After the war, men of the 253rd Infantry, in order to stifle their boredom decided to put on a show for the troops. Fredd Wiener (Special Services), Joe Pollack (K/253rd), Bill Thomas (E/253rd) and several other members of the Regiment undertook the task of putting on a show to entertain the rest of the men in town. An Infantry regiment has a large pool of talent to draw from, and soon Wiener, Pollack and Thomas had a complete cast, musicians, and stage hands for their theatrical production. Men like "Shorty" Myers (2d Bn Hq/253rd), Danny Canestraro (Hq Co/253rd) and Armand Beaulieu (F/253rd) volunteered, probably for the first time since they joined the Army.
This was no ordinary production, however, this was a full scale musical extravaganza with an orchestra in the pit and all.
Wiener and Pollack must have spent many hours at the local Gaiety Theater in their respective towns because their 1945 version of "Carmen" was burlesque at its finest, and the show was much more like "Hellzapoppin" than any opera. Marty Faloon (B/253rd) led the band that included Herb Behrens (2d Bn Hq 253rd) and Marty Schopp (D/253rd). Charley Byrd (E/253rd) sang with a quartet and played his guitar. Attilio Savelli (G/253rd) couldn't keep his brassiere on right side up, and all the while "El Stinko" (Thomas) paraded back and forth before the audience. In addition to "El Stinko" , the bullslinger, Wiener played the part of Carmen, Pollack played Doktor Foss, Ray Richardson (363rd Med) played Tom Wand, and Al La Vecchia (E/253rd) was Sweet Sue.
The show was to run for only three performances at the Rathaus in Tauberbischofsheim, but some men from Division Headquarters caught the act and the entire cast of 44 was soon performing in Bad Mergentheim. Following that, the show went on the road under the supervision of Lt Bob Bogan, and presented 143 shows all over Europe. The show played to more than 300,000 GIs in the opera houses and hosptials of Europe. |
