Happy Birthday Bob!

Today is Bob Hope's 100th birthday so in honor of the great man I thought I'd dedicate today to the great man himself.

Bob Hope was born in the county of Kent in South East England in 1903. When he was a child his family moved to Cleveland, Ohio. After finishing school he took a variety of jobs including shoe salesman, telephone lineman, and a stint as a boxer, but he dreamt of being a performer. After a great deal of persistance he ended up taking the juvenile lead in a Broadway musical comedy called The Ramblers (1926).

The audiences took to his boyish good looks and cheeky personality and by the 1930s he was headlining in vaudeville and had several starring roles on Broadway including Roberta (1931) and Red, Hot, and Blue (1936). He also made several appearances on radio shows such as Rudy Vallee's Fleischmann Hour Show, which lead to him being given his very own radio show in 1934.

His humor was often topical and some columnists such as Dorothy Kilgallen often critized his risque style, but his many voluntary performances to military units both at home and abroad made him one of the most popular and best-loved performers of the twentieth century.

Bob's radio and stage career was further enhanced by appearances in many films including the wonderful Road films with Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour, The Big Broadcast (1938), The Paleface (1947), and The Seven Little Foys (1955).

During his long career he received thousands of accolades including an honorary Academy Award, many good-citizen awards, an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of San Diego and a place in the Comedy Hall of Fame - to name but a handful.

If you'd like to read more about Bob's long life a good place to start is at www.bobhope.com. Here's a link that will take you directly to his biography.

http://bobhope.com/bob.htm

Thanks for the Memory Bob!

Happy listening my friends