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70-678: It is home to the Island Waterpark at Showboat , and the largest arcade in New Jersey. On March 30, 1987, the Showboat Hotel, Casino and Bowling Center opened with a 60,000-square-foot (5,600 m) casino and a 60-lane bowling alley . The complex was built on land leased from Resorts International , just north of the under-construction Resorts Taj Mahal (which became the Trump Taj Mahal upon opening in 1990, now

140-479: A celebrity comic book titled The Adventures of Bob Hope to National Periodical Publications, alias DC Comics . The comic, originally featuring publicity stills of Hope on the cover, was entirely made up of fictional stories, eventually including fictitious relatives, a high school taught by movie monsters, and a superhero called Super-Hip . It was published intermittently and continued publication through issue #109 in 1969. Illustrators included Bob Oksner and (for

210-484: A lineman for a power company, Hope was assisting his brother Jim in clearing trees when a tree crashed to the ground, crushing his face; the accident required reconstructive surgery, which contributed to his later distinctive appearance. In his teens, he had also worked as a butcher's assistant as well as a brief stint at Cleveland's Chandler Motor Car Company in his early 20s. Hope and his girlfriend later signed up for dancing lessons, encouraged after they performed in

280-495: A video arcade called Starcade and a glow-in-the-dark miniature golf course sponsored by Glow Golf However, both the Starcade and Glow Golf establishments have closed, being replaced by the much larger Lucky Snake Arcade & Sports Bar in 2021. 39°21′42″N 74°25′5″W  /  39.36167°N 74.41806°W  / 39.36167; -74.41806 Island Waterpark at Showboat The Island Waterpark at Showboat

350-501: A 1942 legal document, his legal name appears as Lester Townes Hope; it is unknown if this reflects a legal name change from Leslie. After five years on the vaudeville circuit, Hope was "surprised and humbled" when he failed a 1930 screen test for the RKO - Pathé short-subject studio at Culver City, California . In the early days, Hope's career included appearances on stage in vaudeville shows and Broadway productions. He began performing on

420-547: A Boardwalk-themed area. Several years prior to the official opening, Bart Blatstein, a Philadelphian investor, developer, and owner of Tower Investments Inc, announced plans to build a waterpark in Atlantic City, in the Showboat Atlantic City complex, a former casino that shuttered in 2014 and reopened several years later as a hotel. The plan accelerated in late 2022 and by June 24, 2023, construction

490-556: A duet with an often much younger female guest star such as Barbara Mandrell , Olivia Newton-John , Barbara Eden , and Brooke Shields , or with his wife Dolores, a former singer with whom he dueted on two specials. On April 26, 1970, CBS released the Raquel Welch television special Raquel! ; in it Hope appears as a guest. Hope's 1970 and 1971 Christmas specials for NBC—filmed in Vietnam in front of military audiences at

560-426: A frequent White House visitor over the years. The special, though different from his usual specials, received high praise from Variety , as well as other reviews. Following a brief appearance at the 50th Primetime Emmy Awards in 1997, Hope made his last TV appearance in a 1997 commercial about the introduction of Big Kmart , directed by Penny Marshall . Hope helped establish modern American stand-up comedy . He

630-583: A golf club on stage during the week of USO performances he taped for his TV show The Colbert Report during the 2009 season. Dear Bob... Bob Hope's Wartime Correspondence with the G.I.s of WW2, written by Martha Bolton (first woman staff writer for Bob Hope) and Linda Hope (eldest daughter of Bob Hope), reveals the heart of the entertainer who became a best friend to the troops. Hope's first Broadway appearances, in 1927's The Sidewalks of New York and 1928's Ups-a-Daisy , were minor walk-on parts. He returned to Broadway in 1933 to star as Huckleberry Haines in

700-427: A non-gaming hotel. The "new" Showboat Atlantic City Hotel opened July 8, accepting reservations and welcoming guests. The new hotel featured only one restaurant, bar and coffee shop. The former casino space and House of Blues areas were closed off and decorated with images of Atlantic City on makeshift walls. The casino floor space was subsequently used for various conventions and events. In February 2018, Blatstein took

