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In the Chaos of the Vietnam War, There Was One Thing You Could Rely On: Bob Hope’s Christmas Tours

bob hope tour group

One of the few constants of the Vietnam War—one eagerly anticipated by American troops, that is—was the annual Bob Hope Christmas Show. From 1964 to 1972, Hope included South Vietnam on his annual trips to visit troops during the holiday season, a tradition that started for him during World War II. “Back in 1941, at March Field, California…I still remember fondly that first soldier audience,” Hope once said. “I looked at them, they laughed at me, and it was love at first sight.”

“And did you read where President Johnson just requested another $50 billion to cover the rising cost of the war? Wouldn’t it be awful if we ran out of money and they repossessed the war?”

While only a small fraction of the 2.5 million troops who served in Southeast Asia actually got to attend Hope’s performances, for those who did he managed to break the monotony, ease the loneliness and give the troops in combat zones across Vietnam a couple of hours of laughter—and a memory for a lifetime. Bob Hope’s classic opening monologues of rapid-fire jokes always took jabs at the GIs and the specifics of the local situation.

Under a hot sun or a driving rain, his young audiences laughed and cheered the legendary comedian and his cast of singers, dancers and the musicians of Les Brown and his Band of Renown. Hope’s shtick included a constant, sometimes bawdy banter with the other performers, taking plenty of shots at the absurdities of military life while conveying a real sense of how difficult it was for the troops to be away from home during the holidays.

Hope began taking his show on the road after the United States entered World War II and the United Service Organization (USO) started sending Hollywood and radio entertainers to perform for military audiences at bases in North Africa, Europe and the South Pacific. Already a giant movie and radio star, Hope traveled overseas six times, logging more than a million miles during World War II. At the outset of the Cold War in 1948, when the Soviets closed all ground travel from West Germany to Berlin, Hope’s show followed the reserves sent by President Harry Truman to facilitate the airlift into the western sectors of Berlin. Later, Hope traveled to Korea in the early 1950s after North Korean troops invaded South Korea, and all during the 1950s his show played at military bases in Japan. By the 1960s, Hope’s Christmas shows for troops overseas had become a fixture of America’s traditional holiday season.

At Bien Hoa Air Base on Christmas Eve : “I asked McNamara if we could come and he said, ‘Why not, we’ve tried everything else!’ ”

As early as 1962, Hope wanted to go to Vietnam to perform for the growing contingent of American military advisers. Although planning moved at a steady pace for a 1963 show, the Pentagon ultimately pulled the plug on it because of what it considered too high a risk. Nevertheless, at age 61, Hope persisted and won approval for his first Vietnam shows in December 1964. With his new destination came a new twist to the shows: They would be filmed to be broadcast as holiday specials in early January of the next year.

These filmed productions required a new level of effort in organization and execution to bring them to a new domestic audience. Hope remained the star and the driving force behind his tours. Other leading performers such as Connie Stevens, Ann-Margret and Joey Heatherton welcomed the opportunity to join him, despite the stress of travel into a far-flung war zone and the hardships they encountered there. Hope’s Vietnam engagements were among the most dangerous ever for the funnyman and his entertainers.

On December 15, 1964, Hope’s contingent left Los Angeles aboard a military transport aircraft large enough to carry the support staff and all the entertainers, including Les Brown and his band, the reigning Miss World, Anita Bryant, actresses Janis Paige and Jill St. John and comic actor Jerry Colonna, who had been part of Hope’s group during World War II.

this article first appeared in vietnam magazine

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The tour covered 25,000 miles and included stops at Wake Island and Guam. They flew on to Korea for a performance in which Hope opened his monologue by labeling South Korea as “Vietnam North.” He won thunderous applause when he cracked, “We had a little trouble landing in Seoul: Someone stole the runway.”

Security was exceptionally tight for Bob Hope’s first visit to Vietnam. Although the planners had made intricate arrangements through the offices of Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV) prior to his December 24 landing, there had been no official announcements or confirmation of Hope’s visit. And the locations of all his shows remained secret. Even Hope and his staff never knew the name of the base they were to perform at until they landed. Reporters noted that plans for Hope’s visits to different areas were more secret than those for generals or Cabinet officials. Troops who made up the audiences were never told who would be visiting until the last minute.

