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Bob Hope, R.I.P.
MSNBC

Posted on 07/28/2003 6:09:46 AM PDT by leadpenny

Just Breaking.


TOPICS: Breaking News; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: thanksforthememories
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To: man of Yosemite
Thanks for the great picture of Bob Hope. I count myself fortunate to have seen one of his USO shows in Okinawa in 1971. He was a great American, a man who truly cared about our guys in harms way. He will be sorely missed!

My brother in law was an MP in the Marines in Okinawa about that time, and helped with security for the Bob Hope show. Might have been the same one you saw.

221 posted on 07/28/2003 7:21:52 AM PDT by luigi
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To: leadpenny
HONORARY VETERAN

"My Greatest Honor",Bob Hope

Rest in Peace, Mr. Hope

Thanks for the Memories.

222 posted on 07/28/2003 7:23:00 AM PDT by Militiaman7 (Congress steals my pension because I'm a Retired Disabled Vet. http://www.SupporttheVets.com)
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To: AppyPappy
It wasn't copyrighted so we could read it.

According to copyright law, the act of writing something establishes the copyright.

So stop reading these words.

223 posted on 07/28/2003 7:23:52 AM PDT by Lazamataz (PROUDLY POSTING WITHOUT READING THE ARTICLE SINCE 1999!)
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To: Lazamataz
I don't know whether to thank you or curse you for posting that link . . .

What an eye-opener!

224 posted on 07/28/2003 7:26:49 AM PDT by BraveMan
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To: Lazamataz
I just read that DU thread and to be fair it mainly seems to be the handywork of just one miserable old bloke on meds. He also said something about hoping Reagan would stop drooling soon. Most of the posters were pretty appalled by it too.

Pretty sad to see there are people like that though.

This is a great birthday tribute from the Telegraph. Funny quotes in bold:

Hope reaches 100 - and he's still on the road

By Marcus Warren

(Filed: 29/05/2003)

America's best-loved comedian, one of the giants of 20th century entertainment, celebrates his 100th birthday today with the whole nation joining in the party across the country.

Bob Hope, frail, hard of hearing and with failing eyesight, is unlikely to put in an appearance but the rest of America will be saluting the star.

"Bob Hope Day" will be marked with the dedication of a "Bob Hope Square" on Sunset Boulevard and a Hollywood flypast of Second World War planes, along with a host of television tributes.

He still enjoys a good gag even if he no longer delivers one-liners with the same panache as in the past. All the same, his family quote the master as cracking one new birthday joke, typically at his own expense.

"I'm so old, they've cancelled my blood type," he is said to have quipped.

"Yes, there will be a birthday cake with 100 candles," his wife of 69 years, Dolores, has added, not to be outdone. "With a fireman standing by with a fire extinguisher."

Born in a terraced house in Eltham, Leslie Townes Hope left south London and then Britain behind as a young boy.

"I left England at the age of four when I found out I couldn't be king," he once joked.

He never forgot the land of his birth and stepped in to save Eltham's local theatre from closure 20 years ago. Hope is one of a handful of Americans to be awarded an honorary knighthood.

In his adopted homeland, he was granted the status of near royalty, a golfing partner to presidents and a patriotic hero thanks to his shows for American troops abroad.

The recent Gulf war was the first major conflict involving United States forces since the First World War to be fought without a morale-boosting front line appearance from the old master.

His efforts earned him the nickname "GI Bob". He specialised in middle-brow gags for Middle America. His sense of humour was gentle, rarely risque and was mocking of himself rather than others.

He avoided subjects beloved of today's comedians such as sex, race or politics although he did once tell American soldiers in Vietnam: "Technically, we're not at war. So, remember if you're shot - technically, it doesn't hurt."

He also spoke for "the silent majority" across America that supported Richard Nixon as president before the Watergate scandal led to his resignation when he joked: "Students are revolting all over the world.

"I don't know what they're revolting about. I just know they're revolting."

He must be the last artist alive who can claim to have mastered every major show business genre of the 20th century: vaudeville, radio, cinema and television.

His string of Road pictures with Bing Crosby were the first big earning series in film history.

He won numerous honorary Oscars for his talents and hosted the Academy Awards ceremony so many times that he turned it into his own stand-up show.

