America Needs Nurses Enlist Now.
Claudette Colbert (1903 - 1996) This ad fulfills three purposes: it recruits nurses for WWII (the top line reads: “America needs nurses … Enlist now”), it publicizes Paramount Pictures’ new feature film, “So proudly We Hail,” and, most obviously, it advertises Chesterfield cigarettes (the imagery and copy text for Chesterfields dominates over half of the ad). In fact, the patriotism masks the ad’s true intent of marketing cigarettes. The film paid tribute to the nurses in the Pacific War; While trapped behind the enemy lines, three nurses struggled to keep their staff and patients safe and in high spirits. The ad features the three main characters from the film, glamorous actresses Claudette Colbert (1903-1996) as Lieutenant Janet ‘Davy’ Davidson, Paulette Goddard (1910-1990) as Lieutenant Joan O’Doul, and Veronica Lake (1922-1973) as Lieutenant Olivia D’Arcy. Colbert ultimately passed away after suffering from a series of strokes, Goddard passed away from emphysema, and Lake passed away from hepatitis and renal failure due to alcoholism.
actors, Claudette Colbert, females
