Gotta have Hope: 'Miles, Morale and Memories' takes a deep dive into the work of the legendary entertainer

Tim Gray knows a little bit about World War II.

The award-winning documentarian made the move from journalism to film years ago — and it’s paid off. As the founder and president of the World War II Foundation, Gray spends the majority of his time telling the many stories of the conflict.

Gray and his team have a handful of projects coming out this year, the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.

“We are usually juggling four films each year,” he says. “Each one takes nearly a year for it to get it all wrapped up in a bow.”

One of those documentaries is “Miles, Morale and Memories: Bob Hope and World War II,” will air at 9 p.m. Monday, May 26, on New Mexico PBS, channel 5.1. It will also be available to stream on the PBS app.

Because the subject of war is so grim, Gray wanted to dive deep into the work legendary entertainer Bob Hope did with the United Services Organization.

Hope and his troupe of performers traveled more than 80,000 miles during World War II to entertain troops.

Gray says there were several close calls where Hope and the team were almost killed.

“Traveling today is much easier yet overwhelming,” Gray says. “Can you imagine traveling all those miles during the 1940s?

“At least today, when you fly over Tennessee, there aren’t people trying to shoot you down.”

Hope and the team often performed near the front lines in Europe and the Pacific as part of an overall Hollywood effort to make sure stars brought some of America to the battle zones.

Gray said he wanted to take a look at Hope’s impact on World War II and why President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked some of Hollywood’s top radio and movie stars to hold a microphone instead of a gun.

“Bob Hope was a top 10 movie star and No. 1 radio star, and he was doing everything,” Gray says. “I think the thing that made Bob special is that he would do things for the troops that people didn’t hear about. If a Marine asked him to drop off a letter at their parents’ house, he would show up to deliver the letter.”

At the height of the war, Hope was receiving 38,000 letters a week at his office. His secretary kept all the letters and picked out the ones she thought he should see.

“She would give him these letters and many of them were depressing,” Gray says. “Other letters were letting Bob know how he impacted their son, brother or husband. I thought that the personal side of Bob Hope was amazing because he was going above and beyond. He would often learn the names of those he talked to.”

Because World War II is well documented, Gray had plenty of material to pull from. He made trips to Iwo Jima and Normandy, France, to add to the story.

“These are places I read about,” he says. “It was surreal to be on the same land where it all took place.”

When it came to editing, Gray says it was a difficult process.

The first cut was about two hours long and it needed to be cut to 54 minutes in order to broadcast on PBS.

“Each film is like the birth of a child,” he explains. “I wanted this film to resonate with not only the people who know of Bob Hope, but those that aren’t familiar with him. There’s an entire generation that doesn’t really understand who he was. He was the first stand-up comedian and we’re trying to connect the dots for a new generation. He brought all the skills he learned during his Vaudeville days and brought them to the masses. He was a showman.”

Gray says Hope’s tours were well received.

“The troops would come off a battle,” he says. “For that hour, they had respite. They got to live in the moment and be entertained. That’s what Bob Hope brought. A lot of those people that were smiling during a show were killed or wounded in the next battle. Everyone was trying to stay in the moment.”

Gotta have Hope: 'Miles, Morale and Memories' takes a deep dive into the work of the legendary entertainer