Troupers

An Associated Press dispatch from the Solomons in September told of a five-man musical revue which covered a 200-mile circuit, winning the applause of soldiers, sailors and marines in 24 matinee performances at three vital South Pacific outposts.

Sound effects were augmented by the unscheduled swishing of enemy bombs, roaring of aerial dog fights, exploding anti-aircraft shells and the steady drumming of monsoon rains.

Guiding the production was Corp. Fred Burleigh '28, of Boston, former director of the Indianapolis Civic Theatre, the Pittsburgh Playhouse, and the South Shore Players in Cohasset, Mass.

First, Burleigh produced the script in two days. After a long argument with a mystified supply sergeant, Burleigh was alotted several yards of bright red cloth, called "Maggie's Drawers" by the Army, and ordinarily used to denote a miss in target practice, for costumes. Tailored into ballet skirts, the cloth was decorated with spangles hacked from empty powdered egg tins.

When half the Russell Islands had been covered, including a field hospital, the show set out for nearby Guadalcanal on a ration barge. Bleary-eyed from the all-day w>ater jaunt, the cast stumblingly answered five air raid alerts the night of arrival, but gave two performances the next afternoon.