perhaps 50 years ago, Bob Hope played Wichita, Kans. He was booked into "The Forum", an old cavernous auditorium that was torn down about 1960 (he stood on the stage you can see in the pic)....he was introduced, walked out slowly and gazed at the audience in the hanging balconies...and looked...and looked......and finally, after 15-20 seconds, he leaned over to the microphone with a quizzical look and asked:

"....ummm...what time do the bats fly out?"

the audience howled!

this was LONG before I cared about his politics or worried that his humor was dated...It may be that writer gave him that line *shrug*, but it was **HOPE** that delivered it, and it was classic.

I don't CARE that he got rich from his trips to Korea, etc..he went! Every Christmas for years, and many other times in between. He actually risked his neck a few times, and he did what was needed, when it was needed. I'd rather he had had been a bit 'different' in his attitudes, but then maybe he wouldn't have been Bob Hope, who fit what the times needed in the 40s & 50s...

Let the man rest in peace!