Description
This week, we are delighted to welcome author Robert B. O’Connor to our show to talk about his book Jeep Show: a Trouper at the Battle of the Bulge.
To learn more about Robert’s book, visit https://jeepshowbook.com/ or buy his book directly from Amazon.
About Robert B. O'Connor
Robert B. O’Connor is the author of the extraordinary new WWII novel “Jeep Show – A Trouper at the Battle of the Bulge.” His previous book was the non-fiction “Gumptionade – A Booster for Your Self-Improvement Plan.” Two radically different books, both about morale.
As a young man, Robert was Phi Beta Kappa at Kenyon College, a marketing executive at Procter & Gamble, then co-owner of an advertising agency. By his own account, he took a hard fall.
As he was helped up off the mat, Robert came across a quote from the nineteenth-century British biologist Thomas Huxley: “Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not.” Robert wrote Gumptionade to help himself and his readers recognize what needed to be done in their lives, and how to do it.
In 1967, promoter and impresario Jim Hetzer, the inspiration for the protagonist in “Jeep Show,” convinced Oxydol detergent to sponsor a circus. The result was a marketing disaster, humorous in retrospect.
In 1944, Hetzer enlisted in the Army and was assigned to the Morale Corps as an Entertainment Specialist. He was attached to a Jeep show squad in the European Theatre of Operations.
Jeep shows were small variety shows done for combat troops in forward areas too dangerous for the USO or the Red Cross. Hetzer often worked with Private Mickey Rooney.
Jim Hetzer’s story inspired O’Connor to write Jeep Show, now a BookLife Editor’s Choice selection. Kirkus reviews wrote: “It seems odd to call a World War II novel ‘delightful,’ but that’s exactly what you get with O’Connor’s mix of history and fiction as battles rage on and enlisted men entertain the troops.”
Book Rec: Jeep Show
We at Rosie recommend this book for its unique perspective of the Battle of the Bulge, its attention to detail through extensive research and an undeniable sense of humour from its author.
Jim Tanzer is an ordinary soldier tasked with an extraordinary mission, travelling across Europe during World War II performing Jeep shows – small variety acts put on for the infantry just behind the front lines.
These presentations are more than just entertainment, they are a beacon of hope, bringing brief moments of song, dance, and laughter to war weary troops, letting them know they are not forgotten.
When Jim gets caught up in the Battle of the Bulge, the shows stop, and the action begins. Jim’s courage and determination in the face of overwhelming odds is a testament to the human spirit.
Jeep Show is fiction based on little-known aspects of the U.S. World War II effort seen through the eyes of an unlikely hero.
