Miss Liberty, Saleswoman

Hollywood, which has sold glamor to the nation, and radio, which has sold it practically everything, are out to prove that they can sell the U.S. a billion dollars' worth of war bonds this month. Last week a sales crew of cinema ladies (and Ronald Colman), leaving Los Angeles for a tour of 300 cities, were photographed in a fetching frieze against a background of soldiers. Last week, too, seven comedians, six vocalists, four actors and 21 bands took part in one of the most successful broadcasts ever made.

I Pledge America, a six-hour, 45-minute show, was the longest in the Blue Network's history. The broadcast started at 9 p.m. Saturday and continued until 4 a.m. Sunday with only one 15-minute interruption (at 11, to let Ford's Earl Godwin repeat Watch the World Go By for Western listeners).

At 9 o'clock the Statue of Liberty stepped off her pedestal and went to Manhattan's RCA building with Orson Welles. There, for two hours, she listened to Edward G. Robinson, Jane Cowl, Bob Burns, Jack Pearl, Red Skelton, Fanny Brice, Amos 'n' Andy and other comedians and actors snarl at the Axis, repeat the tales of U.S. heroes, past & present. Some heroes spoke for themselves, by short wave, from England, Hawaii, the Canal Zone.

Often the listeners were asked to show pretty Miss Liberty they appreciated her by sending collect telegrams to their nearest Blue station ordering war bonds. The whimsey was profitable. By 11, when the Statue returned to her island, Blue had received orders for more than four million dollars in war bonds. When the program swung to dance music and picked up name bands, the orders kept pouring in. Blue's volunteer tabulators were nearly swamped, but at 4 a.m. could proudly announce the total: $10,359,368. Wires were still coming in, a heavy mail-order business was expected. Blue officials, who would soon receive the bill for all telegrams, were far from blue.

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