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Amazon
Bob Hope in China:
Category:
Arts/Entertainment
ISBN-10: 1593933231
Type: Non-Fiction
Pages: 349
Copyright: June 14, 2009
ISBN-13: 9781593933234
Stories, anecdotes and photos from the author's two decades as a comedy writer for Bob Hope.
From the Foreword by Gary Owens: "Actually, what we have here is a priceless collection of heretofore unpublished recollections revealing untold secrets and goings-on behind the scenes on the Bob Hope Show. It’s a never-before-seen look at the previously classified inner workings of Hope’s well-known comedy assembly line that for decades proved as efficient as any in Detroit. The Laugh Makers is the book we’ve all been waiting for. It’s jam- Makers packed with stories, anecdotes and un-retouched photos from a fondly remembered past, recalling often hilarious, sometimes heartwarming, and always touching tales of legendary stars, near-legendary stars and one or two complete failures — which happens in show business. You can look it up in your Funk & Wagnalls.
Excerpt
When I was born, Bob Hope was thirty-five and already a star who could
boast a vaudeville career that dated back to 1924, a stint on Broadway
in Roberta, seven short films beginning with Going Spanish in 1934 and
a starring role with Jimmy Durante and Ethel Merman in Red, Hot and
Blue!, which had been a highlight of the Great White Way’s 1937 season.
When, forty years later almost to the day, Hope hired me to write for
him, he had dominated the airwaves in radio and had starred in fifty-two
movies. (The sudden death of Bing Crosby just two months later would
scuttle plans for yet another, The Road to the Fountain of Youth.)
Hope had been visiting America’s living rooms, first on kinescope
and later on tape, for almost three decades. Yet, at the age of seventy-five,
he was in many ways just hitting his stride and would, over the next fifteen
years, produce and star in over eighty-five television specials, many
of which would rank among his best.
When you signed on with Bob Hope, it was akin to entering an
ancient, tradition-laden religious order where you agreed to forego the
temptations of the secular world in exchange for a life of unwavering loyalty,
absolute obedience and, I have to admit, more thrills and excitement
than anyone could possibly imagine.
First, there was great professional satisfaction in being a “Hope
writer.” In those days, a contract to write for him was considered gilt
edged—
the comedic equivalent of a degree from Harvard.
As for the work itself, he might have been the pope and you a cardinal
commissioned by the Almighty to provide a never-ending supply of
wit and drollery for delivery to the masses assembled in Vatican Square.
Hope-staff-alumnus Larry Gelbart (M*A*S*H, A Funny Thing Happened
on the Way to the Forum), quoted in the Museum of Broadcasting’s Bob
Hope: A Half Century on Radio and Television, summed it up perfectly:
“Hope would never fire anybody. If he bought you,
you were there. He knew pretty much you were
going to stay. He got his help down to a science —
people preparing him, massaging him, laying out
his clothes. It was a little like preparing a bullfighter.”
The only difference being, the work was steadier. When a bullfighter dies,
you’re out of a job. When Hope died, he kept coming back for more.
When you were invited to take a seat at his comedy Round Table
(to switch to a less religious metaphor), you were keenly aware that your
name was being added to a venerable honor roll of humorists.
Hope had employed more writers over a longer period than any
performer in history and among the veterans of “Hope’s Army” (so labeled
by the press) were Mort Lachman, Mel Shavelson, Larry Rhine,
Sherwood Schwartz, Norman Panama, Jay Burton, Jack Douglas, Larry
Marks, Si Rose, Mel Tolkin, Al Schwartz, Jack Rose, Les White, Johnny
Rapp, Mel Frank, Bill Larkin, Hal Goodman, Marty Ragaway, Ray Siller,
Hal Kanter and Milt Josefsberg. To a man, these veteran jokesmiths
shared a common talent: the ability to put words into Hope’s mouth that
appeared to have originated there.
Hope himself was the first to point out that having maintained a staff
of the most able writers he could find contributed as much to his sustained
popularity and prodigious body of work as the uncommon physical
stamina with which he had been genetically gifted.
The unique performer-writer symbiosis that developed between
Hope and his comedic entourage was the first — and most likely will be
the last — of its kind.
What follows is an inside look at how Hope’s system operated — one
that I hope will provide clues as to why it did for seventy years.
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