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| Wally Boag performing for a USO Audience |
The Golden Horseshoe 1968 USO Tour
by Todd James Pierce
In 1968, six performers from the Golden Horseshoe Revue, including headliners Betty Taylor and Wally Boag, agreed to entertain troops in Vietnam through a USO program called Hollywood Overseas. The tour was possible in large part because facilities managers at Disneyland wanted to refurbish and update the Golden Horseshoe Saloon, a task that would take a month. The Pentagon signed off on the overseas tour; the Disney publicity machine revved up its engine, but shortly before their departure date, Viet Kong terrorism exploded in the streets of South Vietnam. In response Gen. Westmoreland, who oversaw American operations, temporarily shut down the USO’s entertainment programs in his region. Until further notice, Gen. Westmoreland’s team could provide security for a single celebrity visiting the troops–specifically, at a hospital or mess hall–but not a group of entertainers. The sextet from the Golden Horseshoe was the first touring group affected by these orders. So instead of flying to Vietnam, the Horseshoe team was rerouted to Iceland and Greenland.
The Golden Horseshoe team traveled by military transport to Iceland, only to find the country far colder than anticipated. The star of the Horseshoe, Betty Taylor “broke her ankle while riding on a snowmobile from the plane to our first show,” remembers Wally Boag. Initially doctors wanted to send Taylor back to the States to recuperate, effectively ending the tour. But the Horseshoe team put together a better plan. “Our accordion player saved the day. He was a weight lifter and said he could pick [Taylor] up and put her on a stool so she could do her numbers.” And so for the next three weeks, Betty Taylor was carried in and out of each performance, usually to loud applause.
As today is Veteran’s Day (observed), up on the blog is a single never-before-published photo from that tour–featuring Wally Boag. (I actually don’t know of any other photos from this tour that have been published. If you know of some, please send links my way. I’d love to see them.)
That’s it for today. Enjoy Veteran’s Day. See you next Monday. – TJP
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