770-597: A preliminary step toward applying for a casino license for the property. Blatstein said "There is over a billion dollars worth of investment in that part of the town that should not be ignored," referring to the reopening of two shuttered casinos next to the Showboat, the Ocean Resort Casino and Hard Rock Hotel & Casino . Later that year, Blatstein also announced plans to convert 264 of the Showboat's hotel rooms into apartments. In early 2019, Bart Blatstein

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840-640: A professional boxer in his youth. In 1946, he bought a small stake in the Cleveland Indians professional baseball team and held it for most of the rest of his life. He appeared on the June 3, 1963, cover of Sports Illustrated magazine wearing an Indians uniform, and sang a special version of "Thanks for the Memory" after the Indians' last game at Cleveland Stadium on October 3, 1993. He also bought

910-833: A secretary from Chicago, Illinois, who was the daughter of Edward and Mary (McGinnes) Troxell. They were married on January 25, 1933, in Erie, Pennsylvania. They divorced in November 1934. The couple had shared headliner status with Joe Howard at the Palace Theatre in April 1931, performing "Keep Smiling" and the "Antics of 1931". They worked together at the RKO Albee, performing the "Antics of 1933" along with Ann Gillens and Johnny Peters in June of that year. The following month, singer Dolores Reade joined Hope's vaudeville troupe and

980-548: A series of seven Road to ... musical comedy films with Bing Crosby as his partner. Hope hosted the Academy Awards show 19 times, more than any other host. He also appeared in many stage productions and television roles and wrote 14 books. The song " Thanks for the Memory " was his signature tune. He was praised for his comedic timing, specializing in one-liners and rapid-fire delivery of jokes that were often self-deprecating. Between 1941 and 1991, he made 57 tours for

1050-521: A share with Bing Crosby of the Los Angeles Rams football team in 1947, but sold it in 1962. He frequently used his television specials to promote the annual AP College Football All-America Team . The players would come onstage one by one and introduce themselves, then Hope, often dressed in a football uniform, would give a one-liner about the player or his school. Hope was briefly married to vaudeville partner Grace Louise Troxell (1912–1992),

1120-480: A three-day engagement at a club. Hope then formed a partnership with Lloyd Durbin, a friend from the dancing school. Silent film comedian Fatty Arbuckle saw them perform in 1925 and found them work with a touring troupe called Hurley's Jolly Follies. Within a year, Hope had formed an act called the "Dancemedians" with George Byrne and the Hilton Sisters , conjoined twins who performed a tap-dancing routine on

1190-441: A week. The original staff included Mel Shavelson , Norman Panama , Jack Rose , Sherwood Schwartz , and Schwartz's brother Al . The writing staff eventually grew to fifteen. The show became the top radio program in the country. Regulars on the series included Jerry Colonna and Barbara Jo Allen as spinster Vera Vague. Hope continued his lucrative career in radio into the 1950s, when radio's popularity began being overshadowed by

1260-610: Is an indoor water park and entertainment center located next to the Showboat Resort along the boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey . The water park is the largest indoor beachfront water park in the world. The park features 11 slides, a surf simulator and nightlife entertainment, and covers 120,000 sq ft (11,000 m ), holding more than 317,000 US gal (1,200,000 L; 264,000 imp gal) of water. There are four restaurants and three bars and

1330-588: Is impossible to see how he can do so much, can cover so much ground, can work so hard, and can be so effective. He works month after month at a pace that would kill most people. Along with his best friend Bing Crosby, Hope was offered a commission in the United States Navy as lieutenant commander during World War II, but FDR intervened, believing it would be better for troop morale if they kept doing what they were doing by playing for all branches of military service. For his service to his nation through

