| Once when he was a little boy in England, Leslie Hope | | | | She lobbied the comedian to hire her little-known |
| (He later renamed himself Bob after a race car driver | | | | band leader husband Desi Arnaz for his radio show. |
| he idolized) wanted to pick an apple off a tree. | | | | She later regretted it when Desi slept with every |
| Symbolic of his career, he didn't want just any apple | | | | showgirl who applied for a job, with rumors flying |
| but the highest one possible. He lost his balance, fell | | | | about Hope ending up with his second choices. |
| and permanently changed the shape of his nose.His | | | | Delores Hope was as long suffering as Lucy was. |
| big break in Hollywood was getting the part Jack | | | | One time she was among a crowd waiting backstage |
| Benny turned down in the Paramount film "The Big | | | | for him after a live show. A reporter asked her,"Are |
| Broadcast Of 1938". The director Mitchell Leisen could | | | | you connected to Bob Hope in some way Miss?" "No, |
| not stand the star of the film, the ornery WC Fields, | | | | I'm just his wife."In the late 30s, Hope made fun of |
| who would run off the movie set and come back | | | | veterans on his radio show. Performing at army |
| too soused to do the required scenes, flub his lines | | | | bases was a way to bring up ratings. Then came |
| and scream for his lawyer. Liesen found Hope much | | | | World War II with Hope and a number of other stars |
| more cooperative, although he was a nervous ham in | | | | recruited by the government for a war bond selling, |
| front of the camera. Desperate to be a more | | | | victory caravan tour. Unlike many of the pampered |
| traditional leading man like Fred Macmurray, Hope | | | | celebrities who complained about the cramped |
| begged Paramount to pay for a nose job but they | | | | quarters on their shared train, the ex-vaudevillian |
| refused. It was in this film he got to sing "Thanks For | | | | Hope was exhilarated by the travel. It was no |
| The Memories" which along with his ski nose became | | | | problem for him to go overseas to entertain the |
| Hope's trademarks.For his radio show when Hope | | | | troops.At first Hope found America's homesick young |
| found out that Jack Benny hired two writers for | | | | fighting men to be the easiest audience he ever |
| $1,000 a week, he in turn hired ten writers for $100 | | | | faced. Jokes that would die in the states would get |
| a week each and hated paying. At times he would | | | | uproarious laughter from the troops. In the beginning |
| gather the staff at the bottom of a stairwell and | | | | Hope stayed out of combat areas, but then he |
| toss their paychecks down as paper airplanes. Other | | | | reasoned that those in actual battles needed him the |
| times Hope would interrupt his scribes intimacy with | | | | most. Hope became addicted to the to the danger of |
| their wives by calling their houses very late at night | | | | flying in planes that might get shot down or |
| to go over new material. For their part, the writers | | | | performing in places that had recently been attacked. |
| created the Hope movie character, egomaniacal, | | | | But he was greatly moved by the injuries he saw in |
| womanizing and cowardly, all but the last trait were | | | | hospital wards, and quietly help set up several of the |
| true.Hope's relationship with Bing Crosby was | | | | soldiers he met in their own businesses after the war |
| love-hate. In one of their early road movies | | | | ended. Later he could not understand the Vietnam |
| Paramount Studios filmed two endings in which each | | | | situation, getting in trouble when he repeatedly |
| of the boys ended up with Dorothy Lamour, to see | | | | suggested we should bomb the enemy into |
| which result audiences preferred. They | | | | submission. Hope's love for the troops stayed |
| overwhelmingly chose Bing which annoyed Hope, who | | | | constant, even in Nam when they booed him.Hope |
| got his costar back by constantly reminding him that | | | | got along great with all the Presidents he met, |
| he wore a toupee. In one scene both had to lie on | | | | whether he agreed with them or not. He once said |
| the same bed together (innocently, they were | | | | that Roosevelt laughed so hard at his jokes he |
| resting) and Bing refused to take his hat off. No | | | | almost voted democratic. He loved telling the story |
| amount of coaxing from Paramount executives could | | | | about a marine in World War II who was |
| get Crosby to change his mind, he did not want to | | | | disappointed that he had not killed a Japanese soldier. |
| hear Bob's toupee barbs. Hope later said the greatest | | | | At the edge of a jungle he tried to smoke them out, |
| acting performance he ever gave was smiling when | | | | by shouting," To hell with Hirohito!" It worked, a |
| Bing won his academy award for Going My Way | | | | Japanese soldier came out and shouted," To hell with |
| (1944).His frequent leading lady, Lucille Ball, was an | | | | Roosevelt!" But the marine lowered his weapon," |
| even match for Hope in the ambition department. | | | | Darn it, I can't shoot a fellow Republican. |