NEW ORLEANS – He’s the man born to give hope.
It’s his name, after all.
He’s Bob Hope.
And WGNO News with a Twist features guy Wild Bill Wood says a tribute to Bob Hope will make you laugh, cry and really think. It’s the tribute at The National WWII Museum in New Orleans.
It’s called “So Ready for Laughter: The Legacy of Bob Hope.”
The curator of the original exhibit is Kim Guise.
Guise has spent days, weeks, months, what seems like a lifetime sorting through photos and memorabilia about Bob Hope and his life and love for American troops.
From WWII through the Gulf War, Bob Hope would travel around the world with his famous friends entertaining the troops.
Sometimes the stages around the planet were in dangerous places.
But Bob Hope was the guy who knew how to make them laugh and keep them laughing even when the sound of war was not far away.
The laughs gave them hope.
You learn things about Bob Hope you maybe never knew.
Bob Hope was an immigrant.
He came to the United States with his family back in the early 1920s.
His first job was in journalism.
Bob Hope was a newsboy.
Then he had a career as a butcher’s assistant. From life in the meat department, he moved to selling shoes.
For a time, he was actually an athlete. Bob Hope was an amateur boxer.
But eventually his talent took him to the stage where he belonged. Hollywood.
Bob Hope became a movie star and a TV celebrity and the man who gave hope to the troops he really loved.
Bob Hope gave them, hope.
You can see the new Bob Hope exhibit at the National WWII Museum downtown. Learn more here.