Bob Hope and the USO Trivia Quiz

Answer: March Field, California

Hope's first performance to military personnel, sponsored by the United Services Organization (USO), was on May 6, 1941, seven months and one day before the United States Naval Operations in the Pacific were attacked at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. March Field is located near the city of Riverside is California. March Field, later referred to as March Air Force Base is one of the oldest airfields, operated by the United States military since 1918.

Following their first show, Hope and his troupe continued to perform at other military installations in California, including the San Diego Naval Station, Camp Roberts Marine Facility, just North of Paso Robles, and Camp Callan in La Jolla. Shows presented by Hope for military personnel consisted of Hope's comedy monologue, specialty acts, appearances by celebrities (almost always including pretty starlets), dancer, singers, and comedy routines. Celebrity performers on the first tours included comedian Jerry Colonna, singer Frances Landford, and musician Tony Romano.
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Bob Hope was born Leslie Townes Hope on May 29, 1903, in Eltham, London, England. The family relocated to the United States in 1908, passing through Ellis Island (primary entry point for immigrants migrating to the United States) on March 30, 1908, and and resided in Cleveland, Ohio. Bob Hope became an American citizen in 1920.

Answer: 4

Bob Hope has toured and entertained American military service members in every conflict, from World War II to the Persian Gulf War. Specific wars during Hope's 50 years of visiting and entertaining troops, both stationed at home and abroad, were World War II (1939-1945), The Korean War (1950-1953), The Vietnam War (1959-1975), and the Persian Gulf War (1990-1991). Hope took his shows to military bases, field hospitals, the jungles, and aboard aircraft carriers.
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During his youth, Bob Hope briefly, but unsuccessfully, boxed professionally, using the name "Packy East". He once made it to the semifinals for the Ohio Novice Boxing Championships.

Answer: Army fatigues

Hope usually opened the show by entering the stage to his theme music, and delivering one of his comedic monologues. Hope was usually attired in Army fatigues, wearing a baseball cap, often reflecting the geographic location of the show, and always carried his trademark golf club.
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Hope honed his comedic talents and timing performing in live variety shows on the vaudeville circuit. Hope's career would span performing on the Broadway Theater stage, films, radio and television broadcasting, and of course, his participation with the USO.

Answer: 60

Bob Hope headlined 60 USO entertainment tours over a 50 year span. He often said that his motivation for entertaining the troops came as a result of his observations of the sacrifices that members of the armed forces made on behalf of the people of the United States, something that truly moved him. Hope and his cast from his radio program, "The Pepsodent Show", a program sponsored by the Pepsodent Toothpaste Company, traveled almost weekly to a different military training site, to perform their show for the troops.
Of the 144 programs broadcast during World War II, all but nine of them originated from one of the military installations, the remaining shows originating in the NBC Radio Studios.
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While performing on stage in 1925, Hope was seen by silent film comedian, Fatty Arbuckle, who was impressed by the young comic, and arranged steady work for Hope, working with "Hurley's Jolly Follies".

Answer: True

In 1997, Congressman Silvestre Reyes (D-El Paso, Texas), a founding member and co-chair of the Congressional USO Caucus, wrote and submitted a a resolution to Congress to confer the title of "Honorary Veteran" to Bob Hope for his missions in entertaining military personnel, at home and abroad, for over five decades. At a ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda, by act of Congress, Bob Hope was designated as Honorary Veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces, the very first person to be so honored. At the age of 94, and in frail health, Hope attended the the ceremony, and said after accepting the award, "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".
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Hope's first TV appearance came in 1932. His career in television broadcasting spanned 64 years, which included his long association with NBC.

Answer: Lyndon B. Johnson

On the morning on January 20, 1969, on his last day in the office of President of the United States, Lyndon B. Johnson conferred the "Presidential Medal of Freedom" on 20 individuals, including Bob Hope. The citation for Hope's award noted, "With his gift of joy to all American people, he has written his name large in the history of our times".
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The Presidential Medal of Freedom was established by executive order 11085 by President Harry S. Truman in 1945, and is the highest civilian honor conferred by the President for service. The decoration was designed to recognize individuals who have made "an exceptionally meritorious contribution to the security or national interest of the United States, world peace, culture, or other significant public or private endeavors".


Reference source: Medal of Freedom Recipients
http://www.medaloffreedom.com/1969Recipients.htm

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.

Answer: 1948

In December of 1948, Bob Hope, along with his troupe of entertainers, traveled to Berlin, Germany, to entertain members of the armed forces who were participating in the "Berlin Airlift". This was Bob Hope's first Christmas tour entertaining troops in a remote location, and the beginning of a tradition that lasted until 1990. Nine of Hope's Christmas Tours included entertaining troops in Vietnam, from 1964 until 1972.
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Celebrity guest performers on many if the Vietnam era Christmas shows included
actress and dancers, Joey Heatherton, and Ann-Margaret, singer Jack Jones, comedienne Phyllis Diller, the sexy female dance group, The Golddiggers, with the music of Les Brown and his Band of Renown.

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An avid golfer since the 1930s, Hope eventually played to a four handicap.
In 1960, the "Bob Hope Classic" golf tournament was founded. In 1995, the tournament made history when Hope teed up for the opening round in a foursome that included Presidents Gerald R. Ford, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton, the first and only time three presidents participated in a golf foursome.
During his career, Hope entertained 11 U.S. Presidents.

Answer: Alaska and the Aleutians

The first USO tour took Hope and his troupe to the (then) U.S. Territory of Alaska, and to the Aleutian Islands. Hope commented that the troops were "The loneliest guys in the world. Also the coldest".
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After 2000, Hope's health began to steadily decline, resulting in him being hospitalized on several occasions for gastrointestinal bleeding. On the morning of July 27, 2003, Hope passed away in his home in Toluca Lake, California, a few miles Northeast of Hollywood. A true comic showman to the very end, Hope, while on his deathbed, was asked by his daughters where he wanted to be buried? Hope, the consummate king of the one liners replied, "surprise me". At the time of his death, Bob Hope was 100 years of age.

Bob Hope has four stars on the famed "Hollywood Walk of Fame", one star honoring him for each of his major accomplishments in entertainment (Radio, Motion Pictures, Live Theatrical/Live Performance, and Television).

Answer: Where's there's death, There's Hope

Performing for 50 years for American armed services troops in so many theaters of the war, it was often stated (in Bob Hope style). "Where's there's death, there's Hope" (Bob Hope). The phrase was taken from the Bible passage, Mark:21-43, which states the same message, under different circumstances.
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Reference material for this quiz included:
Bob Hope -- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Hope-114k
Bob Hope and American Variety-On The Road: USO Shows -- www.loc.gov/exhibits/BobHope/USO.html
Bob Hope and the Road to GI Joe -- www.americainwwii.com/stories/bobhope.html
USO Remembers Bob Hope -- www.USO.org/whoweare/famousfaces/BobHope
Where The 101st Fights, There Is Hope -- www.b2501aieborne.com/bobhope.html
Where's There's Death, There's Hope -- www.bible.org/page.php?page.id=593