29. Where did Bob Hope and his USO troupe perform their first "combat zone" show?
From Quiz Bob Hope and the USO
Answer:
North Africa
In the Summer of 1943, "Hope's Gypsies" as Hope referred to his troupe, performed their first "combat zone" shows in North Africa, Italy, and Sicily.
On that tour, they entertained their largest audience, 19,000 troops, in Palermo, Italy. They also felt the real effects of the war when they narrowly escaped with their lives as 100 Nazi Junkers JU-88's medium bomber aircraft, with a fighter escort, dive bombed the docks, destroying the area around the hotel where the troupe was staying.
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In the Summer of 1944, the troupe traveled 30,000 miles in the South Pacific Theater, performing shows in exotic sounding locations like Eniwetok, Tarawa, Kwajalein, Saipan, and Majuro. Hope referred to it as "Loew's Malaria Circuit" or as "The Pineapple Circuit". It was learned at one point, that a Japanese soldier had been killed a short distance from the stage on which they were performing.
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When Hope appeared in an episode of the top rated television show, "I Love Lucy" (1951), which was at the time the most viewed program in America, Hope said upon receiving his script for the episode, "What? A script? I don't need one of these". To the delight of cast, crew, and live studio audience, Hope went on to "ad-lib" the entire episode, to the complete approval of the shows executive producer, Desi Arnaz.