alexpgp | Bob Hope, RIP

My most vivid impression of Bob Hope came not from his movies (which were shot before I was born, for the most part), nor from his many television shows (which tend to run together in my mind), nor for his work as a USO entertainer (his Vietnam shows also tend to run together indistinguishably).

It is for a slim paperback that I picked up in junior high school, titled I Owe Russia $1200. It was an outrageous title for a book (which was why I bought it, if memory serves), and the part of it devoted to his Russian trip is almost an afterthought, when you consider how small it is.

But it was funny, and remains so to this day, IMHO.

I thought the book was so funny, in fact, that I extended to Hope (or, more likely, his writers) the sincerest form of flattery: I cribbed some one-liners from the book for my presentation at a ninth grade public speaking competition (which, by the way, I lost, while learning just a little about timing).

I think the world is better off for his having been around. He will be missed.

Cheers...