Thelma and Lowell's Diary: August 31, 1943

They see 'This is the Army': 'It was swell'

Thelma and Vangy spent part of the day together sewing, and when it was time for Lowell to return from work, she met him “uptown” at the Orpheum Theater to see the movie This is the Army. “It was swell,” Thelma wrote, a high compliment coming from her. They came home afterward and ate supper.

The beautifully restored Orpheum, opened in 1921 as a “vaudeville palace,” thrives today as a performing arts venue, hosting the season of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, jazz concerts, ballets, and occasional movie premieres. This postcard of the Orpheum, dating from the 1920s, is being offered by a dealer on eBay.

To read about This is the Army, whose cast included a professional boxer and a future president, you’ll need to be a paid subscriber. Friends, what are you waiting for? Tomorrow begins a new month, the perfect time to plunge in, pay $5 and find out what you’ve been missing! If you don’t like it, you can unsubscribe.

In addition, contributor Adam C. Smith’s intriguing new essay looks at the crypto currency meltdown of Sam Bankman-Fried’s company FTX through the Bootleggers and Baptists theory lens. He asks in a paid subscriber-only post scheduled for Friday, September 1, “Can a Bootlegger Become a Baptist?”