Whether for Troops or Friends, Hopes Come Through

Politics sometimes aside, I love Bob Hope.

When I was a youngster watching his movies, I marveled at his quick wit. He was the best emcee the Academy Awards show ever had. And as I got older and watched him spend his Christmases overseas with American troops, I admired his commitment, and his sacrifice.

Later on, I became one of those overseas troopers. The war in Vietnam was dying down in 1971, but our Army battalion in Da Nang faced other trouble: tremendous racial tension. Black soldiers were embroiled in constant war with the military brass, leaving all of us braced for violence at any moment. Then, just before Christmas, Bob Hope came.

Since you couldn’t shut down a battalion for everyone to attend his show, we had to draw numbers at random to see who got to go. I didn’t get a lucky number, but it really didn’t matter. What was important: I remember the amazing change in our camp. The two weeks prior to the show were the most tension-free of my entire year in Vietnam. Bob Hope had brought us a reminder of peace. For those two weeks, we were united as we’d never been before.

I got my orders to go home the day before his show, but I learned from friends there later that Bob Hope’s spirited message of love and harmony kept tensions low at my old battalion for quite a while.

I always wanted to tell Bob Hope thanks for that.

I’ve never had the chance, of course. But I did tell that story to Dolores Hope, his wife of 63 years, in an interview a few days ago. She had been along on that Christmas tour of Vietnam military bases.

“Our last tour in Vietnam was in 1972,” she said, “and it’s so sad now, because we really thought that the war was over, and that our side had won.” She invited me to relate my own Vietnam Bob Hope story to her husband when they come to Orange County this weekend.

Dolores and Bob Hope on Sunday will attend the formal dedication of the Pat Nixon Amphitheatre at the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace in Yorba Linda. The Hopes, longtime friends of the Nixons, paid the amphitheater’s construction costs.

The Hopes attended the Nixon library’s grand opening in 1990, and were also present there for the funerals of both Pat Nixon and Richard Nixon. Other special guests on Sunday will include Julie Nixon Eisenhower and her husband, David Eisenhower.

“They are a dear, dear couple,” Dolores Hope said of the Nixons’ younger daughter and her husband.

Both Hopes and both Eisenhowers will be around after the ceremonies to autograph their books or, in Dolores’ case, her new CD.

Moonstruck: Dolores Hope was performing in a New York nightclub in 1933 when she met her future husband. She was singing “It’s Only a Paper Moon” when Bob Hope walked in with a friend at the Vogue Club on 57th Street. Last week, for his 94th birthday bash at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, Dolores Hope sang that same song to him.

She has sung with Bob Hope’s touring show often over the years. Now Dolores Hope, who recently turned 88, has started a new phase of her singing career. She recently did two weeks of shows with Rosemary Clooney in New York and has a new album, “That’s Love” (which you can get through [800] BOB-HOPE.)

“It’s nice to know that dreams can come true at any age,” Dolores Hope told me, referring to her newly revived career.

And now it’s Bob’s turn to be the supporting spouse. Dolores Hope laughed while saying that recently one of their children called their Toluca Lake home and asked Bob what he was doing. “Waiting up for your mother,” he replied.

Spousal Boost: Here’s news from another couple supportive of each other . . . The Rev. Robert H. Schuller of Garden Grove’s Crystal Cathedral said on CNN’s Larry King show Saturday that he was in a down mood two years ago when his wife, Arvella, told him his problem: “I had no more goals; she told me I needed a new goal.”

The result of that pep talk from his wife: his latest book, “If It’s Going to Be, It’s Up to Me.”

King appeared a little uncomfortable talking with the TV minister about heaven and sin. But he must have liked Schuller’s answers: He had him back Monday to talk about the Oklahoma City bombing following the Timothy McVeigh guilty verdicts.

By the way, the Crystal Cathedral has an interesting guest for Schuller’s “Hour of Power” show Sunday: former Los Angeles Dodger slugger Kirk Gibson. (The show runs on TV--Channel 9, 10 a.m.--a week later.) Hard to believe it was 1988 when Gibson, barely able to walk, hit that famous pinch-hit World Series home run for the Dodgers against the Oakland A’s.

Getting Involved: Those figures for Sunday’s 11th annual AIDS Walk in Irvine--13,000 walkers and $700,000-plus raised--were both records, says Sally Jenkins of the AIDS Services Foundation of Orange County.

I found quite moving a recent piece in the foundation’s newsletter written by Mark Fliegler, owner of Paradise Printing of Los Flores, on why he helps out in the AIDS Walk. For three years, Fliegler has donated his time as well as provided brochures, posters and counter displays. He even designs the logo for T-shirts sold for the cause.

A few years ago, Fliegler wrote, he attended his high school class reunion in New Jersey. Though his own life had been wonderful since school--he and his wife, Arlene, had three healthy sons--he learned of tragedies among his former classmates, including one who had lost an 8-year-old son, Jason, to AIDS.

Flying home, Fliegler says, “Arlene and I talked about how our perspective on life was somewhat naive. We needed to get involved in more than just our lives. . . . I never knew Jason. But since that reunion, and since I have been involved with [the AIDS Walk], I look at my three boys differently. Every day.”

Wrap-Up: Dolores Hope also appeared this week on the Larry King show on cable’s CNN. He asked her what has led to the success of her 63 years of marriage to Bob Hope.

“Well,” she said with a grin, “he travels a lot.”

Jerry Hicks’ column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Readers may reach Hicks by calling the Times Orange County Edition at (714) 966-7823 or by fax to (714) 966-7711, or e-mail to [email protected]