Once when he was a little boy in England, Leslie
Hope (He later renamed himself Bob after a race car driver he
idolized) wanted to pick an apple off a tree. Symbolic of his
career, he didn't want just any apple but the highest one possible.
He lost his balance, fell and permanently changed the shape of his
nose.His big break in Hollywood was
getting the part Jack Benny turned down in the Paramount film "The
Big Broadcast Of 1938". The director Mitchell Leisen could not stand
the star of the film, the ornery WC Fields, who would run off the
movie set and come back too soused to do the required scenes, flub
his lines and scream for his lawyer. Liesen found Hope much more
cooperative, although he was a nervous ham in front of the camera.
Desperate to be a more traditional leading man like Fred Macmurray,
Hope begged Paramount to pay for a nose job but they refused. It was
in this film he got to sing "Thanks For The Memories" which along
with his ski nose became Hope's trademarks.
For his radio show when Hope found out that
Jack Benny hired two writers for $1,000 a week, he in turn hired ten
writers for $100 a week each and hated paying. At times he would
gather the staff at the bottom of a stairwell and toss their
paychecks down as paper airplanes. Other times Hope would interrupt
his scribes intimacy with their wives by calling their houses very
late at night to go over new material. For their part, the writers
created the Hope movie character, egomaniacal, womanizing and
cowardly, all but the last trait were true.
Hope's relationship with Bing Crosby was
love-hate. In one of their early road movies Paramount Studios
filmed two endings in which each of the boys ended up with Dorothy
Lamour, to see which result audiences preferred. They overwhelmingly
chose Bing which annoyed Hope, who got his costar back by constantly
reminding him that he wore a toupee. In one scene both had to lie on
the same bed together (innocently, they were resting) and Bing
refused to take his hat off. No amount of coaxing from Paramount
executives could get Crosby to change his mind, he did not want to
hear Bob's toupee barbs. Hope later said the greatest acting
performance he ever gave was smiling when Bing won his academy award
for Going My Way (1944).
His frequent leading lady, Lucille Ball, was
an even match for Hope in the ambition department. She lobbied the
comedian to hire her little-known band leader husband Desi Arnaz for
his radio show. She later regretted it when Desi slept with every
showgirl who applied for a job, with rumors flying about Hope ending
up with his second choices. Delores Hope was as long suffering as
Lucy was. One time she was among a crowd waiting backstage for him
after a live show. A reporter asked her,"Are you connected to Bob
Hope in some way Miss?" "No, I'm just his wife."
In the late 30s, Hope made fun of veterans on
his radio show. Performing at army bases was a way to bring up
ratings. Then came World War II with Hope and a number of other
stars recruited by the government for a war bond selling, victory
caravan tour. Unlike many of the pampered celebrities who complained
about the cramped quarters on their shared train, the
ex-vaudevillian Hope was exhilarated by the travel. It was no
problem for him to go overseas to entertain the troops.
At first Hope found America's homesick young
fighting men to be the easiest audience he ever faced. Jokes that
would die in the states would get uproarious laughter from the
troops. In the beginning Hope stayed out of combat areas, but then
he reasoned that those in actual battles needed him the most. Hope
became addicted to the to the danger of flying in planes that might
get shot down or performing in places that had recently been
attacked. But he was greatly moved by the injuries he saw in
hospital wards, and quietly help set up several of the soldiers he
met in their own businesses after the war ended. Later he could not
understand the Vietnam situation, getting in trouble when he
repeatedly suggested we should bomb the enemy into submission.
Hope's love for the troops stayed constant, even in Nam when they
booed him.
Hope got along great with all the Presidents
he met, whether he agreed with them or not. He once said that
Roosevelt laughed so hard at his jokes he almost voted democratic.
He loved telling the story about a marine in World War II who was
disappointed that he had not killed a Japanese soldier. At the edge
of a jungle he tried to smoke them out, by shouting," To hell with
Hirohito!" It worked, a Japanese soldier came out and shouted," To
hell with Roosevelt!" But the marine lowered his weapon," Darn it, I
can't shoot a fellow Republican."
“I’m so old, they’ve canceled my blood type”
quipped Bob Hope, upon reaching the age of 100 in July 2003. Indeed,
Bob Hope has been around throughout the 20th century, becoming
immortal to so many generations by entertaining the masses with
countless films, TV and radio shows and of course his appearances
with the troops overseas.Bob Hope was
born on May 29, 1903 in Eltham, England although his family moved to
Cleveland, Ohio when he was four years old (“I left England at the
age of four when I found out I couldn’t be king”). His first modest
success in show business came in 1915 when he won a Charlie Chaplin
imitation competition.
He began to work in vaudeville in the early
1920s and during the early 1930s was appearing on the stage in
Broadway. His first film role was “The Big Broadcast” in 1938 in
which he sang the song “Thanks for the Memory” in a duet with
Shirley Ross. That song would become Bob Hope’s signature tune.
Bob Hope appeared in over 75 films throughout
his career although he only won two honorary Oscars. He even joked
about his lack of Oscar awards - “Oscar night at our house is called
Passover!” He may not have won many Oscars but he enjoyed bringing
his unique humor to the awards ceremony – he presented or
co-presented them on a record 18 occasions up until 1977.
His most famous movies, of course remain the
series of “road” movies that he made with Bing Crosby during the
1940s. He also starred in “The Paleface” along with Jane Russell
which many consider his best film. Today, many of his classic movies
are available on DVD or regularly shown on cable TV channels.
Hope took to TV fairly late in his career, not
entirely convinced that the still fairly new medium would succeed.
“Television – that’s where movies go when they die,” quipped Hope
once. However, it was television that really made Bob Hope a star
and a household name throughout the United States.
Easter Sunday 1950 was a memorable day. It was
on that day that Bob Hope made his formal television debut. In
addition to Hope’s appearance, the “Star Spangled Revue” featured
other popular entertainers and stars of the day including Dinah
Shore and Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
The show’s formula was immediately successful
and Bob Hope’s television shows remained successful for the next 40
years. NBC was his network of choice and Bob Hope appeared in many
of the network’s Christmas and other holiday specials. His last TV
special was in 1996 appearing alongside Tony Danza. Today these
programs are rightly considered classic TV shows, television
programs that translate for multiple generations.
Perhaps Bob Hope is most famous for his
appearances with the troops, a gesture that almost certainly boosted
morale far more than any appearance by the president. His first such
appearance was in May 1941, when Bob Hope, along with various
friends, appeared at March Field in California to entertain the
airmen.
The rest, as they say, is history. Bob Hope
was soon christened “G.I. Bob” by the troops and went on to perform
all over the world during the next 60 years. He has entertained
troops and broadcast from Europe, the South Pacific, the Indian
Ocean and the Persian Gulf. He nearly always appeared in army
fatigues as a further gesture of support for the soldiers.
Bob Hope has been honored five times by the
United States Congress, has been made honorary mayor of Palm Springs
and an honorary veteran. He also has several theaters, a battleship
and an airport named in his honor and his love of golf lives on in
one of the sport’s major events – the Bob Hope Classic.
But his biggest legacy is the wealth of
entertainment he has given us over the years. And of course, his
sharp wit; his one-liners and quotes are almost as well known as his
TV shows and movies. As he accurately remarked once, “I’ve always
been in the right place and time. Of course, I steered myself
there.”
~Ben Anton, 2007
