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Tours De Force: Entertainers on the Frontline
BY NEIL SHARKEY
The Shrine of Remembrance’s latest special exhibition Tours De Force: Entertainers on the Frontline draws attention to the entertainers who have given their time and talent to serve their nation’s fighting men and women since the Vietnam War. The exhibition also celebrates the special military unit responsible for the care and safety of these beloved Australian performers.
Stage shows and musical concerts have sustained the spirits and mental health of Australian troops throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. These live shows remind servicemen and women of the lives they live, pleasures they enjoy, values they hold, institutions they serve, and people they love.
In late 1965, a privately organised tour to South Vietnam by popular Australian singer Lucky Starr prompted a question in Federal Parliament to then Prime Minister Robert Menzies—would it not be beneficial for Australian troops, and safer for performers, if the Australian defence forces sponsored such tours themselves?
The Forces Advisory Committee on Entertainment (FACE), today known as Forces Entertainment, was established in January 1966 to provide live entertainment for Australian forces serving overseas. The original FACE comprised representatives from the Army, the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC), the commercial radio and television networks, and various theatrical agencies.
Ella Hooper from ‘Killing Heidi’ 16 December 2001 Dili, East Timor
Photographer Corporal Mark Eaton. Reproduced courtesy of the Australian Defence Force
It is interesting to note that the entertainer’s trade union, Actor’s Equity, refused to be involved in FACE due to its opposition to Australia’s military deployment to South Vietnam. This action proved the opening salvo in what has often been a highly politicised arena. Participation in a Forces Entertainment tour can be as risky to a performer’s career and their personal safety depending on the public support enjoyed by the deployment in the wider community. This important aspect of the history of Forces Entertainment continues to the present day.
Support for Australian military personnel abroad has not always been universal among Australian entertainers. The 1967 play On Stage Vietnam by Monica Brand was one of the first plays anywhere to be critical of western involvement in Vietnam. Brand, an Australian Communist Party Member, was a close associate of fellow playwright and former Actor’s Equity secretary Dick Diamond. Brand and Diamond had both lived in communist North Vietnam in the late 1950s. The exhibition features an original script of On Stage Vietnam as well as other paraphernalia from the show. Certainly the vast majority of Australian entertainers visiting Vietnam worked on the southern side of the border!
Despite hostility from many in the arts community, the original FACE succeeded in sending 54 concert parties to South Vietnam between 1965 and 1971. The Returned Services League paid for 28 of these tours via the Australian Forces Overseas Fund (AFOF) which continues to assist the operations of Forces Entertainment to the present day. Five Christmas shows, meanwhile, were joint FACE- AFOF efforts.
ARIA Award-winning Aussie Hip Hop trio Bliss n Eso fire up a crowd of Australian and United States troops 6 September 2013 Camp Holland, Tarin Kowt, Oruzgan Province, Afghanistan.
Photographer Corporal Chris Moore. Reproduced courtesy of the Australian Defence Force
Some 350 FACE-AFOF performers toured South Vietnam during the war, among them individuals who remained household names for decades—Ian Turpie, Lorrae Desmond, Pattie Newton, Denise Drysdale and the Deltones. Little Pattie and Col Joy were famously performing at the 1st Australian Task Force base at Nui Dat during the Battle of Long Tan (18 August 1966).
All FACE-AFOF artists touring South Vietnam received security details, free transport and accommodation, as well as daily allowances, but no performance fees. Tours lasted between one and four weeks. All major Australian bases and hospitals in South Vietnam—at Saigon, Nui Dat, Vung Tau and Phan Rang— received FACE-AFOF concert parties, so too outlying posts and rest and recreation centres. The last joint FACE-AFOF concert party of South Vietnam occurred between 8 and 16 December 1971. The successful six-year scheme cost the Australian taxpayer a mere $780,000 ($9 million today).
