TOKYO — Bob Hope, America's own temporary duty Santa, left little doubt Sunday that this would be his last Christmas tour for U.S. servicemen and women overseas.
"Now with the Vietnam skirmish coming to an end, I think we'll pull it all in," Hope said. "If some kind of an emergency arises and I have a few new jokes laying around I may bust out, but right now I feel like we've had it."
Along a more humorous note he added, "I think next year we'll invite the troops to Palm Springs."
The 68-year-old comedian was speaking before luncheon guests at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan. Hope and his troupe of entertainers are here on the second stop of a Pacific area swing to bring Christmas a little closer to personnel overseas.
They were to perform at Yokota AB Monday afternoon before an evening flight to Korea and two performances there.
Hope said the troupe would perform at Tan Son Nhut AB, Vietnam, on Christmas eve providing "it is still there."
"The greatest thrill, of course, that we could get is that we have peace by that time," he said. "I have a sneaky suspicion that we might.
"I know it's on the way. The enemy is willing (to sign a peace treaty); now all we have to do is convince our allies," he quipped.
Trying to keep the affair on the light side, Hope continued, "You know the North Vietnamese don't know how lucky they could be. If they did sign that peace treaty, they could have Howard Johnson along the Ho Chi Minh trail."
He said the talk of peace has brought some "wonderful" changes about.
"Jane Fonda has gone back to acting, Dr. Spock has gone back to potty training, and I think it (the prospect of peace) is the greatest thing in the world."
When asked to give his serious opinion of Jane Fonda and her activities of the past, Hope said, "I've always admired Jane Fonda for her acting."
He said that everyone has the right to his own opinion, but he added that if it had been a real war "I don't think anybody would talk that way.
"You have to be sympathetic to all people's thinking and emotional feelings about this (Vietnam War). I hate to stand up and censure, and I'm not going to do it."
Hope said that it had been a lean year and money was scarce. He blamed it all on bad investments.
"I've been betting on the L. A. Rams football team and last year I bought 10,000 shares of McGraw-Hill stock. I invested in a condominium in Belfast, a delicatessen in Cairo, and I drew Spiro Agnew in the (Palm Springs) Desert Classic," he lamented.
