1938 – Comedian Bob Hope makes his first film appearance, singing “Thanks for the Memories” in The Big Broadcast of 1938. Hope was born Leslie Townes Hope in Eltham, England, in 1903 and moved to Cleveland, Ohio, at age four. The son of a stonemason and a former concert singer, Hope worked as a newsboy, a soda jerk, a shoe salesman, and a boxer (under the name “Packy East”) in his teens. Later, he joined the vaudeville circuit with a song-and-dance routine, making his debut in 1924 in a Fatty Arbuckle revue. Hope began appearing in comedy shorts in the 1930s. He appeared on Broadway for the first time in 1933 and made his radio debut in 1935 as a cast member of The Intimate Revue. In 1938, he was picked to star in The Big Broadcast. Since he had already committed to a radio contract in New York at the same time, he moved to Hollywood to film the movie, and delivered his radio monologues via a long-distance wire hook-up to the New York studio. Hope’s popularity grew in 1939 with the film Cat and the Canary. In 1940, he co-starred with Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour in the Road to Singapore, the first of seven Road movies he made with Crosby and Lamour. In most of the years between 1941 and 1953, Hope ranked among Hollywood’s Top 10 moneymaking stars. He regularly appeared on television shows like The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. From 1953 to 1994, he hosted a Christmas television special that was broadcast internationally. Hope also tirelessly entertained American troops stationed throughout the world during World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars. He made more than 700 trips to American military bases and hospitals around the world, entertaining some 10,000 troops. These efforts earned him five special Academy Awards and the nickname “Mr. Humanitarian.” President John F. Kennedy once called him “America’s most prized ambassador of goodwill throughout the world,” and the United States Congress made him an “honorary veteran” in 1997-an unprecedented gesture. Hope has won more than 2,000 awards and citations, including 54 honorary doctorates, an honorary knighthood, and a Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 1985, he was awarded the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors for Lifetime Achievement. His accolades earned him the title “Most Decorated and Honored Entertainer” in the Guinness Book of Records.
Posted on: Sun, 09 Mar 2014 14:16:18 +0000
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