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Bob Hope: The Road Well-Traveled
Lawrence J. Quirk delves into every personal and professional aspect of Bob Hope's long, complex and dramatic life; rising by sheer dint of will to great wealth and fame. Why did Hope become so identified with sponsoring the Vietnam War? What's the real scoop on his relationship with Bing Crosby? How far astray did Hope's frankly oversexed nature lead him from the marriage he successfully maintained with Dolores for over sixty years? Quirk writes about Hope based on long experience. He knew and interviewed Bob Hope while serving as an army seargeant during the Korean war and later as entertainment editor, and interviewer of top stars for over forty years. Quirk approaches his subject with original observations born of years of studying this most celebrated, yet in some ways most mysterious of entertainment giants.
- GenresBiographyHumorNonfiction
338 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 29, 2012
Unimpressed. I don't expect biographers to ignore defects in their subjects, but when the author has nothing nice to say about anybody, it looks a bit fishy. The author is apparently also psychic as he often puts down the supposed thoughts, feelings, and motivations (always the worst possible) of various people with no attribution. If you like sensationalist biographies, you might enjoy this one, otherwise give it a pass.
November 20, 2017
I bought this book as a gift for my mother, who was a big Bob Hope fan. I decided to page through it a little before wrapping it up, and am glad I did. It is utterly trashy. Needless to say, I never gave it to my mom . . . .
October 25, 2011
It is to be expected, I suppose, that our Hollywood and Broadway heroes are often not as we see them, on the stage or the screen. I suppose we want to see them as heroes; they make us believe that they are who they pretend they are.
I come away from Bob Hope, The Road Well Traveled, with a greater appreciation of the guts and drive it took Mr. Hope (and indeed, any other person who came from pretty low ledges to the top shelf in any profession), but, somehow, in the process of the growing appreciation for struggles on his journey, I like Mr. Hope, less. This isn't the fault of the author. He just collected the material and reported it.
Hope got a lot of praise for his journeys to war zones to entertain the troops, but he also made a lot of money showing those journeys on his specials, and the tax-payer paid for his trips. The books, purportedly written by him, were written by his writers who received no credit and none of the profits from them. They were just paid by the hour, or however it is comedy writers get paid.
He was a letch, not a good man for whom to work and he threw his weight around to stifle any criticism or bad press. He left his wife Delores home to raise the four children they’d adopted and had little to do with his siblings because he was afraid they wanted to leech off him. Even his “friendship” with Bing Crosby was more a business connection than a friendship.
On the other hand, he had his charities.
Hope was still living when this book was published, but by then his star-power, which began to lose its luster during the Viet-Nam era; he was a has-been. He couldn’t have had this book squashed (as he had other discomforting moments squashed) if he tried. His last film, Cancel My Reservation, (1972) was dismal and embarrassing and his last years with his wife were filled with her rancor at all his infidelities during their marriage. Somewhere along the line, Hope had forgotten the clown/Comic motto, “Always leave them laughing."
The book is well-presented. It's written with a reporter’s eye and has a reasonable amount of pictures from the "golden days" of Hollywood. There is a minimum of blind quotes.
I only remember two of Bob Hopes pictures and that’s only because of the performances by Walter Brennan in The Princess and the Pirate, and the cameo by James Cagney as George M. Cohan in The Seven Little Foys. My comic heroes were Abbot and Costello. I don’t think I’ve forgotten one of their movies.
Who’s on First?
I come away from Bob Hope, The Road Well Traveled, with a greater appreciation of the guts and drive it took Mr. Hope (and indeed, any other person who came from pretty low ledges to the top shelf in any profession), but, somehow, in the process of the growing appreciation for struggles on his journey, I like Mr. Hope, less. This isn't the fault of the author. He just collected the material and reported it.
Hope got a lot of praise for his journeys to war zones to entertain the troops, but he also made a lot of money showing those journeys on his specials, and the tax-payer paid for his trips. The books, purportedly written by him, were written by his writers who received no credit and none of the profits from them. They were just paid by the hour, or however it is comedy writers get paid.
He was a letch, not a good man for whom to work and he threw his weight around to stifle any criticism or bad press. He left his wife Delores home to raise the four children they’d adopted and had little to do with his siblings because he was afraid they wanted to leech off him. Even his “friendship” with Bing Crosby was more a business connection than a friendship.
On the other hand, he had his charities.
Hope was still living when this book was published, but by then his star-power, which began to lose its luster during the Viet-Nam era; he was a has-been. He couldn’t have had this book squashed (as he had other discomforting moments squashed) if he tried. His last film, Cancel My Reservation, (1972) was dismal and embarrassing and his last years with his wife were filled with her rancor at all his infidelities during their marriage. Somewhere along the line, Hope had forgotten the clown/Comic motto, “Always leave them laughing."
The book is well-presented. It's written with a reporter’s eye and has a reasonable amount of pictures from the "golden days" of Hollywood. There is a minimum of blind quotes.
I only remember two of Bob Hopes pictures and that’s only because of the performances by Walter Brennan in The Princess and the Pirate, and the cameo by James Cagney as George M. Cohan in The Seven Little Foys. My comic heroes were Abbot and Costello. I don’t think I’ve forgotten one of their movies.
Who’s on First?
November 5, 2015
I went to this book for a specific research purpose ("Brenda and Cobina") and ended up reading several chapters, then grew disgusted. Even IF every word were true . . . and that's a big "if," as they say . . . this still would be a terrible book because of the style of writing -- just as those syndicated celebrity "news" shows are terrible TV because of their style . . . snarky, ugly, full of innuendos and speculation. The author never met a negative adjective he didn't like.
Sadly, there probably is some useful information here -- I DID get a clue to the real names of the actresses playing "Brenda and Cobina" -- but it's tainted by the rest of the book. And even that "useful" material is SLOPPY AND WRONG -- the book says the actresses are "Blanche Steward and Elvia Allman," but Blanche's name is STEWART, not "Steward."
I'd give it zero stars, but it wouldn't register in the Goodreads Universe.
Sadly, there probably is some useful information here -- I DID get a clue to the real names of the actresses playing "Brenda and Cobina" -- but it's tainted by the rest of the book. And even that "useful" material is SLOPPY AND WRONG -- the book says the actresses are "Blanche Steward and Elvia Allman," but Blanche's name is STEWART, not "Steward."
I'd give it zero stars, but it wouldn't register in the Goodreads Universe.
July 14, 2009
Snarky and subjectively suggestive of deep and dark motives behind Mr Hope's life and decisions. Bob must have dissed him at a party or something.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews