LOS ANGELES - Bob Hope, master of the one-liner and favorite comedian of servicemen and presidents alike, has died, less than two months after turning 100.
Hope died late Sunday of pneumonia, his longtime publicist Ward Grant said Monday. Hope's family was at his bedside at his home in Toluca Lake.
― j.lu (j.lu), Monday, 28 July 2003 12:53 (twenty years ago) link
― suzy (suzy), Monday, 28 July 2003 13:00 (twenty years ago) link
http://simpsons.metropoliglobal.com/famosos/9F02BobHope.jpg
― stevem (blueski), Monday, 28 July 2003 13:01 (twenty years ago) link
The ability to make people laugh is a wonderful thing. RIP Bob.
― C J (C J), Monday, 28 July 2003 13:33 (twenty years ago) link
― RJG (RJG), Monday, 28 July 2003 13:35 (twenty years ago) link
On a more serious note, RIP Bob.
― Lynskey (Lynskey), Monday, 28 July 2003 13:35 (twenty years ago) link
"Bob. Hope. IS. Dead."
NER-NER-NERNER
Saw a few of his specials and scratched my head but bits of the Paleface movies I saw seemed alright (if astoundingly unPC). Funniest bit of anti-Hope criticism I saw was in Bloom County when, having conquered a bunch of penguins, the US Army got in an offpanel Hope to deliver entertainment to the boys in uniform. After various bad jokes, the penguins started begging for the sweet release of death.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 28 July 2003 13:36 (twenty years ago) link
― Tad (llamasfur), Monday, 28 July 2003 13:38 (twenty years ago) link
RIP, Bob. I thought you were going to outlive me.
― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 28 July 2003 13:39 (twenty years ago) link
― donut bitch (donut), Monday, 28 July 2003 13:39 (twenty years ago) link
― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 28 July 2003 13:42 (twenty years ago) link
I suppose I could have just said 'state o' the art nosebleed techno riff circa 1991.'
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 28 July 2003 13:45 (twenty years ago) link
― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 28 July 2003 13:49 (twenty years ago) link
― RickyT (RickyT), Monday, 28 July 2003 13:50 (twenty years ago) link
This is a BAD thing?!?!?
How does one transcribe such riffs, actually?
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 28 July 2003 13:51 (twenty years ago) link
Isn't that an Aphex Twin song?
― NA (Nick A.), Monday, 28 July 2003 13:58 (twenty years ago) link
― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 28 July 2003 13:59 (twenty years ago) link
This was 15 years ago.
Surely, they meant it in the best way. I'm wondering how they feel now. "Oh my god, our record gave him 15 more years!"
― donut bitch (donut), Monday, 28 July 2003 14:02 (twenty years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 28 July 2003 14:04 (twenty years ago) link
― suzy (suzy), Monday, 28 July 2003 14:18 (twenty years ago) link
― RJG (RJG), Monday, 28 July 2003 14:20 (twenty years ago) link
― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 28 July 2003 14:31 (twenty years ago) link
― teeny (teeny), Monday, 28 July 2003 14:33 (twenty years ago) link
― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Monday, 28 July 2003 14:39 (twenty years ago) link
― Pete (Pete), Monday, 28 July 2003 14:40 (twenty years ago) link
― rosemary (rosemary), Monday, 28 July 2003 15:00 (twenty years ago) link
former president gerald ford ain't no spring chicken either ... he's 90!
― Tad (llamasfur), Monday, 28 July 2003 15:02 (twenty years ago) link
― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 28 July 2003 15:03 (twenty years ago) link
― Tad (llamasfur), Monday, 28 July 2003 15:06 (twenty years ago) link
Sounds like a job for Lance Lockarm...
― Larcole (Nicole), Monday, 28 July 2003 15:08 (twenty years ago) link
― Tad (llamasfur), Monday, 28 July 2003 15:09 (twenty years ago) link
― rosemary (rosemary), Monday, 28 July 2003 16:09 (twenty years ago) link
― Tad (llamasfur), Monday, 28 July 2003 16:11 (twenty years ago) link
― Bosse-De-Nage (Bosse-De-Nage), Monday, 28 July 2003 16:14 (twenty years ago) link
― Ally C (Ally C), Monday, 28 July 2003 16:43 (twenty years ago) link
Err...well...I think the Village Voice ran a story some years back about how Hope was still doing truly cringeworthy anti-Asian jokes in his non-TV stage shows as late as the '90's.
― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Monday, 28 July 2003 17:00 (twenty years ago) link
― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 28 July 2003 17:09 (twenty years ago) link
But that's another thread.
― ailsa (ailsa), Monday, 28 July 2003 17:09 (twenty years ago) link
― Orbit (Orbit), Monday, 28 July 2003 18:54 (twenty years ago) link
This has been rumored for a while.
― Christine 'Green Leafy Dragon' Indigo (cindigo), Monday, 28 July 2003 19:11 (twenty years ago) link
― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 28 July 2003 19:23 (twenty years ago) link
― Orbit (Orbit), Monday, 28 July 2003 19:27 (twenty years ago) link
― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 28 July 2003 19:29 (twenty years ago) link
― nickn (nickn), Monday, 28 July 2003 21:01 (twenty years ago) link
Actually, although it doesn't surprise me that he had horrible outdated prejudices, I liked a lot of his really old films. The Paleface ones, The Cat And The Canary and even the Road films, when in the right mood, so I am a little sorry.
― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Monday, 28 July 2003 21:09 (twenty years ago) link
― amateurist (amateurist), Monday, 28 July 2003 21:10 (twenty years ago) link
― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Friday, 1 August 2003 19:56 (twenty years ago) link
― nnnh oh oh nnnh nnnh oh (James Blount), Friday, 1 August 2003 20:00 (twenty years ago) link
― lawrence kansas (lawrence kansas), Friday, 1 August 2003 20:15 (twenty years ago) link
― N. (nickdastoor), Friday, 1 August 2003 22:33 (twenty years ago) link
Bob Hope is boxed!
http://somecamerunning.typepad.com/some_came_running/2010/05/omfg-its-a-bob-hope-box-set-featuring-the-longunseen-1939-the-cat-and-the-canary.html
― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 15 May 2010 15:06 (thirteen years ago) link
In praise of Bob
http://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/review/my-favorite-spy/1814
― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Friday, 24 September 2010 13:54 (thirteen years ago) link
suzy's opening shot here is some kinda self-defining masterpiece
― strongohulkingtonsghost, Friday, 24 September 2010 14:04 (thirteen years ago) link
not really, sincve she obv never saw his good stuff.
― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Friday, 24 September 2010 14:13 (thirteen years ago) link
i feel like kurt russell is hollywood's spiritual heir to bob hope
― progressive cuts (Tracer Hand), Friday, 24 September 2010 14:26 (thirteen years ago) link
that's a great review btw
― progressive cuts (Tracer Hand), Friday, 24 September 2010 14:28 (thirteen years ago) link
aw thanks, TH. I wonder how many 70-year-old fans have considered Bob's priapic gusto.
― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Friday, 24 September 2010 14:33 (thirteen years ago) link
Frank Rich on the recent bio, and the conundrum of Hope being irrelevant long before Woodstock:
Zoglin gleans what little he can. Clearly the straitened circumstances of Hope’s childhood left him with a zeal for financial success and security, which he achieved with hard work, his tough show business deal-making, and shrewd investments in oil and California real estate. Hope’s other principal compulsion was his addiction to adulation from strangers, whether the throngs he entertained on the road, his studio audiences (who were kept unusually close to the stage in a Hope-designed configuration of stacked rows), or the interchangeable sexual partners that he procured into his eighties.
But there’s no evidence that he enjoyed emotional intimacy with anyone. He was as much an absentee father to his four adopted children as he was an absentee husband. He and Crosby were not close; Hope’s writers were regularly demeaned and cashiered. Despite their shared Hollywood history and conservative Republicanism, Hope was not, as one might assume, a pal of the Reagans.
“Even to intimates and people who worked with him for years, he remained largely a cipher,” Zoglin writes. “He never read books or went to art museums, unless he was dedicating the building.”
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2015/mar/19/how-bob-hope-captured-america/
I would argue FR's assertion that Hope never worked with a 'major' film director, but I count Frank Tashlin as major.
― touch of a love-starved cobra (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 3 March 2015 15:25 (nine years ago) link
Thinking back on Bob Hope, one thing I notice from having watched so many hours of his television specials, guest appearances, and on-the-road movies, is that his comic persona in films was a smartass who was also a coward, while his later stand-up persona was just a smartass. He knew how to make that material work for him.
