Jeep Show in the Media

Media Materials

Everything Is A Primary Source with Eric Salmonsen

Bob O’Connor discusses the little-known true history that lies behind Jeep Show

“One of the things I like best is I have given this book to historians and World War II buffs – or World War II nerds – and no one that I have talked to yet is aware that there were enlisted men providing entertainment at the front lines so there’s always that surprise among these experts.”

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Rosie The Reviewer: “A Love Letter to the Genre”

“It’s a really funny book,” said the Dutch-Canadian WWII podcast

Bob discusses his love of World War 2 classics including Catch-22, The Thin Red Line and Slaughterhouse Five, as well as how 1930s hardboiled detective novels influenced Jeep Show‘s dialogue.

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Jeep Show on Famous Interviews with Joe Dimino

Bob O’Connor discusses his first childhood story on a New York hot dog cart, risks and his path to becoming a writer

“Any time you make a creative project, you are taking a risk.”

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US History Repeated on the Evolution of Troop Entertainment

Bob O’Connor goes into the details of maintaining morale beyond the USO and mail from home with hosts Jeananne Xenakis and Jimmy LaSalle

Bob O’Connor: “If you’re going to do the hard things in life – and nothing great comes easy – you’ve got to have morale. Enthusiasm and willpower are great to start with but they tend to fade.”

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“This Was Too Good To Leave Alone:” Two Motrin and Water

Hosts and veterans Jorge Loza and Wesley Reynolds discuss morale, entertainment and how we persevere through hard things

From the Episode Description: “From heartfelt anecdotes to behind-the-scenes glimpses of his research, this episode is a must-listen for history buffs, book lovers, and anyone inspired by the resilience of the human spirit.”

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Chronicles of Time On The Story Behind Jeep Show

Host Rachel Payton gets the backstory on the man behind the Oxydol Circus

Bob O’Connor: “She said you’re not aware but my father was an enlisted entertainer in World War II and worked with Mickey Rooney in the European Theater of Operations … I have talked to many World War II historians and amateur historians and World War II nerds and I have yet to meet one that knows about the existence of enlisted entertainers and Jeep shows. So I knew it was a story worth telling.”

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History Unpacked Unpacks Fiction From Real Life

Host Eric Flynn on Jeep Show‘s historical Easter eggs: “There’s a lot of cool touches to the book”

Bob O’Connor: “I did so much research that I just had to get some of it down on paper.”

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Jeep Show On History From The Homestead

Bob O’Connor and Host Thomas Carroll on the unique role of Jeep shows to WWII frontline combat troops

“I was studying Mickey Rooney’s squad – he would hang around and talk to the GIs and sign autographs. They had yo-yos or baseballs they’d take along and give them out. What I found was, the show was appreciated and if it was Mickey Rooney, it was pretty funny. But it wasn’t really the show. It was the fact that these guys had come all that way to be physically present with these combat soldiers. Just to sit down and shoot the breeze with them after the show and give them something to write home about … It was the being present as much as doing the show that helped with morale. Frontline troops were isolated, they slept outside. It was very uncomfortable, this was the coldest winter in Europe in 80 years and of course they were constantly under threat.”

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The Pinelander Podcast on Morale on the Front Lines

Veterans and hosts Mike Blackburn and Paul LeFavor discuss the importance of morale and how we do hard things with author Bob O’Connor

“The fact is – in real life – this giant Hollywood star did the hard work and did the hard duty within the Morale Corps.”

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Into the Weeds’ Amber Deitz Asks: “What Is The Battle of the Bulge?”

Author Bob O’Connor explains the backstory on one of the pivotal battles of World War 2

“This was December, 1944. The Allied army, mostly American but also some British and some free French, had advanced by September to the German border. They got stuck there because they had outrun their supply lines. The Germans had brilliantly wrecked every port as they surrendered territories … The Allied armies were stuck in eastern Belgium and Luxembourg.

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Military Broadcast Talk

Outrageous History Podcast On the History That Inspired Jeep Show

Host Ernest Granson and Bob O’Connor discuss the real-life outrageous history of Mickey Rooney volunteering for the draft in WWII: “Mickey Rooney certainly did his service.”