1400-553: Is now a British Film Institute 'Centenary of British Cinema' commemorative plaque in his memory. He was the fifth of seven sons of William Henry Hope, a stonemason from Weston-super-Mare , Somerset, and Welsh mother Avis (née Townes), a light opera singer from Barry, Vale of Glamorgan , who later worked as a cleaner. William and Avis married in April 1891 and lived at 12 Greenwood Street in Barry before moving to Whitehall, Bristol , and then to St George, Bristol . The family emigrated to

1470-615: Is the largest beachfront indoor water park in the world. Showboat has a 3,500 sq.ft. spa, a fitness center, a pool and two gift shops. Prior to the addition to the former House of Blues, shows were performed in two venues, either the Mardi Gras Showroom or Mississippi Pavilion. Bob Hope was the first headliner at the resort. Other headliners included Phyllis Diller , Charo , The Judds , Ray Charles , The Spinners , Jack Jones , Alan King and Willie Nelson . Smaller Las Vegas-style revue shows were also sporadically booked in

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1540-537: The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City ). The grand opening ceremony featured Bob Hope and Al Hirt . The Showboat opened the city's first racebook in 1993, following the legalization in 1990 of casino simulcast wagering. Steelman Partners completed a major renovation in 1995, creating a Mardi Gras theme. In 1998, the property's parent company, Showboat, Inc. , was purchased by Harrah's Entertainment , later known as Caesars Entertainment. With

1610-756: The Jerome Kern / Dorothy Fields musical Roberta . Stints in the musicals Say When , the 1936 Ziegfeld Follies with Fanny Brice , and Red, Hot and Blue with Ethel Merman and Jimmy Durante followed. Hope reprised his role as Huck Haines in a 1958 production of Roberta at The Muny Theater in Forest Park in St. Louis, Missouri . Additionally, Hope rescued the Eltham Little Theatre in England from closure by providing funds to buy

1680-641: The Korean War , the Vietnam War, the third phase of the Lebanon Civil War , the latter years of the Iran–Iraq War , and the 1990–91 Persian Gulf War . His USO career lasted a half-century during which he headlined 57 times. He had a deep respect for the men and women who served in the armed forces, and this was reflected in his willingness to go anywhere to entertain them. However, during

1750-668: The United Service Organizations (USO), entertaining military personnel around the world. In 1997, Congress passed a bill that made him an honorary veteran of the Armed Forces. Hope was born in the Eltham district of southeast London . He arrived in the United States with his family at the age of four, and grew up near Cleveland, Ohio . He became a boxer in the 1910s but moved into show business in

1820-556: The " New Hollywood " era in the 1960s, he reacted negatively, such as when he hosted the 40th Academy Awards in 1968 and voiced his contempt by mocking the show's delay because of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and condescendingly greeted attending younger actors on stage—such as Dustin Hoffman , who was 30 at the time—as children. By the 1970s, his popularity was beginning to wane with military personnel and with

1890-715: The 1968 telecast, he quipped, "Welcome to the Academy Awards, or, as it's known at my house, Passover ." Although he was never nominated for an Oscar, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honored him with four honorary awards, and in 1960 presented him with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award , given each year as part of the Oscars ceremony. Hope's career in broadcasting began on radio in 1934. His first regular series for NBC Radio

1960-528: The 28-year-old Joan Collins in place of Lamour, whom Crosby thought was too old for the part. They had planned one more movie together in 1977, The Road to the Fountain of Youth , but filming was postponed when Crosby was injured in a fall, and the production was canceled when he suddenly died of heart failure that October. Hope starred in 54 theatrical features between 1938 and 1972, as well as cameos and short films. Most of his later movies failed to match

2030-560: The Boys' Industrial School in Lancaster, Ohio , and as an adult donated sizable sums of money to the institution. He had a brief career as a boxer in 1919, fighting under the name Packy East. He had three wins and one loss, and he participated in a few staged charity bouts later in life. In December 1920, 17-year-old Hope and his brothers became US citizens when their British parents became naturalised Americans . In 1921, while working as

