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TIME: Almanac of the 20th Century
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40hope
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1994-02-27
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<text>
<title>
(1940s) Bob Hope
</title>
<history>
TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1940s Highlights
PEOPLE
</history>
<link 02714>
<article>
<source>Time Magazine</source>
<hdr>
Bob Hope
</hdr>
<body>
<p>(September 20, 1943)
</p>
<p> For fighting men, this grimmest of wars is in one small way
also the gayest. Never before have the folks who entertain the
boys been so numerous or so notable; never have they worked so
hard, traveled so far, risked so much. From the ranks of show
business have sprung heroes and even martyrs, but so far only
one legend.
</p>
<p> That legend is Bob Hope. It sprang up swiftly,
telepathically, among U.S. servicemen in Britain this summer,
traveling faster than even whirlwind Hope himself, then flew
ahead of him to North Africa and Sicily, growing larger as it
went. Like most legends, it represents measurable qualities in
a kind of mystical blend. Hope was funny, treating hordes of
soldiers to roars of laughter. He was friendly--ate with
servicemen, drank with them, read their doggerel, listened to
their songs. He was indefatigable, running himself ragged with
five, six, seven shows a day. He was figurative--the straight
link with home, the radio voice that for years had filled the
living room and that in foreign parts called up its image. Hence
boys whom Hope might entertain for an hour awaited him for
weeks. And when he came, anonymous guys who had had no other
recognition felt personally remembered.</p>
</body>
</article>
</text>