Hope and his entourage were given stern warnings from MACV. While some were routine for any overseas travel—avoid all water and ice because none was safe to drink, and stay away from all milk products—the threats related to terrorism were especially serious. They were told to stay away from windows in restaurants and in their hotel rooms, and to keep their drapes closed. And a final caution: Drop to the floor when they heard an explosion. In spite of the dangers, the shows went on, but the sound of aircraft overhead during a performance always brought a startled look from Hope.

Hope's show schedule was a well-guarded secret on air bases or ships, until he touched down with his famous golf club.

Although a Communist attack was a real possibility, Hope appeared relaxed, swinging a golf club, which became a constant prop during his monologues. “I love the runway you have here,” he quipped. “Great golfing country…even the runway has 18 holes.”

After the show, the group moved to Saigon, where the dire warnings of danger literally exploded into reality. Hope and most of the performers stayed at the Caravelle Hotel, while Brown and members of the band stayed at the Continental Palace. Both were close to the Brinks Hotel, which served as a bachelor officers quarters for the Americans. That afternoon, a bomb flattened the Brinks, sent glass and other debris into some rooms of the Continental and shook the Caravelle. No one in the troupe was injured, but the explosion left all the hotels without water or electricity. True to form, Hope stitched this incident into his act at Tan Son Nhut the next day: “I want to thank General Westmoreland for that wonderful welcome yesterday. We opened with a bang!” And at the small outpost in the Mekong Delta, he joked: “A funny thing happened to me when I was driving through downtown Saigon to my hotel last night. We met a hotel going the other way.”

Next up was a flight to Pleiku, a small helicopter base in the highlands near the border with North Vietnam, with heavy security in place for the visitors. Rumors had circulated that Hope’s group was headed their way, but no one was sure until the airplane landed and Bob Hope walked onto the stage. “What a welcome,” he declared. “Wherever we land we’re met by thousands of cheering servicemen…they think it’s Secretary McNamara with shut-down orders!”

Jill St. John did her stand-up routine with Hope, trading one-liners about her IQ and his golf score, and later in the show she performed the segment that became very popular with the servicemen, when they joined her on stage to dance the “Go-Go” to the beat of Les Brown’s band.

At Da Nang, the tour’s largest audience in Vietnam, Hope made light of the frequent changes in government that year: “Vietnam is a very democratic country, everyone gets to be president.” As usual, he joked about military cutbacks and the aircraft he was forced to fly in: “It’s one of the earlier jets…instead of afterburners, it has an oven and a bag of charcoal.”

The last show on the 1964 Vietnam tour was at the seaside city of Nha Trang. At this and every performance, after a brief prayer from the chaplain, Anita Bryant closed the show by singing the first verse of “Silent Night,” and asked the troops and other performers to join in on the second verse, a tradition that continued through all the show’s years. The group left Vietnam on December 28 and flew to Clark Air Base in the Philippines for a show before heading home. Arriving back in Los Angeles on December 30, Hope told reporters, “This was the most exciting Christmas trip since 1943.”

1964 NBC Broadcast: “Let’s face it… we’re the Big Daddy of this world”

The 1964 trip set the pace and the pattern for all of Bob Hope’s visits to American troops around the world for the next eight years. While the performers changed and the locations varied, Hope was always the star and began the shows by strutting on stage with his golf club in hand, firing off jokes tailored to each base. He always had the reigning Miss World and always tried to bring the troops the outstanding glamour star from back home. He started appearing onstage in military uniform shirts and jackets outlandishly decorated with patches, stripes, stars and insignias. And as the number of military personnel stationed in Vietnam grew each year, the tour’s length expanded too.

Hope and his guest stars made stops at hospitals and on ships to visit with wounded servicemembers.

“We want to thank Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara for making this Christmas trip possible….Let’s face it, we’re the Big Daddy of this world….I talked to a lot of our fighting men over here and even though they’re putting up a great fight, against tremendous odds in this hide-and-seek war, they’re not about to give up, because they know if they walk out of this bamboo obstacle course, it would be like saying to the commies, ‘come and get it.’ That’s why they’re laying their lives on the line everyday….And they said thank you….I don’t think any of us ever had a better Christmas present.”

