“Disney During World War II” and “Hope: Entertainer of the Century” showcase two Hollywood legends who did everything they could for the troops

Jim Hill

10 years ago

As a former servicemember, I have to admit that I'm always
intrigued by how various entertainment entities observe Veterans Day.

Take — for example — PBS. Their way of acknowledging that today
is November 11th (i.e., the date that our nation honors all those who have
served in both wartime and peacetime) is by airing a two hour-long documentary on
the Navy Seals.

Meanwhile over at Disney Junior, they're showing a special
episode of "Doc McStuffins"
called "Training Army Al." Which deals with the emotions that
young kids typically deal with when they have a parent or loved one in the
military and that family member is then deployed.

Over at AMC, the focus is on America's
more recent military operations with back-to-back screenings of "The Green
Berets," "Heartbreak Ridge" and "We Were Soldiers."
Meanwhile over at Turner Classic Movies, it's the Greatest Generation's
greatest hits. With tonight's schedule at that cable channel piled high with
World War II-era films like "The Fighting Sullivans," "Pride of
the Marines" and "Patton."

Mind you, there used to be people in the entertainment
business who genuinely did want to do right by our men & women in uniform.
Who wanted to do more for these folks than just scheduling a night full of John
Wayne movies.

Take — for example — Walt Disney. As John Baxter points
out in his excellent new book, "Disney During World War II: How the Walt
Disney Studios Contributed to Victory in the War" (Disney Editions,
November 2014) …

… When America's war began on December 7, 1941, the armed
forces of the United States were suddenly in desperate need of efficient
training methods to process the huge numbers of enlistees and draftees that
were about to report to duty. Civilians with no relevant background experience
had to learn how to be warriors and how to operate and maintain the
increasingly complex aircraft, tanks, naval vessels, weaponry and other
machinery of the period. Walt Disney helped the government meet that challenge
by effectively transforming his studio from an entertainment factory that
specialized in whimsy into a virtual war plant that churned out high-quality
instructional films for the military nonstop for nearly four years, without
profit and sometimes at a loss.

So why did Walt take on this difficult war-time assignment?
To be honest, there was a practical component. As the clouds of war began
gathering over Europe & Asia in the late 1930s, the revenue stream that came
from screening Disney's animated features & shorts overseas began drying
up. So to keep the Mouse Factory up & running during this difficult time,
Walt and his brother Roy pursued dozens of government contracts and wound up
producing training films for the U.S. Army & Navy as well as corporate
clients like Lockheed.

But then there was the personal responsibility that Walt
felt toward these men & women in uniform. After all, 10 years earlier,
these soldiers, sailors and marines were the kids who had helped to make Mickey
Mouse so hugely popular with Depression-era moviegoers.

Disney felt indebted to these folks. Which is why (again
quoting from John Baxter's new book) …

… perhaps the purest expression of Walt's genuine
patriotism during the war years was his decision to establish a unite devoted
to producing customized military insignia free of charge for the Armed Forces
of America and her allies. Headed by the talented draftsman Hank Porter, whom
Walt referred to as "a one man art department," the unit worked
steadily throughout the war, turning out nearly 1,300 insignia upon request.

Just to be clear here: It wasn't just Walt Disney who went
out of his way to do right by the troops back during World War II. As Richard
Zoglin recounts in "Hope: Entertainer of the Century" (Simon &
Schuster, November 2014), Bob Hope kind of redefined going out of your way when
it came to America's
men & women in uniform. Bob got his start doing this back …

… in the summer of 1942, (when) one of Hope's former movie
stand-ins, now an army sergeant, dropped by the Paramount lot and suggested
that Hope pay a visit to the US troops stationed in Alaska, guarding the
Aleutian Islands against a possible Japanese attack.

(That) Alaska
trip made a powerful impression on Hope, and he talked soberly about it
afterwards. "I wouldn't trade this trip for my last five years in show
business – my lucky years," he told a reporter. "I tell you, a guy
gets to seeing himself in the proper focus in a setup like that. It's touching
that the visit from a mere human being can mean so much."

