Lauren Swinney was born in LaSalle, Illinois and grew up in Gary, Indiana. During that time, Gary had the Carnegie Illinois Steel Corporation mills. The citizens of Gary were proud of this, especially during the war years. For the first through eighth grades Swinney attended Saint Luke's elementary where she participated in a lot of acting and writing. After eighth grade she got a scholarship for Crawford Manor, an exclusive boarding school for young ladies in Wisconsin. In eighth grade in Gary, Swinney won a national poetry contest when she wrote a poem about a young black girl's pig tails titled Genuine Pearls. She received a wonderful education and graduated in June of 1940. She remembers Pearl Harbor and President Roosevelt speaking. She had seen President Roosevelt in Gary, Indiana on the back of a train. At that time nobody knew that he needed a cane or of his affliction. He was standing straight up and everyone crowded around him. She felt so proud. FDR was an important person in everybody's life. Swinney was in Gary when the war started. She was shocked. Swinney had started working at Carnegie Illinois Steel Corporation and going to Gary Junior College at night. Working in a steel mill made people feel like they were doing something for the war effort. She wanted to operate a crane but she had taken accounting and was good on the comptometer [Annotator's Note: an early type of mechanical calculator], so she was put in the accounting department with three other people in her group. They worked in shifts. She was in college full time and working shifts. There was nothing they could not do during those times because she wanted to help the war effort. People were different then. America was different. Gary Junior College had a place called the Golden Nugget which was a hangout that didn't serve drinks, just Cokes, coffee and donuts. Many of the students at the college worked at the Golden Nugget. It was like a USO, but it was under the college. They would write letters and dance with service men there. The young men going into service were chivalrous because they believed in what they were doing and fighting for. At the Carnegie Illinois Steel Corporation Swinney remembers a banner in her office that was the E for Excellence banner. She normally did not take phone calls when they came in. Johnny Bender [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling], a former racetrack jockey, would take the calls. One night when Bender was on his break Swinney took a phone call. She thought that the man on the phone had a gorgeous voice. The man's name was Otis Labaka and Swinney began a romance with him. Romance developed slowly because they were shy. Otis wanted to meet her and they met at Walgreen's. He wore thick glasses as he described and was very handsome. She thought he would never get drafted, but he did. He did not come back after the war. There were many men she met who did not come back; but many who did.

Lauren Swinney always had at least three occupations at the same time. She wanted to learn everything and do everything. Living in Gary, the world came to her. They had Serbians and Slavs and every nationality imaginable there. She used to use accents for silliness when she entertained servicemen and the men were appreciative of her and her silliness. There were about 30 to 50 people in the Golden Nugget [Annoatator's Note: an entertainment venue in Gary, Indiana] at any time. People came from all over. It was like a Wild West saloon, but with no alcohol. They dressed conservatively. The girls working there were hometown girls and treated with respect. They had a jukebox. They listened to Glenn Miller and other fabulous music. When people think of the 40s they think of silly songs, but there were many good songs then. Swinney remembers a man named Joe from the Golden Nugget who had paid someone five dollars to get an introduction to her. He called her and said he watched her and admired her but he was from the wrong side of the tracks so he had hesitated to speak to her. He would come and pick her up and walk her to her night school, 24 long city blocks then would wait to walk back with her. They would arrive, sit, hold hands and talk. Swinney went to a dance with Joe and that was the last time she ever saw him. He became a paratrooper and was sent to London. He sent her a 24 page letter from London. He wanted to be engaged. Joe was sent to Belgium and was one of the Battered Bastards of Bastone. At Bastone they [Annotator's Note: the Germans] asked them to surrender and General McAuliffe answered with one word, "Nuts". Everyone perished. Not one person survived [Annotator's Note: this is not true]. From then on if a song came out or a play came out about a guy name Joe, it hit really close to home. Even through all this, they [Annotator's Note: Americans] never forgot how to smile, because they believed in what they were doing and they believed in their country. Never was there a more patriotic time. Tom Brokaw called them the Greatest Generation; she believes that there was a lot to that. Swinney got her two year degree from Gary Junior College. The finest instructors from Northwestern University and from the University of Chicago had come out to teach them in Gary. They got the finest education possible.

