Books and Manuscripts

New York: This is the Army Inc., 1942. First edition. 4to. 55 pp. Presentation copy, inscribed by Irving Berlin to United States Army Colonel Walter J. Currie, Chief of the Entertainment and Recreation Division of the United States Army: "For Walter Currie/with my grateful thanks/for a swell job in/helping 'This is the Army'/through to a big success--/Irving Berlin." Original full tan flexible calf presentation binding, stamped in gilt, extremities and spine ends rubbed, scattered soiling to boards; all edges gilt; sello tape remnants on front paste-down.

This is the Army was one of the biggest and best known morale boosting shows of World War II. It originally began as a Broadway musical, created to help raise funds for the Army Emergency Relief Fund, before it toured the country. It is notable for including an integrated cast--at a time when the United States Army was still segregated--upon the insistence of Berlin, although they did not appear on stage at the same time. The show was a huge success, and after an initial planned run of four weeks, it was extended to 12, before touring the country, and raising over two million dollars (twenty-nine million dollars in today's money).