1976 WIU Yearbook
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Home | BOB HOPE
Hope's fans (and this reporter) hope for a sneak preview of his performance, but this rehearsal is not quite what they had in mind. Bob Hope NEEDS no rehearsal. He has the perfectionism a comic acquires Brew five decades of showbiz, delivering his machine-gun monologues with o keen sense of timing. Yet such precision demands back-up musicians and perform-ers of equal caliber. Thus, 'lope runs through a mini-mini-version of his evening show for the benefit of the WIU Jazz Bond. Easing away from his admirers, he bounces onstage and rattles off, "Joke, joke, joke . . . O.K. — play, Bob. Joke, joke . . . laugh, laugh . . joke . . laugh." Just like that. Not the jokes themselves — merely this meaningless jabber. The wisecracking comedionjossing off a root joke, hammers out his cues with the bond. After five attempts to slow down the tempo, Hope grows impatient. "Who do you think you are?" Hope barks. "Horses on the way la the stable?" The band laughs — nervously. "Is there a man with two arms down there?" Hope asks the percussionist (who hasn't crashed his cymbals loudly enough). After going through all his paces, the funnyrnan signals the rehearsal's end. Tossing the apple core to his front row agent, Hope exits with Union officials in tow. Dinner time and seclusion before the big show. Bob Hope, possessing a magnetism that attracts audiences of all ages, interests, and backgrounds, is the first performer in WIU history to sell out a concert. That inexplicable Hope magic draws over 13,000 persons for his two concerts. Althouah the bounce in his walk no
longer displays the vim and vigor of his earlier years, Bob Hope still exhibits that distinctive gait as he steps into the spot-light. The crowd is delighted with the enter. tainer's solo performance, laughing and clapping so ecstatically that they become almost a show in themselves. After years in show business, Leslie Townes Hope con still deliver lightning-fost stand-up monologues. Although Hope himself attributes his longevity as a come-dian to "just charm, a little luck, and a lit-tle experience," it is virtually impossible to pinpoint the actual reasons for his success. Perhaps no one ever will.
At evening's end, when the laughter subsides, Hope basks in the glow of a resounding ovation. With a nod of his head, Leslie Townes Hope acknowledges the applause end strides out of the spot-light. A limousine awaits to whisk him away to another cornfield, another town, another show.
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