Lauren Swinney went to Northwestern University. The nuns had taught her to type when she was in boarding school and that enabled her to get a job in the office of the Dean updating alumni files. She was recommended for a teaching position at a Catholic elementary school. She taught speech and was paid ten dollars per day and received free lunch. She also had an evening job at Scott Hall making milk shakes and malts. Many military people came to her campus frequently, including Chiang Kai-shek's men and Russians. The men came to her campus to train. Swinney could not join a sorority because she didn't have enough money but she did get into a speech fraternity, Zeta Phi Eta. In the speech fraternity they were all entertainers and they would go to Glenview Naval Air Station and other places to entertain the troops. Sometimes they would entertain women's clubs where they received 15 dollars for 15 minutes. This was back in the time when a dollar and a quarter an hour was big money. The Rock was a big granite rock in front of the main building on campus. It became a meeting place. The school's registrar found Swinney a place to live on campus. It was a beautiful house by the lake in a nice neighborhood. When she walked to school she had to stay on a certain side of the street because platoons of Marines and military men were marching on the other. Swinney met a Marine at a mixer. One day while she was walking to school this Marine's platoon was marching on the opposite side of the street. When they passed each other the Marine yelled out "eyes right" and everyone in the platoon turned their head and looked at her. She was very embarrassed. That was one of her war time experiences. The mixers were held on the second floor of Scott Hall. Swinney was a hostess and not allowed to dance. She was there to chaperone. She was very serious at her work. She'd strike up a conversation with anyone who was looking shy. Then she would pair that person up with whichever of the girls she thought would be a match for them. She remembers a sailor, blond with blue eyes. His tag said Holland and he wore a sailor cap. Sailor Holland was very charming. She brought a number of girls around but was having no success with him. After she took off her hostess sign he asked her for a dance. Swinney recalled that he was a wild man dancing, throwing her around and lifting her up. She was shocked he was so strong; people made a ring and were clapping. She does not know what happened to him.

At Northwestern University, Lauren Swinney's speech fraternity, Zeta Phi Eta, was sent to Glenview Naval Air Station. There were about 1,000 people in the audience. Jeanne Eisen [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling] was a charming girl and a great singer. Eisen wore thick glasses; when she took them off she was gorgeous but couldn't see. Swinney and Eisen both wore white formal gowns. Swinney did impressions for the audiences and the men were appreciative. They were a hit. When Eisen sang, every one of those men loved it. There was a Russian freighter docked in Chicago [Annotator's Note: Swinney does not say so but her group from Northwestern went to entertain the Russian seamen that had come in with the ship]. One of the young men in Swinney's fraternity danced with a young woman and Swinney followed them. She was going to do a reading of The Russians in America, a very funny story. She recalled that when she started reading it was dead silence. She finished and they stamped their feet and clapped their hands and when she went off stage she asked the Russian MC [Annotator's Note: master of ceremonies] why they didn't laugh. He explained that they did not laugh because they didn't understand English, but they appreciated that she was an artist. This Russian man was putting USO tours together and asked Swinney if she could go on a USO tour. The salary would be 100 dollars a week. That was an enormous amount of money. She was torn. She wanted to get a college degree but this was her chance to do something. She decided to finish her degree and if they still wanted her for anything she would go. At the time it seemed like the war would never end. Chiang Kai-shek's men were there and Swinney's fraternity was supposed to be their hosts in the US. Their job was to give the Chinese a taste of American university life. Swinney called herself a liaison. Her counterpart was a man named Poo-yen Koo [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling]. They [Annotator's Note: the Chinese] had been given money to buy gifts for the Americans they worked with. They [Annotator's Note: the Chinese] were studying lenses and visited the Zeiss plant in Germany [Annotator's Note: this had to be either before or after the war] and the Northwestern engineering school was giving them training on lenses. For Swinney, it was fascinating. During Christmas her Chinese friend Poo-yen Koo, bought her a big bag of fruit. At the culmination of the Chinese group's visit they planned a Chinese New Year's Eve banquet at which Poo-yen Koo was to make a speech in English and Swinney was to make the same speech in Mandarin Chinese. She references proper voice and sound inflections in Mandarin. She did the best she could and the speech was received well. It was wonderful camaraderie and a wonderful experience. The speech roughly stated that both nations hoped to meet again for a New Year's Eve banquet but not in the US or China. They wished for it to be in Tokyo, Japan. Later in life Swinney did visit China, but she never saw Poo-yen Koo again.