The stand up smartass never exuded any kind of warmth. His bond with his audience was entirely based on taking pot shots at various bigwigs the audience would like to see taken down a peg. After each zing he'd stand there smugly and bask in their laughter. His earlier film persona was more complex and physical. He'd alternately strut and crow, then flinch and cringe, his face dropping from exultation into fear, his backbone from solid to liquid. He had that character down pat and it was funny.
As a human being, everything I know about him is unattractive. In the last couple of decades of his active career the whole shtick became progressively more sour and he acted like a lord among his vassals, even onstage. His work on film in the late 30s and the 1940s is about all he left behind that has any real value at all.
― Aimless, Tuesday, 3 March 2015 17:07 (nine years ago) link
I've seen some TV sketches from the mid-late '50s where he's still fast and doing physical stuff. But yeah obv he was just lazy, in an aesthetic sense, from late middle age on.
― touch of a love-starved cobra (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 3 March 2015 17:10 (nine years ago) link
his TV appearances in the '50s often have few very bright spots amidst a general sense of listlessness. although that listlessness seemed to be an essential part of his persona by that point.
true, but tashlin hardly did his best work with hope.
it astonished me to remember he died just about a decade ago. he had been an anachronism as long as i'd been alive.
― I dunno. (amateurist), Tuesday, 3 March 2015 19:54 (nine years ago) link
Seeking the approval of as many strangers as possible, but disinterested in connecting with people one-on-one?
Dude was ahead of his time.
― Eric H., Tuesday, 3 March 2015 19:57 (nine years ago) link
Johnny Carson syndrome
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 3 March 2015 20:08 (nine years ago) link
Son of Paleface is maybe my fave Tashlin-directed film, a couple of the Jerrys and Rock Hunter its only competition.
― touch of a love-starved cobra (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 3 March 2015 20:41 (nine years ago) link
had never seen this one before Sunday... peak zaniness, BH impersonating Victor McLaglen. Funnier than Johnny Depp anyway.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJC1GHX9e6U
― the increasing costive borborygmi (Dr Morbius), Monday, 15 June 2015 19:26 (eight years ago) link
also at one point toothless Walter Brennan is awarded Bob for sexual purposes
― the increasing costive borborygmi (Dr Morbius), Monday, 15 June 2015 19:27 (eight years ago) link
Gilbert Gottfried did a bit about the awfulness of the Bob Hope Specials (and the rest of his Specials-era career) on a recent podcast episode which sounded compelling enough for me to do some YouTube sampling of some of the specials (bad, but no worse than his laugh-free appearance on The Golden Girls that was my introduction to him as a kid) and Cancel My Reservation (Cannonball Run-grade smugness and laziness, complete with phoned-in celeb cameos, but about what one would expect from a Bob Hope movie from the early 70s). But, this...my god:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZu-B_R5Ues
― rhymes with "blondie blast" (cryptosicko), Tuesday, 8 March 2016 18:45 (eight years ago) link
terrifying
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 8 March 2016 19:00 (eight years ago) link
So apparently Hope did a 1976 special called Joys, a spoof of Jaws in which a bunch of over-the-hill comedians (Don Adams, Milton Berle...) keep getting eaten by a great white? Disappointingly, only this one (shark-free) Phil Silvers clip seems to be around on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDomhndfCTc
― rhymes with "blondie blast" (cryptosicko), Wednesday, 30 March 2016 02:22 (seven years ago) link
I tried to watch Road to Singapore last night (never seen any of the Road movies) and was bummed at the lack of laffs. ah well. some comedy doesn't age well I suppose.
― Οὖτις, Friday, 20 January 2017 17:23 (seven years ago) link
"Morocco" and "Utopia" are funnier
― Josefa, Friday, 20 January 2017 17:28 (seven years ago) link
"Singapore" was the first and they didn't have the formula down yet. There's too much plot in it.
― Josefa, Friday, 20 January 2017 17:29 (seven years ago) link
yeah I guess I was expecting something a bit more hijinks-heavy, more schtick and less "oh how will these rascals avoid getting married"
― Οὖτις, Friday, 20 January 2017 17:34 (seven years ago) link
expected to see this thread revived with something like "today Hope died again"
― Ste, Friday, 20 January 2017 18:08 (seven years ago) link
Oh my god, I didn't even know he'd come back to life. Rest in peace again, Bob, however briefly.
