Thanks for the memories . . .

Bob Hope turns 100 next week. That does seem remarkable, of course, but Hope has always been pretty remarkable.

He is probably best remembered today as a fixture on NBC television, starring in several "specials" each year for nearly five decades -- variety shows with big-ticket guests, ranging from movie stars to TV stars to sports stars to politicians of the day.

And perhaps for the catch-phrase that turned up frequently during his monologues, "But I wanna tell ya. . . . "

Before that, Hope was also quite big on radio, where his wise- cracking persona fit perfectly with the audio-entertainment format.

Then there were all those overseas trips, as Hope and friends entertained the troops during times of war, which were also often highlighted on his TV shows.

Those who know Hope strictly from his TV work, however -- especially toward the end of his career, when he was reduced to introducing clips from past programs -- only know half the story. Hope was also a major movie star from the late 1930s through the early 1960s, often making several pictures a year, many of them major box-office hits. (In 1948, his West-ern spoof "The Paleface" was the No. 3 film of the year.)

Just about every stand-up comic from the 1940s to the present owes something to Hope's example of timing and how to set up a joke. And his movie work was equally influential. Woody Allen freely acknowledges that when he began making movies, he stole Hope's cowardly, womanizing movie persona as his own.

To acknowledge Hope on his hundredth, Universal Home Video has reissued a batch of his vintage movies on DVD, many of them double- feature discs, and R2 Entertainment has in stores a new three-disc set of collected clips that span Hope's TV career.

THE MOVIES ARE all Paramount pictures on the Universal Home Video label. Each disc retails at $14.98 and all are full-frame (having been made before widescreen lenses).

Some of the discs have extras -- vintage newsreels, mini- documentaries about Hope's movies and overseas tours, etc. -- and some of those extras are duplicated on various discs.

The best and most popular of Hope's films today are without question the "Road" movies he did with Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour. There are seven, all are available on DVD -- but only the first four are here (sold separately or in a four-pack box set for $39.98).

-- "Road to Singapore" (1940), "Road to Zanzibar" (1941), "Road to Morocco" (1942) and "Road to Utopia" (1945) are all worth seeing, filled with off-the-wall anachronisms, and Hope and Crosby addressing the audience. While the Marx Brothers did this sort of thing a decade earlier, Hope and Crosby made it an art form; Mel Brooks ("Blazing Saddles") and the Zucker Brothers ("Airplane!") owe a lot to these guys.

"Singapore" is great fun and has lots of energy (it was the first, after all), setting up the plot that was used (with variations) throughout most of the series, as Hope and Crosby swear off women -- until they meet up with Lamour -- and smarter Crosby double-crosses naive Hope to win her.

"Morocco" has that great title song, and Crosby actually sells Hope as a slave! (Look for young Anthony Quinn as a villain in both "Singapore" and "Morocco.") And "Utopia," set in the Klondike, boasts a dry-wit narration from Robert Benchley.

-- "Road to Rio" (1947), "Road to Bali" (1952; the only color "Road" picture) and "Road to Hong Kong" (1962) are also good and are available on various DVD labels.

-- "The Ghost Breakers" (1940) is the only other single-film disc here, a very funny haunted-house comedy, and one of Hope's most popular films. Paulette Goddard co-stars, and Quinn shows up here, too. This would have made a great double-feature with another ghostly comedy, "The Cat and the Canary," released the previous year and also co-starring Goddard. "Cat" made Hope a genuine movie star, and "Ghost" solidified his position. (Sadly, "Cat" has never been released on video.)

The six remaining DVDs are double-features:

-- "Sorrowful Jones" (1949)/"The Paleface" (1948). "Jones" marks Hope's first teaming with Lucille Ball (they made two more films together) in a remake of "Little Miss Marker." "Paleface," in color, is considered by many to be Hope's best movie; it's a hilarious Western co-starring Jane Russell, and Hope sings the Oscar-winning song "Buttons and Bows." (Why didn't Universal put "The Paleface" on a double-feature disc with the equally funny sequel "Son of Paleface"?)

-- "The Big Broadcast of 1938"/"College Swing" (1938). "Broadcast" stars W.C. Fields and Martha Raye, with Hope in support; he also sings "Thanks for the Memories," which would become his theme song. The self-explanatory "College" co-stars Raye, and George Burns & Gracie Allen (and look for young Betty Grable).

-- "My Favorite Blonde" (1942)/"Star Spangled Rhythm" (1942). "Blonde" is a spy spoof with Madeleine Carroll in the title role. "Rhythm" actually stars Betty Hutton and Eddie Bracken, with Hope, Crosby and others in a variety-show sequence.

-- "Caught in the Draft" (1941)/"Give Me a Sailor" (1938). "Draft" is a clever Army farce with spoiled movie-star Hope being drafted; Lamour and Bracken co-star. "Sailor" has Hope and Jack Whiting romancing Grable and Raye.

-- "Monsieur Beaucaire" (1946)/"Where There's Life . . . " (1947). In "Beaucaire," Hope is a hapless barber in the court of Louis XV. "Life" has Hope as a DJ who discovers he's heir to the throne of a corrupt East European country.

-- "Louisiana Purchase" (1941)/"Never Say Die" (1939). "Purchase" adds Hope's smart-alecky persona to a splashy, color adaptation of Irving Berlin's Broadway musical. "Die," with Raye, has Hope as a wealthy hypochondriac who thinks he's dying. (Danny Kaye fans should watch "Die" to see the pistol duel toward the end, as it features a routine resembling the "pellet with the poison" bit from "The Court Jester.")

THE TV BOX SET is titled "Bob Hope: The Ultimate Collection" (R2, not rated, b/w and color, $59.98, 3 discs). You'll find the monologues are dated, since they were all aimed directly at current events, but many of the skits are hysterical.

Oddly, the box -- and even some of the disc's menus -- have incorrect titles of the shows on display, some of which have been available on videotape for many years.

Disc 1 features "Highlights of a Quarter-Century of Bob Hope on Television" in two parts (labeled as "50 Years of Laugher," parts 1 and 2). These two shows are lengthy clipfests, which include some very funny moments. Extras include a text biography of Hope and a photo gallery.

Disc 2 has a pair of Christmas shows, "The Bob Hope Christmas Special: Around the World With the USO," a 1970 TV program that highlights his many trips to war zones (labeled "Salute to the Troops"), and "A Bob Hope Christmas," a 1993 retrospective with both skits and war-zone footage (labeled "Hope for the Holidays"). Again, some great comic moments. No extras.

And Disc 3 is a blooper show from 1984, "Bob Hope Presents the Hilarious Unrehearsed Antics of the Stars" (labeled "Celebrity Bloopers"). Some of these gaffes are riotous, as when Jack Benny turns to the camera and says, "This is the worst thing I've ever been in," or when Sammy Davis Jr. chastises the cue-card guy, saying, "I've only got one eye!" (Note Hope's monologue here, as he makes reference to the Miss America scandal of the previous year, noting that the new Miss America, Sharlene Wells, is a Mormon Sunday-school teacher.) Extras include Hope's first radio appearance, as master of ceremonies of "The Intimate Review" (1935), and two vintage movie shorts: "Paree, Paree" (1934) and "Calling All Tars" (1936).

E-MAIL: [email protected]

Copyright C 2003 Deseret News Publishing Co.
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.