For the 1965 tour, Hope’s troupe flew for 22 hours in a C-141 and spent much of the flight in rehearsal. Stopping at Guam to refuel, the cast put on a full 2½ hour show.

The American escalation had a direct influence on Hope’s shows. Within a year, the number of American military bases had multiplied, troop levels increased eight-fold, to 180,000, and so had the size of Hope’s audiences. Two fighter escorts accompanied the entertainers to Tan Son Nhut on Christmas Eve, and the cast was rushed to the site of the show. Hope took the stage and announced to the crowd of 12,000 that he had to “come to Vietnam to see his congressman,” referring to the flood of members of Congress who made frequent jaunts to Vietnam at the time.

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The troupe flew next to Cam Ranh Bay, where Hope, sauntering across the stage wagging his golf club, scolded the troops: “I don’t know what you guys did to get here, but let that be a lesson to you!” Baking in the hot sun, the troops roared in agreement.

Joey Heatherton dances the "Watusi" with a serviceman aboard USS Roosevelt during the 1966 tour.

On their flight north to entertain the Marines at Chu Lai, Hope’s plane lost an engine on the way, and they arrived late. Hope then set the mood, opening with: “Other bases here in South Vietnam invited me; this one dared me!” Later, at Da Nang, the monsoons caught up with them, and they performed through a heavy downpour. It was here that Hope had some serious reflections on what he was seeing among the troops he was meeting. After the show, Hope told an interviewer: “The kids here seem more optimistic than those at home. They have more confidence in our leaders.”

Bob Hope performed 22 shows and visited five hospitals in 1965. Each show lasted more than two hours, and typically there were two performances a day. Every tour he made to South Vietnam drew the attention not only of American fighting forces, but of the enemy as well. It was not unusual for the Communists to fire on or attack a base shortly after the show ended. After each show at Pleiku in the Central Highlands, the Viet Cong would shell the area.

Christmas Tour 1966: “The country is behind you 50 percent”

In 1966, for the first time in many years, Bob Hope’s partner and friend since the tours in WWII, Jerry Colonna, was unable to join the troupe after suffering a stroke. Nevertheless, Hope’s company, featuring guest stars Phyllis Diller and Heatherton, left Los Angeles on December 16, and by Christmas they were at Cu Chi. Actress Chris Noel, who was asked by Hope to join the show for this performance, arrived on a chopper in time to join him and the troops for a traditional turkey dinner in the mess. Noticing some men precariously perched on tall poles before the show began, Hope asked during his opening monologue, “How did you get up there? LSD?”

The tenor of the Christmas tour of 1966 reflected changing attitudes in the United States regarding the course of the war, and Hope’s humor didn’t shy away from it. He reassured the troops that “the country is behind you 50 percent.” He then added, “I’m very happy to be here; I’m leaving tomorrow!”

While Hope largely kept his personal opinions out of his on-stage performances, he spoke freely with reporters off stage. At one stop, he announced he was definitely “hawkish” and expressed his desire that the “United States would move a little faster to end the war.”

By Christmas 1967, the number of American military in South Vietnam had reached almost 500,000, resulting in ever-larger audiences and making Hope’s appearances even more important for boosting morale. Joined on the tour by actresses Raquel Welch and Barbara McNair, Hope performed for 25,000 men and women at Long Binh who sat in a brutal sun while organizers fretted about security. He told the troops at Da Nang that Dow Chemical just got even with student protesters: “They came up with an asbestos draft card.” During a visit with the wounded, Hope asked one soldier, “Did you see the show or were you already sick?”

The next year, as audiences swelled, Hope added former Los Angeles Rams player turned actor Rosie Grier to his entourage, and Ann-Margret, who was a hit in her minidress and go-go boots. At Cu Chi, they had to travel in a safety pod of three aircraft to get in, and Hope noted, “Every time we come here, there is action!”

Actress Ann-Margret joined Bob Hope's troupe for the 1968 tour.

