World War II began by borrowing one of the theatre's best-known devicesthe blackout. Blacked out along with everything else were the theatres themselves. But not for long. London, Paris, Berlin hungered for amusement; already during the first week of the war George Bernard Shaw, Margot, Countess of Oxford and Asquith, many another, protested against the "stupidity" of closing the theatres. With a curfew law blotting out London's West End, producers rushed shows to the suburbs. In Berlin, once air-raid precautions were arranged, theatres reopened full blast. If the war runs on, it may well repeat the theatre boom of World War...
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