Thanks for th Memories

Comedian Bob Hope passed away quietly at the age of 100. The Vaudeville performer is best known for entertaining the troops during his many USO tours. President Bush has ordered that the governmental flags fly at half mast in honor of Mr. Hope and his unselfish sharing of his time for our troops and our country.
In 1996, Mr. Hope celebrated 60 years of service with NBC Television. This is the longest running association of any entertainer of all time. His many achievements and awards totaled so many that a special warehouse had to be built to store them all.
Leslie Hope (soon known as Bob) was born in 1903 in Etham England. His father was a stonemason and his mother was a concert singer and in 1907 they decided to move their family of nine to Cleveland Ohio. Bob joked that he left England because he found out at four years old he could not become King. At the age of six he entertained in front of the firehouse doing his best Charlie Chaplin impressions. The audience was captivated with his performance. This started his love for performing.
As a youth, Bob worked many jobs including a soda jerk, shoe salesman, meat cutter, and pool shark. After graduating from High School, he tried his hand at boxing under the name of Packy East. Bob soon gave up boxing when he realized he was being carried into the ring as much as he was out. At 18, he and his girlfriend took their dance routine to Vaudeville and when they felt they had polished their routine enough they began to take their show on the road. One night his girlfriend’s mother came to their show and put an abrupt halt to their act. She felt the act was improper for her daughter.
Shortly after, Bob teamed up with George Byrne and created an act that played to all the major playhouses in New York. Bob was asked to do an intro for their show and his jokes were so well received that he was asked to do longer and longer routines. The audience loved his material. In 1933, Mr. Hope landed his first Broadway role in the hit show “Roberta”. The critics loved him and he was playing to packed houses every night.
His good friend, George Murphy, introduced him to a young singer named Delores and after a brief courtship they married. They had four children and four grandchildren. Their marriage is one of Hollywood’s longest running successful romances.
Mr. Hope starred in several Broadway plays but in 1936 he landed a role with Jimmy Durante in “ Red, Hot and Blue” that opened the door for his first major film role. This film was “The Big Broadcast of 1938” for Paramount Pictures. In the interest of promoting his film roles, Mr. Hope started doing radio and soon met Bing Crosby. He starred in radio shows across the nation and finally was hired by Pepsodent to do a regular television show on Tuesday nights for NBC. It soon boasted a number one rating among viewers.
Bob always joked that he never won an Oscar but in truth he was given two honorary Oscars for his humanitarian efforts. He called Oscar night “Passover” at his house. Although he never won Best Actor his acting influence grew stronger with time. His “Road” series movies with Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour made him a box office legend. In all, Hope starred in over 50 feature films and did cameos in 15 other films. His last feature film was in 1985 in “Spies Like Us”.
His friendship with Presidents started with Roosevelt and has gone all the way through Bill Clinton. President Kennedy recognized his humanitarian efforts and awarded him the Congressional Gold Medal. Other Presidents also awarded him with various awards all through his career. Queen Elizabeth knighted him in 1998 for his entertaining of the troops. Mr. Hope said “70 years of ad libbing and he was speechless by the Queen’s actions”.
He has received over 2000 awards and also 54 honorary doctorates from various Universities. He is celebrated as the most honored entertainer in history by Guiness Book of World Records.
While his career of entertaining the troops lasted for over 60 years, whether at war or not, Mr. Hope carried his band of actor friends all over the world to cause merriment and bring joy to the service men and women that protected our country. This was his legacy to our Country. In 1997 Bob and Delores traveled to New Orleans to Christen the USNS Bob Hope. The first of many naval ships named after the actor. A month later the Air Force also followed suit with a C-17 Jet named after Mr. Hope. 1997 was a good year for Bob when Resolution 75 was passed by both houses that made him an Honorary Veteran. He was the first and only American in history to be bestowed with this honor.
Mr. Hope had a love of sports but his real passion was golf. He had played for over 50 years on golf courses all over the world. Bob said “He only entertained to earn his green fees”. His Bob Hope Classic Golf Tournament raised over $35 million dollars for the Eisenhower Medical Center and 70 other charities that was close to his heart.
In writing this article I learned how a true American should live. Mr. Hope was an inspiration that gave unselfishly of his time, money and self for his country. I only hope that we can live up to his standards and carry out his traditions. We could all learn a valuable lesson from him.
Thanks Bob for the Memories!