News Compass

Friday, May 30, 2003

Happy 100th Birthday - Bob Hope : And Thanks for the Laughs and Memories

On May 29,2003 (Thursday), Bob Hope celebrates his 100th birthday. The man is a legend. He is the King of the One Liners.

He was born in London on May 29, 1903, as Leslie Townes Hope. He emigrated to America with his parents in 1907. His first film appearance was in 1938 in "The Big Broadcast" singing what became his signature tune, "Thanks for the Memories."

Universal Studios Home Video made a release of "The Bob Hope 100th Birthday Tribute Collection," and there will be the NBC special "100 Years of Hope and Humor" and the unveiling of a plaque on one of the actor's four Walk of Fame stars.

There is a special website called "Bob Hope Military Tribute". In San Diego Bay, there is a landscaped area called The Tribute, honoring Bob Hope's long association with the military:

" As you walk across the terazzo bridge into a circle filled with historical memories, you'll enter the realm of one of America's greatest entertainers. Five bronze full-size statues of Bob Hope stand on the points of a granite five-star platform.

Let history come to life as you hear motion-activated recordings of Bob Hope telling jokes, while five full-size statues representing each military branch (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard) respond with the hearty laughter of those who so appreciated Bob Hopes efforts to improve their morale. "

He is not only a legendary comedian, but an actor and writer. Click here to see the list of films he had been involved through out his long career.

Ed Jensen wrote:

"Bob Hope, fragile and in declining health, hasn't been seen in public in three years, his last major appearances were two years before that, and his final performances in front of paying audiences ended not long after his 90th birthday.

Deaf, blind and secluded in his longtime compound in Toluca Lake, Calif., his public image still ferociously protected by his family, he's outlived his fame and virtually all of his contemporaries. He's famous now for being ancient, his reputation badly eroded by his last two decades of awkwardly performed TV specials.

He starred in 56 motion pictures. He was featured in 286 TV specials (The last in which he actually appeared was in 1994). He was host or co-host for the Oscars 18 times, still the record. He was on radio for 21 years, including in a series from 1938 to 1956. There have been 44 Bob Hope Classic golf tournaments.(His last appearance at one was in 2000).

He's made about 60 USO tours, beginning in 1942 and ending in 1990. He appeared in 34 consecutive years of Christmas shows at home and overseas, beginning in 1948. He's been strafed by German aircraft in Italy and Tunisia, and in 1964, the Viet Cong tried to blow up his hotel."

Click here to Bob Hope's Official website

Read here Ron Miller's close-up recollection of his friendship with Bob

A collection of Bob Hope's jokes (click here) " Bob Hope's Jokes For The Memory"

Here are some of Bob Hope's memorable one lines and jokes.

I'm so old that they've cancelled my blood type.

I do benefits for all religions - I'd hate to blow the hereafter on a technicality.

I grew up with six brothers. That's how I learned to dance - waiting for the bathroom.

I have a wonderful make-up crew. They're the same people restoring the Statue of Liberty.

A James Cagney love scene is one where he lets the other guy live.

If you watch a game, it's fun. If you play it, it's recreation. If you work at it, it's golf.

Middle age is when your age starts to show around your middle.

My father told me all about the birds and the bees, the liar - I went steady with a woodpecker till I was twenty-one.

People who throw kisses are hopelessly lazy.

The good news is that Jesus is coming back. The bad news is that he's really pissed off.

You know you are getting old when the candles cost more than the cake.

I love to go to Washington, if only to be nearer my money.

Zsa Zsa Gabor got married as a one-off, and it was so successful she turned it into a series.

I don't feel old. I don't feel anything till noon. That's when it's time for my nap.

If I had my life to live over....I wouldn't have time.

The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight, because by then your body and your fat are really good friends."

The toughest part of the course for me nowdays are the sand traps. It's not hard to get the ball out....the problem is to get me out, at my age!

Golf is my profession. Show business is just to pay the green fees.

I set out to play golf with the intention of shooting my age, but I shot my weight instead!

I asked my good friend, Arnold Palmer how I could improve my game, he advised me to Cheat!

Bob played golf with eleven presidents. He never knew which course they were going to play until the Pres. hit the first ball.

I have performed for twelve presidents and entertained six.

Oscar night at my house is called Passover.

Sailors on shore leave spend the first 6 days of each week sowing wild oats, then they go to chapel on Sunday and pray for a crop failure.

Out here in the Pacific, they have typhoons and hurricanes that blow over 200 miles an hour. We have tornadoes and hurricanes back home, but I don't worry about them. The mortgage on my house is so heavy that nothing could budge it.

Some of my jokes have been met with so much quiet, some monks named a vow of silence after me.

I've been in The Road to Singapore and now The Road to Zanzibar. I went up to my producer the other day and said, 'You name all my pictures Roads.' He said, 'Yeah, and we're going to keep naming them Roads, until you take the hint!

You probably know that (Hope's wife) Dolores is a devout Catholic. For years, she thought Norman Vincent Peale was a stripper.

President George Bush (I) speaking of the bombing of Pearl Harbor mistakenly said it happened on October 7, 1941. Bob noticed the error and kidded George by saying, "George is always prepared, always ready, in fact, he was ready for Pearl Harbor three months before it happened."

One of Bob's favorite golfing partners is Gerald Ford, "the man who made golf a contact sport." "You all know Jerry Ford -- the most dangerous driver since Ben Hur. Ford is easy to spot on the course. He drives the cart with the red cross painted on top. Whenever I play with him, I usually try to make it a foursome -- the President, myself, a paramedic and a faith healer. One of my most prized possession is the Purple Heart I received for all the golf I've played with him. "Whenever I play with Ford these days I carry 13 clubs and a white flag. I try to win only enough from him to pay my extra insurance premiums."

Bob has played with all of the Hollywood celebrities, some were pretty fair golfers. For example: "Jimmy Stewart could have been a good golfer, but he speaks so slowly that by the time he yells 'Fore!' the guy he's hit is already in an ambulance on the way to the hospital."

I can see where those books (sex manuals)would sell because, you know, it's not like golf where you can take lessons. And it's so hard to find a pro shop.