Obit: Bob Hope dies at 100

Subject: RE: Obit: Bob Hope dies at 100
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Jul 03 - 03:44 PM

Good advice Bill D. But I would maintain that it is possible to transcend the man's politics (or ignore them completely) and still think they guy wasn't funny. There were many other comedians of the eras that Bob Hope spanned I found much funnier, including Mort Sahl, Sid Caesar, Jonathan Winters, Richard Pryor, George Carlin, Bill Cosby, Woodie Allen, Lenny Bruce, the Marx Bros, Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett, and so many others. People forget that Bob Hope pushed a lot of products for advertisers over the years. His Christmas shows were on the air for nearly 20 years, he hosted the Oscars for about 15 years, had The Bob Hope Special for decades.

It is easy to be nostalgic about someone who hasn't been in our living rooms since our childhood, when he was a regular fixture, and who died at the ripe old age of 100. Yet, despite his popularity, and appearing in over 50 movies, he wasn't often recognized with awards, etc. by his contemporaries, who didn't find him very worthy of special recognition for his acting or his comedy. The only thing he was generally recognized for was his service to the troops, hence his Emmy award during the height of the Vietnam War (when his shows became very controversial, because they were underwritten by Uncle Sam, which made him a filthy rich man), as an in-yer-face gesture to the anti-war movement from the Hollywood right. Once peace time hit in the 70s, it was Bob Hope and Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, profound cynicism, stale, recycled, regurgitated "one liner" crap. He was also a notorious womanizer

One other thing--just because the racism, chauvism, is of another era, it doesn't mean his humor and the stereotypes in his films didn't hurt the people it was directed towards any less, who lived through the era right along with him. So that "it was a different era" argument, to me, is disingenuous. There were people in that era too, opposing racism, chauvinism, etc. as best they knew how. Bob Hope wasn't among them. To suggest that his television specials from Vietnam, which many of us grew up on, were somehow enlightened comedy, is revisionist history. Ditto with his TV shows.

Subject: RE: Obit: Bob Hope dies at 100
From: GUEST,A Grunt
Date: 28 Jul 03 - 03:40 PM

Thanks Bob, you made 2hr. in Hell liveable.

Subject: RE: Obit: Bob Hope dies at 100
From: Bill D
Date: 28 Jul 03 - 03:07 PM

I grew up with Bob Hope as an eternal constant almost 'defining' comedy and our times....in the last 10-15 years I have come to realize I didn't like his politics and attitudes about lots of things...but he was still **Bob** and a real icon.

He had his day, and it is past...let's remember the good parts and strive to rise above the bad.

Subject: RE: Obit: Bob Hope dies at 100
From: Ron Olesko
Date: 28 Jul 03 - 02:35 PM

Guest, you give progessives a bad name. I always thought that it was conservatives who pounced on opportunites to twist the message but I guess you prove that wrong.

Of course his films are dated, occasionally racist and chauvenistic. Hurtful? Check the time they were made, they are no different than others of the era. Are you saying they are more hurtful and snide than the comment you chose to make, hidden behind your electronic hood? I guess at the very least, Bob Hope was not a coward and stood up for his own words.

Bob Hope was very funny.   There are still jokes that make me laugh and while he was not a revolutionary in film, as say Chaplin, he did open up a genre of comedy films. He was an inspiration to many. Of course we have come a long way since then.

Rest in peace Bob, you led a long and decent life. You made many of laugh. That transcends all politics and is universal.

Ron

Subject: RE: Obit: Bob Hope dies at 100
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 28 Jul 03 - 02:32 PM

Well how long is it since Bob Hope made a film? Don't think it was quite yesterday, in those days he was doing things that lots of other people were at that time, the only reason you hear what he said, and not what they said, is because he was funny, so his stuff lives on. I get pissed off with people applying todays values to yesterdays happenings, sure some of the things we did were crass, but now we know better; right? Don't speak ill of the dead, especially of someone who made so many people happy in his time, and what the hell have his politics got to do with his talents?
Giok

Subject: RE: Obit: Bob Hope dies at 100
From: Don Firth
Date: 28 Jul 03 - 02:23 PM

My best memories of Bob Hope were listening to him on the radio back in the Forties and the movies he was in. I think that his going out to entertain troops during World War II and subsequent wars was an admirable thing to do. But--I think he fell into the same trap that a lot of people fall into these days:   you can support the troops without having to support the war.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Obit: Bob Hope dies at 100
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Jul 03 - 02:17 PM

And his films are downright painful to watch today, because of the overt racism, etc.

I'm sure conservative, status quo types still find his humor funny, because they feel so insecure with the cultural revolution in the US of the past 30 years. Hell, Bill Clinton thinks Bob Dole is one of the funniest men in politics. Of course, some of us more progressive types don't see the two of them as opposites, but as Republicrat birds of a feather.

