Talk:Martha Raye/Archives/2013

Uneducated nurse?
How did Raye, educated through only the 5th grade ("Early years" section) become a surgical nurse ("Death" section)? --Spiff666 (talk) 18:07, 23 July 2010 (UTC)


 * It's always possible to go back to school, especially to learn a specific skill like nursing. In Chapter 11 of his book The Betrayal, William Corson stated that Raye was a fully qualified nurse and a reserve Lt. Col. in the Army Nurse Corps. He reports on page 260 how, after entertaining one of his CAP teams, she flew out with a wounded Marine and then worked 24/7 at the hospital for five days straight.
 * I think this needs to go back into the article. ChrisWinter (talk) 17:22, 6 June 2011 (UTC)

HARRIS
HARRIS DID CLAIM on several occasions that he consumated the marriage http://www.marksfriggin.com/news04/12-6.htm 12/06/04. 8:10am

''Howard said he doesn't believe that Mark was in love with Martha Raye, who he was married to, and the whole bonus for marrying her was the money he got in the end. Howard said he thinks that Mark may be bi-sexual but he prefers men. Mark said that he had two women last year and only one man. Howard asked Mark how many times he had sex with Martha Raye in the years he was married to her. Mark said he doesn't remember exactly how many times it was because they were married for 3 years. Howard said he believes that Mark only did her one time to consummate the marriage. Mark said there is no law about consummating the marriage in Los Angeles so he wouldn't have to do it just for that.''

there were numerous occasions in which harris has infact claimed to have had relations with martha raye on sterns show

Wikify
This page really needs wikification--Mo-Al 16:06, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

I wikified as much as I could plus divided it up into sections
If people thing the sections are wrong, put what you think is best! KarenAnn 20:55, 3 June 2006 (UTC)

Marriage
I changed reference to Raye's marriage to Ed Begley. This is not the actor, Ed Begley, whose son is the actor Ed Begley Jr. The man to whom Raye was married was a Broadway dancer named Edward T. Begley. Wildhartlivie (talk) 08:15, 9 February 2008 (UTC)

Citation needed
This statement, from the first paragraph of "Early years," needs a citation. And, from the way it's worded, it must have had a source: "Some show business insiders speculated that the Judy Garland song from A Star Is Born, "I was born in a trunk in the Princess Theater in Pocatello, Idaho" was inspired by Raye's beginnings." ChrisWinter (talk) 17:04, 6 June 2011 (UTC)

Urban Myth
Courson can state whatever he wants in his book, but Ms raye was not a "fully qualified nurse", nor did she hold a Commission in the US Armed Forces. It is all urban myth from a old fax, now email, that keeps going around and around. In the article, it uses a reference ( [5] ) to show that she was buried in the Special Forces cematary at Fort Bragg. The reference only says that she was buried with military honors at Bragg - which is true. She could not have been buried in the "Special Forces cemetary" becasue there is no such place! This wiki page on Ms Raye, and the great things she did for Servicemen, should not be sullied by the untruths that keep cropping up in urban myths. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 178.76.169.140 (talk) 00:26, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

If Ms Raye was a commissioned officer in the US Army Nurse Corps, it should be an easy check to verify this with DoD records. Unfortunately, I have been unable to find any credible sources that indicate that Ms. Raye held a commission. She was "given" several honourable ranks in several services, but these were strictly honourary. There are also sources that Ms. Raye had a habit of wearing military uniforms while traveling for the USO. Some of these sources indicate that she wore her honourary rank even though it was not authorized. Another confuser is that while traveling for the USO, she, as were all civilians, issued a DoD identify card which gave her a Geneva Convention Classification normally assigned to Field Grade officers (Major, Lt Col, Col.) But this ID card did not mean that Ms. Ray WAS a field grade officer.

As for her being a Registered Nurse, that should also be easy to confirm via education records. Unfortunately, I have also been unable to find any such records. I have no doubt that Ms. Raye volunteered to help out in a nursing capacity on many occasions, but I have not been able to find any information that she was, in fact, a Registered Nurse.

I agree with the above poster that Ms. Raye actually accomplished many great things in her service to our troops. She does not need anything made up. Her record stands honourably on its own. Throckmorton Guildersleeve (talk) 16:57, 27 November 2012 (UTC)