Things You Didn’t Know About Bob Hope
The man and the image were sometimes at odds.
When I was a kid, I really enjoyed Bob Hope movies. I loved his one-liners. I also thought his ‘Road” pictures with Bing Crosby was appointment TV. Even now, I’d probably watch one of his movies if they came on. But, as true with lots of successful guys, they don’t know when to leave. Hope was guilty of that. At the end of his career, he was hard to watch.
Also, as time has gone on, unflattering facts about his life have come to light. I don’t think I’ll thank Bob for those memories. So, here are some things you probably didn’t know about Bob Hope.
1: Hope lived to be 100 and performed almost to the end of his life.
Sadly, he was having difficulty towards the end. There’s a sadness and irony about a performer who has trouble remembering his lines and has a theme song, “Thanks for the Memory.”
2: His real name was Leslie Townes Hope.
Other kids taunted him by calling him Hope Leslie. Leslie apparently saw the situation as Hopeless, so he changed his name to Bob.
