Thanks for the Memories, Bob

My favorite quote of his - (on the Academy Awards) "At our house, we call it Passover."

He and Dolores were married for 69 years. Isn't that amazing?

Heh heh, with all the innuendo and rrrooowwww in his routines, I like that he died married 69 long hard years

Hey, Mac and Cav. Boy did he ever have quite a few double entendres. I remember, as a kid, my sister took me to a movie called "Ghost Breakers." It was scarey, but Hope's comedy relief, eased the tension. That movie had a surprise ending, too. Bob, Crosby, and Dorothy Lamour were fantastic in the Road Movies. I do hope that AMC brings back some of those movies.

I grew up in Rockport, a coastal town. In the sixties Hope invested heavily there. Anyway, there was, and still is a motel there called the Sandollar. I was swimming in one of their pools with some friends, and we looked up and saw Bob Hope and other men walking up some stairs and into the lounge. Our mouths dropped open. I must have been 10 or 11.
A silly little story with really no meaning, but I can remember how we felt.
Thanks for the memories..

I suppose we all have to go at some point but what a guy eh? So sad to see him go.

Mac, what a great anecdote. Tuck that away in your hope chest of memories.

Yeah, fishin', "...and soonest our best men with thee do go, rest of their bones and soul's delivery."

And, of course, the worst ones do, too.

May favorite Bob Hope film is "Sorrowful Jones" with you-know-who.

A link to the Bob Hope page at IMDB:

http://us.imdb.com/Name?Hope,+Bob

Great picture, Mr. Wizard. Don't think I ever saw "Sorrowful Jones", which probably is why I don't recognize Lucille Ball.

What a great profile, Hope had. It rivaled Hitchcock's. Well, with his legacy of laughter, we can't be too sorrowful.

Does anyone think Bob gave up the ghost at the prospect of having to do a USO show for the current war? Maybe the shock was too much....

Ah, Cav. Leslie would love that quip. Sorta surprised me that his name was Leslie and that he was born in England.

One of his ribald quips about short skirts:

"If women's skirts get any shorter, there'll be two more cheeks to powder and another hairnet to wear."

Another movie that just came in to my mind. "The Cat and the Canary"
Good grief. Where did that come from?

"I bumped into Gerald Ford the other day. I said, 'Pardon me.' He said, 'I don't do that anymore."'

"I want to tell you, I was built like an athlete once -- big chest, hard stomach. Of course, that's all behind me now."

"Audiences are my best friends. You never tire of talking with your best friends."

"It's so nice to be here in... where the hell are we?"

Bob was a good soul.

I have an autographed copy of one of his books. I wonder what the value of it might be?

I remember reading once he was in a hotel elevator, uh, somewhere, and a woman saw him and asked him to say something funny. So he said "avocado".

The troops never had a better friend in the entertainment industry. I wonder who, if anyone, will try to fulfill that role.

Sad to see him go...but what a wonderful joy he passed along to us for so many years...and we can look back at those too---its a great thing....
Thanks for the memories

A reporter told this one this evening:

Bob's wife, Dorothy, recently asked him where he wanted to be buried. He said, "Surprise me."

I was with the 101st Airborne in Vietnam from 4/69-6/70. I was an engineer and we helped build the stage for his appearance at Camp Eagle, which happened to be on Christmas day, 1969. We ended up with pretty much front-row seats.
Ironically (I think that's the right word although maybe it should be incongruously?) a cease-fire was declared for a few days but we all, some few thousand strong Screaming Eagles gathered on the hillock still had our loaded M-16's with us.
The variety show that we were treated to featured some gorgeous young ladies called, if memory serves, "The Golddiggers." They were regulars on some TV show that was popular back then. The star female guest was, I think Elke Summer (spelling may be wrong and perhaps it was someone else). Neil Armstrong also made an appearance. That was a bit wierd because, quite frankly, we didn't follow the news too closely. The whole "man on the moon" story didn't have much impact.

Anyway, Mr Hope was in his mid-60's in 1969. His style of humor was probably out of date even then, failing to really connect with our age group, barely 20, or the ethnic composition of the combat soldeirs in VN: lots of blacks, Hispanics and poor white kids too "unconnected" to be exempt from the draft.

Bob Hope may not have been all that funny on that Christmas in 1969 but I will always hold him in high regard: he was, truly, a great person. -rjb-

<smile> Viet Nam vets...you and Morganwood, realjohnboy.

goodnight, my friends, from Florida

Oh mac11, that's priceless!
Geez, Hope, Hepburn, Peck, my Aunt May and Cousin Butch, the Reaper's been busy this year.