2100-594: The Desert Storm tour, and granddaughter Miranda appeared alongside him on an aircraft carrier in the Indian Ocean. Of Hope's USO shows in World War II, novelist John Steinbeck , who then was working as a war correspondent, wrote in 1943: When the time for recognition of service to the nation in wartime comes to be considered, Bob Hope should be high on the list. This man drives himself and is driven. It

2170-469: The Lucky Snake Arcade and Sports Bar, which took over most of the empty casino floor space, giving Showboat a permanent non-casino attraction. It is New Jersey's largest arcade with over 100 games and attractions such as video games, bowling, skee-ball and other games. The area also features a sports bar with large screens and a full-size boxing ring. Island Waterpark opened on July 4, 2023. It

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2240-525: The Mardi Gras Showroom. The opening of The House of Blues in 2005 saw the entertainment bookings ranging from Cyndi Lauper to Elvis Costello to the White Stripes to Erykah Badu . Boxing matches are held at the casino. Upon the reopening of the Showboat, the hotel rebranded the former House of Blues as the Bourbon Room which rarely hosts concerts and other events. The hotel also introduced

2310-532: The New Jersey Casino Reinvestment Development Authority approved Blatstein's request for financial assistance to turn the space originally intended for a casino into a $ 100 million indoor water park. Blatstein also sought to have the park designated as an entertainment retail district project, allowing the park to qualify for up to $ 2.5 million in annual sales tax breaks for 20 years. In May 2021, Showboat opened

2380-459: The Showboat for $ 18 million, with plans to develop a full-service residential campus awarding undergraduate and graduate degrees and other professional training programs. The plan was derailed by legal issues, and Stockton sold the property to Philadelphia developer Bart Blatstein for $ 23 million in January 2016. Blatstein announced in June 2016 that the Showboat would reopen the following month as

2450-685: The USO, he was awarded the Sylvanus Thayer Award by the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1968, the first entertainer to receive the award. A 1997 act of Congress signed by President Bill Clinton named Hope an "Honorary Veteran". He remarked, "I've been given many awards in my lifetime, but to be numbered among the men and women I admire most is the greatest honor I have ever received." In an homage to Hope, comedian/TV host Stephen Colbert carried

2520-477: The United States aboard the SS Philadelphia , passing through Ellis Island , New York on March 30, 1908, before moving on to Cleveland, Ohio . From age 12, Hope earned pocket money by singing, dancing, and performing comedy on the street. He entered numerous dancing and amateur talent contests as Lester Hope, and won a prize in 1915 for his impersonation of Charlie Chaplin . For a time, he attended

2590-403: The actress most associated with his film career although he made movies with dozens of leading ladies , including Katharine Hepburn , Paulette Goddard , Hedy Lamarr , Lucille Ball , Rosemary Clooney , Jane Russell , and Elke Sommer . Hope and Crosby teamed not only for the "Road" pictures, but for many stage, radio, and television appearances and many brief movie appearances together over

2660-468: The day and performing in Broadway shows in the evenings. Hope moved to Hollywood when Paramount Pictures signed him for the 1938 film The Big Broadcast of 1938 , also starring W. C. Fields . The song " Thanks for the Memory ", which later became his trademark, was introduced in the film as a duet with Shirley Ross , accompanied by Shep Fields and his orchestra. The sentimental, fluid nature of

2730-446: The decades until Crosby died in 1977. Although the two invested together in oil leases and other business ventures, worked together frequently, and lived near each other, they rarely saw each other socially. After the release of Road to Singapore (1940), Hope's screen career took off, and he had a long and successful run. After an 11-year hiatus from the "Road" genre, he and Crosby reteamed for The Road to Hong Kong (1962), starring

2800-547: The early 1920s, initially as a comedian and dancer on the vaudeville circuit before acting on Broadway . He began appearing on radio and in films starting in 1934. Hope retired from public life in 1999 and died in 2003, at 100. Leslie Townes Hope was born on May 29, 1903, in Eltham , County of London (now part of the Royal Borough of Greenwich ), in a terraced house at 44 Craigton Road in Well Hall , where there

