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| "Thanks for the Memories" -- Bob Hope turns 100 |
| 2003-05-07 |
| by Mark Steyn Just a sample -- go read the whole thing. If you only remember one thing about him, itâs this: Bob Hope has made more people laugh than anyone in human history. Heâs the only comedian to have been, over the years, the Number One star in radio, in film, and then television, at a time when each of those media was at its highpoint. The Road pictures with Bing Crosby were the highest-grossing series in movie history till James Bond came along, his six decades with NBC hold the record for the longest contract in showbusiness, and his TV specials for the network remain among the most-watched programmes of all time. Plus heâs logged some ten million miles, playing up to 200 live performances a year until into his nineties. . . . Much of what we now take for granted as the modern comedy monologue â the delivery, the structure, the subjects â comes from the template developed by Hope. Larry Gelbart, the creator of "M*A*S*H", who wrote for the comedian in the early Fifties, remembers being on tour with him in England and standing in the wings in Blackpool with a local girl heâd picked up. Hope told a joke about motels and the girl fell about. âDo you have motels around here?â Gelbart asked. âNo,â she said. âDo you know what a motel is?â he asked. âNo,â she said. âSo why are you laughing?â âHeâs just so funny.â She has a point: by that stage, audiences were so attuned to the self-confident rhythm of his act that they laughed at the right spots without knowing quite what the joke was. . . . Steyn eschews his usual smartassery to deliver a moving and sensitive tribute to a great entertainer--one who spent a good part of his career bringing joy and laughter to our armed forces overseas. Thanks for the memory Of candlelight and wine, castles on the Rhine The Parthenon and moments on the Hudson River Line How lovely it was! Thanks for the memory Of rainy afternoons, swingy Harlem tunes And motor trips and burning lips and burning toast and prunes How lovely it was! Happy Birthday, Bob. |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #6 This is actually a very good column. People interested in Hope - as well as popular culture, movies, comedy, patriotism - will find this column interesting. Steyn delves into American popular culture of eight decades - the scope of Hope's career - to fashion an interesting thumbnail sketch of a remarkable American artist. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-05-08 02:49:10 |
| #5 My dad saw him at a place called Pavuvu with the First Marine Div. in 1944. Fell off a truck and broke his leg while trying to get a better view of the show. Which means he missed Pelielu. Which is probably why him (and me) are still alive. Thanks, Bob. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-05-07 21:27:20 |
| #4 Caught about a half-hour of the Bob Home show at Tan Son Nhut in 1970, before having to go to work. He is a class act, and always entertains. He seems to know instinctively what the audience wants, and supplies it. Happy Birthday, Bob. Hope I can say that for many more years. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2003-05-07 17:12:38 |
| #3 For Anonymous: This is probably the first time that Bob Hope won't be going to a war theater to entertain the troops since WWII; that's a LONG time! He made life a little more bearable for a lot of people in a lot of awful places. |
| Posted by: MommaBear 2003-05-07 15:54:06 |
| #2 Whatever Fred sez,goes.If it's alright with him,I ain't complainin',you know what I mean. |
| Posted by: El Id 2003-05-07 12:21:32 |
| #1 Great article...but why is it posted to Rantburg? |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-05-07 11:50:35 |