Bob Hope and Eva Rueber-Staier Host Bob Hope Christmas Show

This photograph was taken by National Geographic photographer Joseph J. Scherschel on December 14, 1969, during a preview performance of the Bob Hope Christmas Show in the East Room. Here, Bob Hope addresses the audience alongside Austrian model and Miss World 1969 Eva Rueber-Staier. Bob Hope's USO-sponsored variety shows entertained American troops around the world for nearly 50 years, and his television specials were an annual tradition for American households for decades. Hope was a recurrent guest at the White House and entertained every president from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Bill Clinton.