Four Jills in a Jeep (1944)

Interesting facts

Four Jills in a Jeep is a 1944 American comedy-drama musical film directed by William A. Seiter and starring Kay Francis, Carole Landis, Martha Raye, and Mitzi Mayfair as themselves, reenacting their USO tour of Europe and North Africa during World War II.

Production

The working titles of the film were Command Performance and Camp Show.

The film is based on the actual experiences of Kay Francis, Carole Landis, Martha Raye and Mitzi Mayfair, members of the Feminine Theatrical Task Force who left the United States on October 16, 1942, and performed several shows per day for American and British troops in England, Ireland and North Africa. They also presented a command performance for the queen of the United Kingdom.

After leaving England, the women spent three weeks in North Africa, the first USO tour of that area. Francis and Mayfair then returned to the United States. Landis returned to England to join her husband. As depicted in the film, Landis met U.S. Army Air Forces pilot Capt. Thomas C. Wallace in England in November 1942 and married him on January 5, 1943. The couple divorced in July 1945.

Landis and Edwin Seaver wrote a book about her travels while the film was in preproduction. Although Landis's material was not used in the screenplay, the studio permitted her to share the title her book with that of the film for the publicity value. Her book was published in 1944, first as a serial in The Saturday Evening Post.

Islin Auster was originally scheduled to produce the film. An August 1943 news account noted that Jack Oakie had been cast for the comedy lead role and that Cornel Wilde was being considered for "the juvenile spot."

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