Lauren Swinney picked up words during the war like ersatz which meant a substitute for something. She recalls the pin-up girls. Vargas [Annotator's Note: Alberto Vargas] and Petty [Annotator's Note: George Brown Petty IV] were the artists of the day. To be called a "Petty Girl" was a compliment. The American spirit at the time had never been as strong. There was nothing they thought they couldn't do or couldn't handle. Not just the boys the in service, but the women at home as well. If they did not have a certain item they would substitute something else for it or they would trade rations stamps with someone so they could get it. Red stamps were for meat and blue stamps were for canned goods. Around D-Day [Annotator's Note: probably mean V-E Day or V-J Day] she was in a school speech. There were people in that speech who became famous. Swinney got married and had five children and is very happy with her life. She never stopped acting. She is in a new movie with Nicholas Cage and was in the Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Brad Pitt. She says Pitt was a lot fun. Some of the entertainers Swinney worked with were Paul Lynde and Charlotte Rae. Swinney was the hostess and was the person who got the party going. Another actress was Jean Hagen who played Lena in Singin in the Rain. Hagen was Swinney's roommate. Charlton Heston was in the service and at the time was not married to Lydia Clarke who was in Swinney's fraternity. Heston went to Northwestern to see Clarke and ask her to marry him. Lydia Clarke was a beautiful young woman. Swinney recalls Clarke in the auditorium doing a reading of something she had written after she married Charlton Heston. Before Heston and Clarke were married he went to the campus [Annotator's Note: Northwestern University]. He was drafted [Annotator's Note: Heston enlisted in the US Army Air Forces]. Heston and Clarke met in literature class.

[Annotator's Note: Lauren Swinney was a student at Northwestern University and worked as an entertainer for troops visiting the university.] After he [Annotator's Note: actor Charlton Heston] was in the military he put on weight. While Heston was still on campus [Annotator's Note: at Northwestern University] he did a student version of Julius Caesar. At the time Swinney was pregnant and married to a service man. Swinney was an extra and wore a sheet in the production. With the permission of the Dean, Swinney moved into an apartment on Foster Street. There was an awful diner across the street that served stacks of pancakes. One day Clarke, Heston, and Swinney went to the diner and got one stack of pancakes and three plates. It cost them 15 cents. It was hard times but nothing fazed them. D-Day [Annotator's Note: Annotator believes that Swinney means V-E or V-J Day, not D-Day] was so exciting. They were so exultant and happy that this time occurred. They celebrated in Swinney's apartment with drinking and dancing. Swinney's friends Basil Cross [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling] and Paul Lynde were on State Street and would kiss pretty girls as they walked by. Everyone was kissing everyone. It didn't matter who. Then they went to Michigan Avenue to Buckingham Fountain. Lynde got in and would splash around and pull himself up acting like a whale and Cross would act like an announcer telling everyone that the war [Annotator's Note: in Europe] was over. Everything was exciting whether it was VJ-Day or VE-Day. They did the same thing on both days. On VJ-Day, Cross and Lynde had an act that was not very complimentary to the Japanese but it was funny. Swinney remembers hearing about the Normandy invasion but she doesn't remember the dates of specific events. She does remember following the news. Swinney believes that there was a certain purity about the pinup girls during the war. They were just plain beautiful. Girls like Betty Grable and Lauren Bacall. Swinney won several awards. Evans House called Swinney the girl they would most like to have darn their socks. Another GI said she was the girl with the voice like the bottom of a buttermilk churn. In the 1970s, Bacall did a stage version of All About Eve which had starred Bette Davis. Bacall was never known as a singer or dancer but did both and won a Tony award. Bacall worked at the Stage Door Canteen in New York and was a great jitterbug person. Swinney sings the song Who's That Girl that Bacall won the Tony award for singing in All About Eve to the interviewer.

Everything in speech begins with the ear and Lauren Swinney had a good ear for languages. She does fairly well with French even though she used to fall asleep in her French grammar classes because she was working shifts at the time. She would do an impression and would get giggles and laughs and that was what got her started. The egging on of friends helped her develop her impressions. Swinney considered herself a serious student so this was silly and fun for her to develop. In boarding school she played the part of Abraham Lincoln and Jimmy Cagney. She also portrayed Tizzy Lish, and many others. In Chicago, Hildegarde was a singer who wore long gloves and gave a rose to somebody in the audience. Swinney impersonated her. Swinney also impersonated a performer named the Park Avenue Hillbilly. To Swinney it was an innocent kind of humor. They were innocent back then. Many of the servicemen went away to fight and left women behind who they loved. There was a tremendous amount of respect and love for the girls the men planned to come back to marry. Swinney still considers herself an old fashioned girl. Not long before this interview was recorded Swinney was honored at a luncheon at Commander's Palace [Annotator's Note: a very upscale restaurant in New Orleans, Louisiana] where she met the president of the Friends of Le Petit, the famous theater in New Orleans, Jim Walpole [Annotator's Note: as of the date of this annotation, Jim Walpole is the head of the Le Petit Theater Guild]. Swinney mentioned doing impressions to Walpole and he told her that he wanted her to think about doing an impression of Tallulah Bankhead or Lauren Bacall or Marlene Dietrich, someone in that age group. Swinney had done impersonations of Marlene Dietrich and Bette Davis.

