Bob Hope talks about stage shows & radio & censorship

Add "&fmt=18" for the high-resolution version. Bob Rosengarden is briefly heard playing a song called LET'S BEGIN. Which Bob sang in a musical called ROBERTA.

[@markward6240]

You Gotta Love Bob Hope 👍

[@bloodgrss]

The wonderful thing is-about 70 as he is-he is still so sharp and witty in real life. His increasing use of cue cards became invasive and mechanical along with his age-but he was a true comic genius with a unique character. This is a marvelous interview with one of the greats...

[@CustoopMoon]

Bob looks very relaxed here. Thanks for uploading.

[@garryvee]

I've watched several of these videos from this appearance on Dick Cavett's show and I could watch them all day. Bob Hope has so many great stories to share and frequently injects them with humor. What an amazing talent and entertainer.

[@vicmclaglen1631]

I grew up with Bob hope, George Burns, even Frank Sinatra. Really miss these guys.

[@susanb2015]

I forgot about George Burns. He was funny. And I loved Bob Hope. Frank Sinatra not so much but my grandmother always played Strangers in the Night on her "victrola". I think he sang that.

[@wwrussell180]

I loved this man and I cherish his memory. So underrated, so quick witted, such a good man and friend. Hollywood doesn’t produce stars like Hope, Peck, Wayne, Heston, and Stewart anymore and I could go on and on. That’s why it is still called the Golden Age.

[@donaldblankenship7541]

Bob Hope was a national star. He was also a laborer in Columbus, Ohio, my home town. Much later he would do stage comedy at the Ohio State Fair. He was the top draw. 1/2 million ppl would come to the fair just by the name Bob Hope. A half million! That's 5 times as much as Ohio State or Michigan football. You could not move around. Just packed. And when the show was over, the year was over. Gone.

[@FinkChrist]

I always become envious of Dick when he makes Bob laugh. Imagine that, making Bob Hope crack up. That must be immensely flattering.

[@Wooley689]

Cavette has a good habit of asking a question and letting the guest finish without interruption.

[@danielueblacker9118]

He was excellent for sure. Seen him about four years ago has aged. God Bless him.

[@showtunestarpower]

One of Hope's recent biographers states that he rarely spoke extemporaneously at this point in his career - that everything was on cue cards and note cards. Well, just take a look and a iisten to Hope and Cavett in this interviewer and you see that he was truly a quick wit.

[@txvoltaire]

7:30 My parents told about how, back in the day, they used to watch radio!

[@retrothingz]

Geez this guy was good....

[@paulakpacente]

I LOVED Bob Hope!

[@Tmanaz480]

What a beautiful suit.

[@SublimeStuff]

Great interview. A real interview. Remember them?

[@degsbabe]

Watch Parkinson.

[@Tmanaz480]

A real, "pure" talk show. Not a variety show.

[@Onlymusical]

@TheFrontrowkid Timothy White, the young reporter who interviewed Hope in the awe-inspiring article "The Road Not Taken" for Rolling Stone Magazine in '81 (when Rolling Stone was great), died of a heart attack long before Hope's death. Goes to show you that you never know. Hope's mother, by the way, had also lived to see the Big One-Oh-Oh. Hope is reviled in many quarters today for not bowing down to Johnny Carson when Carson was booted but only Hope acted sensibly and kept it in perspective.

[@Onlymusical]

"They didn't show me a mirror for about 7 weeks." There are early photos of Hope before the accident in which he resembles the Hope we know but his nose and chin are normal. The difference is stark. He looks like his own cousin or something before his face was destroyed and rebuilt. He never talked about this dreadful accident publicly before this interview with Cavett. Crosby once alluded to some life-changing experience for Hope in Reader's Digest back in the '50s but didn't explain it.

[@shelbynamels973]

I had no idea that Bob Hope had brothers. I wonder how they made out in their lives, with a world-famous brother in the family.

[@jpstenino]

Mr. Hope gives credit to Robert Russell Bennett the master music arranger.

[@kennethbrady]

Very classy and quite generous of him.

[@jamsid33]

i dont watch talk shows anymore, are there any actors or performers that can sit an hour and give interesting story after story?

[@alworkedup]

Why can't they show the entire interview and not in pieces?

[@degsbabe]

Ask you tube. They love money more than Bob Hope.

[@alan30189]

alworkedup Probably copy-write reasons.

[@rentatrip1videos]

BOB HOPE is 69 years old here born in 1913....this was 1972

[@JohnRoland]

He was born in 1903

[@justinherbert9146]

Hope always had a girlfriend set up in an apartment even into his 80's. Delores looked the other way. He loved till 100 and had an amazing life. RIP BOB.

[@felixthelmocevallosmorales41]

BOB HOPE 29 DE MAYO DE 1903 27 DE JULIO DE 2003 100 AÑOS

[@900BEN]

All the old timers were real tough cookies

[@Onlymusical]

@indigoDroog I thought they were on the Smithsonian exhibit site ("Bob Hope and American Variety"), a vast trove, but I just spent a couple minutes looking around there and didn't see them, which doesn't mean they aren't there. I'm not sure where they are offhand since it's been several years but they exist and shouldn't be hard to find. The Cavett interview was largely forgotten then Timothy White rebroke the astonishing story in a great article ("The Road Not Taken") in Rolling Stone c. 1981.

