Doraine and Ellis were an American husband and wife vaudeville

Vaudeville

Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...

 and variety

Variety show

A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...

 singing team of the twentieth century, who often billed themselves as "The Singing Sweethearts" or "America's Foremost Singing Team".

Touring with the USO

United Service Organizations

The United Service Organizations Inc. is a private, nonprofit organization that provides morale and recreational services to members of the U.S. military, with programs in 160 centers worldwide. Since 1941, it has worked in partnership with the Department of Defense , and has provided support and...

 for hundreds of performances during World War II at the behest of Bob Hope

Bob Hope

Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...

, whom the couple knew from their days of performing at nightclubs around the United States,
Doraine and Ellis entertained Allied troops on bills with such performers as Morey Amsterdam

Morey Amsterdam

Morey Amsterdam was an American television actor and comedian, best known for the role of Buddy Sorrell on The Dick Van Dyke Show in the early 1960s.-Early life:...

 and Martha Raye

Martha Raye

Martha Raye was an American comic actress and standards singer who performed in movies, and later on television....

 before being forced to return stateside following minor injuries received in London during the Blitz

The Blitz

The Blitz was the sustained strategic bombing of Britain by Nazi Germany between 7 September 1940 and 10 May 1941, during the Second World War. The city of London was bombed by the Luftwaffe for 76 consecutive nights and many towns and cities across the country followed...

.

USO years

Following a show at the Atlanta Biltmore Hotel

Atlanta Biltmore Hotel and Biltmore Apartments

The Atlanta Biltmore Hotel and Biltmore Apartments, located at 817 West Peachtree Street in Atlanta, Georgia, were developed by William Candler, son of Coca Cola executive Asa Candler, with Holland Ball Judkins, and John McEntee Bowman...

, where the duo was playing an extended engagement shortly after the outbreak of World War II, General James Mollison, who was in the audience, asked the couple to perform for his troops. Shuttling from Atlanta to Mobile

Mobile, Alabama

Mobile is the third most populous city in the Southern US state of Alabama and is the county seat of Mobile County. It is located on the Mobile River and the central Gulf Coast of the United States. The population within the city limits was 195,111 during the 2010 census. It is the largest...

, Alabama

Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

 for Sunday shows on their days off, Doraine and Ellis gave several performances for Mollison's troops who were stationed there. Bob Hope then requested that they sign up to go overseas with their show and had a tour of U.S. military installations arranged for them by the Hollywood Victory Committee

Hollywood Victory Committee

The Hollywood Victory Committee was an organization founded on December 10, 1941 during World War II to provide a means so that for stage, screen, television and radio performers that were not in military service could contribute to the war effort through bond drives and improving morale for...

. Their initial tour was to include only installations in the southwest U.S.; however, while playing an engagement in Indio, California, the couple received instructions to leave for New York the following day for a show at the Brooklyn Navy Yard

Brooklyn Navy Yard

The United States Navy Yard, New York–better known as the Brooklyn Navy Yard or the New York Naval Shipyard –was an American shipyard located in Brooklyn, northeast of the Battery on the East River in Wallabout Basin, a semicircular bend of the river across from Corlear's Hook in Manhattan...

. From there, they were sent to Miami for a show but were quickly diverted to play for British troops in the Bahamas and Bermuda.

By 1944, Doraine and Ellis's overseas work in World War II had taken them on a 13-month tour of fighting fronts in 23 countries, placing them in the ranks of the most seasoned veterans of U.S.O. camp shows. The couple's U.S.O. shows took them to Iceland, England, and British, French, and Dutch Guiana in addition to many tropical island locations that they were prevented from disclosing to others at the time for security reasons. "A lot of times we were flown to a ship or an island and never did know just where we were," Ellis said in a contemporary newspaper article about their work.

Troops that Doraine and Ellis entertained on their overseas tour appreciated most the couple's offerings of semiclassical and light operatic fare, requesting their versions of "Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life", "Indian Love Call

Indian Love Call

"Indian Love Call" is a song from Rose-Marie, a 1924 operetta-style Broadway musical with music by Rudolf Friml and Herbert Stothart, and book and lyrics by Otto Harbach and Oscar Hammerstein II...

", and Jerome Kern

Jerome Kern

Jerome David Kern was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over 100 stage works, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A...

's "Make Believe

Make Believe (Jerome Kern song)

"Make Believe" is a show tune from the 1927 Broadway musical Show Boat with music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II.In the show, it is first sung as a duet by the characters Gaylord Ravenal, a handsome riverboat gambler, and the teenage Magnolia Hawks, an aspiring performer and...

". According to Doraine, the troops wanted to hear their version's of "sentimental songs that reminded them of their girls back home."

In a 2004 interview Ellis commented that the soldiers always appreciated the effort to distract them from their deadly duties. "They needed to be entertained to relieve the pressures they were under on the battlefield. They were just so enthusiastic."

The need for military secrecy played out in other ways during the couple's tour. In late 1944, they reported that the show that most stood out in their memory to that date was one that had taken place at a bomber base in England in June 1944, when the colonel in charge had to cancel a post-performance visit to the officers' club, citing pending "important business" the next morning and the need for "a few hours sleep". The next morning they learned that the colonel's "important business" was D-Day.

