To the tinseled home of make-believe last week went a realistic star of the first magnitude. Under the serene blue California skies Madame Chiang Kai-shek concluded her nationwide tour at a spectacular mass meeting held in the Hollywood Bowl (below). All Hollywood had contributed talent towardmaking this event a triumph of showmanship. But it was Madame Chiang's gracious charm, her indomitable spirit andher deeply stirring account of China's six-year war against Japanese aggression which made the dramatic climax ofthe afternoon. Her fists clenched, emotion welling in her voice, China's First Lady reviewed the unforgettable, "ghastly memories" which have been burned into her mind and heart. She began her historical summary by picturingthe insuperable obstacles which confronted her as secretary-general of the Chinese Air Force at the war's start in1937. Against the Japs' 5,000 fighting planes, China's air fleet was "pitifully and incredibly scanty - less than300."
    As Madame Chiang spoke, her sympathetic audience listened in grave silence, tears springing to many eyes. No Hollywood-conceived pageant could match the awesome "nightmares" which Madame Chiang recreated with the magic of her words. She made these nightmares become for her audience a series of unforgettablevignettes of China's suffering and fortitude: the heartbreaking fight of the young Chinese air cadets who hadunlimited courage and almost no acceptable equipment; Madame's frequent trips to the front with the Generalissimo;the dreadful shambles at Soochow, where "stretcher bearers worked like wordless automatons trying to clear the stationplatform of wounded while more and more wounded were unloaded;" the tight-lipped gallantry of soldiers and civilianswhile bearing the most excruciating pain; the intense loyalty of the people to their leaders despite gravest adversity;the sorrowful evacuation of once-beautiful Nanking, left devoured by flames; the barbaric, shameful rape of Nankingafter the Japanese occupation when "the invaders plundered and stripped the crucified populace of all means oflivelihood, molested our women and rounded up all able-bodied men, tied them together like animals, forced them to dig their own graves and finally kicked them in and buried them alive;" the organizing of the Chinese National Women'sAdvisory Council, which carried out a vigorous program of training girls and women for war activities; the ruthlessJapanese bombing of boatloads of helpless war orphans; the incessant waves of enemy raids over Chungking which wereso frequent that it was impossible to prepare food and finally exhaustion "permeated every nerve and bone so that itwas preferable to risk being bombed to death than to get out of bed and seek safety."
    Madame Chiang closed her speech with the pledge that China and the other United Nationswould not permit "aggression to raise its satanic head and threaten man's greatest heritage: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all peoples."
    On the days preceding the mass meeting at the Bowl, the Missimo determinedly went througha staggering schedule although she is still suffering the effects of her recent serious illness. On Wednesday, March31, she arrived in Los Angeles, participated in a parade in her honor and gave a reception. The next day she greeted200 Hollywood film celebrities at a special tea. Friday she held a press conference, posed for photographers, andwas guest of honor at a gala banquet in the Fiesta Room of the Ambassador Hotel which was attended by many of LosAngeles' famous citizens. One of the most important but unpublicized conferences was a private meeting held inMadame Chiang's suite with a select group of studio heads. They discussed the motion picture as visual education inpost-war China. And Madame Chiang urged that U.S. movies portray more accurately the real China.

30,000 CROWD OUTDOOR MEETING IN HOLLYWOOD BOWL TO HONOR CHINA'S FIRST LADY.  RED PANELS AT LEFT AND RIGHT OF BLUE BAND SHELL ARE DECORATED WITH U.S. AND CHINA OFFICIAL SEALS.  THIS IS FIRST TIME BOWL HAS BEEN FILLED SINCE PEARL HARBOR.

Mrs. William Goetz, Bob Hope, Margaret Sullavan and Sam Goldwyn watch speaker's table. Quipped Hope after meeting Madame Chiang, "She is the only woman in the world for whom I would shave twice in one day." Goldwyn isproducing North Star, a picture about Soviets.

Loretta Young is flanked by husband, Lieut. Colonel Tom Lewis, and Irene Dunne. Lewis is a former New Yorkadvertising executive. Irene Dunne is making A Guy Named Joe, while Loretta Young is appearing oppositeAlan Ladd in China, a melodrama with a pre-war setting.

Robert Taylor and his wife, Barbara Stanwyck, sit next to the Gary Coopers. Taylor is about to enter Navy as aLieutenant, his wife just filmed Lady of Burlesque. Cooper recently completed For Whom the Bell Tolls,is making another picture, Saratoga Trunk, with Ingrid Bergman.

Rita Hayworth and Patricia Morison have different reactions to proceedings. The beautiful dead-pan red-head willsoon be seen as star of Cover Girl while the smiling brunette appeared last in Silver Skates. Miss Hayworth is rumored engaged to Coast Guardsman Victor Mature.

Lieut. Colonel Frank Capra, Hollywood director, is now turning out information films for the Army. He directedand produced the Army film Prelude to War. At his left are Mrs. James Hilton and her husband, the Englishauthor of the record-breaking movie hit, Random Harvest.

Carol Landis, who recently married Capt. Frank Wallace in London, is escorted by Major Gus Daymond, No. 1 aceof Eagle Squadron. At the right is George Murphy, co-starred with Judy Garland in For Me and My Gal. Miss Landis will soon be seen in Sonja Henie's Wintertime.

James Cagney, 1942 Academy Award winner, and Mrs. Cagney are seated next to Kenneth Thompson, secretary ofScreen Actor's Guild, Joan Blondell and Lieut. S. W. Booker. Cagney and Greer Garson read a script specially written for the occasion, A Letter from a Flying Tiger.

Walter Huston, now acting role of Ambassador Davies in Mission to Moscow, watches Mme. Chiang from tablewith producer Mervyn LeRoy, his sister-in-law and actor Edward G. Robinson. Huston and Robinson did the voice partsin the Chinese pageant at Hollywood Bowl.

At speaker's table Dr. Robert A. Millikan, noted scientist, bends to exchange a few words with Mme. Chiang and David O. Selznick. Selznick staged and produced pageant at Hollywood Bowl. At far right is Robert L. Smith, dynamo of Los Angeles Daily News, chairman of the Citizens Committee which arranged the events during theMissimo's visit to Los Angeles. At Selznick's right is Mme. Wei Tao-ming, wife of the Chinese Ambassador to the U.S.Dr, Millikan introduced Madame to the audience of 1,500 celebrities in Fiesta Room of Ambassador Hotel.

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LIFE'S COVER:  This young couple is Lieut. John Hancock Spear and his bride, Ester, waiting in Pennsylvania Station for thetrain which will take Lieut. Spear back to Camp Blanding, Fla. Married only four days before this photograph wastaken, Mrs. Spear went down to the station and there, like so many other women, gave the soldier his farewell.




Adapted by Carl W. Weidenburner
from the April 19, 1943 issue ofLIFE.
Portions copyright 1943 Time, Inc.



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