Thanks for the memories

When Bob Hope's candle of life went out, it marked the end of an era marked by comic legends such as Jack Benny, George Burns and Milton Berle, who not only seemed to pioneer the "science of comedy" in the 20th century, but also managed to revolutionize it for every new medium they performed in. Hope's centennial birthday was May 29. \nThose hundred years point as evidence to his ability to touch those he knew or entertained.\n"It's hard for me to imagine a world without Bob Hope in it," Woody Allen told The Associated Press. Allen said the 1942 film "Road to Morocco," in which Hope starred in, pointed him to comedy.\nIU School of Journalism Professor David Weaver served in Vietnam as a lieutenant in the United States Army Signal Corps, when Hope appeared for a show in Long Binh, South Vietnam in the spring of 1971.\n"I remember he got a huge turnout, with some soldiers climbing up telephone poles to get a better view," Weaver said. "He was funny then, even in the midst of a war, and very popular with the troops. I wondered at the time why anyone in his position would fly halfway around the world to such a hot, desolate, dangerous place just to entertain some G.I.s, especially for no pay. I think all he got was expenses and meals on these trips."\nBut Weaver isn't the only IU employee who has fond memories of Hope. Tom Lee, an IU Police Department lieutenant and a former G.I. who spent 11 years on active military duty, said Hope was instrumental in making G.I.s temporarily forget where they were.\n"Whenever you're outside the continental United States, it's a little piece of home he brought to those troops," Lee said. "They were familiar faces, entertainers."\nLeslie Towns Hope, who later changed his name to Bob as a stagename, was born in the English town of Eltham only a year after Queen Victoria, when horses and railroads were still the only reasonable ways of travel. He was one of seven sons to a stoneworker and a opera performer. The Hope family came to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1907.\nBob Hope serves as an example of an entertainer who played and captivated audiences in all the fields open to him, from the vaudeville to live appearances, on the screens of television and movie theaters. Hope began his career playing vaudeville and wound up conquering every medium he worked in. Some of his jokes were older than dirt, but nobody cared -- he was Bob Hope.\n"Audiences are my best friends, and you never tire of talking with your best friends," Hope said frequently.\nHe had reached vaudeville's pinnacle -- The Palace -- in 1930 and then went on to play leading parts in Broadway musicals with such stars as Ethel Merman. It was during this time period he met a nightclub singer named Dolores. In 1934, their 69-year partnership began. \nRadio spots came next, and in 1938 the toothpaste Pepsodent was willing to sponsor him, creating his own show. Then came Hollywood with "The Big Broadcast of 1938," from which the trademark song "Thanks for the Memories" came.\nHe got a movie deal with Paramount Pictures and began to team up with singer and entertainer Bing Crosby, who introduced him to a longtime love of golf. \nHope and Crosby made a series of seven films for Paramount now called "The Road Movies" -- "Road to Bali," "Road to Morocco," "Road to Zanzibar" and so on -- playing best friends who lie, cheat and make fun of each other in comedic competition for glory and Dorothy Lamour.\nComic films like the "Lemon Drop Kid" and "Paleface" followed. Hope made 53 pictures in all from 1938 to 1972.\nHe entered television in 1950, and his success continued. Even 40 years later, he could be counted on to pull in respectable ratings. He also appeared more than 20 times at the Academy Awards between 1939 and 1978, first on radio and then on TV, as presenter, co-host or host.\nBut one of his most well-known works, and perhaps his most prized work, was doing USO tours and traveling to entertain America's troops.\nHe originally tried to enlist, but was told he could be of more use as an entertainer. He played his first camp show at California's March Field on May 6, 1941, seven months before Pearl Harbor.\nHe did Christmas shows every year beginning in 1948 when "G.I. Bob" went to Berlin to entertain U.S. servicemen deployed to operate the Berlin Airlift.\nHis 1966 Vietnam Christmas show, when televised, was watched by an estimated 65 million people, the largest audience of his career. But his initially hawkish views on Vietnam opened a gap between the comedian and young Americans opposed to the war, who sometimes heckled him.\nLater, Hope said he was "just praying they get an honorable peace so our guys don't have to fight. I've seen too many wars."\nFrom World War II on, Hope didn't let age slow him down -- not when his country needed him. Even at age 87, he was entertaining U.S. troops in the Persian Gulf War and bobbing around the Mideast in helicopters.\nIn 1990, he traveled to the Persian Gulf to entertain troops preparing for war with Iraq.\nMany entertainers who went with Hope on his travels for the USO took away memories of their friend and mentor. Some said they remember taking off from a landing strip in a transport plane in Vietnam, whilesSnipers were firing at the plane from the end of the runway. Hope was seen sitting in his seat at an angle to limit his chances of catching a bullet.\nBarbara Eden went with Hope to the Gulf and remembered her favorite memory of him -- who often entertained with golf club in hand as a prop -- relaxing by hitting balls off the back of an aircraft carrier.\n"You remember Bob with a smile," Eden told the AP, "but, boy, I'm going to miss him."\nFor those who are skeptical of his influence through the USO, the latest commercials from the USO show mostly clips of Bob Hope on the road entertaining G.I.s. Hope is America's only "honorary veteran," and Secretary of State Colin Powell called Hope "a friend to every American G.I. for over 50 years."\nIt would seem safe to say Bob Hope and his one-liners always will be remembered. He had one for every occasion.\nHe once commented on a golf game with President Gerald Ford shortly after the Watergate scandal.\n"I played golf with Jerry Ford. I bumped into him and said 'Pardon me.' He said 'I don't do that anymore,'" he said.\nAt a Vietnam tour, Hope said to a crowd of G.I.s about Phyllis Diller, "She's so ugly, a peeping Tom would throw up on her window sill."\nThe last of the great American comedians of the vaudeville era has passed into our memories. And now that's all we have.\nHis candle has burnt out and it will never burn again. But so many people are so glad they saw that candle alight.