This early period of Forces Entertainments history is represented in Tours De Force with images from the Australian War Memorial collection and original exhibits on loan from the Arts Centre’s Australian Music Vault collection and Museum Victoria.
Original photographs, pertaining to the FACE tour undertaken by singer Fred Ward and the military service of rock star and Armoured Personnel Carrier crew chief, Normie Rowe, are displayed alongside a program for the Superama ’66 Concert, a starstudded affair which raised money for AFOF. Other exhibits include a letter sent to Barry Humphries by the Army in response to his request to join a FACE tour (ultimately rejected) and keepsakes of beloved television ventriloquist Ron Blaskett (and his good friend Gerry Gee). Blaskett, in addition to embarking on a FACE tour in April 1968 and again in 1971 as part of a private tour, had served with the 1st Australian Entertainment Unit—a proto-FACE travelling road show which gave 12,000 performances during the Second World War and included well-known entertainers George Wallace, Gladys Moncrieff, Bebe Scott and Smokey Dawson.
Hamish Blake and Andy Lee broadcast live from the ‘Giggle Bunker’ 17 April 2008 Operation SLIPPER. Camp Holland, Tarin Kowt, Afghanistan
Photographer unknown. Image reproduced courtesy of the Australian Defence Force
It is valuable to note that ‘private’ tours of South Vietnam by Australian entertainers continued parallel to the sponsored FACE/ AFOF tours. Indeed, almost half of all Australian performers who toured South Vietnam between 1965 and 1971 did so as part of privately contracted troupes. The unsponsored entertainers were paid by the Australian Government only when actually performing for Australian troops. To maximise earnings, so-called ‘unofficials’ generally performed for the far more numerous (and better paying) American forces.
Some Australian entertainers travelled to South Vietnam alone, at their own expense. Unbound by government contracts, they worked clubs, bars and private engagements, as well as military bases. Professional exploitation and in the case of young female performers, unwanted sexual advances, were rife and danger ever present. The poor conditions faced by Australian, American and other allied entertainers in South Vietnam was subject to United States Senate inquiry in 1969.
The difficulties experienced by many unsponsored performers—most tragically the murder of 19-year-old Sydney singer Cathy Wayne on stage at a United States Marines base in 1969—convinced many officials in Australia that all future tours, by civilian performers in combat zones, should come under the direct control of the Australian Defence Force. In recent years many non- FACE entertainers who toured South Vietnam have had to lobby hard for recognition for the work they did during the war.
The original incarnation of FACE was disbanded in 1985 due to a drop-off in Australian Defence Force (ADF) deployments in the post-Vietnam War era. The 1999 Independence crisis in East Timor, however, led to Australia’s largest military deployment since 1971. This in turn highlighted the need for live entertainment for Australian troops.
The difficulties faced by the Australian-led peacekeeping force sent to help the East Timorese spurred renowned music promoter Glen Wheatly into action. Wheatly believed a televised star-studded Christmas extravaganza in East Timor’s capital, Dili, would boost peacekeeper morale and demonstrate Australia’s support for fledging East Timorese nationhood.
Dr Karl Kruszelnicki shoulders a Carl Gustav recoilless rifle 8 March 2013. OPERATION SLIPPER. Multinational Base, Tarin Kowt, Afghanistan
Photographer US Army SGT Jessi Ann McCormick. Image reproduced courtesy of the Australian Defence Force
Wheatley secured A-list acts—Kylie Minogue, John Farnham, James Reyne, The Angels, James Blundell, Gina Jeffreys, The Living End and The Dili Allstars—and the concert headlined as Tour of Duty was telecast live across Australia. Tour of Duty demonstrated just how well live shows by civilian entertainers ‘in country’ could energise ADF personnel overseas.
