Ensemble worn by Phyllis Diller on USO Tour
date: label: date made
content: ca 1966
name: label: wearer
content: Diller, Phyllis
notes: label: Description
content: <p>
label: Description
content: Phyllis Diller wore this outfit, including the green dress with a metallic daisy pattern, a pair of green and gold shoe boots, a pair of green gloves, and a cigarette holder with a wooden cigarette, when she joined Bob Hope’s USO Christmas tour in 1966. Also included on the tour that year were bandleader Les Brown, singer/actress/dancer Joey Heatherson, singer Vic Damone, singer Anita Bryant, the Korean Kittens singing and dance group, baton twirler Diane Shelton, Miss World Reita Feria, and Bob Hope’s wife Dolores. The troupe toured around Vietnam, Thailand, Guam, Wake Island, and the Philippines entertaining troops. The subsequent television special aired in the United States on January 18, 1967.
label: Description
content: </p>
label: Description
content: <p>
label: Description
content: Diller was lifelong friends with Bob Hope, co-starring with him in 3 films and many TV specials. She had to change her usual material for this trip because her normal jokes about parenting and housekeeping were aimed at the people back home and not those fighting a war halfway across the world. Hope helped Diller create an entirely new routine where he played the straight man and allowed Diller to perform all of the jokes, which resulted in a bickering married couple routine. While Diller’s signature prop was a cigarette holder, it only ever held a wooden prop cigarette; she was a lifelong non-smoker. In 1978, the USO of Philadelphia, Inc. awarded Diller the USO Liberty Bell Award “for demonstrating concern for the welfare and morale of America’s armed forces.” The award is also at NMAH (Catalog Number 2003.0289.42).
label: Description
content: </p>
topic: label: Subject
content: Comedians
label: Subject
content: Comedy
label: Subject
content: Vietnam War
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Entertainment
label: See more items in
content: Popular Entertainment
label: See more items in
content: Phyllis Diller
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Phyllis Diller
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: COLL.DILLER.000002
label: accession number
content: 2003.0289
label: catalog number
content: 2003.0289.05.01
label: catalog number
content: 2003.0289.05.02
label: catalog number
content: 2003.0289.05.03
label: catalog number
content: 2003.0289.05.04
objectType: label: Object Name
content: ensemble
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: synthetic fibers (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
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content: plastic (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: leather (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: elastic (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: nylon (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: paint (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: adhesive (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall (dress): 35 in x 15 in; 88.9 cm x 38.1 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall (shoe boots): 6 1/2 in x 9 in x 2 3/4 in; 16.51 cm x 22.86 cm x 6.985 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall (gloves): 7 3/4 in x 3 in; 19.685 cm x 7.62 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall (cigarette holder): 9 3/8 in x 1/4 in; 23.8125 cm x .635 cm