Old Time Radio Shows

  The Clown is one of the most traditional and enduring elements of show business. There are several vital characteristics which add up to define just what a clown is. One of the most important is that under the makeup, the clown is very often laughing on the outside while crying on the inside. America's favorite clown, Red Skelton typifies laughing and crying at the same time. Few performers have given as much to bring happiness to their audience, especially while living through their own personal tragedies. Joe Skelton had performed as a clown with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus, but settled down to life as a grocer, and sired four sons with his wife Ida Mae. Joe was taken from his family two months before his youngest son, Richard Bernard Skelton, was born in 1913 (the same year, the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus lost 8 elephants, 8 performing horses and 21 lions and tigers when the Wabash River flooded). Richard soon became Red Skelton . With no father, Red went to work early to hel...

The War Department created the Armed Forces Radio Service on May 26, 1942. The directive brought together separate attempts at broadcasting by and for military personnel. Some of these projects had mission significance, but largely they were attempts on the part of soldiers to entertain their barracks mates. In 1954 Television was added to the service, as well as a less than flattering moniker (AFRTS, "A-Farts"), which has held on even after the 1994 renaming as "The Armed Forces Network". Hollywood began providing free or extremely low priced programming to the AFRS from the very beginning, and this tradition was strengthened after Pearl Harbor. The explosion of patriotism as America entered the War explains this to a certain extent. It is also easy to believe that despite the very public pedestal radio celebrities perched, most held genuine affection and admiration for the boys in uniform. No name is more connected with performing for the troops than  Bob...

The USNS Bob Hope (T-AKR-300) is the lead ship in her class of Maritime Preposition Ship. The Maritime Prepositioning Ships carry enough ammunition and equipment to support an Marine Task Force for 30 days, allowing for the rapid deployment of men, knowing that their equipment will meet them in theater within days of call up. It is one of the few vessels in the Navy inventory which went against long standing Naval tradition to be named for a person who was living at the time of commissioning. This is all the more appropriate when you consider that Bob Hope's first war-time performance was at sea. Hope was on board the RMS Queen Mary in September 1939 when Germany invaded Poland, beginning WWII. In order to help calm the panicking passengers, hope volunteered to give a special performance, singing "Thanks for the Memory" with rewritten lyrics. Bob Hope would be best known for his work to entertain the troops. John Steinbeck , who was a War Correspondent during the War,...