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 Bob
Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS (born Leslie Townes Hope; May 29, 1903
– July 27, 2003) was a British American comedian and actor
who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio,
television and movies. He was also noted for his work with
the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining
American military personnel. Throughout his career, he was
honored for his humanitarian work. In 1996, the U.S.
Congress honored Bob Hope by declaring him the "first and
only honorary veteran of the U.S. armed forces." Bob Hope
appeared in or hosted 199 known USO shows.
Hope first appeared on television in 1932 during a test
transmission from an experimental CBS studio in New York. In
January 1947, Hope was master of ceremonies for the first
telecast by California's first television station, KTLA. His
career in broadcasting spanned 64 years and included a long
association with NBC. Hope made his network radio debut in
1937 on NBC. His first regular series for NBC Radio was the
Woodbury Soap Hour. A year later, The Pepsodent Show
Starring Bob Hope began, continuing as The New Swan Show in
1948 (for the same sponsor, Lever Brothers). After 1950, the
series was known simply as The Bob Hope Show, with Liggett &
Myers (1950–52), General Foods (1953) and American Dairy
Association (1953–55) as his sponsors, until it finally went
off the air in April 1955.
Regulars on his radio series included zany Jerry Colonna and
Barbara Jo Allen as spinster Vera Vague.
Hope did many specials for the NBC television network in the
following decades, beginning in April 1950. These were often
sponsored by General Motors (1955–61), Chrysler (1963–73)
and Texaco (1975–85), and Hope served as a spokesman for
both companies for many years. and would sometimes introduce
himself as "Bob, from Texaco, Hope." Hope's Christmas
specials were popular favorites and often featured a
performance of "Silver Bells" (from his 1951 film The Lemon
Drop Kid) done as a duet with an often much younger female
guest star (such as Olivia Newton-John, Barbara Eden, and
Brooke Shields).
In October 1956, Hope appeared on an episode of the
most-viewed program in America at the time, I Love Lucy. He
said, upon receiving the script: "What? A script? I don't
need one of these", and ad-libbed the entire episode. Desi
Arnaz said of Hope after his appearance: "Bob is a very nice
man, he can crack you up, no matter how much you try for him
to not."[cite this quote] Lucy and Desi returned the favor
by appearing on one of his Chevy Show specials (with Vivian
Vance and William Frawley) later that season.
Hope's 1970 and 1971 Christmas specials for NBC—filmed in
Vietnam in front of military audiences at the height of the
war—are on the list of the Top 30 U.S. Network Primetime
Telecasts of All Time. Both were seen by more than 60% of
the U.S. households watching television.
In 1992, Bob Hope made a guest appearance as himself on The
Simpsons, in the episode "Lisa the Beauty Queen" (season 4,
episode 4). The episode attracted 11.1 million viewers when
it premiered on October 15. His final television special,
Laughing with the Presidents, was broadcast in 1996, with
Tony Danza helping Hope present a personal retrospective of
presidents of the United States known to the comedian.
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