Bob Hope entertains the troop during World War II.

Having gotten his first taste of entertaining the troops,
Bob made immediate plans to get back in front of that amazingly appreciative
audience. Which is why — as soon as Hope & Crosby wrapped up production of
"Road to Morocco"
and Bob had buttoned up his hugely popular radio show for its 1942 – 1943
season, during …

… his summer radio hiatus in July and August of 1943, Hope
made plans for his first overseas tour of military bases: a two-month trip to
the British Isles and North Africa,
under the auspice of the USO Camp Shows.

All told, (Bob) spent eleven weeks overseas, doing some 250 shows for an
estimated 1.5 million men. He came back with scores of names and addresses
scrawled on pieces of paper — of the mothers and wives and sweethearts of the
men he had entertained, who asked Hope if he would contact their loved ones and
send greetings. Which he did.

Bob Hope visits with the wounded as he & his troupe tour a hospital ward. (Here's a
bit of trivia for Disney fans: The gentleman to the extreme right in the above photo is
Jerry Colonna, the radio comedian best known these days for providing the voice
of the March Hare in Disney's 1951 animated version of "Alice in Wonderland."

That might have been enough for your average entertainer.
But not Bob Hope. In June of 1944, he and a hand-picked team of pros headed off
for the Pacific Theater. Where …

… they stopped first in the Hawaiian Islands,
where they spent nine days and did some thirty-five shows, the largest for
twenty-five thousand civilian employees at the Pearl Harbor Naval Yards. Then
they flew off to Christmas Island and began hopscotching
islands on the "pineapple circuit."

The long trip back to the United States
went through Wake Island and took fifty hours. In all,
Hope's Pacific tour had encompassed thirty thousand miles and 150 shows in
eight weeks.

Bob Hope chats with the troops during his Christmas 1950 visit to Korea

And once World War II wrapped … Well, that didn't stunt
Bob's desire to do right by our men & women in uniform. Which is why as
soon as the Korean War got underway in June of 1950, Hope immediately began
making plans to head overseas to entertain the troops there.

This tradition continued for decades. Though …

… by the early 1960s, Hope's annual Christmas tours to
entertain the troops overseas were starting to draw some criticism … Inside
the military, some grumbled that Hope's tours were talking too much money away
from other, more mundane but equally important projects. "Hope did a valid
service. But it was an expensive project, and it took a good deal of the budget,"
said Dorothy Reilly, whose husband, Colonel Alvin E. Reilly, as head of
entertainment and recreation for the Air Force, argued internally that the
trips ought to be cut back. "That budget had to cover everything —
libraries, R-and-R centers. There were so many ways that money could be
used." She couldn't forget the sight of thousands of GIs in Korea
in 1957, waiting on a hillside for hours in the subzero cold while Hope and his
troupe were preparing and rehearsing. "I thought it was kind of a selfish
use of the military."

That's what's genuinely great about "Hope: Entertainer
of the Century." Richard Zoglin honestly doesn't pull any punches with
this definitive biography of Bob Hope. He celebrates those moments where Bob —
just like Walt Disney — really went the extra mile for our men & women in
uniform. But as the same time, Zoglin isn't afraid to shine a spotlight on the
more controversial aspects of Hope's career. Like his 1969 tour of Vietnam,
where as Bob stood onstage and …

… told the troops he had just been to the White House and
assured them that Nixon had "a plan to end the war." He was greeted
with boos.

So if you'd like to get the inside scoop on two Hollywood
legends who did everything they could for the troops, be sure and pick a copy
of John Baxter's "Disney During
World War II: How the Walt Disney Studios Contributed to Victory in the
War"and Richard Zoglin's "Hope: Entertainer of the Century."

This article was originally posted on the Huffington Post's Entertainment page on Tuesday, November 11, 2014