Mr. Hope's persona as a cowardly wise-craker was well known to the public from a string of wildly successful (and, for the time, innovatively extemporaneous) "Road" films with Bing Crosby and, later, a series of television specials which saw him warbling and cutting up with the latest stars of the moment. Mr. Hope was famous for his ready stream of one-liners and retorts, supplied by an unseen, but notorious team of joke men kept in his employ. He delivered each quip with a sheepish grin, clenched jaw and ski-slope nose thrust out, his slicked-back hair seemingly gleaming with flop sweat, and often milked a second laugh out of the crowd by squirming under the supposed failure of the first joke. He did not create characters, but was always Bob Hope, and, according to a John Lahr New Yorker profile, the self-preserving, hustling personality he presented on stage was not far from his own, faults and all.
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The 32nd Annual Tony Awards - 1978 Opened June 04, 1978 |
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Red, Hot and Blue Opened October 29, 1936 |
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Ziegfeld Follies of 1936 Opened January 30, 1936 |
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Say When Opened November 08, 1934 |
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Roberta Opened November 18, 1933 |
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Ballyhoo of 1932 Opened September 06, 1932 |
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Bob Hope at the Palace Opened February 28, 1931 |
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Ups-a Daisy Opened October 08, 1928 |
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