Doraine and Ellis often joked that "bugs rather than bombs" were their chief disturbance on tour. "At one jungle training camp in a malarial control zone, we were supposed to give an afternoon show, but travel was so bad that we didn't arrive until after sundown. You're not supposed to go around at night without net covering but Doraine stood in the spotlight in a flimsy gown, bare neck and shoulders, singing to soldiers all covered with mosquito net

Mosquito net

A mosquito net offers protection against mosquitos, flies, and other insects, and thus against diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever, and various forms of encephalitis, including the West Nile virus, if used properly and especially if treated with an insecticide, which can double...

ting." Danger from bombings was a reality though: during their stay in England, the couple were knocked out by a robot bomb and narrowly escaped injury from another. Doraine was hit by falling plaster in a War Department building. While playing the London Palladium

London Palladium

The London Palladium is a 2,286 seat West End theatre located off Oxford Street in the City of Westminster. From the roster of stars who have played there and many televised performances, it is arguably the most famous theatre in London and the United Kingdom, especially for musical variety...

, an air raid alert sounded. Both expected a rush for shelters but were amazed that the rest of the show went on. Seeing the courage of their fellow performers and of the audience, they continued with their own performance.

Eventually, the couple were forced to return to America after being among those injured from the first successful German V-1

V-1 flying bomb

The V-1 flying bomb, also known as the Buzz Bomb or Doodlebug, was an early pulse-jet-powered predecessor of the cruise missile....

 rocket to hit England in June 1944.

Post-War and later career

In the immediate post-war years of the 1940s Doraine and Ellis held the house record at many venues, including the Empire Room at Chicago's Palmer House

Palmer House

The Palmer House Hilton is a famous and historic hotel in downtown Chicago.-History:There have been three Palmer House Hotels at the corner of State and Monroe Streets in Chicago....

, returning annually for many seasons. The couple appeared on early television shows such as The Morey Amsterdam Show

The Morey Amsterdam Show

The Morey Amsterdam Show is an American sitcom which ran from 1948-1949 on CBS Television and 1949-1950 on the DuMont Television Network , for a total of 71 episodes.-Synopsis:...

.

In later years, they toured the country extensively in their Costumed Calvacade of Broadway's Greatest Musical Hits, a revue in which they presented musical selections from Show Boat

Show Boat

Show Boat is a musical in two acts with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was originally produced in New York in 1927 and in London in 1928, and was based on the 1926 novel of the same name by Edna Ferber. The plot chronicles the lives of those living and working...

, Annie Get Your Gun

Annie Get Your Gun (musical)

Annie Get Your Gun is a musical with lyrics and music written by Irving Berlin and a book by Herbert Fields and his sister Dorothy Fields. The story is a fictionalized version of the life of Annie Oakley , who was a sharpshooter from Ohio, and her husband, Frank Butler.The 1946 Broadway production...

, South Pacific

South Pacific (musical)

South Pacific is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and book by Hammerstein and Joshua Logan. The story draws from James A. Michener's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1947 book Tales of the South Pacific, weaving together characters and elements from several of its...

, Oklahoma!

Oklahoma!

Oklahoma! is the first musical written by composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. Set in Oklahoma Territory outside the town of Claremore in 1906, it tells the story of cowboy Curly McLain and his romance...

, My Fair Lady

My Fair Lady

My Fair Lady is a musical based upon George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe...

, The Music Man

The Music Man

The Music Man is a musical with book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson, based on a story by Willson and Franklin Lacey. The plot concerns con man Harold Hill, who poses as a boys' band organizer and leader and sells band instruments and uniforms to naive townsfolk before skipping town with...

and so on and became successful producers in their own right through their production company, Harmony House Attractions. In the 1960s, accompanist Earl Wentz

Earl Wentz

Earl Wentz was an American pianist, composer, and musical director most noted for his creation in 2000 of the American Composer Series, an ongoing performance series in the cabaret format.-Early years:...

 joined the team for several tours throughout the United States.

Critical response

Doraine and Ellis presented an optimistic, glamorous, yet wholesome portrait of America in their act, garnering wide acclaim: "They more than live up to their title "Romance in Song"; "Sensational singing duo...glamorous costuming, as well as excellent stage presence make them one of the most delightful attractions to appear here; and "You'll fall in love with Doraine and Ellis. They radiate wholesome charm.". The show business publication, Variety

Variety (magazine)

Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...

raved, "Fine voices and personalities combine to produce a smooth session of well chosen, cleverly arranged songs.".

The team made appearances in 48 states and 23 countries before retiring in the 1990s. Their extensive costume collection was donated to the costume department of Central Piedmont Community College

Central Piedmont Community College

Central Piedmont Community College is a large community college in Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. The school was founded in 1963; it is the result of a merger between Mecklenburg College and the Central Industrial Education Center....

in Charlotte, NC.

Recordings

• A Night on Broadway With Doraine and Ellis; Onstage Records
• Showtime USA; Onstage Records

External links

• Doraine and Ellis. Traveling Culture: Circuit Chautauqua in the Twentieth Century; Selections from the Collections of University of Iowa.
• Doraine and Ellis: Romance in Song. Traveling Culture: Circuit Chautauqua in the Twentieth Century; Selections from the Collections of University of Iowa.