Lauren Swinney wrote an hour long show called Lauren Does Bacall. She has been planning to perform the show but Jim [Annotator's Note: Jim Walpole, head of the Le Petit Theater Guild in New Orleans, Louisiana] has been having serious health problems. The show is now on hold, which is alright with Swinney as she gets terrible stage fright. Swinney is impressed with Lauren Bacall because of how her children were able to have normal lives. Bacall had a relationship with Humphrey Bogart but the most remarkable thing is that she is still working. Swinney discusses Lauren Bacall's achievements. She says women like Bacall were called "Good Joe's". "Good Joe's" were girls who could roll up their sleeves and do anything. She was helping the war effort but they still wanted to be women when their men returned. Swinney describes how she met her husband. She was at a drive-in having a hamburger and an ice cream sundae. She had learned to drive by this point. Her future husband came up to the window of her car and told her that the valve on her tire was missing and that she might get a flat tire. She doesn't know if he had a valve with him or if he tightened the one on her tire but he fixed it. That was the opener. They chatted and Swinney mentioned living on her parent's ranch. She discussed the adobe soil with him and how they had some walnut trees with this soil around them that was so hard a mattock couldn't get through. Swinney told him that they were unable to hire anyone to work on the ranch so he volunteered to come out there. At the time, he was working with a group of children while based at Moffett Field. She invited him out to the ranch thinking he would never show up. The following morning he showed up and began working on the soil around her walnut trees. She did not think he would not last long. While he was working she got dressed because she knew that if he lasted out there they would have to have lunch together. Eventually, he started heading towards the house. Swinney thought he was going to quit, but instead he asked for water then went back out chopping. That was the beginning of their courtship. He invited her to visit him at Moffett Field. His job was to direct the planes at night using a flashlight in each hand. Swinney is a hero worshiper and sees heroism in every serviceman. She was at Northwestern while she was getting her first degree. Even without a degree she was teaching with the recommendation of the Dean. She was a very serious student. Swinney's dream was to go back to Gary, Indiana and teach boys she knew growing up who would be returning from the service. She was able to get a job teaching speech 101 at Gary Junior College. There were about 40 servicemen in her class. She dressed very conservatively for her first class. She was very nervous and self-conscious about her role as their teacher. These men had left boys but come back men. Swinney felt bad that she had been home studying and going to school while these men had been away fighting. The guys all whistled at her and that broke the tension. The guys were very mature and caught up very quickly. One of the guys had a truck and he gave Swinney a ride to the train station.

Lauren Swinney displays a hat from the 1940s with the V for victory emblem on the front of it. The V was a very important emblem to them. In the 1940s the girls used to wear scarves and that was important. When Swinney and her husband-to-be went on dates, they used to go to church. They went to a little brown church in the valley and, on one particular day, she recalls the air and atmosphere being filled with electricity. That electricity was Jack Swinney. When she married Jack Swinney all of her community college students were happy for her. She immediately got pregnant. Jack Swinney served on the Pine Island [Annotator's Note: USS Pine Island (AV-12)], the Hancock [Annotator's Note: USS Hancock (CV-19)] and the Oriskany [Annotator's Note: USS Oriskany (CV-34)]. He was offshore most of the time. He was also the bombardier on planes. He was in aviation ordinance and later became a Chief Ordnanceman. Swinney loved the chiefs. They were the backbone of the Navy. Swinney's husband was also stationed at China Lake when he was assigned to VX-5 [Annotator's Note: Air Development Squadron 5], an experimental rocket program in the Mojave Desert. She recalls the cooling unit in her small concrete block house. Swinney was expecting while she was living there and developed odd cravings. She really craved kohlrabi. Swinney's husband was able to get some kohlrabi for her. Something Swinney had to decide was who was going to deliver her baby. Her favorite doctor was the flight surgeon but he was gone all of the time. One day, Swinney's husband came home and noticed red bumps all over legs. He immediately took her to the hospital on base. The doctor asked her what she was eating and how she had been preparing it. They got into a discussion of kohlrabi preparation rather than treating her. She finally got some liquid that looked like Greek ouzo to drink and she passed out. When she awoke the spots were gone. She had just had an allergic reaction.

Lauren Swinney had complications with her pregnancy and was admitted to the hospital over Christmas. The baby was born and brought home but she stayed in the hospital. Her husband managed to get her out of the hospital on Christmas so she could enjoy his mother's Christmas dinner then he got her back to the hospital safely. Swinney understands the value of teaching World War 2. The ingredients of the people and unification of America was so unique. Americans at the time had the right idea, the right thinking. She liked the writings of that time such as Ernie Pyle. Swinney is amazed that young people are so knowledgeable about that time. People can learn from these experiences. Museums are beautiful places. They inspire awe and are memorials of the past. They are sacred to her. People should always pass on things to the younger generations. Learn from mistakes and learn from the museums.