received the best audience feedback when adding jokes to his act, and so he decided to try it alone as a comedian and master of ceremonies.
Hope reached the pinnacle of vaudeville success in 1931 and 1932, playing the venerable Palace Theatre in New York City. In 1932, Hope got a part in the Broadway musical revue "Ballyhoo." The next year, he gained major recognition playing the amiable, wisecracking Huckleberry Haines in the Broadway production of "Roberta." During this time, he met and married singer Dolores DeFina, a marriage that lasted the rest of his life.
On stage, he sang to Eve Arden in the 1936 Ziegfeld Follies, introducing the song "I Can't Get Started" by Ira Gershwin and Vernon Duke. His performance in Follies led to another successful role in "Red, Hot, and Blue," also in 1936, with Ethel Merman and Jimmy Durante. Hope made guest appearances on several radio shows in the early and mid-1930s, and in 1938 he began headlining his own NBC program, The Pepsodent Show. This highly rated series featured an opening monologue of topical jokes -- the influence of which can still be seen on late-night television talk shows.
Hope impressed audiences and producers in his first major film role, as Buzz Fielding in The Big Broadcast of 1938. With his co-star Shirley Ross, he performed what would become his trademark song: "Thanks for the Memory." Hope was given a film contract with Paramount Pictures and went on to star in more than 50 feature films, including Road to Singapore and six more pictures in the Road series with Bing Crosby. Over the years, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized Hope with two special awards (1940 and 1944), two honorary awards (1952 and 1965), and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award (1959).
In April 1950, Hope headlined an Easter Sunday television special for NBC -- "Star Spangled Revue" -- a live broadcast from New York. For almost five decades after that, he hosted nearly 300 comedy-variety TV specials for NBC and made hundreds of guest appearances on other shows. He was master of ceremonies for more Academy Awards presentations (19) than anyone else, including the first live telecast on March 19, 1953, and the first color broadcast in 1966.
Although Hope never officially served in the U.S. Armed Forces, he dedicated a significant part of his life to entertaining America's men and women in uniform, starting in 1941 and continuing through the Persian Gulf War five decades later. After giving hundreds of performances overseas, he earned the nickname "G.I. Bob" and in 1997 he became the first person recognized by the U.S. Congress as an "honorary veteran of the United States Armed Forces."
Hope's thousands of honors also included the Congressional Gold Medal and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Among his many friends were several U.S. presidents, with whom he often played golf for charity. Bob Hope died at his home in Toluca Lake, CA, on July 27, 2003, two months after his 100th birthday. For more information on Hope's life, visit: www.bobhope.com.
To learn about the history of the Postal Service visit the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum: www.postalmuseum.si.edu.
Claire Yezbak Fadden is the Associate Editor of LifeAfter50.com.