The 1969 tour left Los Angeles and stopped off in Washington for a state dinner with President Richard Nixon and a rehearsal at the White House, where Hope and guest stars Connie Stevens, The  Golddiggers from The Dean Martin Show and astronaut Neil Armstrong—who just a few months before had become the first man on the moon—tried out their material before taking it to Vietnam.

As with all great comedians, dissecting contemporary culture, politics and changing societal mores was a Hope staple. Widespread recreational drug use in America and among troops in Vietnam had become a comedic target by 1970 and a part of Hope’s routine. With all-star Cincinnati Reds catcher Johnny Bench as his foil, Hope chimed: “Where else can you spend eight months on grass and not get busted?”

With steady troop withdrawals in the early ’70s: “Wonderful to be working with you leftovers!”

But even Bob Hope couldn’t escape criticism in 1970 when he made references to drug use by the troops. NBC removed most of the drug jokes prior to its January broadcast. But, at a show at the 101st Airborne Division’s base, Hope got huge laughs during his opening monologue when he said: “I hear you guys are interested in gardening here. Our security officers said a lot of you are growing your own grass. I was wondering how you guys managed to bomb Hanoi without planes!”

Hope never knew when the brass would show up, but every year Generals William Westmoreland, Creighton Abrams and Fred Weyand and Admiral John McCain would find him on stage somewhere to thank him and his crew.

Decades removed, Bob Hope’s material still holds its own, and his jokes about military life ring as true now as they did then. Perhaps most jarring to today’s viewers, however, are his apparent sexist references to women during the shows. Hope was a man of his time, referring to his female performers as “girls,” frequently commenting on their measurements—nothing atypical for the era. His jokes were also harsh and sometimes negative about the countries where the troops were stationed.

The Bob Hope Christmas tours continued to go to Vietnam until 1972. On the last tour, the group spent less time in Vietnam because of the drastic decrease in the number of American troops by then. That year Hope greeted the Marines at Da Nang with, “Wonderful to be working for you leftovers!” But, he quickly added: “You guys are lucky because you get to go home, not like our representatives at the Paris Peace Talks.”

While steady troop withdrawals meant smaller audiences, there was no less commitment and enthusiasm from the performers. And even though they spent less time in Vietnam, the grueling 1972 Christmas tour lasted more than two weeks with shows at bases in the Philippines, Singapore, Guam and a Christmas morning performance for 1,200 SeaBees at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.

The brass always managed to find Hope on stage somewhere, to thank him and his performers for bringing a bit of Christmas cheer to the troops.

During the final montage of photos and film of his last televised Vietnam Christmas special in 1972, Hope narrates film footage of Long Binh shot a year earlier, bustling with troops. “Well,” he said, showing the new footage of a deserted Long Binh, overgrown with weeds, “this is how [it] looks now…and this is how it should be…all those happy, smiling, beautiful faces are gone. But most of them are really where they belong, home with their loved ones.”

Judith Johnson recently retired as a professor and history department chair at Wichita State University. She is now working on a study of private contractors during the Vietnam War. For more on Hope, she recommends: Bob Hope, A Life in Comedy by William Robert Faith, and Five Women I Loved: Bob Hope’s Vietnam Story by Bob Hope.

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Bob Hope's tours available on video Nine (1964 to 1972) are made into a set

By deseret news , martie zad, the washington post.

Dating back to 1941, Bob Hope's holiday tours to entertain U.S. troops abroad are legendary. No entertainer has traveled so far or so often to entertain so many. For the record, an Act of Congress signed by President Clinton a year ago made Bob Hope an honorary veteran, the first in the history of the United States.

Most of these USO tours aired as television specials, and nine of them, spanning the Vietnam War years of 1964 to 1972, are now available in a Real Entertainment home video set: "Bob Hope's Entertaining the Troops -- The Vietnam Years" ($79.99, approximately nine hours, in video stores).The nine volumes with year, featured guests and places where shows were taped:

1964: Jill St. John, Anita Bryant, Janis Paige, Anna Maria Alberghetti, Jerry Colonna, Les Brown and his band, with stops in Guam, Okinawa, Korea, Thailand and Vietnam.

