The Star-Spangled Revue: Bob Hope's First TV Special (1950)

DVD: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004GNEDUU?ie=UTF8&tag=doc06-20&link... http://thefilmarchived.blogspot.com/

Hope first appeared on television in 1932 during a test transmission from an experimental CBS studio in New York. In January 1947, Hope was master of ceremonies for the first telecast by California's first television station, KTLA. His career in broadcasting spanned 64 years and included a long association with NBC. Hope made his network radio debut in 1937 on NBC. His first regular series for NBC Radio was the Woodbury Soap Hour. A year later, The Pepsodent Show Starring Bob Hope began, continuing as The New Swan Show in 1948 (for the same sponsor, Lever Brothers). After 1950, the series was known simply as The Bob Hope Show, with Liggett & Myers (1950--52), General Foods (1953) and American Dairy Association (1953--55) as his sponsors, until it finally went off the air in April 1955. Regulars on his radio series included zany Jerry Colonna and Barbara Jo Allen as spinster Vera Vague.

Hope did many specials for the NBC television network in the following decades, beginning in April 1950. These were often sponsored by General Motors (1955--61), Chrysler (1963--73) and Texaco (1975--85), and Hope served as a spokesman for both companies for many years and would sometimes introduce himself as "Bob, from Texaco, Hope." Hope's Christmas specials were popular favorites and often featured a performance of "Silver Bells" (from his 1951 film The Lemon Drop Kid) done as a duet with an often much younger female guest star (such as Olivia Newton-John, Barbara Eden, and Brooke Shields).

In October 1956, Hope appeared on an episode of the most-viewed program in America at the time, I Love Lucy. He said, upon receiving the script: "What? A script? I don't need one of these," and ad-libbed the entire episode. Desi Arnaz said of Hope after his appearance: "Bob is a very nice man, he can crack you up, no matter how much you try for him to not." Lucy and Desi returned the favor by appearing on one of his Chevy Show specials (with Vivian Vance and William Frawley) later that season.

Hope's 1970 and 1971 Christmas specials for NBC—filmed in Vietnam in front of military audiences at the height of the war—are on the list of the Top 30 U.S. Network Primetime Telecasts of All Time. Both were seen by more than 60% of the U.S. households watching television.

In 1992, Bob Hope made a guest appearance as himself on The Simpsons, in the episode "Lisa the Beauty Queen" (season 4, episode 4). The episode attracted 11.1 million viewers when it premiered on October 15. His final television special, Laughing with the Presidents, was broadcast in 1996, with Tony Danza helping Hope present a personal retrospective of presidents of the United States known to the comedian.

Category:

Comedy

Tags:

• comedy
• jerry
• brandow
• steve
• condos
• bill
• hayes
• bob
• hope
• michael
• kidd
• peggy
• lee
• beatrice
• lillie
• janet
• reed
• frank
• sugar
• chile
• robinson
• sinatra
• arnold
• stang
• max
• liebman

[mitchikaboola]

If ever they make a bio-pic of Hope's life, then Hope HAS to be played by Kelsey Grammer.

[fromthesidelines]

Hope's initial "Star Spangled Revue" specials were produced by the one man NBC depended on to produce a weekly 90 minute prime-time show in early 1950: Max Liebman, who was responsible for "YOUR SHOW OF SHOWS", the legendary Saturday night revue starring Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca, which lasted for almost five years.

[fromthesidelines]

Bob almost didn't do this show- he was avoiding TV then, finding his weekly radio show a more comfortable "racket". When Frigidaire asked how much he wanted to host this, he said, "$50,000" [figuring they'd turn him down, because no one asked for THAT much money at the time]. They countered by offering him five specials @ $40,000 a show. That was too good for Hope to pass up, and he agreed. After this special, he embraced television, and other radio stars soon followed him into the new medium.

[fromthesidelines]

This was Bob Hope's first network TV special, presented LIVE on Sunday, April 9, 1950 [5:30-7pm(et)], on behalf of General Motors' Frigidaire division {the first of several he would appear in for them over the next two years}.