G.I. Jive (with G.I. Jill)

(AFRS, WWII Era Musical Program)

G.I. Jive was a radio show sent out by short wave during World War 2. The show starred G. I. Jane, Martha Wilkerson in real-life, who was a counterpoint to Tokyo Rose and Berlin Betty.

YANK, The Army Weekly was one of the most widely read magazines during WWII. The idea for the magazine is credited to Egbert White, who had been a writer for Stars and Stripes during WWI. What made Yank unique was that it was written for the Enlisted Man by Enlisted Men. The editorial work was done in New York, then the editions were shipped over seas for printing. There were editions for British, Mediterranean, Continental and Western Pacific theaters. There was a 5 or 10 cent charge for each copy, the theory being the Magazine would be more valued by soldiers and sailors if they had to pay for it.

From the beginning the Enlisted editors and writers knew what Enlisted men wanted. Jazz, laughs, and Pretty Girls.

Every issue featured a Pin-Up Girl. Cartoons were a part of the magazine, starting with Sad Sack, the hapless private who was "drafted" into the magazine in May 1942 and featured until he and the magazine were "formally discharged" in 1945.

The Jazz was brought in the form of G.I. Jive, The AEF Jukebox of the Air, a music program originally produced by the Office of War Information and then given to AFRS. The Pin-Up Girls were important on the Radio as well.

For the first 600 or so episodes both credited and uncredited disc jockeys were used. Sometime these were servicemen who had a good radio voice and an interest in jazz, but many times a WAAC or WAV, or else a Hollywood Pin-Up Girl would be called to the microphone. Virginia Gilmore, Jane Wyman, Ann Rutherford, and Ethel Smith were among the guest DJ's.

After episode 600 the primary DJ would be "G.I. Jill", the air-alias of Martha Wilkerson. Wilkerson had been an employee of the OWI, doing a show with her husband ex Radioman Mort werner playing Jack and Jill on Hi Neighbor. When she made the move to AFRS it was without her husband, much to the delight of her many listeners.

Of the number of shows AFRS was presenting during WWII, G.I. Jill received a quarter of the fan mail. The G.I.s loved her with her homey touches and her genuine affection for them. (On one episode she pauses, saying she had bumped "that darn jukebox" and had a run in her stockings, "Does anyone know where I can get some silk stockings?")

G.I. Jill was sometimes thought to be an answer to Tokyo Rose. In actuality the G.I.s just like Jill better. She was a piece of home, and her records were better than Tokyo Rose's.

Wilkerson recorded for G.I. Jive six days a week. The program was broadcast over short-wave for Africa and Parts of Europe, and transcribed onto disks that were distributed to the Pacific over a "mosquito network."

See also: Jill's All-Time Jukebox