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That’s the spirit of Bob Hope that still lives on in me during the holidays and throughout the year. “Not only was the idea a success and the Christmas shows then became a tradition continued for 26 years, but that first year when Bob brought a semi-truck load of his merchandise to sell, and later told me to donate all of the money raised to any veterans’ organization of my choice. “First Bob and Dolores asked where Branson was, and then later agreed, with the stipulation that Bob could bring all of his comedy VHS tapes and merchandise to sell in the lobby of the theaters. “That’s when I called Bob Hope and asked if he and his wife Delores would come down to Branson and help launch the show run, and I suggested we would invite all veterans to be in the first audiences,” Orlando said. When Orlando told the Herschend family his idea teamed with Williams and the Osmonds to each fill their 2,000-seat theaters for a string of weeks of special Christmas concerts, he said the Silver Dollar City management team was reluctant to predict any success. And they traditionally closed down their theme park after the summer.” “Much of what dictated the schedule in Branson was based on the Silver Dollar City theme park, owned by the Herschend family. Christmas Andy Williams, and the Osmond Family, all with our own theaters, the city of Branson would traditionally close up during the winter months,” Orlando said.

“Before I arrived in Branson, along with Mr. Orlando said 20 years later, after he opened his Yellow Ribbon Theater in Branson, Missouri, he called his old pal Bob Hope to help him launch an idea to do a series of Christmas shows. But the tradition of yellow ribbons tied and in place a symbol to welcome home troops was already a long-standing practice.” “I hadn’t even scored big with that song as a hit yet.

“Bob Hope asked me to perform ‘Tie a Yellow Ribbon’ at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas when he was hosting an event to welcome home returning POWs at that 75,000 seat stadium in June 1973,” Orlando recalled. He said he thanks Bob Hope for helping him unveil his first live performance of “Tie a Yellow Ribbon” back in 1973 at a concert in Dallas for returning prisoners of war.

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