"The Hello Girls" Tells the Unsung Tale of the Female Soldiers of WWI

Throughout the semester in my “Re-Writing History” course, it’s been eye-opening to analyze and explore different portrayals of American history communicated via a vast array of media forms. I’ve enjoyed comparing and contrasting perspectives of creators, as well as focusing on the voices of the marginalized population. I decided that writing a blog post on the representation of American history gave me a perfect excuse to revisit the Off-Broadway cast recording of the musical The Hello Girls and reflect on the show’s poignant themes, plot, presentation, and accuracy. 

A little over a year ago, I received a text from my friend asking (begging) for me to join her to see a new musical titled, The Hello Girls. I looked up the synopsis - a female army unit, World War I, French lyrics, a based-on-historical-events narrative, etc. Having just finished two week’s worth of final exams, I wasn’t exactly thrilled at the thought of voluntarily spending my Saturday night sitting through what I thought would be another dry history lesson. After all, I’ve seen many historical plays throughout my lifetime and, let’s just say that not every piece is as engaging as Hamilton. Nevertheless, there I was, sitting front row beside my friend at 59E59 Theatres, Playbill in hand. Little did I realize that for the next 2 hours and 15 minutes, I’d witness one of the most impactful, inspiring retellings of American history.

The musical follows five young women after they are enlisted in the US Army during World War I. The lead protagonist, Grace Banker, serves as the levelheaded chief operator of the first female switchboard unit. Her team consists of naive Idaho farmgirl Helen Hunt; determined housewife Bertha Hunt; underage, feisty, French immigrant Louise LeBreton; and sardonic New Yorker Suzanne Prevot. Together, these women became vital components of the war, acting as telephone operators on the front line. They adapt to the intensity and danger of war while constantly having to prove their worth as female soldiers to a surrounding army of skeptical men.

In class, we analyzed many “unpopular” perspectives: the gay, black prostitute in Portrait of Jason, the not-black-and-white complexities of the 60’s experience from Joan Didion and Michael Herr’s works, or Focault’s argument against the repressive hypothesis of sexual history. The Hello Girls is relevant to this pattern as it seeks to share the experiences of a misunderstood, oppressed group during a major historical period.

In this play, the women are the main characters driving the story forward in an age where feminism was still a novel idea. They face incredible discrimination and mockery from male soldiers and leaders including General Pershing and Lieutenant Riser who don’t acknowledge the women’s skills and constantly disrespect them. In the musical number “Switchboard Lessons,” Prevot is made to spend time tutoring fellow male soldiers in switchboard operations (who mock her the entire time) due to an increased demand for telephone operators at the front line. Banker boldly confronts her commanders on the hypocrisy of this situation - the girls must waste their time tutoring inexperienced male soldiers rather than serve on the front line themselves.

The team takes immense risks to convince others of their capability and fight for their country. Following the war, the military refused veteran benefits for these women for the next sixty years since honorable discharges required being male. By the time this decision was changed, the majority of the 223 Hello Girls had since died.

A lesson from the course that helps us understand the relevance of this play is the unexpected realities of war shown in Dispatches, Dr. Strangelove, and Ken Burns’ Vietnam War docuseries. In these works, we are exposed to real testimonies and snapshots from wars which typically contradict the public’s general understanding of the event. In the same way that Dispatches reveals the so-often immature, apathetic American soldier of the Vietnam War, The Hello Girls unveils the female underdog soldiers who rarely received recognition. It showed us the humanity of these female soldiers in both their struggles and triumphs.

One hundred years later, the play gives these women a voice they weren't allowed to have during the war. Most importantly, this piece helps us reshape our previous, limited views of World War I, allowing us to think deeper about relevant themes like the female existence, soldier identity, and American war. 

By Brielle Cayer

Libra Part 1: Group Presentation Slides and Write-up: Becca Schwartz, Robert Sundstrom, David Sajdera, Cameron Santiago

        Hi Everyone!

