we’re morocco bound!”
most of my generation knew him as the guy with the christmas specials. the older fellow who brought on starlet guest stars like brooke shields or farrah fawcett or so on. and he liked golf. he really liked golf. and exxon. if i remember correctly (i didn’t at first), exxon texaco was always his corporate sponsor. and though my parents would laugh, i never really found him all that funny, but i liked him anyway. he seemed to be the all-american guy. this became more apparent when i learned about his work with the USO, how he’d been bringing entertainment of every stripe to america’s armed forces abroad for over fifty years. that dedication takes on an even deeper hue when you remember that he wasn’t even born here.
but then i saw my first “road” movie and i realized just what my parents saw. these movies were made in the 1940s. bob hope was in his comedic prime and at his side was the equally talented bing crosby. bob was the wise-acre nut who never got the girl on purpose, but would usually end up with her on accident. bing was the suave one with the cigarette, the sly grin and the voice to make the ladies swoon. they were hilarious. sometimes the jokes don’t work, but it doesn’t matter because you can tell that bob and bing are loving every minute of it.
and that’s the bob hope i will remember.