[@jackjackeroo6221]

@cavettbiter Do you know what year this was?

[@robertphillips6296]

Blooper, can see the boom mike.

[@felixthelmocevallosmorales41]

DICK CAVETT 19 DE NOVIEMBRE DE 1936 85 AÑOS (86)

[@FoxyJeff]

What an interview….i always marveled at him when I was younger….he was an awesome entertainer, BUT, I’m not sure I would have liked him as a person…..full of EGO

[@WhisperingJohn]

Dick's shirt collar is like plane wings

[@hawkrider88]

Style of the day. :)

[@Seversonronald8]

Dress shirts had different style collars depending on what style tie (narrow, wide, bow, etc.) would be worn with it.

[@Tmanaz480]

The 70s was a time of some wild men's fashions. Big ties and lapels, longer hair, bushy sideburns. Check out Johnny Carson's or Gene Rayburn.

[@shaunigothictv1003]

Rodney Dangerfield would completely DESTROY Bob Hope in a head to head joke telling contest. In terms of stand up comedy, Bob Hope was not even worthy enough to tie the brilliant Rodney Dangerfields shoelaces if they both waited backstage before they are about to go on and perform one after the other. Bob Hope was an excellent actor, singer and dancer. A great entertainer in his own right. But he was simply the worst comic ever to walk into a TV studio. The troops just wanted to escape from their problems so they laughed at anything that he did just as a way of taking their minds of war. Like I said, Rodney Dangerfield would completely DESTROY Bob Hope in a head to head joke telling contest.

[@jasonandlynnechambers3420]

Who cares?

[@davemiller4721]

I totally understand why you'd say this if you have only seen Bob Hope on TV or in the movies he made after 1960. But go back to some of the live Pepsodent broadcasts from the late 1930s. Hope was perhaps the fastest guy on radio - the jokes were topical and smart...with a newly written show every week. Rodney had joke writers, but what you hear was an extremely well practiced act. Jack Benny got better as he slowed down and perfected his timing. Hope got sort of lazy once he hit 60. Understandable, but he stayed too long at the game.

[@shaunigothictv1003]

@@davemiller4721 Ok, so they both had joke writers. So whats your point? Who was the best in terms of timing and delivery? Rodney Dangerfield or Bob Hope? Bob Hope in his prime (1930's) was a fine actor. But then remember that i am only talking purely about live stand up routines. You seem to be suggesting that social tastes in comedy material can change over time. But that has no impact on timing and delivery. Even the great Jerry Lewis would openly admit this and so would Jim Carey. My question is designed as constructive criticism - Im NOT mocking Bob Hope. So how about it? Just answer the question - my question is a subjective device designed to illicit constructive critique. It is not a tool to mock any performer. My original analysis could be viewed as a subjective critique - although i still think the vast majority of people would agreed with me.

[@davemiller4721]

@@shaunigothictv1003 Rodney's better with one liners. Hope did topical humor over many years - and was great at it. Few comedians can do either of these things well, so props to both.

[@shaunigothictv1003]

@@davemiller4721 Agreed.

[@9avedon]

Wow, Hope's banter is very much in the style of a toned down Robin Williams.

[@APRIL2862]

What a quick wit, loved this interview!

[@wiessej]

Bob Hope was born in 1903, not 1913. I saw him perform at the Prairie Capital Convention Center in Springfield, IL in 1978. He was so funny. Not all his jokes worked on the road, but just the way he acted when they didn't was funny. He was 75 then and spent a good part of the show in a recliner. I believe Dottie West opened for him. If I remember correctly, it was the first show the convention center had. If not, it was ONE of the first. I recallsome sound problems during Bob's show.

[@stevered915]

What class.

[@danielueblacker9118]

Bob was sharpe then... nice.

[@dougms9790]

Can you imagine the tens thousands of people who have never heard a Bob Hope joke or seen a routine? And the laughs are non stop

[@adobbs92117]

Bob Hope openly cheated on Delores with Marilyn Maxwell and Doris Day and anyone else that said yes. Awesome what he did with the troops no denying ! A patriot ! But a horrible husband to Delores. I feel sorry for her being humiliated in public their whole marriage.

[@nickrijnberg9345]

🔭

[@gordongordon98]

Google sctv Bob Hope 🌚

[@alworkedup]

Whenever he made a joke he would look at the audience.

[@BabyFaceBren]

+alworkedup Yeah, you've pointed that out on other pages. I think it's wrong to say he looks at them for approval though (as you did on another page), because the audience is already laughing when he looks at them. It's more like he is laughing along with them. Including them. Of course, they're laughing because they didn't have the ability to read KZbin comments from 40 years in the future and didn't know that Hope actually wasn't funny at all. By the way, you can find many whole shows on boxed sets of the Dick Cavett Show available at Amazon.com among others. There's one featuring comedians, another with Hollywood greats.