Among the most popular of the 70-odd programs that the AFRS distributed each week to its 800 armed forces broadcast facilities worldwide were 3 variety shows: Command Performance, Mail Call, and Jubilee. Recorded to transcription discs from performances presented to live audiences in Los Angeles, these 30 minute shows featured a constantly-rotating parade of stars serving both as emcee and guest artists, including many regulars like Bob Hope (the few times he wasn’t on tour with his USO unit), Kate Smith, Bing Crosby, and Judy Garland, and just about any entertainer who could be pulled in quickly from their studio work in order to fill a request for a song or just about anything else that reminded the soldiers of life back home or gave them a great laugh: the sound of Lana Turner cooking up a porter house steak, Ann Miller tap dancing in army boots, a sigh from Carol Landis, Bing Crosby mixing a bourbon and soda for Bob Hope, or, as an older serviceman stationed in the South Pacific requested, anyone singing a verse of that WWI he so much loved when he served in that earlier war, “Keep The Home Fires Burning” (to which the entire studio audience obliged, led by Kate Smith). Filled with easy banter, plenty of vaudeville comedy, great songs by top artists, fun responses to requests, and plenty of calls outs and words of encouragement to servicemen in the field, these programs did much to boost morale.