2870-490: The end of his career, worsening vision problems rendered him unable to read his cue cards. In October 1996, he announced he was ending his 60-year contract with NBC, joking that he "decided to become a free agent". His final television special, Laughing with the Presidents , was broadcast in November 1996, with host Tony Danza helping him present a personal retrospective of presidents of the United States known to Hope,

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2940-461: The game in the 1930s while performing in Winnipeg , Canada, he eventually played to a four handicap . His love for the game—and the humor he could find in it—made him a sought-after foursome member. He once remarked that President Dwight D. Eisenhower gave up golf for painting: "Fewer strokes, you know." He also was quoted as saying, "It's wonderful how you can start out with three strangers in

3010-479: The height of the war—are on the list of the Top 46 U.S. network prime-time telecasts . Both were seen by more than 60 percent of the U.S. households watching television. Likely the most unusual of his television specials was Joys! , a parody of murder mystery narratives, where the audience discovers at the end of the broadcast that Johnny Carson was the villain. Beginning in early 1950, Hope licensed rights to publish

3080-452: The highly controversial Vietnam War , Hope had trouble convincing some performers to join him on tour, but he was accompanied on at least one USO tour by Ann-Margret . Anti-war sentiment was high, and his pro-troop stance made him a target of criticism from some quarters. Some shows were drowned out by boos; others were listened to in silence. The tours were funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, Hope's television sponsors, and by NBC ,

3150-535: The last four issues) Neal Adams . While aboard RMS  Queen Mary when World War II began in September 1939, Hope volunteered to perform a special show for the passengers, during which he sang "Thanks for the Memory" with rewritten lyrics. He performed his first USO show on May 6, 1941, at March Field in California, and continued to travel and entertain troops for the rest of World War II, later during

3220-407: The late 1940s; however, as his ratings began to slip in the 1950s, he switched to television and became an early pioneer of that medium. He published several books, notably dictating to ghostwriters about his wartime experiences. Although Hope made an effort to keep his material up to date, he never adapted his comic persona or his routines to any great degree. As Hollywood began to transition to

3290-675: The legal guardians of Tracey, the youngest daughter of famous New York City bar owner Bernard "Toots" Shor and his wife, Marion "Baby" Shor. In 1935, the couple lived in Manhattan. In 1937, they moved to 10346 Moorpark Street in the Toluca Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles, where they would reside until their respective deaths. Hope had a reputation as a womanizer and continued to see other women throughout his marriage. Zoglin wrote, "Bob Hope had affairs with chorus girls, beauty queens, singers and showbiz wannabes through his 70s; he had

3360-408: The mid-1940s, with his radio program getting good ratings as well, he was one of the most popular entertainers in the United States. When Paramount threatened to stop production of the "Road" pictures in 1945, they received 75,000 letters of protest. Hope had no faith in his skills as a dramatic actor, and his performances of that type were not as well received. He had been well known in radio until

3430-447: The morning, play 18 holes, and by the time the day is over you have three solid enemies." A golf club became an integral prop for Hope during the standup segments of his television specials and USO shows. In 1978 he putted against the then-two-year-old Tiger Woods in a television appearance with the actor Jimmy Stewart on The Mike Douglas Show . The Bob Hope Classic , founded in 1960, made history in 1995 when Hope teed up for

3500-477: The movie-going public in general. However, he continued doing USO tours into the 1980s and continued to appear on television into the 1990s. Former First Lady Nancy Reagan , a close friend and frequent host to him at the White House, called Hope "America's most honored citizen and our favorite clown". Hope was well known as an avid golfer, playing in as many as 150 charity tournaments a year. Introduced to

3570-728: The music allowed Hope's writers—he depended heavily upon joke writers throughout his career —to later create variations of the song to fit specific circumstances, such as bidding farewell to troops while on tour or mentioning the names of towns in which he was performing. As a film star, Hope was best known for such comedies as My Favorite Brunette and the highly successful " Road " movies in which he starred with Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour . The series consists of seven films made between 1940 and 1962: Road to Singapore (1940), Road to Zanzibar (1941), Road to Morocco (1942), Road to Utopia (1946), Road to Rio (1947), Road to Bali (1952), and The Road to Hong Kong (1962). At

