Hope: Entertainer of the Century (77 page)

President Roosevelt . . . launched a massive war mobilization effort
: Background on the home front in the years leading up to and during World War II is drawn largely from Doris Kearns Goodwin,
No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II
(Simon & Schuster, 1994).

“did Selznick bring them back?”
: Accounts of the ceremony in Wiley and Bona,
Inside Oscar
, and
Daily Variety
, February 28, 1941.

he entertained at a reported 562 benefits
: “Hope for Humanity,”
Time
, September 20, 1943.

Lamour . . . tried to keep up
: Lamour,
My Side of the Road
, 98–99.

seventy-two of them had to be removed
: Paramount publicity material, AMPAS archives.

“some of the most uninhibited”
: “The Groaner,”
Time
, April 7, 1941.

plans for a third in the series
: “
Road to Moscow
New Crosby–Bob Hope Trek,”
Los Angeles Times
, March 24, 1941.

“I thought David was going to knife me”
: Hope,
Have Tux
, 148.

“Why should we drag the whole show”
: Hope with Shavelson,
Don’t Shoot
, 73.

“I got goose pimples myself”
: Ibid., 74–75.

“It was our job to talk to the men”
: Schwartz, interview with author.

Even the term
GI
: Hope with Shavelson,
Don’t Shoot
, 76.

Pepsodent printed 4 million copies
:
Daily Variety
, September 29, 1941.

“I was such a beautiful baby . . . I remember my first appearance . . . Fan mail is like bread and butter”
: Bob Hope,
They Got Me Covered
(Bob Hope, 1941), 10, 32, 66.

“You can say it’s about a quarter of a million”
:
Time
, July 7, 1941.

“It’s not very often that I get mad”
: Bing Crosby, letter to the editor,
Time
, August 4, 1941.

Paramount’s No. 1 star and ranked fourth
:
Variety
, December 31, 1941.

“Other top-line funnymen”
: Wilkinson, “Hope Springs Eternal.”

“We were all too shocked”
: Hope with Shavelson,
Don’t Shoot
, 80.

CHAPTER 6: WAR

Hollywood was a changed place after Pearl Harbor
: Otto Friedrich,
City of Nets: A Portrait of Hollywood in the 1940s
(Harper & Row, 1986), 101–3.!

“to ensure completion of films”
:
Variety
, December 17, 1941.

“Sacrifices will have to be made”
:
Daily Variety
, December 8, 1941.

car chases were banned . . . as was the filming of battle scenes
: Louella Parsons, syndicated column, January 17, 1942.

Hedy Lamarr and Lana Turner sold bonds
: Friedrich,
City of Nets
, 105–9.

Jack Benny . . . found the raucous crowds too disruptive
: “Radio, Vaudeville & Camps,”
Time
, April 13, 1942.

“I find these audiences . . . like a tonic”
: “Bob Hope Typical Soldier Entertainer,”
Los Angeles Times
, June 15, 1942.

“We are all soldiers now”
:
Daily Variety
, January 20, 1942.

In Houston, the crowds packed the fairways
: Unidentified Houston newspaper article, February 13, 1942, Hope archives.

“If anything it was Bob Hope’s Victory Caravan”
:
Daily Variety
, May 1, 1942.

Hope came home physically exhausted
:
Daily Variety
, June 23, 1942.

The war didn’t deter a record crowd
: Wiley and Bona,
Inside Oscar
, 118–20.

Carroll . . . telephoned to thank Hope
: Hope and Thomas,
Road to Hollywood
, 44.

some British military officers, who complained
:
Variety
, April 15, 1942.

“Not only the funniest Bob Hope picture”
: Richard Griffith, “
My Favorite Blonde
Shows Bob Hope at Comedy Peak,”
Los Angeles Times
, April 13, 1942.

It broke records . . . and outdrew Hope’s previous hits”
:
Variety
, May 6, 1942.

one of Hope’s former movie stand-ins . . . suggested
: Faith,
Life in Comedy
, 140.

The trip was almost scrubbed
: Hope gives detailed accounts of the Alaska trip in
I Never Left Home
, 194–202; and
Don’t Shoot
, 90–93.

“It was a pretty scary night”
: Bob Gates, interview with author.

“I wouldn’t trade this trip . . . Hollywood won’t see so much of Hope”
:
Variety
, October 14, 1942.

“He was rejected every time”
: Dorothy Kilgallen, undated newspaper column, Hope archives.

“The greatest good you can do”
: Ed Sullivan, undated article in
Photoplay
, 1943.

No. 1 program in radio’s Hooper ratings
:
Variety
, October 21, 1942.

The camel improvised the spit
: Hope and Thomas,
Road to Hollywood
, 47–48.

“There were never less than three telephones”
: Faith,
Life in Comedy
, 146.

Hope got a call from a Paramount wardrobe boy
: Ibid., 146–47.

The evening began with privates Alan Ladd and Tyrone Power
: Wiley and Bona,
Inside Oscar
, 128–29.

Hope even squeezed in some last-minute reshoots
:
Daily Variety
, June 15, 1943.

“Take care of yourself”; “You know I will”
: Faith,
Life in Comedy
, 147.!

“I couldn’t let this exciting world”
: “How Mrs. Bob Hope Is Pitching on the Home Front,”
Screenland
, August 1943.

“there is no soap in the King’s bathroom”
: Hope,
I Never Left Home
, 33.

“I was sorry I wasn’t able to tell him”
: Ibid., 39–40.

