Freedom Festival '89 (1989) (TV)

An Independence Day special hosted by Patrick Duffy and featuring a lineup of song and dance performers at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, the birthplace of the Constitution.

Freedom Festival '89 (1989) (TV)
Cast: The Oak Ridge Boys, Nell Carter, Frankie Avalon, Ann Jillian, Patrick Duffy

Bob Hope's Christmas Cheer from Saudi Arabia (1991) (TV)

The Road to Arabia : Bob Hope's Mideast Show Will Air Tonight
January 12, 1991|DIANE HAITHMAN | TIMES STAFF WRITER

During a whirlwind Christmas visit to Saudi Arabia, Bob Hope did 10 different shows in almost as many locations--but never knew where he was.

"I don't know where anything was--they won't tell you, they won't give you the location," Hope, 87, said over lunch at his expansive Toluca Lake home earlier this week.

Hope spent several days, including Christmas, entertaining American troops in the Middle East, where he and his entourage were mysteriously whisked from location to location by two military helicopters.

"I'm not sure who knew where we were going. You just go ," he said. "But when you see the film, you'll see the tanks and the guns, and you'll realize how close we were to Kuwait, you know? They didn't have to tell me where we were--we had to be pretty damn close."

Plenty of tanks, guns and endless miles of sand make up the backdrop for "Bob Hope's Christmas Cheer From Saudi Arabia," a USO show that will be telecast at 9:30 tonight on NBC. Despite battering winds and blowing sand, Hope said that Saudi Arabia was a little bit like home: "The first troop I met was from Twentynine Palms--that's right next to Palm Springs," he said. "And I went halfway around the world to see them."

A few other entertainers--including Steve Martin, Jay Leno, Delta Burke and Gerald McRaney--have visited the troops to shake hands and tell a few jokes; cable TV's Financial News Network recently filmed a special on boxer Thomas Hearns' visit. But Hope's tour marks the first big entertainment show staged for the troops since they landed in Saudi Arabia.

It also marks the last--at least for a while. The USO confirmed this week that the Department of Defense has placed a ban on all USO shows following Wednesday's failed peace talks in Geneva.

"We're still getting calls from celebrities who want to go over, and we're told to hold off for now," said Iona Sherman, producer and tours manager for USO Celebrity Entertainment. "We're not told whether or not it's permanent.

"We are not stopping tours to other areas of the world. Billy Joel is going to the Philippines next week."

The USO ban will close a door to the Middle East that had barely cracked open. Sherman confirmed Hope's report that the Department of Defense was extremely skittish about sending large numbers of performers into Saudi Arabia, preferring to start small with handshake visits by individual performers.

Hope's visit sparked a controversy Dec. 25, when the Pentagon announced it would restrict media coverage of Hope's Christmas Eve show at a site near a military installation.

Hope's daughter, Linda, who produced the special, said that the Department of Defense did not ask for control over the final product, but requested cooperation in obscuring identifying landmarks. The Hopes complied.

"Obviously, there were panoramic shots we would like to have gotten, but we just determined we were not going to do that," Linda Hope said.

Hope said that when the group arrived at a hotel in Dhahran--one of its stops--guards checked under the beds for terrorists before the Hope entourage could enter their rooms. And "when we left, a security dog checked our luggage, looking for bombs," Hope cracked. "I'm glad he didn't find our cue cards."

Hope's act also received substantial editing from a cultural adviser to avoid offending the Saudis. "I took things out about the women, about their clothes--you know, 'They wear so many clothes that by the time you you get through them, it's not worth it,' " Hope said.

Linda Hope said that viewers will see ragged edges rather than a slick production; often the "shows" Hope and his wife Dolores put on for the troops took place on a flatbed truck with one hand-held mike or a lowly megaphone for amplification. She added that they were often required to set up in less than 10 minutes.

The biggest inconvenience was the Saudis' refusal to allow single American women into Saudi Arabia, forcing the group to film performances by guest stars Ann Jillian, the Pointer Sisters and Khrystyne Haje only during the shows staged in Bahrain, a country adjacent to Saudi Arabia.

The special is due to be broadcast in its entirety Monday on the Armed Forces Radio and Television Network, Hope said.

Hope said that his own political beliefs have not--and will not--keep him from visiting the troops anywhere in the world.

"All of (the wars) were the same," he said. "You were there to entertain the kids, you know--no difference if you were in Sicily or Vietnam.

"Vietnam--it was such a sad affair, that war," Hope said. "About the fifth year (of the conflict), one of the biggest laughs I got was when I told them: 'Guys, 50% of America is behind you.' Because I remember the papers kept saying, 'Get out of Vietnam, what the hell are we doing in Vietnam?' There were people who said I shouldn't go, which is ridiculous."

Hope said that the atmosphere is completely different in Saudi Arabia. "There is no war--they're camping out now," he said. "They're up, and they're high."

Upon his return, Hope began relaying messages to the families of the troops--including making a call to one young soldier's father, who is dying of cancer.

"I stand up there and I look at those faces, and I don't want them to go to war," Hope mused. "I want them to have a good life. I wish they (the other Arab countries) could just converge on (Iraqi President Saddam Hussein), where he is, where he lives, and just knock him out. That would be the thrill of my life."