               First of all, I want to wish everyone wellness and health in these trying times. 

Attached to this document you will find the slides that my group planned to present in class, as well as a short page and half write-up that speaks to the central question we were trying to answer. The write-up also includes additional information which we would have presented but is not on the slides. 

        Link to Write-Up: https://docs.google.com/document/d/16NTwTyflMD8Jm_bH1wMnyNgIR5tCMOYEUO3HKqiYxX8/edit?usp=sharing

      Link to Presentation: 

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ddY-MSiBzaJnXF2cOSZ09bMVedmXIIwGoXW5dbaBGoQ/edit?usp=sharing

All the best, 

Group 5 

A World of Separation

We view New York City as the greatest, most diverse city in the world. Different cultures are creatively portrayed in artistic works throughout the city. The Museum of Modern Art is filled with artistic representations of the past, present, and future of our society. Through art, defining aspects of different time periods are brought to light. By appreciating this artwork, we encounter new perspectives on the world. One artist whose work is displayed at this museum is Jack Whitten, an American painter who lived from 1939 to 2018. Whitten’s artwork is distinguished by his trademark “paint as collage” process. His work embodies Abstract Expressionism, a method that allowed him to convey his ideas through nontraditional artistic approaches. Whitten’s piece, titled “Atopolis: For Édouard Glissant,” is pictured in Figure 1. 

Figure 1. Whitten, Jack. “Atopolis: For Édouard Glissant.” The Museum of Modern Art, 2014.

The word “atopolis” is Greek for “without place,” emphasizing the idea of the outcast in society. Outcasts are secluded from the world around them. In Whitten’s work, there is a clear distinction between black and white. In the center, it is mostly white, demonstrating how whites dominate the center of the universe. On the outskirts of this white circle, there are clumps of black. These clusters represent African American communities that are separated from society. These people are the outcasts. Therefore, Whitten places these clusters of black around the white center as African Americans are not integrated into a society controlled by the white majority. 

On the other hand, there are areas in Whitten’s work in which blacks and whites are less separated. Some areas are gray while other areas are a combination of some white and some black, illustrating the integration between blacks and whites. As well, it seems as if small black clusters are trying to integrate towards the middle of the image in order to incorporate themselves into society. Although African Americans are attempting to become part of mainstream society, the center of the image remains mostly white. 

Even when you take a quick look at the image, the first color that you are likely to see is white. Also, when we look at pictures, our eyes are immediately drawn to the center. Then, we are led to believe that the white part of the image is more important than the black parts, suggesting white domination in society as African Americans embody the role of the outcast. 

Take notice of the plurality here: we look at the image and see white as a singular entity, while we recognize that there are many separate black parts. Whites are incorporated into communities and have a place in society, but blacks are separated and do not have a sense of identity. 

The idea of the outcast has always been prominent in our society. Whitten’s work was created in 2014, which emphasizes that societal separations existed in the past but have not subsided in our current time. Like artists, authors have portrayed the outcast in their works. Ralph Ellison’s novel Invisible Man starts out by stating, “I am an invisible man.” As an African American, the narrator feels separated from society and as if his actions do not matter since he is “invisible” and, consequently, is unimportant to society. Race has created separations that allow whites to control society as African Americans merely exist on the outside, viewed as insignificant to society’s well being. 

However, outcasts do not only originate from racial separations. In Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five, Billy Pilgrim is “unstuck in time.” Billy on the outside as he is always in a different time period, and he is even sometimes on the island of Tralfamadore rather than on Earth. He is labeled as the outcast who should have never been a soldier in the Vietnam War. In Joan Didion’s The White Album, Didion describes how disconnected and unimportant she felt during the 1960s. 

Inevitably, our society has contained people who lead society and people who are left on the outside. By noticing these separations, we can take a step towards better incorporating all people into society. Won’t this incorporation only make the world a more accepting and meaningful place for us all?

By: Emily Masia