An American institution turns 100 on Thursday.
An American institution turns 100 on Thursday.
Leslie Townes Hope was born on May 29, 1903 in England, the fifth of five brothers. When their parents took them to the United States in 1907, young Bob, as he was soon to become known, was fascinated with his first long trip. No one then had any way of knowing that it would be the first of many long trips over many years.
Hope started his career while still in grade school by doing Charlie Chaplin imitations. When he saw that it made spectators laugh, he repeated it for even more laughs.
Growing up in Cleveland, he left school to take up a short career as a boxer before he landed in vaudeville. Hope learned jokes and studied many characters before developing his own persona – that of a fast-talking wise guy who usually loses the girl but never his optimism.
Hope got to know many comedians – Burt Lahr, Ed Wynn, George Burns, Jack Benny, Phil Silvers and others who would rise to the top of their profession. He joked and danced and sang his way to Broadway where the musical, “Roberta,” made him a big enough name to get his own radio show. It proved to be so popular that it landed him roles in movies, and his face became one of the best known in the world.
He teamed with crooner Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour in a number of “road” shows – “The Road to Singapore,” “The Road to Bali” and others – that were assured of success before they were even shot because of the trio’s popularity.
But Hope was to find an even more appreciative audience and one with whom he found a greater affinity. Shortly before the United States became involved in World War II, a co-worker said his brother was stationed at a military base nearby and that he and his buddies would welcome some entertainment.
Hope knew what it was to be far from home and feeling low, so he talked with other entertainers and they agreed to put on a show with him.
It was an unqualified success. Hope booked more such shows and as the country was impelled into the war, he found places to stage them – Africa, the Pacific, Europe and aboard ship – to put him on the road again. His wife, Dolores, gave him her unqualified approval and after their children were grown sometimes accompanied him.
After the entertainment, he invariably went to the base or shipboard hospital to visit those who could not attend. He had made dozens of trips by the end of the war, and continued them in peacetime, often having a holiday dinner with the troops.
When the Korean War broke out, he and his colleagues were off again. Vietnam followed, and Hope was there, then Desert Storm. In his late 80s by then, he decided further tours after that conflict were beyond his capability.
His country did not forget him. The Air Force named one of its planes, “The Spirit of Bob Hope,” and the Navy christened a hospital ship “The USS Bob Hope.” The honor that touched him the deepest, whether professionally or from the people at large, was when President William Clinton signed a bill making him an honorary veteran, the only such one in our nation’s history.
So, Bob Hope, a happy 100th birthday tomorrow from an appreciative audience called the world. No matter how much longer you live, we are able to say, in taking a line from your signature song in “Roberta,” thanks for the memory.