1965: Joey Heatherton, Jack Jones, Carroll Baker, Kaye Stevens, Anita Bryant, Jerry Colonna and Les Brown and his band, with stops in Guam, Thailand, the Philippines, Wake Island and aboard the USS Ticonderoga. This special won an Emmy Award.

1966: Phyllis Diller, Vic Damone and Joey Heatherton, with stops in Vietnam, Guam, Thailand, the Philippines, Wake Island and aboard the USS Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the USS Bennington.

1967: Raquel Welch, Barbara McNair, Miss World and Les Brown, at Saigon, Long Binh, Danang and Cam Rahn Bay and aboard the USS Ranger and the USS Coral Sea.

1968: Ann-Margret, Rosie Grier, Linda Bennett, Miss World and Les Brown, stopping in Vietnam, Korea, Midway, Thailand, and aboard the USS Hancock and USS New Jersey.

1969: Connie Stevens and Neil Armstrong, fresh from a walk on the moon, took this 15-day, 24,000-mile tour throughout Europe and Southeast Asia and produced one of television's all-time ratings champs.

1970: Ursula Andress, Johnny Bench, Lola Falana, the Goldiggers and Gloria Loring, from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, England, Germany, Thailand, Guam, Korea and Vietnam.

1971: Jim Nabors, Jill St. John, Alan Shepard, Vida Blue and Miss World, with stops at Honolulu, Wake Island, Okinawa, Thailand, Vietnam, Spain and Cuba.

1972: Redd Foxx, Lola Falana and Roman Gabriel, with stops in Japan, Korea, Thailand, Diego Garcia Island, the Philippines, Wake Island, Shemya Island, Vietnam and aboard the USS Midway.

Armed Forces Heritage Museum

Bob Hope USO Tour — 1963

December: 1963

The alert schedule for the 509 th Air Refueling Squadron was published and my crew was listed to spend Christmas on Reflex Alert duty at Goose Bay, Labrador. Needless to say, my wife and children were unhappy that I would not celebrate Christmas with them. But duty called, and I flew off the frozen north to spend the holidays defending the nation from nuclear attack. 

Upon arrival at Goose Air Base we were pleased to hear that a USO tour featuring Bob Hope and his team of entertainers would be stopping at G

bob hope tour group

oose Bay for a show before moving on to Europe and the middle east.

This was one many USO tours that Bob Hope performed between 1941 and 1991. Each year he would assemble a group of entertainers and visit the troops who were serving overseas during the holidays. Performances would be filmed and excerpts entertained the folks at home, initially in a movie house or on r adio, and later on television. Prominent stars populated his entourage. The cast usually included beautiful women, singers, dancers, and comedians who acted as foils for Hope. This year’s troupe included Anita Bryant and Jerry Colonna.

The show was performed in a large hangar. The floor of the hangar was filled with seats and airmen who could not find a seat were amassed in any available spot in the huge hangar. It seemed as if the entire base was on hold during the show … however, I am certain that the Strategic Air Command had a skeleton crew to manage the essentials of base operation.

Hope’s banter featured self deprecation, rapid delivery and inside jokes about the base and personnel assigned there. I was impressed on how effortlessly he used large cue cards that contained his dialogue. He was a total professional and a master of timing. A small group of musicians provided exceptional musical accompaniment for his featured singers and dancers. There were many laughs as he made everyone in the audience feel that they were a part of the act. He instilled a strong patriotic message of appreciation for our military service. The show concluded with a rendition of his theme song: “Thanks for the memories” replete with revised lyrics that were adapted for each base on the tour. He was great; what a showman!

Bob Hope and Jerry Colonna USO Tour

Jerry Colonna had been a side kick of Bob Hope since the early 1940’s. He was an accomplished musician as well as being a zany comedian. He had a piercing raucous voice and sang novelty songs that feature loud and sustained musical notes. His banter with Hope was filled with clever word groupings and quips with double meanings. He had big bulging eyes and a prominent mustache below his large nose. He was the essence of vaudeville and early radio.

