them. and over the course of white christmas, we come to see that the film is nostalgia for world war ii itself. general waverly? sir. then all of the contrivances of the film evaporate in favor of what the essential impulse is to honor their commander, who s fallen on post-war hard times. the big finale is that the general walks in to what he thinks is going to be the christmas show only to be greeted with all of his former soldiers who have travelled to vermont to be there for him. and the miracle of people conspiring to help someone else creates snow, which is the realization of your dream of a white christmas. it s pretty good. it s why we like the movies. ten years earlier, bing crosby was on a uso tour, and he
realization of your dream of a white christmas. it s pretty good. it s why we like the movies. ten years earlier, bing crosby puts on a uso tour and he sang white christmas to those troops in real time during the war with his buddy bob hope. bob hope would travel to sites where american men were fighting in wars. the second world war, the korean war, vietnam war, and he d entertain them. look at this, look at this. bob would have these uso christmas shows every year, and then they d be made into specials that we d watch. the bob hope christmas special, starring the gold diggers, raquel welch. i grew up in a family we were very much opposed to the vietnam war. but, you know, when bob hope had a special, you watched it. he d bring beautiful women, but he would tell jokes, mostly. i love christmas in vietnam. it s so nice to see a tree decorated instead of occupied.
arthur s life. while i was in vietnam i realized that if i went home as i was scheduled that arthur would be subject to going to vietnam. because of families in the second world war losing all surviving sons the military came out with a rule that there would never be brothers in combat at the same time. so did the paperwork and i got a second tour. soon after that arthur was coming over to vietnam on a uso tour with the davis cup team.
soon after that arthur was coming over to vietnam on a uso tour with the davis cup team. they were at camp and they got live fire. they were getting shot at. we walked into the hospital and it was a really, really horrific scene. wounded soldiers. missing arms and legs. and arthur just was so taken back that he literally ran outside of the hospital. he said, i was scared to the point of defecation. that sort of brought it home. and it caused me to realize that i had done the right thing at the right time for the right reason.
CBS News Dear Bob : Bob Hope s correspondence with GIs at war
In the 1940s, Bob Hope was already one of America s brightest stars. But to Linda Hope, he was just Dad. So, what was it like to have Bob Hope as a dad? Well, pretty spectacular, I have to say, she said. It was never dull! But he was always on the go. I mean, that s what I remember most of all.
Indeed he was. At the time, Hope had a hit Road movie series with his old pal Bing Crosby, a top-rated radio program, and a packed personal appearance schedule.