Stage Door Canteen, 1943: A Look At Ethel Waters

Ethel Waters is on a very long list of popular and revered celebrities who appear in the 1943 film, Stage Door Canteen. The title refers to an actual New York City location that was staffed and operated by members of the American Theatre Wing. Its purpose was to offer refreshments and entertainment to enlisted folks who were on leave or on their way to war. Sol Lesser (producer of all the Tarzan movies from the ‘40s and ‘50s) wanted a film that combined the basic elements of a documentary with a dramatic screenplay involving fictional characters and have it all take place in a legitimate nightclub. Stage Door Canteen is that brainchild.