Christmas Around The World Show with Bob Hope

(Pictured above... Bob Hope plaque presented to us by the military stationed in South Korea, an autographed pix from Bob and, also in the frame, me with Peter Allen one of the times he hosted Christmas at Rockefeller Center for us at WNBC-TV.)
Early in my career, the first time I lived in the Los Angeles, following my wonderful experience on The Della Reese Show as PA and then Associate Director,  I was fortunate enough get a PA position on the Bob Hope Show. Worked a full year with them including the Christmas Around the World show before moving on to an Associate Producer position on Joanne Carson's V.I.P.s (a story for another time!)
That year our Hope Show troupe traveled to Vietnam, Thailand, England, Germany, Korea, Alaska,  and even did a show on board the USS JFK carrier, in waters off the coast of Greece.  Made a stop at West Point too.  Nothing like being a young single girl among all those young West Pointers!…the stories I could tell.   Bottom line, Bob Hope from my perspective, was a delight to work for and his energy ran circles around all of us ‘youngsters’.   We all worked hard and played hard.  At one point I figured I had 14 hours of sleep over 8 days.  And honest.. it was all work.  You see, the PA (moi) got to stay up all night getting scripts ready for the next day after going to the mandatory attendance events planned by the host country.  Bob believed in fresh copy for each show and the copy never got to me before 9 or 10 pm at night.  You haven’t lived until you spent the night typing and printing scripts for cast and crew!  No complaints the trip was a once in a lifetime experience.  Bob even bought me an Eskimo Doll when we were in Alaska at the end of the trip, and I was suffering from a terrible cold.  An aside:  when we got back to the states we were told that the reports from Associated Press said that Bob Hope was booed during the tour.  I was there, doing timings from the front row.  Never, No, Never did I or anyone else in the troupe, hear anyone boo.  The audience was thrilled to have him and his troop of mostly lady performers, Lola Falano, Ursula Andress, Miss World and the ‘Ding-A-Lings” from the Dean Martin Show.. oh and Johnny Bench.  So I learned early on to be skeptical about ‘reports’ and the press in general.  I have great respect for true journalists to this day.. not so much for random reports.  Bob.. thanks for the memories.. you brought great joy to many each Christmas... I AM grateful to have known and worked for you.