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VOICE ONE:
I’m Phoebe Zimmermann.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Dick Rael with the VOA Special English program PEOPLE INAMERICA. Today, we tell the story of Bob Hope. He was one of theworld’s most famous comedians. His life in show business lasted formore than seventy years.
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VOICE ONE:
Bob Hope was born in Eltham, England in nineteen-oh-three. Hisparents named him Leslie Townes Hope. Many years later, he begancalling himself Bob.
Leslie was the fifth of seven sons. He and his family moved tothe United States in nineteen-oh-seven. They settled in the city ofCleveland, 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 henever wanted to be anything but a funnyman.
Leslie attended Cleveland public schools. He sold newspapers andworked for a meat market and a shoe store. After high school, helearned how to dance. He also showed an interest in the sport ofboxing.
VOICE TWO:
When Bob Hope was eighteen years old, he asked his girlfriend tobecome his dance partner. They began appearing at local vaudevilletheaters. Vaudeville was the most popular form of entertainment inthe United States in the early nineteen-hundreds. Vaudeville showspresented short plays, singers, dancers, comedians telling jokes andother acts.
Bob Hope’s dance act with his girlfriend did not last long. Ashort time later, he heard that a Cleveland theater neededperformers for a show with the famous actor Fatty Arbuckle. Hopedeveloped a dance act with another friend, and they were chosen forthe show. The team performed briefly as part of Arbuckle’s travelingvaudeville show.
VOICE ONE:
Later, Hope formed a song and dance team with George Byrne. Theyperformed at theaters across the United States. The two men wereoffered work in a show on Broadway in New York City. But they didnot stay very long. They left New York to change their act and startover again.
They performed at a small theater in Pennsylvania. On openingnight, Hope was asked to tell the crowd about future shows at thetheater. The people liked the way he sounded. So did the supervisorof the theater. Hope then expanded his announcement to five minutes.
Bob Hope started to perform byhimself. He became skilled at standing in front of crowds andtelling jokes, often very quickly. He collected jokes and told themduring his performances. Hope did not wear special clothing or usetricks when performing. But he made funny expressions with his faceto make people laugh.
VOICE TWO:
Bob Hope returned to Broadway in the nineteen-thirties. Theatercritics 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 alsoworking in New York. Her name was Dolores Reade. She and Hopemarried in nineteen-thirty-four. They would stay together as husbandand wife for the next sixty-nine years.
After the musical “Roberta,” Bob Hope performed in a number ofother 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 andShirley Ross sang a song called “Thanks for the Memory.” Many peoplethink of Bob Hope when they hear this song.
(TAPE CUT ONE: “Thanks for the Memory”)
VOICE ONE:
In nineteen-thirty-seven, Bob Hope agreed to do a series of radioprograms called the “Woodbury Soap Show.” The next year, he agreedto do a radio show for another company that made Pepsodenttoothpaste. His Tuesday night radio show soon became popular. Hopecontinued doing radio shows for almost twenty years.
His success in radio led to a long-term relationship with a majorfilm company, Paramount Pictures. The actors who worked in Hope’sfilms also made appearances on his radio shows.
In all, Hope was the lead actor in more than fifty films. He alsohad small parts in fifteen others. Bob Hope never won an AcademyAward for his acting. However, the American film industry did honorhim five times. His series of films with actress Dorothy Lamour andsinger Bing Crosby became world famous. Hope and Crosby were closefriends. Here they sing a song from the movie “The Road to Morocco.”
(TAPE CUT TWO: “Road to Morocco”)
VOICE TWO:
Bob Hope began performing on television in nineteen-fifty. Hemade a special program for N-B-C television. His show included afamous personality, a singer and a beautiful, young woman. Hope usedthis successful combination again and again. He decided to avoid allthe work involved with a weekly television show. However, hecontinued making television specials every year untilnineteen-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 innineteen-forty-one when he and several other performers went to anair base in California. Later that year, the United States enteredWorld War Two after Japanese forces attacked the American naval baseat Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Hope attempted to join the armed forces. Hewas told he could better serve his country as a performer, buildingsupport for the war effort. So he took a team of performers to basesaround the country to perform his radio show.
VOICE TWO:
Hope and his team performed for millions of soldiers during WorldWar Two. He performed almost all of his shows at bases across theUnited States, Europe and the South Pacific. Listen now to part of ashow broadcast to soldiers after the war had ended.
(TAPE CUT THREE:”The Bob Hope Radio Show” )
Hope began what was to become aChristmas tradition in nineteen-forty-eight. That is when he and hiswife went to Germany to perform for troops involved in the BerlinAirlift. Later, he performed for American soldiers serving in SouthKorea, Vietnam and Lebanon. In nineteen-ninety, Hope and his wifeperformed for troops in Saudi Arabia. At the time, he waseighty-seven years old.
VOICE ONE:
Bob Hope was a friend to many American Presidents. He played golfwith Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and George Bush.Several presidents also honored the famous comedian. President JohnKennedy gave Hope the Congressional Gold Medal. President LyndonJohnson presented him with the Medal of Freedom.
United States Congress honored Hope four times. Innineteen-ninety-seven, Congress made him an honorary veteran of thearmed forces. He was the first individual so honored in Americanhistory. The following year, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth made Hope anhonorary knight. She recognized his work in films and his service toallied forces during World War Two.
VOICE TWO:
People in many countries celebrated Bob Hope’s birthday on Maytwenty-ninth, two-thousand-three. He was one-hundred years old. Thecelebrations 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 becamesick and developed pneumonia. Bob Hope died at his California homeon July twenty-seventh, two-thousand-three.
(TAPE CUT FOUR: “Thanks for the Memory” INSTEAD OF CLOSING THEME)
VOICE ONE:
This Special English program was written by George Grow. It wasproduced by Lawan Davis. I’m Phoebe Zimmermann.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Dick Rael. Join us again next week for another PEOPLE INAMERICA program on the Voice of America.