the British Isles will ask of old friends a a when the Guys get  the question will be a a what kind of a go was it ? a a food Beer girls entertainment climate j and the other things that really matter to h g1 who just does As he a told and tries usually to do it right. Stories now Are beginning to come Back about this less serious but not unimportant Side of Soldier life in North Africa. Southern California climate right now for instance they say the weather a Lovely. One letter that came to the stars and stripes office from Algiers described the climate As something like that of Southern California in Winter and the writer said Algiers was one of the most Beautiful cities he d Ever seen. He said the Beer was poor but the wine very Good and easy to buy with american dollars. The girls he said but he must have been bragging. Anyway he liked them. As for food services of Supply must be doing a Good Job Down there because so far there has t been a complaint. Associated and United press cables at thanksgiving told of Turkey dinners served in Sandy Camps and an air Force unit in the Middle East even invited the arabs in for cranberries and pumpkin pie. It must be. So far a a a pretty Good  entertainment for instance. The . Army has a Way of making its own. Casablanca service club from Casablanca French Morocco the port where fighting was hardest six weeks ago comes news that one of the Best service clubs in the whole army is functioning there. With free cigarettes and soft drinks and a dance every saturday afternoon the club is a veritable Oasis for soldiers who have been sleeping on the ground in Pup tents and who up until the present time have had practically no recreational facilities. Rented by the army the building and grounds include a Large walled in Garden a theater with Plush seats for Over 1.000 movie hungry soldiers a cocktail lounge a Large game room and Library and a dance floor. The building and grounds before the i army took them Over were the former 1 theatre de Paris Casablanca s most private Breger t by us army signal corps Phil in Casablanca French Morocco where fighting was the roughest is weeks ago�?. Soldiers prepare for sight seeing tour around the town in a Jitney. Special service clubs also have been opened there recent and on saturday afternoons . Troops May enjoy dances free cigarettes and soft drinks. Fashionable movie House. Entering the club the Soldier walks through a moorish Arch and into a Garden which is filled with comfortable chairs and tables and is shaded by tall stately Palm Trees. The Garden Walls Are Over 15 feet High and Are covered with bougainvillea a climbing Vine in full Bloom. In the Center of the Garden is a Large tiled dance floor. American films will be shown daily. A similar service club has been opened in Rabat and others Are being planned according to capt. Fred b. Graf assistant special service officer of the Western task Force. Of course service clubs Aren t Home but they help. The army is doing its Best to take care of its own. That s not All the american army is doing in North Africa. I used car business perhaps the world s busiest and certainly the world s most unusual secondhand car Market is . Army operated. It is a a Auto France a formerly the Chevrolet and citroen Agency taken Over by the Western task Force to Supply civilian cars to augment army vehicles. Civilian cars were purchased brought into a a Auto France a and put into condition and then turned Over to sections needing additional transportation. At first All was Cut and dried and strictly army. Then americans being americans regardless of uniform and rank a terrific Competition developed for cars. Since that time no holds have been barred and the sales room of a a Auto France a resounds with such Ferms As a a Best car in the place practically new look at the  and then a colonel comes in bellowing that Damn car did t go five blocks a kiddies Christmas maybe it s the need. Maybe we Haven t grown up. Maybe it s just the Good old Christmas spirit. But whatever the cause. Christmas this year. Like Christmas at Home. Will feature the kids. In every american Camp and Barracks it seems. British children Are to be Kings for the Day. A Quick glance at the plans for Christmas in 41 american red Cross clubs also shows that a children s party Complete with gaily decorated tree gifts and carols is to be the High spot. Yanks in Britain Are planning to celebrate their first Christmas overseas surrounded by British children. ,. Many of them War orphans. I he boys arc going a a All out quot to bring to the youngsters some of the Joy they would otherwise miss. And in return every Soldier will gain for we have never yet seen the person who could stay lonely or who could feel sorry for himself surrounded by a noisy laughing Circle of Happy children. W Ith children As our guests at Christmas we predict that it will be a Happy one to most of us and Happy too for the kids who solely need the fun and toys a big gang of Yankee clauses can provide