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3640-508: The network that broadcast the television specials created after each tour from footage shot on location. However, the footage and shows were owned by Hope's own production company, which made them very lucrative ventures for him, as outlined by writer Richard Zoglin in his 2014 biography Hope: Entertainer of the Century . Hope sometimes recruited his own family members for USO travel. His wife, Dolores, sang from atop an armored vehicle during

3710-535: The opening round in a foursome that included Presidents Gerald Ford , George H. W. Bush , and Bill Clinton , the only time three U.S. presidents played in the same golf foursome. The event, now known as the CareerBuilder Challenge, was one of the few PGA Tour tournaments that took place over five rounds, until the 2012 tournament when it was cut back to the conventional four. Hope had a heavy interest in sports beyond golf and his brief fling as

3780-762: The outset, Paramount executives were amazed at how relaxed and compatible Hope and Crosby were as a team. What the executives didn't know was that Hope and Crosby had already worked together (on the vaudeville stage in 1932), and that working so easily in the "Road" pictures was just an extension of their old stage act. Hope had seen Lamour performing as a nightclub singer in New York, and invited her to work on his United Service Organizations (USO) tours of military facilities. Lamour sometimes arrived for filming prepared with her lines, only to be baffled by completely rewritten scripts or ad-libbed dialogue between Hope and Crosby. Hope and Lamour were lifelong friends, and she remains

3850-525: The popularity of bowling on the decline, the bowling alley was closed in 2001, and the space was used for a new buffet and a coffee shop. In May 2003, the Showboat added a 544-room, $ 90 million hotel tower called the Orleans Tower. In 2007, the hotel remodeled its original tower, the Bourbon Tower. In June 2014, Caesars Entertainment announced the planned closure of the Showboat, even though

3920-504: The property was profitable. The move was made in an effort to stabilize Caesars's other Atlantic City casinos. After a buyer could not be found, the Showboat closed on August 31, 2014, at 4:00 p.m. It employed 2,100 people, but 470 of them were immediately hired at other Caesars casinos. The shutdown came amid a wave of closures of Atlantic City properties, with four of the city's casinos closing in 2014. On December 13, 2014, Richard Stockton College (later Stockton University) purchased

3990-623: The property. He continued his interest and support, and regularly visited the facility when in London. The theater was renamed in his honor in 1982. During a short stint in 1960, Hope became a part owner of the Riverside International Raceway in Moreno Valley, California , along with Los Angeles Rams co-owner Fred Levy Jr. and oil tycoon Ed Pauley for $ 800,000 (adjusted to $ 7.0 million in 2020). Les Richter

4060-465: The radio in 1934 mostly with NBC radio, and switched to television when that medium became popular in the 1950s. He started hosting regular TV specials in 1954, and hosted the Academy Awards nineteen times from 1939 through 1977. Overlapping with this was his movie career, spanning 1934 to 1972, and his USO tours, which he conducted from 1941 to 1991. Hope signed a contract with Educational Pictures of New York for six short comedies. The first

4130-530: The success of his 1940s efforts. He was disappointed with his appearance in Cancel My Reservation (1972), his last starring film; critics and filmgoers panned the movie. Though his career as a film star effectively ended in 1972, he did make a few cameo film appearances into the 1980s. Hope was host of the Academy Awards ceremony 19 times between 1939 and 1977. His supposedly-feigned desire for an Oscar became part of his act. While introducing

4200-528: The upstart television medium. Hope did many specials for the NBC television network in the following decades, beginning in April 1950. He was one of the first people to use cue cards . The shows often were sponsored by Frigidaire (early 1950s), General Motors (1955–61), Chrysler (1963–73), and Texaco (1975–85). Hope's Christmas specials were popular favorites and often featured a performance of " Silver Bells "—from his 1951 film The Lemon Drop Kid —done as

