Charlie Brinckley's Seabee Swing Band opened the first night of The Journal Canteen in December 1943, playing to a crowd of 1,000 servicemen and guests.
In a brief speech that night, George P. Metcalf, president of the Providence Journal Company and head of The Journal Canteen Inc., explained why The Providence Journal opened a dance hall: "To provide servicemen places where they can check the cares and concerns of service life for a few hours leave, and enjoy themselves."
Servicemen entering The Journal Canteen, at 186 Fountain St., were welcomed by a sign with these words:
"This canteen is dedicated to Rhode Island men and women scattered around the world in the services of their country.
"It is for the recreation and enjoyment of their brothers and sisters in the uniforms of the United Nations.
"Down these stairs will come some of the world's finest girls whose only purpose will be to help men in the services gain respite from war.
"Hang your war on the peg, there is no more beyond this spot. You can pick it up again on your way out.
"Come often. You will always be welcome. Just keep 'on the beam' while you are here."
The paper actively pursued "some of the world's finest girls" by registering local women as "junior hostesses" to be available at the Canteen as dance partners for the soldiers. About 1,000 young women registered as hostesses during the Canteen's two-year life.
"All men and women in uniform will be welcomed at all times," the paper reported in early December, shortly before opening night. "Men desiring to bring their own wives, sweethearts or girl-friends will be permitted to do so, the only restriction being that such persons will be required to dance together and must come and leave with them." That rule was to ensure that the registered hostesses would be available to dance with servicemen "who come unaccompanied."
Hostesses were required to be "prompt and regular in attendance, friendly and ladylike." Local orchestras and dance bands provided the music.
Gov. J. Howard McGrath attended the Canteen's opening night. He spoke of The Providence Journal -- "which we read each morning and each afternoon, which we sometimes hate, but mostly admire, and which is ours."
Jack Martin, a director of the Canteen, promised the crowd on opening night: "When the war is over, we'll kick out all the windows."
The Journal Canteen operated from Dec. 29, 1943 to Dec. 24, 1945, a run of 612 nights of dancing, generally open from 7 to 11 weeknights and 8 to midnight on Saturdays.
The Providence Journal regularly covered the events at the Canteen. It wrote in January 1944 of dancing sailors: "There were the large sailors who danced like battleships and the leaner, fast ones who were obviously cruisers. Screens of destroyers or wolves were visible from time to time on the horizon and very small sailors resembling PT boats dashed in and out, executing jive maneuvers."
Nationally known entertainers often stopped at the Canteen to greet the soldiers. In April 1944, The Journal printed the headline:
CANTEEN VISITED BY FAMED DWARFS
The story began: "Six of the seven midgets who were the original models for the dwarfs in Walt Disney's picture, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, entertained a capacity audience of servicemen and their girlfriends last night at the Journal Canteen."
The paper estimated in 1945, when the Canteen closed, that more than 300,000 servicemen had danced there.
