Another Review at MyShelf.Com

Publisher: Avalon
Release Date: Dec. 2003
ISBN: 0759257760
Awards:  
Format Reviewed: ebook
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Genre: Historical fiction
Reviewed: 2004
Reviewer: Janet Elaine Smith
Reviewer Notes:  Janet Elaine Smith is the author of 12 published novels, including her latest two, Par for the Course and And They Called Her General Leigh. She also writes for many magazines, both print and ezines.
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Stage Door Canteen
By Maggie Davis


     Stage Door Canteen is set in New York City during World War II. This is not a book for the faint-of-heart. It paints a very graphic, realistic picture of what life was like. It presents the glitz and glamour of Broadway, while also depicting the fear, the blackouts, the German U-boats, battles, and above all the loneliness of the armed forces men who were far from home.

     The main story line revolves around three young women who work at the “Stage Door Canteen,” the uptown hangout for most of the men who were in New York City, many of them just for short periods of time. The women were Genevieve Rose, an up-and-coming “star” in a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical; Elise Ginsberg, a young refugee who knew the horrors of Hitler’s world all too well; and Bernadine Flaherty, a teenage dancer with her eyes set on “making it big” in the theater.

     The men went through friendships with one another, using the girls from the Canteen—who would only “go so far” with them, drinking, keeping secrets, and living in conditions they never thought they would have to face.

      One of the most endearing parts of the book was the sashaying in and out of movie stars and musicians who had already become household words—people like Kathryn Hepburn, Ava Gardner and Tommy Dorsey. These stars volunteered at the “Stage Door Canteen” the same as the commoners who dished the food up day after day.

      This book is a very delightful blend of history and fiction. It gives a new appreciation of our soldiers, and will leave you laughing—and crying—as you turn page after page.

      Highly recommended, whether you enjoy history or not.