Bob Hope's Christmas Cheer from Saudi Arabia (1991) (TV)
Cast: Anita Pointer, Ann Jillian, Bob Hope, Dolores Hope, Johnny Bench, June Pointer, Khrystyne Haje, Marie Osmond, Ruth Pointer

Killer in the Mirror (1986) TV Movie

A television movie about a struggling antiques dealer and her rich and devious twin sister.

Killer in the Mirror (1986) TV Movie
Cast: Ann Jillian, Len Cariou, Max Gail, Allen Garfield, Chris Noth, Jessica Walter, Andra Akers, Parley Baer, Eileen Barnett

Original Sin (1989) TV Movie

When his son is kidnapped a man has to face his past demons in speaking to a Mafia don.

We love Ann Jillian.

Original Sin (1989) TV Movie
Ann Jillian, Charlton Heston, Marshall R. Teague, Nicky Blair, Richard Portnow, S.A. Griffin

Bob Hope's Yellow Ribbon Party (1991) (TV)

As part of an earlier promise to US forces, Bob Hope put on a homecoming show for US Troops who served in both the 1991 Persian Gulf War and the 1989 invasion of Panama from his Palm Springs, California home. Considered by many to be his final USO Show.

Great show, along with regulars like Brooke and Marie O, you'll see the fabulous Patti LaBelle singing like she's at a Black Tie evening event even though it's daytime and she's outdoors! Completely brings down the figurative house, she's just great. The audience is all regular folk, servicemen and women and their families. Full of pride and all sharing in their love of America and the American way. One of television's greatest hours. Bob was the man.

Bob Hope's Yellow Ribbon Party (1991) (TV)

Cast: Ann Jillian, Bob Hope, Brooke Shields, Clint Black, Clint Holmes, Delta Burke, Ed McMahon, Gerald McRaney, James Stewart, Marie Osmond, Patti LaBelle

Ellis Island (1984) TV mini-series

Ellis Island (1984) TV mini-series
Cast: Ann Jillian, Ben Vereen, Claire Bloom, Emma Samms, Gregory Paul Martin, Joan Greenwood, Judi Bowker, Kate Burton, Melba Moore, Milo O'Shea, Peter Riegert, Stubby Kaye

Ann Jillian Story, The (1988) TV Movie

TV REVIEW; 'ANN JILLIAN STORY,' ON NBC

By JOHN J. O'CONNOR
Published: Monday, January 4, 1988

ANN JILLIAN has kept a tight rein on "The Ann Jillian Story," the television movie on NBC at 9 this evening. A year or more of skirmishing took place before Ms. Jillian settled on a teleplay by Audrey Davis Levin. Corey Allen is the director. And Ms. Jillian plays herself. The result is admirable in some ways, puzzling in others.

The film focuses on two key events in Ms. Jillian's life: her marriage to Andy Murcia, a Chicago policeman who eventually became her manager; and her battle with breast cancer, for which she had a double mastectomy in 1985. Ms. Jillian is obviously a determined woman. Since her widely publicized operation, she has returned to performing and is active in various cancer prevention programs.

The puzzling part of "The Ann Jillian Story" has to do with the performer's career. We see her in the first scenes as a kind of show-business gypsy, traveling wherever a song-and-dance gig can be found. But she is not, apparently, your ordinary chorine. She stays in luxury hotels, even when she is down to her last couple of dollars and eating nothing but pizza. When she finally sings for Sergeant Murcia, played by Tony Lo Bianco in what looks like an homage to Tony Danza, Ms. Jillian appears to be a kind of nightclub chanteuse, in the manner of Hildegard or Edith Piaf.

Later, she gets her big break in both the road and Broadway productions of 1979's "Sugar Babies," starring Mickey Rooney and Ann Miller, who aren't even mentioned here. The show was, of course, an exuberant tribute to the irrepressible vulgarity of vaudeville and Ms. Jillian's success stemmed as much from her statuesque figure as from her ability to sing and dance. Not long after, however, she would quite capably play the lead in television's "Mae West Story." But that movie, another celebration of pop vulgarity, isn't mentioned here either. Instead, we get, at appropriate intervals, Ms. Jillian as elegant singing star. The casual viewer is likely to come away with the impression that she was the 1980's answer to Barbra Streisand.

Otherwise, "The Ann Jillian Story" fits neatly into the special television genre specializing in uplift and inspiration. The courtship of Ann and Andy is sometimes a bit stormy but always cute. They scream a lot but are clearly meant for each other. And she has other supports, most notably her Roman Catholic religion and her Lithuanian family. Her mother is especially protective, warning Andy that he had better be good to her baby. Giving the film an extra fillip, Mom is played by Viveca Lindfors, who makes sure she steals every scene in her immediate vicinity.

The subject of breast cancer is treated with admirable candor, from the initial discovery of suspicious lumps to the painful postoperative adjustments. Warmly, even ferociously supported by husband and family, Ms. Jillian survives the ordeal admirably. But there is another element in her recovery - her driving ambition. Fearing the loss of a job, she tells her doctors that she must get back to work 11 days after the cancer operation. She tells her television bosses, "Don't let me go to surgery without knowing that I have work to come back to." A good deal of the same determination can be sensed in the way she has shaped this film. In any event, she looks healthy and glamorous and turns in a remarkably gritty performance.

A version of this review appeared in print on Monday, January 4, 1988, on section C page 18 of the New York edition.

The Ann Jillian Story (1988) TV Movie

Cast: Ann Jillian, Tony Lo Bianco, Viveca Lindfors