2018 Valentine Festival: What Were The Doughboys Humming 100 Years Ago?

Will You Remember was a big one.  Maytime was a hit on Broadway in 1917, and lots of Doughboys saw it before they headed off to France.  If you look it up on WikiP, it sounds like a dreadful tale of love, heartbreak and even murder, but you have to remember that before 1919 people loved tearjerkers and dreadful, morose ballads.  Maytime was made into a movie in 1937, but only the song Will You Remember was retained from the Broadway play.




For a lighter note, K-K-K-Katy was a big one, too, and soldiers in both world wars sang this one.  If you are lucky enough to have a song book provided to soldiers during WWII, Katy is right there, and those heroes knew and loved this song.