“He finished out of the money”
:
Time
correspondent files, August 1943,
Time
archives.

“We soon discovered you had to be pretty lousy”
: Hope,
I Never Left Home
, 46.

In one ward Langford began to sing
:
Time
correspondent files, August 1943.

The prime minister did a double take
: Hope,
I Never Left Home
, 87.

“The most wonderful thing about England”
: Faith,
Life in Comedy
, 149.

“When the time for recognition of service”
: John Steinbeck,
New York Herald Tribune
, July 26, 1943.

an officer lent him
: Hope,
I Never Left Home
, 99–100.

“Frances and I were standing”
: Ibid., 130.

“I was bouncing like a rubber ball”
: Sidney Carroll, “Where There’s Life,”
Esquire
, January 1944.

“He is what the psychologists call”
: Ibid.

“It not only gives you a feeling of security”
: Hope,
I Never Left Home
, 157.

“A very wonderful guy”
:
Time
correspondent files, August 1943.

“I want you to tell the people”
: Stanley Hirshson,
General Patton: A Soldier’s Life
(Harper, 2003), 399–400.

“Bob came on the grandstand”
: Letter quoted in Hope,
I Never Left Home
, 205–7.

“After you’ve listened to a raid . . . the most frightening experience”
: Ibid., 162.

“I was in two different cities with them”
: Ernie Pyle,
New York World-Telegram
, September 16, 1943.

“Don’t you know there’s a war on?”
: Hope,
I Never Left Home
, 170.

“He flattered us”; “We’re too strong for ’em”
: Ibid., 178–79.

“When we were lost over Alaska”
: Ibid., 182.

“From the ranks of show business have sprung heroes”
: “Hope for Humanity,”
Time
, September 20, 1943.

The two worked together through the fall
: Faith,
Life in Comedy
, 156–57.

“I saw your sons and your husbands”
: Hope,
I Never Left Home
, vii.

“A zany, staccato but often touching account”
: Tom O’Reilly,
New York Times Book Review
, June 18, 1944.

“I think I was suffering”
: Hope with Shavelson,
Don’t Shoot
, 125.

drew an astonishing 40.9
: NBC advertisement,
Daily Variety
, March 6, 1945.

“Have plane coming north tonight”
: Hope,
Have Tux
, 248.

“In those days they were
enormous
”
: Faith,
Life in Comedy
, 158–59.

“Some days I became almost as nonchalant”
: Hope and Thomas,
Road to Hollywood
, 57.!

“The next day it was all patched up”
: Lamour,
My Side of the Road
, 140.

“We had Barney along”
: Bob Hope, “Now They Call Me Trader Corn,” syndicated newspaper column, November 12, 1944.

“Probably the biggest boost to our morale”
: Eugene B. Sledge,
With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa
(Presidio Press, 1990), 34–35.

“When did you get here?”
: Hope with Shavelson,
Don’t Shoot
, 144.

“You had to be careful”
: Patty Thomas, interview with author.

“Bob would tell people”
: Ibid.

“Hey, Dad, I think we’re in trouble”
: Ibid.

Barney Dean, who was petrified . . . some American cigarettes . . . local dance hall in gratitude
: Hope with Shavelson,
Don’t Shoot
, 144–45.

“He’s so used to seeing Bob going away”
: “Bob Hope and Troupe Return from Pacific,”
Los Angeles Times
, September 3, 1944.

“I don’t see how we can let you do that”
: Faith,
Life in Comedy
, 162.

“Just now I’ve been to Toronto”
: “Bob Hope ‘Suspends’ Studio—That’s His Version, Anyway,”
Hollywood Citizen-News
, November 9, 1944.

“I’m not underrating the importance”
: “Hope Suspends Studio, Studio Suspends Hope!,”
Los Angeles Times
, November 12, 1944.

“Some of the servicemen are boys”
: “An Open Letter to a Radio Star,”
Catholic Pilot
, November 17, 1944.

“I think if we came out with some publicity”
: NBC memo, “Bob Hope and American Variety,” Library of Congress exhibit.

“I think it is only fair to me”
: Unidentified wire story, Hope archives.

“most consistently violates”
: “Unchristian Hope?,”
Time
, December 11, 1944.

“Risqué stories—phooey”
: Undated letter to Hope, Hope archives.

“as unfair a charge”
: Ivan Spear,
Boxoffice
, December 30, 1944.

had to take off five days for an eye operation
:
Daily Variety
, May 9, 1944. Neither Hope nor any of his biographers mention the episode.

“showed that you have been under a terrific strain”
: Letter from Dr. Hugh Strathearn, January 12, 1945, Hope archives.

Hope’s contract gave him 50 percent
: Letter of agreement to Hope from King Features Syndicate, April 21, 1944, Hope archives.

Hope returned to host the Academy Awards
: Quotes and anecdotes from the ceremony from
Daily Variety
, March 16, 1945; and Wiley and Bona,
Inside Oscar
, 146–47.

Hope signed a new seven-year contract
:
Daily Variety
, May 7, 1945.

“When a star of Hope’s stature”
: Quoted in Faith,
Life in Comedy
, 169.

he spotted Maurice Chevalier in the audience
: Hope tells the Chevalier anecdote and offers a defense of Chevalier’s wartime activities in
Don’t Shoot
, 155–56.!

“Everything was different”
: Hope, “It’s Great to Be Home,” unidentified magazine article, December 9, 1945, Hope archives.

“Those boys in the stadium rose twenty-five feet”
: Hope, It Says Here column, August 15, 1945.