― "Nay" (Old Lunch), Friday, 20 January 2017 18:19 (seven years ago) link
He would have had some awesome quips today
― Josefa, Friday, 20 January 2017 18:32 (seven years ago) link
road to morocco is def my fav
― Islamic State of Mind (jim in vancouver), Friday, 20 January 2017 18:38 (seven years ago) link
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/50155000/jpg/_50155460_12bobhope.jpg
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Friday, 20 January 2017 18:40 (seven years ago) link
Bob Hope was the wealthiest man in Hollywood, a deep-dyed Republican fat cat and a close pal of Richard Nixon. I'm pretty sure Hope's awesome quips would let Trump off easy and punch down at protestors.
― a little too mature to be cute (Aimless), Friday, 20 January 2017 18:44 (seven years ago) link
morocco's okay, i like my favorite brunette, this vapid prick shoulda died in the war (celluloid, cigarette)
― difficult listening hour, Friday, 20 January 2017 18:46 (seven years ago) link
Nixon didn't have any "close pals"
xp
― Οὖτις, Friday, 20 January 2017 18:47 (seven years ago) link
the best bob hope movie is love and death
― difficult listening hour, Friday, 20 January 2017 18:47 (seven years ago) link
He'd have worked this in somehow
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/08/47/bc/0847bc37d16b42a29469fe1f7aa9fd2a.jpg
― Josefa, Friday, 20 January 2017 19:11 (seven years ago) link
acc to last year's biography, Hope didn't have any "close pals"
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Friday, 20 January 2017 19:49 (seven years ago) link
also, Russia-bashing was p bipartisan back in the day
https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/bobhope/images/vc173.jpg
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Friday, 20 January 2017 19:50 (seven years ago) link
Forgive my sloppy phasing. I should have said they acted like they were close pals.
― a little too mature to be cute (Aimless), Friday, 20 January 2017 19:52 (seven years ago) link
I don't know if Hope met Dubya (or could tell him apart from Poppy by his late 90s), but if so i'm pretty sure he kibitzed with every prez from FDR thru Trump now, except for Obama
http://i.imgur.com/TALuERW.jpg
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Friday, 20 January 2017 19:54 (seven years ago) link
He didn't kibitz much with Carter because he was a rare non-golfing president
What's stayed with me from reading that recent bio is that Hope had no real interests other than golf
― Josefa, Friday, 20 January 2017 20:03 (seven years ago) link
also shtupping
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Friday, 20 January 2017 20:10 (seven years ago) link
yep
― Josefa, Friday, 20 January 2017 20:13 (seven years ago) link
I'd forgotten Viz had something of an obsession with Bob Hope dying.
https://img.fireden.net/co/image/1534/88/1534887345060.jpg
― Frozen Mug (Tom D.), Saturday, 18 January 2020 15:41 (four years ago) link
Son of Paleface is still an all-time live-action cartoon thanks to Frank Tashlin.
also the movies with Crosby are relentlessly queer right on the surface
― brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 10 June 2020 00:27 (three years ago) link
No Jobs, no Hope, no Cash...
― Donald Trump Also Sucks, Of Course (milo z), Wednesday, 10 June 2020 01:03 (three years ago) link
Somebody (not me) got a Bob Hope DVD for Xmas.
― A Little Bit Meme, a Little Bit URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 January 2022 02:56 (two years ago) link
I think we’ve had enough of this badinage, Robert.
― A Little Bit Meme, a Little Bit URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 January 2022 03:03 (two years ago) link
Bob just kissed what I can only assume are six of Josefa’s favorite ladies.
― A Little Bit Meme, a Little Bit URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 January 2022 04:26 (two years ago) link
His death not mourned as fervently as Betty White's because he actually made it to 100.
― Halfway there but for you, Saturday, 1 January 2022 16:09 (two years ago) link
And he was an enormous asshole, while she was a nice person.
― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Saturday, 1 January 2022 17:17 (two years ago) link
So it would seem.
― A Little Bit Meme, a Little Bit URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 January 2022 18:21 (two years ago) link
He was an asshole that made a living off of the troops. Plus he got plenty of ass doing it. A miserable human being. Not from me. I was Miss Palm Springs here and just turned 17. https://t.co/ljbp7EolEv pic.twitter.com/dJnqEqm0wb— Mamie Van Doren (@Mamievandoren) March 30, 2023
― Josefa, Friday, 31 March 2023 02:04 (eleven months ago) link