But, that was Colonna’s stage image. The man who sat with us at breakfast was a quiet and thoughtful man with a soft voice and a peaceful  demeanor. We spoke about the entertainment business and he inquired about our backgrounds and what we were doing in the Air Force. At one point a member of my crew asked him if his mustache was real. Without hesitation he replied: “No, it’s a fake. This one is real!” … as he pulled a large black mustache out of his blue blazer pocket.

Jerry Colonna 1963 USO Tour

Bob Hope will always be in the hearts of the legions of service men and women he entertained during his 57 USO tours. To watch him in action and observe the impact he had on the audience was sometime to behold. A great entertainer … a great patriot! A great American!

Today, the actor Gary Sinise does a good job entertaining our troops with his Lieutenant Dan Band. Unfortunately, other than Gary Sinise, Hollywood and the entertainment industry have mostly been “missing in action” for the last thirty years. It’s a sad commentary!

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Clue: Bob Hope's tour group: Abbr.

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  • WSJ Daily - Sept. 18, 2020

Ideum creates compelling digital experiences and designs integrated touch and touchless hardware products and software to engage visitors in public spaces.

WWII Museum Visitors Experience Bob Hope’s Wartime USO Tours

National world war ii museum, new orleans, la, tangible engine, multitouch table, software development.

Bob Hope was a 20th-century entertainment giant known for decades of appearances in vaudeville, films, and television. But perhaps his most important and enduring work occurred overseas: For fifty years, Hope traveled to army bases, airfields, military hospitals, and war zones as part of tours organized by the United Service Organizations , popularly known as the USO. His shows brought much-needed laughter and a glimpse of home to thousands of soldiers around the globe.

Ideum was very proud to work with the National World War II Museum in New Orleans to develop a new exhibit that lets visitors explore the depth and impact of Hope’s contribution to military morale in WWII. On the Road with Bob Hope focuses on Hope’s 1943 tour of Europe and Africa and 1944 tour of the South Pacific. The exhibit is part of a larger exhibition, So Ready for Laughter, which opened at the Museum in May.

Visitors start their journeys by selecting a tour with a custom tangible object containing a model of a WWII-era C-47 transport plane. (Docents can also set the experience to run in a non-tangible touch mode.) They then zoom from a global to a regional view and select individual dates and locations to investigate. At each location, users can see images and videos of historical performances and view high-resolution photographs of original itineraries, letters, and other artifacts. The exhibit runs on an Ideum 49” Presenter touch table with a custom gray powdercoat finish.

Hope and his “Gypsies” sometimes gave numerous shows in a single day, and often performed dangerously close to the fighting—but they were undeterred by air raids, plane crashes, or fatigue. They often remarked on how much it meant to them to provide smiles and solace to allied fighting men and women. Hope’s support of our military didn’t end with World War II; he and a changing cast of comedic and musical comrades toured military bases during the Korean and Vietnam Wars and continued their journeys to support soldiers in conflicts in the Middle East into the 1990s.

In 1997, an Act of Congress named Hope an Honorary Veteran. He remarked that “I’ve been given many awards in my lifetime, but to be numbered among the men and women I admire most is the greatest honor I have ever received.”

So Ready for Laughter will be open to the public at the World War II Museum until February 2019. The On the Road touch table exhibit will remain part of the Museum’s permanent collection.

Ideum touch table with durable, elegant custom gray finish.

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ZZ Top announces October 2024 date at Bob Hope Theatre in Stockton

STOCKTON – Legendary rock band ZZ Top has announced an upcoming tour stop in Stockton.

Billy Gibbons and Frank Beard's venerable band has dozens of dates all around the world scheduled in 2024 for their "The Elevation" tour.

On Tuesday, ZZ Top revealed that they will be coming to the Bob Hope Theatre in Stockton on Oct. 27 . 

The Stockton stop is one of several on tap for ZZ Top in California. Along with a Sept. 19 date in Concord, ZZ Top will be swinging by Rancho Mirage, Thousand Oaks, Anaheim, and San Diego along with Stockton in October.

Stockton's Bob Hope Theatre is a venue listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A mix of concerts, comedy shows and other events are on the theatre's schedule in 2024.

Gibbons and Beard have continued to tour as ZZ Top after the death of founding member Dusty Hill in 2021. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004. 

