Brooke Shields first appeared at age 16 as a guest on a Bob Hope TV special in May, 1981 entitled “Bob Hope Salutes the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.” It was taped on location at the academy and other guests included Mickey Rooney, Marie Osmond, Robert Urich, George C. Scott, Mary Martin, Glenn Campbell and President George H.W. Bush who delivered a tribute to Hope’s USO wartime record entertaining troops overseas. (http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x14c94x_bob-hope-salutes-the-military-academies_tv)
Appearing in what would be the first among scores of sketches she’d appear in throughout the coming decades, Brooke played a first year cadet -- along with Marie Osmond -- settling in to their new quarters. It would appear that Cadet Hope has been assigned the same room. The girls attempt to convince him the arrangement would never work. “We might walk in on one another while showering,” Marie warns him. Unfazed, Hope says “That’s just the chance I’ll have to take.” While new to sketch-acting, Brooke more than held her own with the seasoned Hope, Marie and Glen Campbell -- playing an upper classman who explains that Hope is an imposter who has been trying to sneak into the long gray line for years. ((http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x15654r_west-point-co-eds-hope-assigned-to-room-with-brooke-shields-and-marie-osmond-1981_tv)
Under the watchful eye of her quintessential stage mother, Teri,
she arrived lugging some questionable child-star baggage that included a nude scene as a pre-teen in Pretty Baby as well as another au naturel performance in a picture called The Blue Lagoon about teens coming of age on a desert island.
From Brooke’s first day of rehearsal, Hope took an immediate liking to her, and she to him, and over time showered him with the affection one would bestow on a kindly grandfather. Hope may have filled her need for a father figure as well, since her parents had been long divorced. Almost immediately, Hope took Brooke under his wing, teaching her the basics of sketch comedy — timing, delivery, entrances and exits — techniques which may seem effortless, but which must be learned. For her part, Brooke obviously enjoyed performing on the show, was eager to learn and, as would be expected, improved as time went on playing roles ranging from Becky Thatcher opposite Hope’s Tom Sawyer (at the World’s Fair in New Orleans where she forgot she was wearing a remote microphone transmitter, jumped into the Olympic diving pool, and almost demonstrated GE’s “We Bring Good Things to Light” slogan) to a Showboat singer opposite Placido Domingo’s Gaylord Ravenal — “We could make believe...” to Princess Diana. The Hope specials almost single-handedly kept her acting career afloat during her Princeton University, pre-Andre Agassi period. While attending college (attaining her BA degree) she made one movie, Brenda Starr, that bombed.
But as sometimes happens while ascending the stairway to Hollywood stardom, Brooke was stricken by an unexplained case of selective amnesia. In September 1996, she told an interviewer for the Los Angeles Times while discussing her frequent guest appearances on Friends, that “[Comedy] is something that I’ve never professionally explored and I’ve never had the opportunity or encouragement.”
There was a logical explanation for her forgetfulness -- by the mid-nineties, Hope was largely considered passé, and generations removed from the then-current TV comedy of Seinfeld or Friends. Also, she most likely downplayed Hope’s name on her resume so as not to detract from the much-publicized debut of her soon-to-debut sitcom Suddenly Susan (which ran from 1996 to 2000).
To weigh in with recollections I thought relevant and only fair to Hope, I wrote a letter to the Times — which they published — pointing out that Brooke had been taught comedy by none other than Bob Hope himself over several decades. My letter was never challenged by Brooke or a spokesperson to defend the statements she had made in the article.
I chalked up the entire episode as another example of the sometimes ephemeral quality of Hollywood friendships and loyalties when careers are at stake. It is, sorry to say, just part of the business.
[Excerpted from THE LAUGH MAKERS: A Behind-the-Scenes Tribute to Bob Hope's Incredible Gag Writersby Robert L. Mills with a Foreword by Gary Owens. Published by Bear Manor Media. Copyright (c) 2009. Available at: http://www.amazon.com
Or to download the e-version on Kindle for $2.99:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0041D9EPO
Photos from the book can be viewed at: http://bobhopeshowbackstage.weebly.com
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interesting article !!
Never stop writing!!
m
Back in the 90s, one of my office colleagues, divorced, announced that her daughter was going to Princeton. As a Stanford graduate, I was quite pleased. Later, Norma told me that she was in the same class with Brooke Shields. I was quite pleased that Brooke, a child model and actress, was pursuing a higher education. Later, Norma introduced her daughter to me in the office when she was a law student at the University of Houston after Princeton. She looked to be no more than 16 years old at the time, although she had to be at least 21.
Since that time, Norma has had several spinal surgeries, is an electric wheelchair, and is struggling financially to maintain her self and her home. I have helped her out, primarily with my advice. She gets most of her help from her sister and another friend of ours from work. Her daughter, now with the top law firm in Houston, appears to be estranged, and doesn't help her mother out at all. It's a real shame.
Ron