Marilyn Hare, the Actress Who Kissed 10,000 Soldiers to Boost Morale During World War II

A few months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor the U.S. army was still trying to recuperate and make a full fledged fighting force to send out on two the fronts to confront Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany. Many of these men were drafted and after finding themselves in Boot camp they did not know what was going to become of them.

To boost the young recruits morale before going off to war the 18 year old actor Marilyn Hare made a goal to kiss 10,000 soldiers before they were shipped off into the two fronts.

Marilyn disrupts motor transport in her sweep through camp. Driver enjoys Marilyn's traffic jam.

Surrounded by her work, Marilyn collects repayment in kind while throngs wait to manifest their gratitude. A graduate of Flushing High School, Long Island, N.Y., Marilyn is now under contract to Republic pictures. She can cook, too.

Marilyn warms up with a song. She sings: 'Start me with ten who are stout-hearted men and I"ll soon give you 10,000 more.'

A tent-floor scrubber sticks his neck out and recieves a right and a lip to the jaw. 'Now I won't mind if I kick the bucket,' cried he as he rose and upset his scrub pail.

A supersensitive soldier faints upon recieving impact of Marilyn's mouth. Marilyn looks at him sternly, quotes Shakespeare: 'The kiss you take is better than you give.'

An onion peeler dolefully doing K.P. duty accepts an inhibited peck behind the right ear. Marilyn warily holds her pretty nose to safeguard mascara from involuntary tears.

Marilyn comes down the grub line, handing out appetizers. One young lieutenant breaking into line cried: 'Officers lead the advance.' 'What'll my wife say when she sees this picture?' gasped a private, 'You mean what'll you say?' cracked another.

Marilyn halts a jeep. 'Stop and be kissed,' she commands. Driver obeys like good soldier without question or remonstrance. Concluding it's fun to be in the Army, he accepts Marilyn's benison, gazes after her with stars in his eyes, lipstick on his cheek.

Marilyn's kissometer clicks off the 733rd smackeroo as she rewards a sentry on her departure from camp at the end of a budy day of bussing. 'My only regret,' she patriotically proclaimed, 'is that I have but two lips to give for my country.'

(Photos: John Florea—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)