ZZ Top announces October 2024 date at Bob Hope Theatre in Stockton

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COMMENTS

  1. Bob Hope and American Variety

    Bob Hope never stopped being a vaudevillian. Throughout his 1969 U.S.O. tour he carried on stage a symbol of his life-long love for golf—a golf club—using it as a vaudeville song-and-dance man would use a cane. This is the wood used by Bob Hope on the 1969 World Tour.

  2. Bob Hope's tour group: Abbr Crossword Clue

    Here is the answer for the crossword clue Bob Hope's tour group: Abbr last seen in Wall Street Journal puzzle. We have found 40 possible answers for this clue in our database. Among them, one solution stands out with a 95% match which has a length of 3 letters. We think the likely answer to this clue is USO. advertisement.

  3. Bob Hope USO Shows: The One-Man Morale Machine

    This story appears in the Spring 2016 issue of On Patrol, the magazine of the USO. For nearly 50 years, the legendary comedian Bob Hope traveled the world, visiting remote USO outposts to put on shows. It was a collaboration that forever linked the names "Bob Hope" and "the USO," giving both a new visibility, respect and recognition.

  4. Hope for America: Performers, Politics and Pop Culture

    Bob Hope took his annual USO Christmas tour to Vietnam for nine consecutive years from 1964 to 1972. "The conditions are unbelievable," Hope said in 1966, "but the emotional thrills you get out of doing those shows . . . nothing else you do gets to you that way." In this eloquent letter, the mother of one of the soldiers Hope ...

  5. In the Chaos of the Vietnam War, There Was One Thing You ...

    The Bob Hope Christmas tours continued to go to Vietnam until 1972. On the last tour, the group spent less time in Vietnam because of the drastic decrease in the number of American troops by then. That year Hope greeted the Marines at Da Nang with, "Wonderful to be working for you leftovers!"

  6. Bob Hope's USO

    By Legacy Staff May 26, 2013. 1. Bob Hope headlined 57 USO tours, bringing laughter to the lives of U.S. military men and women. Comedian Bob Hope (1903 - 2003) was one of the best known, most ...

  7. For 40 Years, Bob Hope USO Christmas Shows Brightened the Holidays for

    Bob Hope entertained Americans for decades, but his most impactful shows were for soldiers deployed overseas during the holidays. A New Look at Bob Hope: 11 Rare Photos from the USO Archives. Get to know the legendary Bob Hope and his 50 years of work with the USO entertaining troops through these rare 11 photos from the USO archives.

  8. Bob Hope's tours available on video

    Dating back to 1941, Bob Hope's holiday tours to entertain U.S. troops abroad are legendary. No entertainer has traveled so far or so often to entertain so many. For the record, an Act of Congress signed by President Clinton a year ago made Bob Hope an honorary veteran, the first in the history of the United States. Most of these USO tours aired as television specials, and nine of them ...

  9. Does Bob Hope hold the record for headlining the most USO tours?

    Apples and Oranges, Bob Hope's USO tours Like his WWII south pacific tour in summer of 1944, included more than 150 shows. I'm sure even Gary Sinise would object with equating 1 show at Virginia beach in peace time with the tours which Hope made traversing 30,000 miles island hopping around the South Pacific in War time.

  10. USO Camp Shows, D-Day and Entertaining Troops on the European Front

    Big names like Bob Hope, ... [USO tour] was to North Africa and Italy, where she became the first entertainer to reach rescued soldiers at Anzio. During her second tour [after D-Day], lasting 11 months, she entertained near the front in France and Germany." ... Among the group of performers were Kitty Barrett and Don Rice, two married comedians.

  11. Bob Hope USO Tour

    This was one many USO tours that Bob Hope performed between 1941 and 1991. Each year he would assemble a group of entertainers and visit the troops who were serving overseas during the holidays. Performances would be filmed and excerpts entertained the folks at home, initially in a movie house or on radio, and later on television.

  12. Bob Hope's tour group: Abbr. crossword clue

    Below you may find the answer for: Bob Hope's tour group: Abbr. crossword clue.This clue was last seen on Wall Street Journal Crossword September 18 2020 Answers In case the clue doesn't fit or there's something wrong please let us know and we will get back to you. If you are looking for older Wall Street Journal Crossword Puzzle Answers then we highly recommend you to visit our archive ...

