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The Entertainments National Service Association , or ENSA was an organisation set up in 1939 by Basil Dean
Basil Dean

Basil Dean CBE was an England actor, writer, film producer/film director and theatrical producer/theatre direction.Born in Croydon, Surrey, Dean started his career in showbusiness in London as a West End theatre stage actor, and then later became a theatrical producer....
 and Leslie Henson
Leslie Henson

Leslie Lincoln Henson was an England comedian, actor, film producer, theatre producer and film director. Henson worked in silent films and Edwardian musical comedy and then became a popular music hall comedian who enjoyed a long stage career....
 to provide entertainment for British armed forces personnel during World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
. ENSA operated as part of the Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes
Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes

The Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes is an organisation created by the United Kingdom government in 1921 to run recreational establishments needed by the British Armed Forces, and to sell goods to servicemen and their families....
. It was superseded by Combined Services Entertainment (CSE) which now operates as part of the Services Sound and Vision Corporation
Services Sound and Vision Corporation

The Services Sound and Vision Corporation is a United Kingdom registered charity. Set up in the 1980s to "entertain and inform Britain's British Army around the world" , its activities include the British Forces Broadcasting Service with its radio and television operations, SSVC movie theaters, the British Defence Film Library, and its live...
 (SSVC).

well-known stars have performed in ENSA, including Gracie Fields
Gracie Fields

Dame Gracie Fields, Order of the British Empire , born Grace Stansfield, was an England/Italy singer and comedienne who became one of the greatest stars of both film and music hall....
, George Formby
George Formby

George Formby, Jr., Order of the British Empire was an England singer and comedian, famous for playing the ukulele and performing a variety of light, comical songs....
, Wilfred Brambell, Joyce Grenfell
Joyce Grenfell

Joyce Irene Grenfell, Order of the British Empire was an England actress, comedienne and singer-songwriter....
 and Rebecca Cantwell.

During 1945 actors The Baron Olivier
Laurence Olivier

Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, Order of Merit was an English people Stage actor, Theatre director, and Theatrical producer. He is one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century, along with his contemporaries John Gielgud, Peggy Ashcroft and Ralph Richardson....
 and Sir Ralph Richardson
Ralph Richardson

Sir Ralph David Richardson was an English actor, one of a group of theatrical knights of the mid-20th century who, though more closely associated with the stage, also appeared in several classic films....
 were created honorary army Lieutenants in ENSA.






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The Entertainments National Service Association , or ENSA was an organisation set up in 1939 by Basil Dean
Basil Dean

Basil Dean CBE was an England actor, writer, film producer/film director and theatrical producer/theatre direction.Born in Croydon, Surrey, Dean started his career in showbusiness in London as a West End theatre stage actor, and then later became a theatrical producer....
 and Leslie Henson
Leslie Henson

Leslie Lincoln Henson was an England comedian, actor, film producer, theatre producer and film director. Henson worked in silent films and Edwardian musical comedy and then became a popular music hall comedian who enjoyed a long stage career....
 to provide entertainment for British armed forces personnel during World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
. ENSA operated as part of the Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes
Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes

The Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes is an organisation created by the United Kingdom government in 1921 to run recreational establishments needed by the British Armed Forces, and to sell goods to servicemen and their families....
. It was superseded by Combined Services Entertainment (CSE) which now operates as part of the Services Sound and Vision Corporation
Services Sound and Vision Corporation

The Services Sound and Vision Corporation is a United Kingdom registered charity. Set up in the 1980s to "entertain and inform Britain's British Army around the world" , its activities include the British Forces Broadcasting Service with its radio and television operations, SSVC movie theaters, the British Defence Film Library, and its live...
 (SSVC).

Members

Many well-known stars have performed in ENSA, including Gracie Fields
Gracie Fields

Dame Gracie Fields, Order of the British Empire , born Grace Stansfield, was an England/Italy singer and comedienne who became one of the greatest stars of both film and music hall....
, George Formby
George Formby

George Formby, Jr., Order of the British Empire was an England singer and comedian, famous for playing the ukulele and performing a variety of light, comical songs....
, Wilfred Brambell, Joyce Grenfell
Joyce Grenfell

Joyce Irene Grenfell, Order of the British Empire was an England actress, comedienne and singer-songwriter....
 and Rebecca Cantwell.

During 1945 actors The Baron Olivier
Laurence Olivier

Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, Order of Merit was an English people Stage actor, Theatre director, and Theatrical producer. He is one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century, along with his contemporaries John Gielgud, Peggy Ashcroft and Ralph Richardson....
 and Sir Ralph Richardson
Ralph Richardson

Sir Ralph David Richardson was an English actor, one of a group of theatrical knights of the mid-20th century who, though more closely associated with the stage, also appeared in several classic films....
 were created honorary army Lieutenants in ENSA. They performed Shakespeare's plays for the troops in a six week tour of Europe.

In Popular Culture

Despite many extremely talented entertainers and movie stars, past and future, working for ENSA, the organisation was necessarily spread thin over the vast area it had to cover. Thus many entertainments were substandard, and the popular translation of the acronym ENSA was "Every Night Something Awful"

The television sitcom It Ain't Half Hot Mum
It Ain't Half Hot Mum

It Ain't Half Hot Mum was a British sitcom about the adventures of a Royal Artillery Concert Party , broadcast between 1974 and 1981, and written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, the creators of Dad's Army....
 concerned the misadventures of a group of soldiers providing entertainment for an army barracks in India
India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
. These were known as the Concert Party
Concert Party (entertainment)

A Concert Party is the collective name for a group of travelling entertainers in Great Britain, usually in music hall.Immensely popular before the Second World War, concert parties were also formed by several countries armed forces during the war itself....
 and were not ENSA members per se.

ENSA also featured in another television sitcom, Goodnight Sweetheart
Goodnight Sweetheart

Goodnight Sweetheart is a popular BBC sitcom that ran for six series from 1993 to 1999. It stars Nicholas Lyndhurst as accidental time traveller, Gary Sparrow, who leads a double-life after discovering a time portal allowing him to travel between 1990s London and London of WWII....
, in the episode How I Won The War.

The only known ENSA theatre to have survived in its original condition is the Garrison Theatre at Hurst Castle in the New Forest National Park. Created by servicemen in 1939, the proscenium arch still bears the badge and grenades of the Royal Artillery, and the curtains still hang from an old galvanised gas pipe. Shows are presented from time to time by the Friends of Hurst Castle. Natasha Rea

In the "Are You Being Served?" episode entitled "Camping In", Mr. Grainger told a story of being a member of ENSA.

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