Copyright © 2020 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett
In 1917, Thomas G. Moses wrote, “We closed a contract with H. Robert Law of New York City for a lot of scenery for the Government Cantonment Theatres. First contract was $12,600.00, second $3,600.00, third $980.00 for installing one job. All to be completed November 7th – some hustling. I went down to the studio on five Sundays – something I haven’t done in fifteen years, and every night until 8:30. Some of the boys slept in the studio. Everyone hustled. We completed the work on the day set and inside of a week it was all out of the studio.” This was a project to help the war effort; a big one that brought in $17,180 in a short period of time. That is the monetary equivalent of $364,438.00 today.
In 1917, the War Department Commission acknowledged that it was important to keep American troops entertained as they trained for combat. This stance resulted in a new entertainment program implemented across the country.
“The Salina Daily Union” described the program, reporting, “The government has made arrangements whereby the best Broadway attractions will be staged at cantonments with a nominal admission to soldiers. Lectures and other entertainment of high class are also being arranged for. The object of the ‘Smileage’ campaign is the sale of coupon books, from one dollar up. The coupons are admission tickets to the government cantonment theatres. Citizens will be asked to purchase coupons books for the soldiers” (28 Jan 1918, page 8).
Smileage books were produced by the Globe Ticket Co. and purchased for loved ones in the military. Books were sold, containing either one dollar or five dollars worth of admissions. Soldiers could use tickets in the books for scheduled events at Government Cantonment Theatres.
The Smileage Books noted. “The coupons in this book will be accepted in purchase of admission and seat tickets at Liberty Theatres, Liberty Tents and auditoriums under the management of the commission on training camp activities in National Army Cantonments and National Guard Camps.
There is a lovely article in “The New York Age” from Dec. 22, 1917 (page 6):
“New names and phrases galore are being coined incident to the world war, and latest word to attract general attention in America is ‘SMILEAGE.’ The Military Entertainment Service working under the direction of the War Department Commission and Training Camp Activities, in a pamphlet just issued, entitled ‘SMILEAGE,’ gives the following definition for the most recent wartime terms added to our vocabulary: ‘Mileage means a stretch of miles; smileage means a span of smiles.’ Additional information in the pamphlet as to the mission of the newly-coined word reads: Smileage Books are books that contain transportation for the soldier from gloom and homesickness to smiles and gladness. The world war has created the necessity for a new age of man – one that is applicable to present conditions – a ‘Smile-age.’ So to alleviate gloom and sorrow, the new age is beginning to see the light of day. In each cantonment a theatre has been erected. In these theatres from time to time will be given the very best of entertainment – the kind that is clean and wholesome, furnished by famous stars of the stage. The price for this entertainment will be very nominal. SMILEAGE BOOKS contain coupons that are exchangeable for admission to any entertainment given at these Liberty theatres. Don’t make your boy ask you for comforts. Think of them first and send them to him. Send them to the boys who have no friends, no home to turn to for these little luxuries. Perhaps you have a boy of your own in training. Buy him a SMILEAGE BOOK. Put in the next letter you send him. Otherwise he will have to stand on the outside and envy the other fellows whose folks remembered them.” This is the appeal being made by Raymond B. Fosdick, chairman of the War Department Commission for Training Camp Activities, and Marc Klaw, head of Military Entertainment Service, on behalf of draftees who crave for a little wholesome entertainment while undergoing a rigid course of training preparatory to going to Europe to help make this world safe for democracy. Our draftees are not hungry for food. They are not compelled to worry over the scarcity of food stuffs, for Uncle Sam sees to it that the boys in khaki are provided with plenty of good, substantial eats. But many a drafted man may be found who is hungry – starving for the proper kind of entertainment to drive away dull care. The soldier boy is like the rest of us – intensely human. He tires of constantly reading, writing, listening to the phonograph and playing checkers the same as those in civil life. For this reason Liberty theatres have been erected in each cantonment, and Broadway stars will appear at these playhouses in the latest productions. Provisions have been made to charge a nominal sum as price of admission. Some smileage books contain one hundred tickets and are sold for $5, while others contain twenty tickets and cost $1. On each ticket appears the signature of the Secretary of War Baker, who realizes that the gloom and homesickness in camp should be dissipated by furnishing the drafted men entertainment of the right sort. The work of transporting the boy many miles from home to ‘Smileland’ has become one of the most important functions of the War Department. The New York office of that branch of the War Department which is engaged in arranging the proper entertainment for the soldiers is located at 15 Broadway, and is in charge of Hollis Cooley, a showman of ripe experience and who stands high in the theatrical world. Mr. Cooley and his assistants are being kept busy at this time supplying smileage books to relatives and friends of soldier boys who regard the giving of a book containing ‘transportation for the holder from gloom and homesickness to smiles and gladness’ as a most appropriate Christmas gift. Banks, department store and secret societies are among the institutions to take an active interest in the campaign just begun to create a new age of man – a ‘Smile-Age.’”
To be continued…
