Today I salute you...Mr. Bob Hope!
Born Leslie Townes Hope in Eltham, London, England, Hope was the fifth of seven sons. His English father, William Henry Hope, was a stonemason from Weston-super-Mare and his Welsh mother, Avis Townes, was a light opera singer but later had to find work as a cleaning woman. The family lived in Weston-super-Mare, then Whitehall and St. George in Bristol, before moving to Cleveland, Ohio in 1908. The family traveled to the United States as passengers on board the SS Philadelphia. They were inspected at Ellis Island on 30 March 1908. Hope became a U.S. citizen in 1920 at the age of seventeen. And we were happy to have him! Born Leslie Townes Hope in Eltham, London, England, Hope was the fifth of seven sons. His English father, William Henry Hope, was a stonemason from Weston-super-Mare and his Welsh mother, Avis Townes, was a light opera singer but later had to find work as a cleaning woman. The family lived in Weston-super-Mare, then Whitehall and St. George in Bristol, before moving to Cleveland, Ohio in 1908. The family traveled to the United States as passengers on board the SS Philadelphia. They were inspected at Ellis Island on 30 March 1908. Hope became a U.S. citizen in 1920 at the age of seventeen. And we were happy to have him!
He went on to become comedian and a beloved film star, best known for his movies with Bing Crosby. However for many of us he will be a symbol of Christmas at a time when the world needed a little Christmas. I think we could sure use him right now.
Hope performed his first United Service Organizations (USO) show on May 6, 1941, at March Field, California. He continued to travel and entertain troops for the rest of World War II and later during the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the 1990–1991 Persian Gulf War. When overseas he almost always performed in Army fatigues as a show of support for his audience. Hope's USO career lasted half a century, during which he headlined approximately sixty tours. For his service to his country through the USO, Hope was awarded the prestigious Sylvanus Thayer Award by the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1968.
Of Hope's USO shows in World War II, writer John Steinbeck, who was then 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 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. A 1997 act of Congress signed by President 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."[citation needed] In his biography, Bob Hope: The Road Well-Travelled (1999), Lawrence J. Quirk writes that Hope was making sacrifices to entertain U.S. servicemen, whom he called "my boys".
Hope celebrated his 100th birthday on May 29, 2003, joining a small group of notable centenarians in the field of entertainment (including Irving Berlin, Hal Roach, Senor Wences, George Abbott, and George Burns.) To mark this event, the intersection of Hollywood and Vine in Los Angeles, California was named Bob Hope Square and his centennial was declared Bob Hope Day in 35 US states. Hope spent the day privately in his Toluca Lake, Los Angeles (north of Hollywood) home where he had lived since 1937. Even at 100 years of age and with failing health, Hope is said to have maintained his self-deprecating sense of humor, quipping "I'm so old, they've cancelled my blood type." He was reported to be worth in excess of one billion dollars, much of which had been made through timely investments in Southern California real estate. According to one of Hope's daughters, when asked on his deathbed where he wanted to be buried, he told his wife, "Surprise me." He died two months later at 9:28 p.m., July 27, 2003, at his home in Toluca Lake. Over the course of his life, Hope had entertained 11 U.S. presidents.....
"THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES"!!
"Thanks For The Memory"
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