Posted on 12/07/2019 4:23:47 AM PST by sodpoodle
I HOPE THIS WILL PUT A SMILE ON YOUR FACE AND IN YOUR HEART. This is a tribute to a man who DID make a difference.
ON TURNING 70 'I still chase women, but only downhill.'
ON TURNING 80 'That's the time of your life when even your birthday suit needs pressing.'
ON TURNING 90 'You know you're getting old when the candles cost more than the cake.'
ON TURNING 100 'I don't feel old. In fact, I don't feel anything until noon. Then it's time for my nap.'
ON GIVING UP HIS EARLY CAREER, BOXING 'I ruined my hands in the ring. The referee kept stepping on them.'
ON NEVER WINNING AN OSCAR 'Welcome to the Academy Awards, or as it's called at my home, 'Passover.'
ON GOLF 'Golf is my profession. Show business is just to pay the green fees.'
ON PRESIDENTS 'I have performed for 12 presidents but entertained only six.'
ON WHY HE CHOSE SHOWBIZ FOR HIS CAREER 'When I was born, the doctor said to my mother, Congratulations, you have an eight pound ham.'
ON RECEIVING THE CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL 'I feel very humble, but I think I have the strength of character to fight it.'
ON HIS FAMILY'S EARLY POVERTY 'Four of us slept in the one bed. When it got cold, mother threw on another brother.'
ON HIS SIX BROTHERS 'That's how I learned to dance. Waiting for the bathroom.'
ON HIS EARLY FAILURES 'I would not have had anything to eat if it wasn't for the stuff the audience threw at me.'
ON GOING TO HEAVEN 'I've done benefits for ALL religions. I'd hate to blow the hereafter on a technicality.'
I never got to meet him, but in 1975, I was recruited into the Navy music program for the purpose of joining his USO band for a tour in Southeast Asia for the Bi-Centennial and there was a rumor that he was behind the screen in the audition room. Unfortunately, by the time I completed boot camp and graduated from six months at the US Armed Forces School of Music they were helicoptering personnel out of Saigon and the USO Tour was cancelled. I ended up as “featured soloist” with the US Navy Steel Band (New Orleans) for their Bi-Centennial tour (over 400 shows in 48 states in 1976), but have always had small regrets for not being able to join Bob Hope’s troupe. The service he donated to this country isn’t measurable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mr1X5xjD12U
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