But he never won an Oscar for his acting. "I would have won the Academy Award if not for one thing - my pictures," he joked. "Oscar night at my house is called Passover."

Nevertheless, he had always an acute grasp of the business of mass entertainment and became one of the first stars to invest his money successfully outside the film industry and buying up huge swaths of Beverly Hills property.

It took the young talent some time to make it big. He once worked as a newspaper reporter, boxed under the name of Packy East, played third billing to Siamese twins and trained seals and worked as a warm-up for the comedian Fatty Arbuckle.

His greatest enthusiasm in later years was golf. Presidents, keen for the Bob Hope magic to rub off on them, queued up for the chance to play a round of the game with the star.

Among his partners over the years were Dwight D Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George Bush Snr and Bill Clinton.

Hope played a foursome with a trio of presidents past and present as recently as 1995.

"Clinton had the best score, Ford the most errors and Bush the most hits," he said afterwards. "Me, I cheated better than ever."

Mr Hope gave his name to a pro-am tournament held in Palm Springs and he and his wife, who turned 100 herself on Tuesday, live in a golf estate in Toluca Lake, also in California.

Birthday cakes were served yesterday to members of the local community where the couple have lived since 1937.


225 posted on 07/28/2003 7:27:03 AM PDT by jjbrouwer (Sometimes THE GREATS come back...)
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To: leadpenny
A sad day that Mr. Hope would only make fun of, as this was his style. I'll miss you!
226 posted on 07/28/2003 7:27:14 AM PDT by RedWing9 (Apparently, the Hockey God's don't love us much this year...)
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To: leadpenny
Rest in peace. And thanks for the memories.
227 posted on 07/28/2003 7:27:50 AM PDT by Carolina
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Comment #228 Removed by Moderator

To: leadpenny
Again...?!
229 posted on 07/28/2003 7:33:49 AM PDT by paulklenk (Freedom isn't free.)
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To: BraveMan; jjbrouwer
I just read that DU thread and to be fair it mainly seems to be the handywork of just one miserable old bloke on meds

Yeah, I guess I have to concede that. Besides, Admin Mod removed the linky-poo.

230 posted on 07/28/2003 7:34:10 AM PDT by Lazamataz (PROUDLY POSTING WITHOUT READING THE ARTICLE SINCE 1999!)
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To: leadpenny
I always loved his Christmas shows on TV.
231 posted on 07/28/2003 7:35:06 AM PDT by Betteboop
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To: bellas_sister

232 posted on 07/28/2003 7:36:02 AM PDT by EternalVigilance
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To: leadpenny
My late mother -- also born and raised in Cleveland -- was in show business when Bob was starting out in the dance team of Hope and Durbin. She performed on the same playbill with Hope and his partner.

I would suspect that about now, Mom and Bob are arm in arm doing a little softshoe number down some heavenly golden street.

Thanks, Bob, for the memories...

233 posted on 07/28/2003 7:37:45 AM PDT by Dick Bachert
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To: Betteboop

234 posted on 07/28/2003 7:39:01 AM PDT by EternalVigilance
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To: Dick Bachert

235 posted on 07/28/2003 7:40:43 AM PDT by EternalVigilance
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To: TheBigB
Yes, the Lemon-Drop Kid. Great one.
236 posted on 07/28/2003 7:41:08 AM PDT by My back yard (My he rest in peace..Bob Hope -- 100 yrs young.)
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To: Dick Bachert

237 posted on 07/28/2003 7:42:22 AM PDT by EternalVigilance
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To: Dick Bachert
Bob Hope in his joke vault:


238 posted on 07/28/2003 7:43:54 AM PDT by EternalVigilance
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To: My back yard

239 posted on 07/28/2003 7:45:14 AM PDT by EternalVigilance
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To: leadpenny
God bless Bob Hope. Although I never had the opportunity to see Mr. Hope, I know that he holds a very special place in the hearts of all veterans especially those who did. His name was appropriate to those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country. For hope and faith were all the rations we had sometimes. Thank you, Mr. Hope. Semper Fi
240 posted on 07/28/2003 7:45:37 AM PDT by kellynla ("C" 1/5 1st Mar Div Viet Nam '69 & '70 Semper Fi)
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