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Bob Hope, 1903-2003: He Entertained People for More Than 70 Years |
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The comedian performed in movies, on television and for American
troops around the world. Transcript of radio broadcast: |
VOICE
ONE:
I’m
Phoebe Zimmermann.
VOICE
TWO:
And I’m
Dick Rael with the VOA Special English program PEOPLE
IN AMERICA. Today, we tell the story of Bob Hope. He was one of the
world’s most famous comedians. His life in show business lasted for more
than seventy years.
(MUSIC)
VOICE
ONE:
Bob
Hope was born in Eltham, England in
nineteen-oh-three. His parents named him
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Bob Hope |
Leslie
Townes Hope. Many years later, he began calling
himself Bob.
Leslie
was the fifth of seven sons. He and his family moved to the United States
in nineteen-oh-seven. They settled in the city of Cleveland, Ohio.
Leslie’s mother taught him how to sing. As a child, he had a good singing
voice. Later in life, Bob Hope often said he never wanted to be anything
but a funnyman.
Leslie
attended Cleveland public schools. He sold newspapers and worked for a
meat market and a shoe store. After high school, he learned how to
dance. He also showed an interest in the sport of boxing.
VOICE
TWO:
When
Bob Hope was eighteen years old, he asked his girlfriend to become his dance
partner. They began appearing at local vaudeville theaters.
Vaudeville was the most popular form of entertainment in the United States in
the early nineteen hundreds. Vaudeville shows presented short plays,
singers, dancers, comedians telling jokes and other acts.
Bob
Hope’s dance act with his girlfriend did not last long. A short time
later, he heard that a Cleveland theater needed performers for a show with the
famous actor Fatty Arbuckle. Hope developed a dance act with another
friend, and they were chosen for the show. The team performed briefly as
part of Arbuckle’s traveling vaudeville show.
VOICE
ONE:
Later,
Hope formed a song and dance team with George Byrne. They performed at
theaters across the United States. The two men were offered work in a
show on Broadway in New York City. But they did not stay very long.
They left New York to change their act and start over again.
They
performed at a small theater in Pennsylvania. On opening night, Hope was
asked to tell the crowd about future shows at the theater. The people
liked the way he sounded. So did the supervisor of the theater.
Hope then expanded his announcement to five minutes.
Bob
Hope started to perform by himself. He became skilled at standing in
front of crowds and telling jokes, often very quickly. He collected jokes
and told them during his performances. Hope did not wear special clothing
or use tricks when performing. But he made funny expressions with his
face to make people laugh.
VOICE
TWO:
Bob
Hope returned to Broadway in the nineteen thirties. Theater critics and
the public liked his performance in the musical “Roberta.” The show
changed his life in more than one way. One day, another performer took
Hope to meet a young singer who was also working in New York. Her name
was Dolores Reade. She and Hope married in nineteen thirty-four.
They would stay together as husband and wife for the next sixty-nine years.
After
the musical “Roberta,” Bob Hope performed in a number of other Broadway
shows. They included “Ziegfield Follies” and
“Red, Hot and Blue.” Hope’s acting success led to his first major film,
“The Big Broadcast of Nineteen-Thirty-Eight.” In the film, he and Shirley
Ross sang a song called “Thanks for the Memory.” Many people think of Bob
Hope when they hear this song.
(MUSIC)
VOICE
ONE:
In
nineteen thirty-seven, Bob Hope agreed to do a series of radio programs called
the “Woodbury Soap Show.” The next year, he agreed to do a radio show for
another company that made Pepsodent toothpaste.
His Tuesday night radio show soon became popular. Hope continued doing
radio shows for almost twenty years.
His
success in radio led to a long-term relationship with a major film company,
Paramount Pictures. The actors who worked in Hope’s films also made
appearances on his radio shows.
In all,
Hope was the lead actor in more than fifty films. He also had small parts
in fifteen others. Bob Hope never won an Academy Award for his acting.
However, the American film industry did honor him five times. His series of
films with actress Dorothy Lamour and singer Bing
Crosby became world famous. Hope and Crosby were close friends.
Here they sing a song from the movie “The Road to Morocco.”
(MUSIC)
VOICE
TWO:
Bob
Hope began performing on television in nineteen fifty. He made a special
program for NBC television. His show included a famous personality, a
singer and a beautiful, young woman. Hope used this successful
combination again and again. He decided to avoid all the work involved with a
weekly television show. However, he continued making television specials
every year until nineteen ninety-five.
VOICE
ONE:
For
more than fifty years, Bob Hope traveled around the world, giving shows for
members of America’s armed forces. It started in nineteen forty-one when
he and several other performers went to an air base in California. Later
that year, the United States entered World War Two after Japanese forces
attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Hope attempted
to join the armed forces. He was told he could better serve his country
as a performer, building support for the war effort. So he took a team of
performers to bases around the country to perform his radio show.
VOICE
TWO:
Hope
and his team performed for millions of soldiers during World War Two. He
performed almost all of his shows at bases across the United States, Europe and
the South Pacific. Listen now to part of a show broadcast to soldiers
after the war had ended.
(SOUND:“The Bob Hope Radio Show” )
Hope
began what was to become a Christmas tradition in nineteen forty-eight.
That is
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Bob Hope performing in Vietnam |
when he and his wife went to Germany to perform for troops involved in
the Berlin Airlift. Later, he performed for American soldiers serving in
South Korea, Vietnam and Lebanon. In nineteen ninety, Hope and his wife
performed for troops in Saudi Arabia. At the time, he was eighty-seven
years old.
VOICE
ONE:
Bob
Hope was a friend to many American Presidents. He played golf with Dwight
Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and George Bush. Several presidents
also honored the famous comedian. President John Kennedy gave Hope the
Congressional Gold Medal. President Lyndon Johnson presented him with the
Medal of Freedom.
United
States Congress honored Hope four times. In nineteen ninety-seven,
Congress made him an honorary veteran of the armed forces. He was the
first individual so honored in American history. The following year,
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth made Hope an honorary knight. She recognized
his work in films and his service to allied forces during World War Two.
VOICE
TWO:
People
in many countries celebrated Bob Hope’s birthday on May twenty-ninth, two
thousand three. He was one hundred years old. The celebrations
included the naming of a famous area in Hollywood, California as Bob Hope
Square.
Sadly,
Hope was too weak to attend. Two months later, he became sick and
developed pneumonia. Bob Hope died at his California home on July
twenty-seventh, two thousand three.
(MUSIC:
“Thanks for the Memory”)
VOICE
ONE:
This
Special English program was written by George Grow. It was produced by Lawan Davis. I’m Phoebe Zimmermann.
VOICE
TWO:
And I’m
Dick Rael. Join us again next week for another
PEOPLE IN AMERICA program on the Voice of America.