for them. Army s super Salesman it. Edward s. Luke ordnance officer in charge of assigning cars has developed a flow of automotive superlatives that would make a silent Buddha out of the Guy who sold that last Ford v-8 in Toledo Ohio. It. Luke is Good. The cars most of which have not been run for More than two years due to shortage of fuel Are a varied lot including every known make american and foreign. But it. Luke Sells pm. And Back in the shop where this varied collection of automobiles Are put into shape Are a group of crack army mechanics whose language has deteriorated into something less than Oxford English. But despite word age they get cars out on the lot ready to go. One car came in new Type of car new wires. But the Mechanic had worked at the Indianapolis ind., Racetrack a a i got the thing so the motor runs the Generator charges the lights and everything but ill be damned if 1 can figure out what those other ten wires a for a Are if better cars Are built somebody in Africa will at least give it a try. J natives learning Slang the place is definitely becoming americanized natives learning Yankee Slang trying out cokes in another six weeks they la be stopping doughboy for a pm a Quarter for a cuppa Coffee chum a a and economically Morocco is Comini to life. 8 across the face of this Rich country which the germans were draining to feed their War machine the arabs Are blowing Fields that have lain fallow for two years Trade and production Are coming bad after a paralysis self imposed by citizens who resisted efforts of the German armistice commission to bleed All Morocco of its resources. The germans were taking 80 percent of Morocco s vegetables meat  fish leather fruit and eggs. I when american troops took Fedalen they found 350 tons of meat stored awaiting shipment to Germany although during october Only four tons of pork was released to the european population. The december ration has been raised to 30 tons. The cooking Oil ration has been raised by 100 tons More per week than was formerly available and december will see 700,000 dozen eggs on the Market valuable Ore deposits there were plenty of fish in Fedala Bay but fishermen were handicapped by Lack of Gas for kickers. The germans had taken All of that. This month due to american intervention 280 tons of fresh fish will be marketed. The lid is off the quot Gas a can and maj. Gen. George s. Patton or. Task Force commander had no idea of charging them License fees for the fishing. Negotiations Are being arranged to 1 Export to the . Ores of great value which lie on the docks or at mines and which previously were going to Germany available now Are thousands of tons 0 phosphates 135,000 tons of Iron Ore 33,000 tons of manganese Ore 3.750 tons of Cobalt Ore 900 tons of Antimony Ore 75 tons of molybdenum Ore. The mines have High potentials for continued production. If the natural resources thus made available to the United nations weren t specifically a reason for the North african Campaign they certainly Are a Welcome added dividend. Cabby finds Little difference Between yanks of two wars he wants a Transfer to a Small Caliper gun sir. This one disturbs his wrist watch a by Andrew a. Rooney stars and stripes staff writer he spoke with an accent that Type cannot imitate. A a i be been driving a cab for 40 years. Drove american soldiers to Piccadilly in the last War. Driving them to Piccadilly this War. Suppose i la be driving them there next  if anyone knew him Well they would Call him a a  but no one does. He is in the turmoil of metropolitan London All Day yet his association with people is limited to the time it takes a customer to ride out a few Bob. His conversations restricted by the Glass partition Are limited to a a where to sir ? a and a a thank you  he does t care much about picking up american soldiers. Does t dislike them understand but americans Don t tip very Well As a Rule. Just a Bunch of boys quot they re just a Bunch of boys a the old fellow says without a Trace of malice quot they Don t understand that we live on the 6d. And 9d. Tips we  he does t find much difference Between the american soldiers today anti the old ref. They want to go to the same places they talk about the same but there weren tas Many of them then a a funny thing a the Driver recalls a a they used to sing More. 1 always remember them singing Here Back in 1m-they looked Efferent too. W raps that went around their legs and High Collar tight at the neck a the cabby pulled his tattered coat in a choking Gest e a Row his Throat. Map in his mind in 40 years he has had a map a a London drawn in his mind More detail and accurate than any Ever printed. And no detail has faded. A a Cheshire  a a yes  the Grey head nods and the custom built cab with the Soldier sightseer headed sure As a bloodhound. For 1 legendary haunt of or. Johnson 0 Fleet St. A a Washington  do a a yes sir a he nods As if the r Cross club had been on his beat since Days when Hay was More important 10 business than gasoline