Tour of Duty remains the most famous military concert put on for Australian servicemen and women. Tours De Force benefits from the inclusion of a host of keepsakes owned by recently, and very sadly, deceased impresario Glen Wheatley. The Shrine is eternally grateful to Glen’s widow Gaynor who has made the display possible at what is a very difficult time. The Wheatley items are displayed in company with mementos belonging to Paulie Stewart of the Dili Allstars, including a slouch hat signed by General Peter Cosgrove and a band t-shirt signed by Xanana Gusmão, the former president of East Timor. The famous gold dress worn by Kylie Minogue during the concert, on loan from the Arts Centre, is another standout.
The tremendous success of Tour of Duty led directly to the reactivation of FACE in 2000. Today, Forces Entertainment is a tri-service body of the Joint Operations Command responsible for fostering relationships between the ADF and the entertainment and arts industries.
In the past two decades, musicians Angry Anderson, Tim Freeman, Missy Higgins, Doc Neeson, and comedians Anthony Lehmann, Gretel Kileen, Mick Molloy, Fiona O’Loughlin and Merrick Watts along with scores of others have performed for troops in East Timor, Afghanistan, Iraq, the Solomon Islands, Sinai and onboard HMAS vessels at sea.
The sections of the exhibition dealing with this more recent phase of the activities showcases loans from Forces Entertainment, and images and video footage from the ADF and Channel 10’s 7PM Project. Visitors will learn that the nature of the entertainment offered to Australian troops overseas has changed considerably over the decades since the Vietnam War. Some once popular entertainments (e.g. bikini-clad go-go dancers, ‘blue’ comedians, etc.) have lost relevance over time as the ADF has diversified, but the core purpose of Forces Entertainment remains.
The experiences of performers on Forces Entertainment tours varies widely. Some have found the difficulties and privations such, that one tour is enough. Others love the rough and tumble and partake in multiple tours. The motivations for going on tour are as varied as the entertainers themselves. Some are motivated by a sense of patriotism, adventure, and comradery. Some seek fame, experience, or bragging rights. Few are in it for money, as most can earn far more by staying at home.
Entertainers become ‘Defence Civilians’ when deployed to an Area of Operations and must consent to Australian Defence Force discipline regulations and comply with all General Orders, lawful commands and directions issued by, or under the authority of, the Commander. All entertainers undergo medical and dental check-ups and like the FACE performers of the Vietnam War era, only receive a daily allowance, the same rate as the military personnel accompanying them.
Singer-Songwriter Chantelle Delaney (left) and Urban Songstress Tiaan Williams test out the seating in 6x6 troop carrier 25 June 2009 OPERATION ANODE. Solomon Islands
Photographer CPL Guy Young. Image reproduced courtesy of the Australian Defence Force
Military traditions and discipline can prove highly confronting for entertainers, as can the ‘rough and ready’ meals, living conditions and forms of transport with which they must contend. Individualistic and often outright subversive personalities must be schooled in what they usually view as the bewildering protocols of the military.
In addition to the stories of wartime entertainers, this exhibition explores the mission, operations, personnel and experiences of the men and women who have facilitated these successful tours.
Visitors can learn how Forces Entertainment personnel scout for, and contract performers, how they familiarise these often unconventional talents in the ways of the military culture and most significantly, it will highlight how Forces Entertainment keep these performers safe and comfortable in dangerous combat zones that few other Australian civilians will ever experience.
The exhibition’s broad timescale, from 1965 to 2020, means visitors will encounter entertainers of different eras. Many will be curious to know how their favourite entertainers have fared in difficult, dangerous but undoubtedly interesting environments.
Several beloved Australian entertainers have been involved in the development of the exhibition, agreeing to share their stories, memorabilia and even offering to help promote it. Patricia Amphlett (Little Pattie), Normie Rowe, Gaynor Wheatley, Paulie Stewart, John Schumann, Anthony Lehmann (Lehmo), Merrick Watts, and Tom Gleeson have all lent a hand. In addition, the Shrine has sought and received the complete support of the Forces Entertainment Unit of the Australian Defence Force. We thank them for their contribution.
