Can You Identify Her?

[Avalon]

Here's a pic of my grandfather's unit back in WWII. Sadly, he died when I was 7, and I never got a chance to ask him about his experiences. My grandmother, though, had a wonderfully detailed scrapbook...with some exceptions. This is one of them. lol

Does anyone know who the "famous lady" is in this picture? It was a group shot with her in the middle. My Papa's the grinning ham, up close and personal with her.

Sorry for the poor quality - it was a rather ratty pocket-sized print. I enlarged her face as much as possible. Thanks!

 

[The Wingnut]

Jinx Falkenburg, maybe?

 

[Marc Chevalier]

A Jinx Falkenburg fan! What a woman she was! And she spent her teenage years living in Santiago, Chile. Was a high school swimming champion there.


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[Avalon]

It'd be interesting if it was Jinx...I only found out who she was three weeks ago. lol She's gorgeous!

 

[Zemke Fan]

Maybe this will help...

Jinx Recalls Her Far East Gallivanting (YANK Magazine)

MISS FALKENBURG, dressed in a white dress of Mexican wool with "Jinx" printed all over it in red, bubbled over like a girl just back from her first dance. What she was back from was no dance, but a USO tour of the India-Burma and China theaters of war with Pat O'Brien's entertainment unit. This gang played some 84 performances (exclusive of hospital shows) for GIs.

Jinx and the gang were supposed to give only 54 performances on the trip. The rest were buckshee, put on because, Jinx said, "Once you get going out there and see the guys, you want to stop and do a show everywhere, for everybody."

From the time we got up to the time we were ready to fall into bed, it was like a continuous opening night. Some places I think the soldiers must have come out of the woodwork. The reception you got everywhere was enough to turn your head, but, looking at the way the men were living and the roughness of it all and how far they were from home and how they were staying there when you were going back, your head didn't turn. You felt like cheering them instead of being cheered."

It was all new to Jinx and close to her because she has two brothers in service.

The floor of her hotel room was strewn with souvenirs - a coolie hat, silk prints, slippers, gadgets galore - and her mind was strewn with reminiscences.

"I don't know what was most exciting, most interesting. There was a B-29 base where we had maybe the most intense audience of the entire trip. They left when the show was half over to bomb the Japs. I sat in with the men at the very tail end of the briefing for that mission. When one of them touched my shoulder, it was electric, as if he'd hugged me - it was that tense.

"Everything you saw was new and exciting. I was always taking shots - you know, 'the hook' - but I was so busy they didn't have time to make me sick. The men were wonderful to talk to and easy to talk to, and we tried to talk to everyone that wanted to talk or take a snapshot or play ping-pong. We usually played a stiff game of ping-pong in day rooms to relax ourselves."

"And now I've got to get used to sleeping without a net again. I want to go out again, overseas somewhere, as soon as I can. The nets we used over there, by the way, were for keeping rats out - not mosquitoes. Once us girls had a huge rat under one of our beds in China. It just sat under the bed going 'Chomp, chomp, chomp' like Bugs Bunny. We squealed at first but we got used to it, and it was still chomping when we fell asleep."

"Everything reminds me of something else. I still can't talk straight about it."

She couldn't because she was still filled with the same excitement that carried her through her 84 shows - the same excitement that sparkled out of her as she stepped from the plane that brought her over the Hump, dressed in a red sweater, GI shorts and red stockings, and made Gen. Joseph Stilwell remark: "Now there's a real firewoman!"

by Sgt. Al Hine - YANK Staff Writer - February 16, 1945 edition.

http://cbi-theater-2.home.comcast.net/yankcbi/yank_cbi_2.html

 

[Marc Chevalier]

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Jinx rocked!




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[Avalon]

My goodness, Zemke, thank you for that!

I took a really close look at the original, now that I have some pics of Jinx from you thoughtful fellas, and I do believe it is her. Thank you, all of you, I appreciate it! :eusa_clap

 

[Avalon]

About "Yank"

Also, Zemke, do you know if any 1943 editions are available online?

 

[Mojave Jack]

Jinx Falkenburg, maybe?

Nice ID, Wingnut! :eusa_clap

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Get Jinx'd here: http://www.briansdriveintheater.com/cheesecake3.html



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[Flitcraft]

Wow, I'd never heard of Jinx Falkenburg! Thanks for all the info!

 

[fortworthgal]

Jinx was a fascinating lady, and she did many tours during WWII. Somewhere at home I have a magazine with photo of her wearing an oxygen mask during a flight overseas.