4270-440: The vaudeville circuit. Hope and Byrne also had an act as Siamese twins ; they sang and danced while wearing blackface until friends advised Hope that he was funnier by himself. In 1929, Hope informally changed his first name to "Bob". In one version of the story, he named himself after racecar driver Bob Burman . In another, he said that he chose the name because he wanted a name with a "friendly 'Hiya, fellas!' sound" to it. In

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4340-542: Was a comedy, Going Spanish (1934). He was not happy with it, and told newspaper columnist Walter Winchell , "When they catch [bank robber] Dillinger , they're going to make him sit through it twice." Educational Pictures took umbrage at the remark and canceled Hope's contract after only the one film. He soon signed with the Vitaphone short-subject studio in Brooklyn , New York, making musical and comedy shorts during

4410-490: Was approved to apply for a casino license. Blatstein planned to build a new casino in the lot in between Showboat and Ocean Casino Resort. Due to a deed restriction placed on Showboat by Caesars Entertainment, the building may not be used as a casino, so building a new building was a way around it. The new casino was expected to break ground in 2020. Plans were abandoned in favor of the water park. However, in December 2020,

4480-581: Was complete and the first VIPs were allowed to tour the park. Day passes for the waterpark are $ 89 per person. This article about an amusement park is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Bob Hope Leslie Townes " Bob " Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-born American comedian , actor , entertainer and producer with a career that spanned nearly 80 years and achievements in vaudeville , network radio, television, and USO Tours. He appeared in more than 70 short and feature films , starring in 54. These included

4550-648: Was made president of the raceway. Hope made a guest appearance on The Golden Girls , season 4, episode 17 (aired February 25, 1989) called "You Gotta Have Hope" in which Rose is convinced Bob Hope is her father. In 1992, Hope made a guest appearance as himself on the animated Fox series The Simpsons in the episode " Lisa the Beauty Queen " (season 4, episode 4). His 90th birthday television celebration in May 1993, Bob Hope: The First 90 Years , won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety, Music Or Comedy Special. Toward

4620-515: Was miles away in New York, on Broadway. More intriguing, there is no record anywhere of his marriage to Dolores, if it happened. And there are no wedding photos, either. But he never forgot Louise and quietly sent her money in her later years. Dolores had been one of Hope's co-stars on Broadway in Roberta . The couple adopted four children: Linda (in 1939), Anthony "Tony" (1940–2004), Kelly (1946), and Eleanora "Nora" (1946). Bob and Dolores were also

4690-561: Was performing with him at Loew's Metropolitan Theater. She was described as a "former Ziegfeld beauty and one of society's favorite nightclub entertainers, having appeared at many private social functions at New York, Palm Beach, and Southampton". His marriage to Reade was fraught with ambiguities. As Richard Zoglin wrote in his 2014 biography Hope: Entertainer of the Century , Bob and Dolores always claimed that they married in February 1934 in Erie, Pennsylvania. But at that time, he

4760-413: Was secretly married to his vaudeville partner Louise Troxell, after three years together on and off. I found divorce papers for Bob and Louise dated November 1934, so either Bob Hope was a bigamist, or he lied about marrying Dolores in February that year. He had actually married Louise in January 1933 in Erie when they were traveling on the vaudeville circuit. When he claimed he had married Dolores in Erie he

4830-541: Was the Woodbury Soap Hour in 1937, on a 26-week contract. Serving as the master of ceremonies for these Rippling Rhythm Revue radio broadcasts, Hope collaborated with the big band leader Shep Fields during this period of transition from vaudeville to radio. A year later, The Pepsodent Show Starring Bob Hope began, and Hope signed a ten-year contract with the show's sponsor, Lever Brothers . He hired eight writers and paid them out of his salary of $ 2,500

4900-473: Was widely praised for his comedic timing and his specialization in the use of one-liners and rapid-fire delivery of jokes. He was known for his style of self-deprecating jokes, first building himself up and then tearing himself down. He performed hundreds of times per year. Such early films as The Cat and the Canary (1939) and The Paleface (1948) were financially successful and praised by critics, and by

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