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96 SAG-AFTR A | Spring 2026 | sagaftra.org Gene Kelly & Co. Give a Command Performance for GIs O n Tuesday, Sept. 24, 1946, five months after his release from stateside military service, Screen Actors Guild Board member Gene Kelly, singer Joan Edwards and Marie McDonald — Kelly's co-star in MGM's musical comedy Living in a Big Way — sat for the above group photo by young Armed Forces Radio photographer Sgt. Bill F. Mowbray. Living in a Big Way was Kelly's first film since returning to civilian life after enlisting in the Navy in November 1944. In February 1947, this photograph would be featured in the final issue of Screen Actor magazine before it ceased publication for over a dozen years. The trio posed together to document their participation in Command Performance, an Armed Forces Radio Service program that began in 1942, soon after the United States entered World War II. The program was eventually recorded on transcription discs shipped overseas for exclusive broadcast to members of the armed forces. Maj. J.K. Connell, Armed Forces Radio Service public relations officer, explained the AFRS' post-World War II purpose: "There are a million and a half GIs still overseas. We broadcast for them and for the 300,000 who are in Army, Navy or veteran hospitals in this country. During the war, U.S. submarines operating in the home waters of Japan would surface at night for an hour or two of listening … The purpose of all AFRS programs is to maintain morale. That is mighty important in these post-war days, when people are apt to forget the things for which they fought." In The Hollywood Citizen-News of Aug. 20, 1946, newspaper columnist Austin Conover praised Command Performance as "dean of all AFRS programs." Conover also described attending a mid-August Command Performance from backstage: "'The studio was crowded with servicemen, servicewomen and veterans. It was fascinating to see the great eagerness with which they watched the celebrities.' Sue Clark, administrative assistant explained, 'They've heard the show many times overseas. When they come to Hollywood, they want to see it. We never turn them down, though the demand for tickets is always greater than the supply of seats.'" Kelly, who first joined the board of Screen Actors Guild in November 1943 as a temporary replacement for legendary horror film star Boris Karloff, was elected to a one-year term in September 1944 — but two months later he was inducted into the military, so former Guild President Robert Montgomery became his temporary replacement. Kelly would serve as the Guild's first vice president from 1947–1948, under the presidency of Ronald Reagan. In 1988, Kelly, by then a legendary movie icon, would become the 25th recipient of the Guild's Life Achievement Award. SAG-AFTRA ARCHIVES From left, Gene Kelly, Joan Edwards and Marie McDonald at CBS Columbia Square in Hollywood, California, on Sept. 24, 1946, waiting to go before the microphone for Command Performance. Throughout his career, Kelly danced with fellow Life Achievement Award honorees Frank Sinatra, Danny Kaye, Debbie Reynolds, Shirley Temple and Julie Andrews, among others.