Bob Hope

This video takes us back to March Field in early 1941, when Bob Hope and Bing Crosby appeared in what was probably the first organized USO show for our Armed Forces — only months before the beginning of World War II.

In 1996, the U.S. Congress honored Bob Hope by declaring him the “first and only honorary veteran of the U.S. armed forces.” Bob Hope appeared in, or hosted, 199 known USO shows and performed uncounted individual appearances for each.

For a man who once played third billing to Siamese twins and trained seals, Bob Hope became the most recognized talent in the world — and in all of show business, no individual traveled so far, so often, to entertain so many.

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WWII Radio Broadcasts

Bob Hope began most of his radio broadcasts with the words, “This is Bob [fill in remote location] Hope.” During World War II he and his troupe traveled nearly every week to perform The Pepsodent Show at a military training site. Of 144 wartime episodes, only nine originated from NBC’s studios.

In 1944 Bob Hope wrote I Never Left Home about his work entertaining the armed forces. Over 1.5 million copies were sold.

First Overseas Visit

Nine months after the U.S. entered WWII, Bob Hope made his first overseas trip to entertain the troops in Alaska — then a U.S. territory requiring a special permit to visit.

South Pacific Tour 1944

In the summer of 1944 Bob Hope hopped from island to island in the South Pacific. He logged over 30,000 miles and gave more than 150 performances, accompanied by guitarist Tony Romano, singer Frances Langford, dancer Patty Thomas, and gag-writer Barney Dean.

Vietnam & the Christmas Tours

Nine of Bob Hope’s Christmas tours included Vietnam, from 1964 until 1972. His 1969 “Around the World with the U.S.O.” tour was the most ambitious of his career, opening with a performance for President Nixon at the White House.

Throughout his career Hope carried a golf club on stage — a vaudevillian’s cane, a symbol of his lifelong love for the sport.