Now let’s turn back the clock to World War II.  If there was anything that was a constant in American life during the War, it would have been rationing, daylight savings time, and Bob Hope.

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Although Hope was beloved by troops for his many appearances and became an icon of American comedy with his tv specials up through the 1980s, I never really cared for his brand of “one liner” radio and television comedy, though I can find the Hope-Crosby “Road” movies enjoyable.  After you listen to several of his radio shows, particularly those from the War period, the sameness of the jokes and Hope’s womanizing gets a little old.

However, I know Hope has his fans out there, so I’m offering up a rare uncirculated Bob Hope program.

Originally broadcast June 5, 1945 on NBC as the “Pepsodent Show”, via an Armed Forces Radio Network transcription where the program was broadcast as program 110 in the Bob Hope series, here’s Hope at the Sedalia Army Air Field near Kansas City, Missouri.  It’s the last show of the season and the main sketch has Bob going for a physical checkup, so he gets out his joke files marked “Hospital Jokes”, “Nurse Jokes” and “Doctor Jokes”.

The program features Skinnay Ennis singing “Got a Date with an Angel”, Francis Langford performing “You Belong to My Heart” and comedy appearances by Vera Vague (Barbara Jo Allen) and Jerry Colonna.

Our mp3 file was transferred directly from an original AFRS transcription.  Sorry for the rough sound in spots; the disc hasn’t seen the best storage conditions in the past sixty plus years.

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