Hope cheered military

In the sprint of 1941, when Bob Hope was invited to perform his radio show for airmen at March Field in Riverside, Calif., he was reluctant. He had never done the show outside an NBC studio, and he wasn’t sure how the GIs would react to his humor.

When the comedian was hit by wave after wave of laughter and applause, he realized he had found a new audience. Thus began a 50-year journey that would take him from Iceland to South Africa, from Vietnam to the Persian Gulf.

Hope was a master at tailoring his shows to the audience. He took along such screen sirens as Lana Turner, Jane Russell, Jayne Mansfield and Anita Ekberg as whistle bait. He had writers interview troops for the latest gossip about the food, the officers, the base — and then used the tidbits for his monologue.

In 1948, Air Secretary Stuart Symington asked Hope if he would entertain weary airmen flying the around-the-clock Berlin Air Lift. Hope flew to Berlin with a troupe that included Doris Day, Irving Berlin, then-Vice President Alben Barkley, Gen. Jimmy Doolittle, and his wife, singer Dolores Hope, who was tired of staying at home with the children at Christmas.

Bob Hope and his wife Dolores are shown attending the premiere of Hope's movie The

Hope’s annual holiday show on NBC, which featured highlights of his military tour each season, became a highly rated tradition that lasted 22 years.

Hope has played before an estimated 10 million servicemen and women at 700 bases and hospitals. The road came to an end in 1990 when the 86-year-old Hope took Ann Jillian, Marie Osmond, the Pointer Sisters, Johnny Bench and Dolores Hope to Saudi Arabia to entertain the troops of Operation Desert Storm.

But even after Hope became too frail for road work, he had the soldiers come to him. Learning that many Gulf War troops were stationed at Twenty-nine Palms in the California desert, the Hopes invited them to their nearby Palm Springs home when the war was over for a Yellow Ribbon Party on Easter Sunday 1991.

May 29, 1903 Leslie Towns Hope born in Eltham, England.

1907 Family emigrates to the United States, settling in Cleveland.

1920s Becomes rising vaudeville star, at first as part of a dancing act.

1927 New York stage debut in “Sidewalks of New York.”

1932 Makes radio debut on “Capitol Family Hour.”

1932-36 Appears in several important Broadway productions, including “Roberta,” the 1935 “Ziegfeld Follies” and “Red, Hot and Blue.”

1934 Marries singer Dolores Reade. They adopted four children: Linda, Anthony, William Kelly and Honora.

1934 First radio show premieres, beginning a record 62-year affiliation with NBC.

1938 Feature film debut in “The Big Broadcast of 1938,” in which he and Shirley Ross sing “Thanks for the Memory.”

Feb. 23, 1939 First Oscar appearance, presenting the awards for best short films.

Feb. 29, 1940 First appearance as Academy Awards master of ceremonies. In all, he served as an emcee or co-host 20 times between 1940 and 1978.

1940 Co-stars with Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour in first of the “Road” pictures, “The Road to Singapore.”

May 6, 1941 Plays first camp show for servicemen at March Field in California.

1948 First Christmas tour for servicemen taking part in Berlin airlift.

1950 Makes first television specials, including first Christmas special.

March 19, 1953 Serves as co-host for first televised Oscar ceremony.

1969 Receives Medal of Freedom from President Lyndon B. Johnson.

March 29, 1978 Host of Oscar ceremony for the last time.

December 1990 Goes to Persian Gulf to entertain troops on the eve of the Gulf War; his last Christmas show for troops overseas. He joked: “If anybody tells you I was in the Civil War, I’m denying it.”

May 1993 90th birthday celebrated with a TV special featuring President Clinton and former presidents Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan and Bush.

November 1996 NBC airs his last special, “Laughing with the Presidents.”

March 1997 U.S. Navy christens the USNS Bob Hope, a 950-foot, 33,000-ton support ship.

May 2000 Library of Congress opens the Bob Hope Gallery of American Entertainment.

Source: The Associated Press