Hope for the WAACS

U.S. Army officers figured that the WAACS had earned a bit of relaxation. The 8,000 auxiliaries and their girl officers had been at Fort Des Moines, Iowa for months. Last week Comedian Bob Hope gave his weekly radio show at the Fort.

The WAACS relaxed. When they first saw Hope they began to laugh. Some yelled. When it was time for Hope to go on the air, 800 girls awaited him in the new post theater. He walked on to the stage, stared, gasped "Oh, no!" and fled into the wings. The WAACS shrieked. Hope returned and simpered: "I've seen Second Louies so I just thought it would be a novelty to come here and see the Second Louises."

This was a riot. Embarrassed by the unabashed vigor of his audience, Hope stammered, perspired, muffed his lines, ignored the microphone. He signaled the howling, squealing WAACS to take it easy. They were ruining his tag lines by laughing too soon. When he came back after the broadcast to tell them how wonderful they were, an auxiliary shrilled: "You're wonderful, too!"

At a later performance for 4,000 more WAACS in Des Moines's Coliseum, pandemonium re-exploded. Hope left town with Stardust in his eyes, murmuring, "A comedian's Shangri-La."