Retro Pop Cult

The Who perform at Woodstock, August 17, 1969.

The Who, one of the biggest acts of the 1960s British Invasion, took the stage just after 4am. early Sunday morning after a long set by Sly and the Family Stone. Just a month earlier, The Who had released Tommy, an ambitious, double album-length rock opera.

“I heard this thing and my mind was completely blown,” says Nancy Eisenstein, who attended Woodstock to see The Who play live. “They performed the whole Tommy album at the concert. The stage was dark, then we heard ‘See me. Feel me. Touch me. Heal me.’ And a blue spotlight shone down on Roger Daltrey in a white buckskin outfit. It’s an image I’ll never forget.”

But for folks who hadn’t heard Tommy yet, the musical highlight probably came during The Who’s encore set.

“This is kind of our hymn,” said a young Pete Townshend, as the band prepared for its final number. “It’s a song about you and me. We’re getting a bit old now… It’s a song called ‘My Generation.’”

“Hi there, playmate!”

Above: Lynn Fontanne, Alfred Lunt, and Tallulah Bankhead serving food at the Stage Door Canteen.

Most people think of “Stage Door Canteen” as a movie, but it was actually a real place. Opened in 1942 in a theater basement donated by the producer Lee Shubert, it offered food, non-alcoholic drinks, and entertainment for all servicemen passing through New York, American and foreign.

Zorina dancing for the troops.

Theater unions and “civilians,” as non-stage people are known to actors (the name has a charming irony here) contributed to the effort. “These men are going to the Philippines,” actress Jane Cowl, one of the founders, told them. “They are going to the Burma Road. Nothing is too good for them.”

Every night, the room throbbed with the sounds of soldiers and sailors—all enlisted men and non-commissioned officers—dancing to big-name bands, their partners being both famous and non-famous volunteers. Lauren Bacall, then a young actress, recalled, “ “There was fierce jitterbugging. “Many a time I found myself in the middle of a circle … being whirled and twirled by one guy, then passed on to another, non-stop, until I thought I would drop.”

Ethel Merman and some sailors.

Guests enjoyed everything for free; in addition to their time, volunteers donated goods and money. The founders of the canteen were the actresses, playwrights, and other theater women who founded the American Theater Wing, which nowadays is best known for giving out the Tony Awards. (Antoinette Perry, after whom the Tonys were named, was one of them.)

Vincent Price and Gertrude Lawrence serving coffee and doughnuts.

The canteen became so popular that similar places were opened in five other American cities as well as London and Paris. And Hollywood made a movie about it.

Ocean City Boardwalk, Maryland. 1967.