Entertainment Figure. A singer and story-teller, she is remembered as the 'Canteen Girl' of World War II. Born Phyllis Jeanne Creore, she was raised Upstate in Rochester and in 1937 moved to New York City where she lived in the Rehearsal Club while attempting to break into show business; Phyllis landed a gig at the 1939 World's Fair where she appeared as 'Miss Television', interviewing visitors inside a large truck, the images and sound broadcast on the then-experimental medium. With the onset of World War II, she began volunteering at the American Theater Wing's Stage Door Canteen, then in 1942 she made a proposal to NBC for a show for their "Canteen of the Air". Beginning in 1942 and continuing for the remainder of the conflict Phyllis had a 15 minute time slot every Friday on which, billed as Phyllis Jeanne the Canteen Girl, she sang and told stories, her show broadcast domestically and via short wave. She was to develop a huge fan base of troops who often wrote to her, every letter saved for posterity. In 1946, she married producer Ted Westermann (deceased 1976), then lived out her days in Manhattan where she was a sculptor and pastel painter of note, exhibiting her work in museums; in 2012 she was a central figure in the New York Historical Society's show entitled "WWII & NYC". Her Canteen Girl broadcasts are archived at the Paley Center for Media.
Entertainment Figure. A singer and story-teller, she is remembered as the 'Canteen Girl' of World War II. Born Phyllis Jeanne Creore, she was raised Upstate in Rochester and in 1937 moved to New York City where she lived in the Rehearsal Club while attempting to break into show business; Phyllis landed a gig at the 1939 World's Fair where she appeared as 'Miss Television', interviewing visitors inside a large truck, the images and sound broadcast on the then-experimental medium. With the onset of World War II, she began volunteering at the American Theater Wing's Stage Door Canteen, then in 1942 she made a proposal to NBC for a show for their "Canteen of the Air". Beginning in 1942 and continuing for the remainder of the conflict Phyllis had a 15 minute time slot every Friday on which, billed as Phyllis Jeanne the Canteen Girl, she sang and told stories, her show broadcast domestically and via short wave. She was to develop a huge fan base of troops who often wrote to her, every letter saved for posterity. In 1946, she married producer Ted Westermann (deceased 1976), then lived out her days in Manhattan where she was a sculptor and pastel painter of note, exhibiting her work in museums; in 2012 she was a central figure in the New York Historical Society's show entitled "WWII & NYC". Her Canteen Girl broadcasts are archived at the Paley Center for Media.
Bio by: Bob Hufford
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