The John C. Becher Collection in Special Collections & Archives (SC&A), George Mason University, contains entertainment materials written by and for the United States military during and immediately following World War II. SC&A acquired the collection in 1979 through a donation made by Harold Arburg, Director of Arts and Humanities, U.S. Office of Education. The collection is arranged by material type and entertainment themes. The six cubic feet (nine linear feet) cover the years 1940 through 1953.  Most of the items in the Becher Collection are Soldier Shows, entertainments written to amuse overseas troops and to boost morale. Produced by the Army Special Services Division, the scripts were written by professional and amateur playwrights. Many were created by military personnel attending the Special Services School in Lexington, Virginia (1943-1946). The collection also includes: newspaper and magazine clippings, war humor, poems, blackouts, quizzes, crafts manuals, original songs, song parodies, sheet music, flyers, pamphlets, theatrical manuals and guides, lesson plans and lectures, production ideas, and comedy routines. There are also several military-issued Pocket Guides to foreign lands, including guides to Burma, Germany, Greece, West Africa, Italy, and Great Britain. 

Keeping morale high was important during the war. This was recognized at the highest military levels. General George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff, for example, stressed the importance of maintaining high morale: "Napoleon evaluated morale over material as three to one. I believe that recent experiences indicate a re-estimate of this value - the odds being near five to one, or probably even ten to one in some instances in favor of the psychological factor" (Morale Program, box 7 folder 2 page 7). Programs and services that maintained or heightened morale covered a wide range - athletics, libraries, religion, education - and none was more important than entertainment, which is well-represented by the materials in the Becher Collection. 

Entertaining troops during World War II was an enormous enterprise. The celebrated USO-Camp Shows was a civilian-based organization that provided professional entertainment for the Armed Forces. The U.S. Army Motion Picture Service was a non-profit organization that sponsored movie theatres to ease the transition from civilian to military life. A related group, the U.S.O. Mobile Motion Picture Service, showed films to overseas troops. Whereas these organizations provided passive forms of entertainment, the Entertainment Section of the Army Special Services Division took a different approach.  They actually included the soldiers in creating their own entertainment. These were called Soldier Shows. 

Soldier Shows were made by soldiers for soldiers. The principal objective was to achieve mass participation. A wide range of talent was employed in creating Soldier Shows - including singers, dancers, actors, orators, trivia buffs, costume and scenery makers, artists, and carpenters. Because mass participation by military personnel was encouraged, the program had a virtually unlimited field to draw on. 

Soldiers participating in Soldier Shows acted in skits and plays, sang musical numbers, performed comedy routines, quizzed other soldiers, and made arts and crafts. Such activities forged common bonds among the troops and provided emotional links to their homeland. Soldier Shows were particularly effective in boosting the morale of hospitalized soldiers. The therapeutic value of Soldier Shows played an important role in the physical and mental rehabilitation of injured soldiers. 

Soldier Shows were remarkably effective in boosting morale. In fact, reports have shown that the program was one of the easiest and most effective ways to combat low morale.  (Morale Program, box 1 folder 2 page 7). General Dwight D. Eisenhower, in a back-stage visit to the cast who put on a Soldier Show in North Africa, praised their usefulness in the war effort: "You are entertaining soldiers. You are not fighting with guns - but your job is just as important. As long as you are doing your job well . . . you will be rendering a service, and a great one, to your fellow soldiers and your country" (Morale Program, box 1 folder 2 page 7).