Stage Door Canteen Exhibit on Tap at National World War II Museum

A re-creation of the Stage Door Canteen, American Theatre Wing’s celebrated World War II nightclub, will be unveiled at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans on November 6. Tom Hanks and Tom Brokaw are among the celebrity guests expected to check out the newly expanded museum during a weekend of festivities.

Organized in March 1942 in the basement of the 44th Street Theatre by the Wing and staffed by Broadway performers, the Stage Door Canteen was a place where military personnel came to dance, eat, drink and hobnob with the stars of Broadway and Hollywood. Lauren Bacall volunteered on Monday nights; Helen Hayes served sandwiches; Alfred Lunt and Sam Jaffe cleared away the plates. By the time the Canteens closed in 1945, they were operating in eight U.S. cities as well as in Paris and London.

“If you didn't wear a uniform, you couldn't get in and mingle with the stars,” American Theatre Wing executive director Howard Sherman explained in a statement. In addition to a re-creation of the look of the Times Square Canteen, the museum’s permanent exhibit will include a live show, “Let Freedom Swing!,” which brings to life the songs, humor and spirit of the war era.