A tribute to Bob - Democratic Underground

LWolf

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Mon Jul-28-03 10:05 AM
Original message

A tribute to Bob

I don't care about his politics. I don't choose to indulge in the politics of hate.

Thanks for the memories, Bob.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/28/obituaries/28WIRE-HOPE.html?ex=1060056000&en=be453a18582bf495&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE

<snip>

There was nothing Bob Hope loved more than an audience, and audiences responded in kind, particularly soldiers facing combat who desperately needed a laugh. Some years ago, he chartered a yacht for a cruise in Canadian waters. It was one of the few formal vacations the comedian ever took, and he found he could not stand the serenity. He cut the cruise short and returned to Hollywood with the comment, ``Fish don't applaud.''

Mr. Hope, who made an art and a vast fortune out of the delivery of the one-line gag, thrived on applause. It was the secret of his youthfulness.

It was also an important source of the energy that allowed him to travel millions of miles to entertain American servicemen, far exceeding the effort of any other entertainer. From 1941 to 1948 he performed nearly all his 400 radio programs at military bases. And at an age when most performers curtail their activities, Mr. Hope continued to make his annual tours during the war in Vietnam, playing to the sons of the servicemen he entertained during World War II and the Korean War.

Servicemen, as well as several generations of civilians, delighted in Mr. Hope's style of humor, epitomized by his breezy monologues, which were tightly woven gags that mixed the topical with the fantastic.

He arrived in Saigon on the day that Vietcong agents blew up an American officers' billet. ``I was on the way to my hotel,'' he told an audience several hours later, ``and I passed a hotel going in the opposite direction.''

Mr. Hope excelled at a typically American brand of brash, timely humor. The wit was never very profound or subtle, but it was, at its best, irreverently poignant, carrying him through several immensely successful careers in the theater, radio, films and television.

Unlike most comedians who rose to success in the first decades of the century, Mr. Hope employed no special trick of speech, clothing or pantomime. His character, while essentially clean-cut, was that of a fast-talking wise-guy, a quaking braggart, an appealing heel with a harmless leer and a ready one-liner. One of his legion of writers, Melville Shavelson, who went on to direct Mr. Hope in two of his best films, ``Sorrowful Jones'' and ``The Seven Little Foys,'' once told John Lahr of The New Yorker, ``We took his own characteristics and exaggerated them. The woman chaser. The coward. The cheap guy. We just put them in. He thought he was playing a character. He was playing, really, the real Bob Hope.''

Woody Allen was among those comedians who often credited Mr. Hope as an influence on their own work. ``When my mother took me to see `Road to Morocco' I knew exactly what I wanted to do with my life,''Mr. Allen once said.

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wakfs

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Mon Jul-28-03 10:13 AM
Response to Original message

1. I never cared for man's politics

But then again, so what? Bob Hope was a funny guy, he made some funny movies, especially with Bing Crosby, and he dedicated a lot of time to entertain troops.

My hat's off to the guy.

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robbedvoter

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Mon Jul-28-03 10:19 AM
Response to Original message

2. I am bothered by the multiple threads worshiping this non-entity.

About as much as he was bothered by the fact that the killing of Martin Luther King postponed the Oscars (as the MC he joked about it all night long)

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LWolf

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Mon Jul-28-03 10:30 AM
Response to Reply #2

4. Worship???

No.

These threads are a DU response to a hate thread celebrating the man's death. You don't have to agree with his politics to enjoy his movies, and you don't have to worship him or anyone else to eschew hate.

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newyawker99

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Mon Jul-28-03 07:19 PM
Response to Reply #4

8. LWolf

Per DU copyright rules
please post only 4
paragraphs from the
news source.

Thank you.

NYer99
DU Moderator

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OneBlueSky

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Mon Jul-28-03 04:50 PM
Response to Reply #2

6. hey, he lived to 100 . . . deserves props just for that, imo . . . n/t

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papau

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Mon Jul-28-03 10:21 AM
Response to Original message

3. English kid, impressed by wealth and power - but made fun of both

He was a GOP spinner, and did the standard English sex commedy that dumps on women and treats them as objects, but he was not usually too offensive and was usually funny.

And Leslie Townes Hope (Packy East as an amateur boxer!) ended up married for 69 years to the same lady - Bronx night club singer Dolores Reade. That has got to get him a gold star!

May he rest in peace.

:-)

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bearfartinthewoods

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Mon Jul-28-03 10:49 AM
Response to Original message

5. oppps...sorry n/t

Edited on Mon Jul-28-03 10:50 AM by bearfartinthewoods

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Psychoblues99

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Mon Jul-28-03 04:56 PM
Response to Original message

7. Bob was a liberal in many respects. I don't know and can't comment

on his politics. I miss him. He is the example of a "Great American" in my book. Thanks, LWolf

Psychoblues

Dems Gotta Keep On Truckin'.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,..,,.,..,,.

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aquart

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Mon Jul-28-03 07:32 PM
Response to Original message

9. Nobody whose movies I'd rather clean house to.

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aquart

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Mon Jul-28-03 07:36 PM
Response to Original message

10. He earned the right to his conservatism.

Flying out to entertain troops in war zones is not the safest, comfiest activity on the planet.

He never failed them until his health failed.

He served. You?

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dflprincess

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Mon Jul-28-03 08:12 PM
Response to Reply #10

12. I agree

I said this in another post. I didn't like his politics and I found his humor too sexist (though I like his earlier stuff), but he gave up a lot Christmases with his family and he did put himself at risk entertain troops and deserves credit for that.

I don't think any of us who haven't been in the service can appreciate how important the USO shows are. My dad was in the Pacific and, while he never saw Bob Hope, every year when we watched the Christmas special on TV, he would talk about the shows he saw and what a relief those were.

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laylah

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Mon Jul-28-03 08:03 PM
Response to Original message

11. what a shining soul he was........

and may all the souls in the Universe benefit from his bright light as much as we did......thanks for the memories, Mr. Hope :toast:

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