Guest post written by Last Stop Union Station author Sarah James
Sarah James is a graduate of the MFA Writing for Screen & Television program at USC and the BA Playwriting program at Fordham Lincoln Center. She currently works as a freelance writer. She is the author of The Woman With Two Shadows and Last Night at the Hollywood Canteen.
About Last Stop Union Station (released July 15 2025): Murder, movie stars, and mystery await those who climb aboard this cross-country train, inspired by the real-life history of the Hollywood Victory Caravan
On March 10, 1942–just three months after the United States entered World War II following Pearl Harbor–Madison Square Garden in New York City hosted a unique fundraiser for the Navy Relief Society: The Navy Relief Show. The star-studded event ran six hours, featuring a variety of acts from the likes of Bette Davis, Eddie Cantor, Merle Oberon, and more. In addition to the 20,000 inside the Garden, the show was broadcast on New York City radio stations, inspiring people across the city to buy war bonds and make donations to the war effort.
The event was a huge success, and the U.S. Treasury Department had an idea–what if we took this show on the road? Or even, the tracks?
Six weeks later–on April 26, 1942–a trainful of stars departed from Los Angeles Union Station on a cross-country extravaganza called the Hollywood Victory Caravan. Over the next three weeks, the caravan would cross the country by train, stopping in cities to perform for sold-out crowds–boosting morale during a dark time of the war in addition to raising funds.
Finding celebrities to join the caravan was easy work; as Bob Hope joked: “Who in Hollywood had the guts to tell the IRS he was going to be out of town?” While the cast would change from city to city, with some stars leaving early or joining late due to prior commitments, on board the train at the time of its departure were stars like Cary Grant, Barbara Stanwyck, Humphrey Bogart, and Desi Arnaz.
The train cars used for the caravan were donated by the Sante Fe Railroad, including two rehearsal cars outfitted with dance floors and pianos (bolted to the floor in case of a bumpy ride.) The caravan would spend the first three days of its journey traversing the country while the stars rehearsed their acts, under the direction of Holiday Inn director Mark Sandrich.
After making its way across the country, The Hollywood Victory Caravan kicked off performances in Washington, D.C. on April 30, 1942. Before the show, the stars joined Eleanor Roosevelt for tea and photos on the White House lawn. Seventy-five stars appeared onstage in the opening night revue, with Bob Hope and Bing Crosby acting as the masters of ceremony.
Tickets to performances were $11, over $200 today. But for that high cost of admission, attendees were treated to a show that was more than three hours and featured a wide variety of acts. A review of the show in the Minnesota Star-Tribune details the breadth of performances on display: there was sketch comedy from Laurel and Hardy; a dramatic scene from Desi Arnaz, Olivia de Havilland, Frances Gifford, and Charles Boyer; a recitation from Merle Oberon; a tap number from Eleanor Powell; and a number of songs and dances featuring the show’s chorus of eight starlets.
The tour officially wrapped on May 12 with a performance in Houston, Texas, but one final performance was given in San Francisco on May 19. Altogether, the tour raised $800,000 for the war effort. In 1945, parts of the show were re-staged for Hollywood Victory Caravan, a short film about a young woman who hitches a ride on the caravan to visit her injured G.I. brother.
The National Park Service writes that the “United States citizens’ purchase of government securities during the war made possible the herculean efforts on the battle fronts and the factories and farms of the home front.” Many Americans sacrificed what little they had after years of economic depression to fund the war.
But the America traversed by the Hollywood Victory Caravan so soon after America’s entry into the war was not completely united by the cause of victory. Across the country, unknown to most Americans, fifth columnists were plotting ways to support the Axis powers from within the United States. The patriotic activities of both Hollywood and the spies who worked to uncover this subversive activity inspired me to write Last Stop Union Station.
The book follows Jackie Love, a 40-year-old actress who joins the Hollywood Victory Caravan for less than patriotic reasons: she wants to revitalize her flailing career. But after one of her co-stars is found dead on board, Jackie teams up with Grace, a local policewoman, to solve the crime. Their investigation takes Jackie right to the heart of a homegrown Nazi scheme, forcing her to choose between her career or her country.
Sources:
- Hollywood Victory: The Movies, Stars, and Stories of World War II (Christian Blauvelt, Running Press, 2021)
- Stars For a Cause: The Navy Relief Show of 1942 (Garry Berman, Medium)
- Celebrities During WWII: The Hollywood Victory Committee (Clare Fitzgerald, War History Online)
- May 10, 1942: Hollywood Victory Caravan (Robert F. Murphy, Minnesota Star Tribune)
- War Bonds (National Park Service)