  13. Bob Hope's tour group: Abbr.

    Clue: Bob Hope's tour group: Abbr. Bob Hope's tour group: Abbr. is a crossword puzzle clue that we have spotted 1 time. There are related clues (shown below). Referring crossword puzzle answers. USO (Used today) Likely related crossword puzzle clues. Sort A-Z. GI entertainers; Kind of show; GI hangout; GI show sponsor ...

  14. WWII Museum Visitors Experience Bob Hope's Wartime USO Tours

    On the Road with Bob Hope focuses on Hope's 1943 tour of Europe and Africa and 1944 tour of the South Pacific. The exhibit is part of a larger exhibition, So Ready for Laughter, which opened at the Museum in May. Visitors start their journeys by selecting a tour with a custom tangible object containing a model of a WWII-era C-47 transport plane.

  15. Bob Hope speaking with a group during USO tour to Korea

    Bob Hope talks with troops or a reporter during an October 1950 USO tour in Korea. Hope had convince General Douglas MacArthur to authorize the tour even through UN forces had retaken the peninsula only weeks earlier. complete; Partner ... (1950-10) Bob Hope speaking with a group during USO tour to Korea.

  16. Bob Hope speaking with a group during USO tour to Korea

    Description. Although Williams did not take this photo, it was a part of his collection. Bob Hope talks with troops or a reporter during an October 1950 USO tour in Korea. Hope had convince General Douglas MacArthur to authorize the tour even through UN forces had retaken the peninsula only weeks earlier. complete;

  17. Bob Hope · United Service Organizations

    Dancer. Comedian. USO icon. Bob Hope was many things, but to the USO and to the service members of the United States, he was the " one-man-morale machine .". Bob Hope dedicated much of his nearly 80-year career to entertaining American troops, both at home and abroad. Undeterred by enemy fire or rough seas, Hope went straight to the front ...

  18. ZZ Top announces October 2024 date at Bob Hope Theatre in Stockton

    Stockton's Bob Hope Theatre is a venue listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A mix of concerts, comedy shows and other events are on the theatre's schedule in 2024. Gibbons and Beard ...

  19. Visit Elektrostal: 2024 Travel Guide for Elektrostal, Moscow ...

    Cities near Elektrostal. Places of interest. Pavlovskiy Posad Noginsk. Travel guide resource for your visit to Elektrostal. Discover the best of Elektrostal so you can plan your trip right.

  20. Elektrostal

    In 1938, it was granted town status. [citation needed]Administrative and municipal status. Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is incorporated as Elektrostal City Under Oblast Jurisdiction—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts. As a municipal division, Elektrostal City Under Oblast Jurisdiction is incorporated as Elektrostal Urban Okrug.

  21. Elektrostal Map

    Elektrostal is a city in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located 58 kilometers east of Moscow. Elektrostal has about 158,000 residents. Mapcarta, the open map.

  22. USO Shows In Prose: Entertainment During World War II

    Bob Hope performs for service men at Munda Airstrip in the Solomon Islands in October 1944. Nearly 75 years after the USO's creation, Hope is still legendary, thanks to the USO shows he started performing during World War II at a time when international phone calls home were impossible and Internet access wasn't even a concept.

  23. Elektrostal, Moscow Oblast, Russia

    Elektrostal Geography. Geographic Information regarding City of Elektrostal. Elektrostal Geographical coordinates. Latitude: 55.8, Longitude: 38.45. 55° 48′ 0″ North, 38° 27′ 0″ East. Elektrostal Area. 4,951 hectares. 49.51 km² (19.12 sq mi) Elektrostal Altitude.

  24. How Bob Hope Impacted Two Troops (Without Actually Seeing Them)

    Here are two stories sent to us by former service members who fought and were touched by Hope in unique ways without actually seeing him. Donald Scott. I had been in country less than a month when Bob Hope and his crew visited Cam Ranh Bay Air Base, Vietnam, in December 1966. They did a show at South Beach for the Army and Navy and one at the ...