“He’s a fascinating character. He was the leading box office star in America in 1939 – can you imagine the leading box office star now joining the army and doing simple entertainment for frontline soliders? I’d like to think it would happen. Rooney was considered an absolute genius by directors he worked with and other actors. In his personal life, he was absolutely off the rails …

“To his credit, he could have served in Hollywood … Rooney chose to be in the European theatre of operations. He did many things but the thing that interested me the most was he was the leader of a Jeep show squad. They and one other enlisted performer would drive to just behind the front lines and do these – in the book, Mickey calls them the ‘K-Ration’ version of a variety show.”

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Jeep Show On 1001 Heroes, Legends, Histories and Mysteries

Host Jon Hagadorn and Bob O’Connor discuss classic Hollywood stories behind the book

Jon: “Even current-day shows like SNL could really benefit by going back to some of the great acts that came out of vaudeville, like the great acts that were used in the Jeep shows. They could really spice up that show just using acts that are 80 years old but still make you hold your sides.”

Bob: “The basics never changes. Details change but the basics of what is funny never changes.”

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Read Beat … and Repeat On Hitler’s “Reckless Gamble”

Host Steve Tartar and Bob O’Connor also delve into how WWII’s Ardennes Offensive became known as the Battle of the Bulge

“After the initial surprise, many American troops stopped and fought brilliantly and stubbornly. Even though many of them were eventually overrun, they threw the Germans off their timetable by several days … And, you know, it probably shortened the war by six or seven months … It is the largest battle ever fought by the U.S. Army. The defence of Bastogne was an immediate legend.”

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Read Beat

Jeep Show Meets The Veterans Breakfast Club Greatest Generation Roundtable on the Battle of the Bulge

Host Glenn Flickinger and a panel including Bob O’Connor commemorate the 80th anniversary of the decisive battle

Bob was honoured to join Veterans Breakfast Club for the Greatest Generation Roundtable on the Battle of the Bulge. The panel and guests including veterans of the conflict offered a wealth of little-known details and insight about the last major German offensive on the Western Front of WWII.

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Sacred Gyre Podcast Features A Wide-Ranging Discussion on History, Morale and the Work Behind the Book

Host Emily Newberry goes in-depth into the research and history behind Jeep Show

Emily: “After I read your book and then went on to your website, I think I counted about 30 books, articles and videos that you used as research and I’m just wondering, what does that say about you as a person and a writer?”

Bob: “One thing it says about me as a writer is doing too much research is a great way to procrastinate, if you’re curious – and I am curious – because research is fun and writing is hard.”

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WW II Baby: Age Less, Grow More

What’s The Scuttlebutt Podcast: “A Masterclass On How To Take Historical Content And Make It Such A Good Read”

Hosts Don Abernathy and Dennis Blocker talk “M1 Thumb” and other easter eggs

“There were three pieces of equipment that I just became obsessed about … One of the things they tell would-be novelists is don’t do too much research before you write your first draft because a lot of what you learn will end up being edited out. I did not follow that advice because it’s just so fascinating … So I probably added an extra two years onto the writing process.”

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W.T.S.P. Request of Appearance Form
D.O.A.: 12/11/24
EP: #200
Name: Robert B. O'Connor
Duty: Author
AOI: Jeep Shows / Frontline Entertainment
Location: jeepshowbook.com
E.P Acquisition Site
Wtspwwii.com
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Etc.

Veterans Radio Podcast: “I Couldn’t Put It Down”

Robert O’Connor explains what a Jeep show is to host Dale Throneberry

“The Army in World War II went to great lengths to try to make sure that the troops did not get bored and perhaps do things that the Army wouldn’t approve of … The soldiers on the front lines, though, never saw the big USO shows and never got many of the things that were easier to do in the rear echelon. Jeep shows were organized in late 1943, early 1944, to get entertainment to these frontline combat infantrymen.

“The way it worked is three of these enlisted entertainers would get in a Jeep with a driver and they would drive just behind the front lines where the front line combat troops may have been brought back for a hot meal, maybe a shower.

“Unlike pilots who might do a certain number of combat missions and then be rotated back to the States, when you were in an infantry division the only way out was to be badly wounded or captured or killed … Nothing beats mail from home, but the next best thing is to get some entertainers to physically be present up at the front. And so that is how Jeep shows came about.”

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