The US Government and the Entertainment Industries Confront the War: Motion Pictures, Music, and Book Publishing

Abstract

During the dark, dismal, and threatening days of World War II, Americans needed entertainment products to take their minds away from the daily depressing war news on the radio and in newspapers and magazines. During the war, the US motion picture industry (Hollywood) released important films addressing significant themes, including: how the home front confronted personal and family sacrifice and other war related concerns about rationing and sabotage; war movies about the various branches of the US military (every branch had its movies); escapist western movies; and a cluster of films with religious themes. Many Hollywood stars, directors, and technical production experts served in various military branches during the war. The music industry provided hopeful and escapist tunes that captured the spirit of the war and home front. The book industry published trade books to entertain and inform (and in some instances educate) consumers; and the US Government released about 122 million small yet rather durable paperback books in the Armed Services Editions (ASEs) for military personnel (and putting The Great Gatsby back into print), effectively creating a new postwar market of readers for both hardcover and paperback books.