Winged Victory Playbill, 1945 January 7

File — Box: 4265.001, Folder: 35

Scope and Contents

A playbill for a production of Moss Hart's Winged Victory, performed in the Opera House on Wacker Drive at Madison in Chicago, Illinois, in January, 1945. According to the playbill, the company of Winged Victory consisted entirely of Army Air Forces personnel - 319 service personnel (cast, orchestra, choral group, and production staff) and thirty-nine civilians (cast and production staff).

Dates

1945 January 7

Language of Materials

From the Collection: Materials are in English.

Conditions Governing Access

Access to portions of this collection has been restricted by Archives and Special Collections in order to preserve the original materials. Contact University Libraries Special Collections at archives@ua.edu or 205.348.0500 for information on access to the restricted portions of this collection.

The rest of the collection is open for research. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Due to the nature of certain archival formats, including digital and audio-visual materials, access to certain materials may require additional advance notice.

Biographical / Historical

Winged Victory was a play written by Moss Hart and produced by the United States Army Air Forces in order to boost morale and raise funds for the Army Emergency Relief Fund. The play depicts a group of young trainees from a cross-section of American young men as they work together through pilot training. The play opened in Boston in the fall of 1943, and in New York at the 44th Street Theater in November that same year, playing before 350,000 people in 226 performances there. In 1944, Twentieth Century Fox bought the rights to the film and produced it using a few of the play's actors. Following the film's release, the play toured the country to a combined audience of over 800,000.