#not the most dramatic staging of the finale to grab stills from but it'll do

[supercantaloupe]

hello opera mutuals.

[mercurygray]

Happy, happy birthday to my dear friend @mercurygray! I can hardly believe it's been almost a year since I first made your acquaintance! Anyway, this may not be exactly what you were looking for, but I hope you enjoy my first attempt at a prompt fill!

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Pavuvu pas de deux

Later, it would become the source of squad legend, but at the time it was not much more than a momentary lapse when Runner Conley admitted to his buddies that he had a crush on Eileen Hammond. 

So in the middle of the USO show, when Bob Hope called for volunteers who thought they could keep step with the long-legged dancer, Runner didn’t find it much of a surprise when Chuckler and Lucky each grabbed him by an arm while Hoosier boosted him up by the belt.  The two machine gunners hooted and shouted above the din of the other 15,000 Marines attending the show, but it was Hoosier’s piercing whistle that drew the performers’ attention. Hope made a gesture pretending to knock something out of his ear as he pointed at Runner and said, “Get that Marine up here before you bust my eardrum!”

And that is how Runner found himself next to Eileen Hammond, gamely trying to keep up with the steps she demonstrated. Each time he tripped, he could hear the jeering of his incompetence, but for each step he got right, he earned a dazzling smile from the showgirl that positively made his heart race. 

Finally his dance turn ended, and Runner threw himself headlong into the spirit of the day by clutching one of Eileen’s hands to his chest and, sidelong into the microphone, exclaimed his undying love at the top of his lungs.  “Marry me!” he hollered as Hope and Jerry Colonna mock-dragged him to the edge of the stage. She blew him a kiss, and he dramatically toppled off the stage into the waiting arms of his buddies.

Runner beamed beatifically for the rest of the day.

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A/N: Bob Hope and his "Traveling Gypsies" famously traveled all over the South Pacific in 1944, including a performance on Pavuvu for the First Marine Division a month before Peleliu. Hope later called it the most emotional stop on the tour, after he learned of the staggering losses on Peleliu.

I've shamelessly subbed in Eileen Hammond for dancer Patty Thomas.

!!! Katie! This is delightful! I hummed a few more bars.

It was all Runner would talk about for weeks.

The army was trying to get something right, sending Bob Hope to the absolute end of the earth to tell jokes and make them think the rest of the world hadn't forgotten them. But while Hope was funny, it was the chorus girls everyone was looking forward to seeing -and none moreso than Runner, who could be relied upon to remember a name for a pretty face.

And Eileen Hammond was a looker.

"And her eyes!" Runner was still in raptures describing the chorus girl, whom he had seen once in a show in San Francisco before shipping out. It had only been a small club, the kind of place where the name didn't really matter and the beer was cheap, but he hadn't forgotten the name - or the woman who went with it. "Irish charmer eyes and a smile to die for. I'm telling you," he assured them. "She's going to get up on that stage and it'll all be over."

"Yeah, we'll be sure catch you when you pass out from joy," Leckie said with a grin, lighting a cigarette and slipping his lighter back into his pocket.

"Says here she joined the WAC before the USO," Hoosier said, lounging on his bed with Pavuvu's version of the morning paper, a hand-typed and duplicated broadside that was passed around camp in small quantities until the pagers were softened enough to find their way to latrine duty. "Nearly qualified to be a paratrooper."

Chuckler glanced. at the front page of the paper, a copy of the poster announcing the performance's big acts in living color. (The photo didn't do Runner's description justice - but then, the feeling went, few photos would.) "Why can't we get broads like that in the marines?"

"'Cause none of 'em want to see your ugly mug," Hoosier offered without skipping a beat, which prompted Chuckler to lunge for his friend, tipping over and the two of them rolling into the dirt. Runner briefly dived into the mix to retrieve the newspaper, carefully smoothing out the advertisement while the two of them wrestled a minute, cots askew and possessions scattered all over the tent.

"Don't worry, Runner," Leckie said, manifestly unconcerned by the chaos on the other side of the tent as Runner stared at the poster, that girl-at-home smile with a pair of dancer's legs. "We'll make sure she notices you."