Considering how far to the reactionary right Reaganism moved the nation's political center, I suppose it is no surprise to see so many Mudcat folk (essentially a pretty conservative group in social, political, and cultural terms, just as most folkies are nowadays) nostalgically praising Bob Hope. Personally, I'm about as saddened by his passing as I was saddened to hear that Lester Maddox died.

Subject: RE: Obit: Bob Hope dies at 100
From: GUEST,lu
Date: 28 Jul 03 - 02:08 PM

Over the past twenty years and more I thought he sounded very dated and chauvinistic. His jokes sounded hurtful and snide. I think it would be good if he takes a rest from comedy wherever he is.

Subject: RE: Obit: Bob Hope dies at 100
From: Joe Offer
Date: 28 Jul 03 - 01:59 PM

The "Road" pictures really were funny. My 14-yr-old has watched them time and time again, and he loves them. I think Hope lost something somewhere in his second half-century, and he became cynical. Comedy became a business for him, an task of reading cue cards to make money.
I saw him live in the 1970's. We paid $25 a head to watch him tape a "Bob Hope on Campus" show at UCLA. All his jokes were on huge cue cards we could read. If a skit didn't go right, he'd get angry and make the cast do it all over again. I can understand his need to do things right for the television show, but he didn't seem to have any respect for us as a paying audience - nor did he seem to have any respect for the people who were working with him.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Obit: Bob Hope
From: Tam the Bam (Nutter)
Date: 28 Jul 03 - 01:39 PM

So sad to hear about the death of Bob Hope, all I can say is 'thanks for the memories'

Tom

Subject: RE: BS: Bob Hope dies at 100
From: Don Firth
Date: 28 Jul 03 - 01:25 PM

Whatever his politics might have been, I don't really see Bob Hope as being any kind of political force. He was, however, one of the half-dozen master comedians of the twentieth century. I grew up laughing at this guy, and sitting here this morning listening to some of his routines being played on an NPR special about him, I'm still cracking up! One funny guy!!   

Thanks for the memories, Bob. And rest easy.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Bob Hope dies at 100
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 28 Jul 03 - 01:09 PM

Whatever his merits or demerits as a human being, he certainly WAS funny.

RIP

Murray

Subject: RE: Obit: Bob Hope
From: Fiolar
Date: 28 Jul 03 - 11:34 AM

Bob - say hello to Bing, Eddie Foy and the Seven Little Foys and of course to Dorothy. He was one of my favourite comedians and the world is a sadder place with his passing (in spite of what has been posted on the other thread). "Thanks for the Memory."

Subject: RE: BS: Bob Hope dies at 100
From: GUEST,Bill Kennedy
Date: 28 Jul 03 - 11:25 AM

about time. No thanks for the memories (there is a parody that remains to be written, I may have a crack at it). He was not funny, not nice, and is not missed by me. The world could easily have done without his contribution, and maybe have been better off, especially as to Vietnam, and a host of right wing Republican causes. More stink in the ground though a little less on it.

Subject: RE: Obit: Bob Hope
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 28 Jul 03 - 11:08 AM

Yep sorry just noticed that myself, C'mon good fairy, do your stuff.
Giok

Subject: RE: Obit: Bob Hope
From: Amos
Date: 28 Jul 03 - 11:06 AM

Need to combine this with the earlier thread.

A

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Subject: Obit: Bob Hope
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 28 Jul 03 - 11:05 AM

Another great man gone, 100 and out, a good score. He's off on his final "Road".
Giok

Subject: RE: BS: Bob Hope dies at 100
From: songs2play
Date: 28 Jul 03 - 10:27 AM

"He leans to the left, so shoot to the right..................."
The funniest scene from any movie.
God Bless.

Subject: RE: BS: Bob Hope dies at 100
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 28 Jul 03 - 10:24 AM

Perhaps FolkMob should do something to remember him at their Tudor barn session on Wednesday - after all, he was born in Eltham and the local theatre is named after him.

How about it, Dipsodeb, Woodsie, Dave K, et al.

Subject: RE: BS: Bob Hope dies at 100
From: Amos
Date: 28 Jul 03 - 09:42 AM

Sigh. A moment of silence for a man who brought so much laughter from so many. This has been a year of major change, hasn't it?

Thanks, Bob, for being Bob Hope. I don't think anyone else could have pulled it off!


A

Subject: RE: BS: Bob Hope dies at 100
From: Julie B
Date: 28 Jul 03 - 09:32 AM

For obituary see:
http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/TV/07/28/obit.hope/index.html

Subject: BS: Bob Hope dies at 100
From: Julie B
Date: 28 Jul 03 - 09:30 AM

Legendary entertainer Bob Hope dies at 100.

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Messages from multiple threads combined.
-Joe Offer-