Bob Hope Special August 12, 1944 'Somewhere In The South Pacific'
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- Опубліковано 17 чер 2012
- Bob Hope and his USO troupe 'Somewhere In The South Pacific'
August 12th 1944.
Starring: Bob Hope, Jerry Colonna, Frances Langford, Patty Thomas and Tony Romano. - Розваги
My dad saw Hope on Noemfoor Island NW New Guinea about this time with 503d para inf reg. Had a couple up close photos especially the ladies. A gun went off by accident and Bob always swore it was a sniper trying to get him. Years later a pal of Dad's was at a booksigning for Hope in Glendale Cal. When he asked "Remember Noemfoor?" Bob brought him to the front of the line and they reminisced like old friends. This show was probably in the Solomon Islands- looks like Marines. Army and Navy were both trying to get at Rabaul on New Britain and give Australia some breathing room.
THANKS. FOR THE MEMORIES. BOB HOPE. WE THANK YOU SO MUCH. YOUR HOME NOW IN HEAVEN.
Probably recorded on Banika, Russel Islands. Dad was there and heard him. Thanks Bob.
If old Bob don't boost morale nobody ever did!
AMEN! What a Saint.
back when this place was worth fighting for...
those days are gone forever and we will bury these good times and good people in history. the only ones who will remember them and the reality of these times are those still able to think for themselves, and there arnt too many of us left.
I Will always have HOPE!
What a treasure. Thank you!!
Eugene Sledge brought me here. Amazing piece of history.
A time when we had real HOPE
I read about this performance in Eugene Sledge’s “With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa”. It must have been quite the scene and it meant the world to those guys
Thanks Bob. Attended the 1966 Cu Chi show- loved it.
God Bless you and thank you! Rest In Peace loyal son.
LOVE ALL THE BOB HOPE USO SHOWS.....WATCHED EVERY TIME HIS SHOW WAS ON....TELEVISION....
Ah nuts! I was hoping for this week's installment of "The Art of Living"!
Bob Hope talks about air transportation with the U.S.O. in WWII. (Excerpt from this VIDEO)
“We’ve had a very fast flying trip up to now, flew all the way down here from San Francisco. Didn’t scare me a bit. I read a novel coming down - going back, I’m going to read the second page! …When we got about half-way down, the pilot turned around and said ‘Are you a little nervous?’ I said, ‘Yeah, it’s only my third time up.’ He said, ‘Beats me, it’s my first.’ I said, ‘It’s a little rough out there, don’t you think we ought to have parachutes?’ He said, ‘Don’t be silly. The ones with parachutes jumped an hour ago!’ And talk about weather over that Pacific, it was so rough the automatic pilot bailed out! I’ve never seen anything like it. Finally, the crew chief tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘In case of an accident, the pilot is always the last one to leave the plane. I said, ‘Why tell me that?’ He said, ‘I don’t want to make you nervous, but there he is, down there!’ “
• Bob Hope monologue, U.S.O. Tour, Naval Hospital,
‘Somewhere in the South Pacific’. NBC radio broadcast on W.E.A.F., New York City, August 12, 1944.
Oh my gosh, thank you so much for posting this. I found some photos a few days ago that Dad had taken at one of these shows. I googled Bob & the tour and then I watched this knowing I was seeing and hearing what my Daddy saw 70 years ago. He came back from the war and told 'funny' stories about the war every day for the rest of his life - I didn't realize until much later that he relived the horrors every day. These people brought joy and a break from a horrible time in these boys' lives.
My grandpa was in the navy and passed in 2014, in 2015 I transcribed the small journal he kept about his wartime experiences. He saw Bob Hope on August 25, 1944 in Indonesia, near Biak Island. This seems the closest approximation to what he might have saw. One of the things he always brought up about the war was getting to see Bob Hope in person.
On most NBC affiliates (including Washington, D.C.) in August 1944, "THE ART OF LIVING" aired on Saturday nights at 11:15pm(et); in New York [WEAF] and other major cities, a quarter-hour newscast with John W. Vandercook was heard. On this particular evening, as a staff announcer noted, the program was pre-empted for this special broadcast....
Listened to island of the damned by Burgin and he mentioned this. It’s crazy. The men you hear laughing went through hell. Bob knew most of the troops won’t be around later either.
these entertainers , and all the others who traveled and endured personal hardships, loved their fans, loved their country, understood what fighting for freedom and liberty really meant. unlike today's quest to procure more middle eastern oil wars. this war was just and most necessary . anyone old enough to have had a hand in it... I thank you for your service, domestic or foreign .
Thanks SO MUCH FOR POSTING THIS !
Thanks for posting
When America was truly united. A beautiful memory that will always be remembered by those WW2 veterans who served and their loved ones.
According to the half dozen books I have read about members of the 1st and 5th marines division memoirs from Guadalcanal Peleliu and Okinawa this show should have been a few months after the battle Peleliu on pavuvu right befor Okinawa Bob herd there was alot of marines who went threw some of the toughest fighting in the pacific and made a unschedule trip to see the marines staged there
From WWII to the Persian Gulf - the Man brought America to our boys around the world (along with some girls)
Bob Hope also did the same for we Australians. He was the best!
Exactly 15 years to the day before I was born to a wwii veteran and his wife.
Love 💕 you
I have an autographed baseball from this event my grandfather caught
The Babe Ruth of show business.
A DAY BEFORE MY BIRTHDAY.
Thanks for posting this! Tony Romano, Eddie Lang and Bing Crosby combined. What's your source recording? I doubt NBC would do this for prime time, considering Sarnoff reportedly frowned on pre-recording on disc as technically degrading. Fading was no surprise. Aggressive scratch filtering along the way.
The guy gave up so much due to love of country and the troops
Bob Hope, the only place he could get a laugh, with desperate soldiers holding on to the last thread of Americana. Just kidding, he was the best representative of American character and effort this side of the Atlantic.
Think again, jerk..read what john steinbeck wrote abot hope and his sidekick jerry colonna after he went on tour with him, they were the only two entertainers who would go into the burn units and the amputee wards, the worst of the wounded who needed laughter the most...he wrote that their girl singer , frances langford, passed out after seeing some of the boys so from then on only hope and colonna would tour those wards....steinbeck said god will bless those two for making the worst of the wounded feel that they werent forgotten...
Ok
💙😁
Yea Anderson, Your Father does
My father is in the audience scene at 12:55 in the video. Does anyone know the location of that show?
It may have been Benika.. my dad saw a show there. Was your dad in the Marines?
I think I saw my Pops at 43 seconds! How strange! The show my Dad saw was at Owi Island. A page on it is here: www.kensmen.com/hopetour.html
+Larry Anderson I believe it is on Pavuvu. This was a month before the 1st Marine Division invaded Peleliu.
+Larry Anderson . I think it may be Benica there was a hospital there, and my father told me of a Bob Hope show
I believe it was Pavuvu. I also believe the audience was Marines wounded at Cape Gloucester, as well as Marines training to invade Peleliu about a month later.
bougainville
Who is the guitar player?
Tony Romano was the "one-man-band" for the early four-member Bob Hope U.S.O. troupe (Bob with singer Frances Langford, Jerry Cologna and guitarist Tony Romano) that toured and performed for servicemen in World War II.
tony romano had a couple jazz albums out with jazz violinist joe venuti in the 70s.....