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The Secret Life of Bob Hope: An Unauthorized Biography
The son of the late Groucho Marx exposes the real Bob Hope in this shocking account. Hope ran a "casting couch" from his office at Universal Studios, and fired women who refused to sleep with him. Marx also reveals the true motivation behind Hope's trips to entertain the troops. Photos.
- GenresBiography
480 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 1993
2 people are currently reading
80 people want to read
About the author
Arthur Marx
18 books8 followersArthur Marx was an American author, a former ranked amateur tennis player, and son of entertainer Groucho Marx and his first wife, Ruth Johnson.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
June 23, 2022
Thanks for the Memory !
Yes firstly thanks for all the charity work, all the great comedy shows, supporting the soldiers, flying to do shows all over the world, and entertain the troops.
This book tells us lots about Bob that we didn't know - good and bad, wow he was a naughty boy !!
His respect and loyalty to American GIs was real. He may have slept with more women than Errol Flynn, Chico Marx and Bing Crosby combined !
He was a land owner, friend of many presidents, kings and queens, prime ministers and 5-star generals - and - according to Guinness Book of Records - the most decorated civilian of all time. He has 4 stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Yes from other stories I have read, this book is so true, you completely see the good, the bad, the horrible side, the ego, the greed, the treatment of his own staff, then you read about his great work.
This book by Grouche Marx's son Arthur Marx is filled with enormous detail of his whole life, the stories that we did not know, the large amount of land he owned, the business empire he had, the wealth he had and earned, his behaviour to his own staff.
He may have had $500 million in his bank, but would not give staff pay rises, but spent thousands on renting loads of apartments for his many girlfriends.
Often travelled around America with a troupe of ladies entertaining his American audiences, but he always had many dancers to travel with him, hand picked by him.
He may have travelled to dangerous places in the world to entertain the many soldiers in war zone areas, but also took lots of girlfriends/dancers with him.
Even to the end of his life he suffered with a huge ego and greed, refused to wear a hearing aid, could not read his cue cards and became very difficult to work with, but his live shows, radio shows were always part of American history.
Fondly remembered for his Road Films, his long friendship with Bing Crosby.
A book that takes a lot of reading at 480 pages, but nothing is left out of this book !
Recommended.
Yes firstly thanks for all the charity work, all the great comedy shows, supporting the soldiers, flying to do shows all over the world, and entertain the troops.
This book tells us lots about Bob that we didn't know - good and bad, wow he was a naughty boy !!
His respect and loyalty to American GIs was real. He may have slept with more women than Errol Flynn, Chico Marx and Bing Crosby combined !
He was a land owner, friend of many presidents, kings and queens, prime ministers and 5-star generals - and - according to Guinness Book of Records - the most decorated civilian of all time. He has 4 stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Yes from other stories I have read, this book is so true, you completely see the good, the bad, the horrible side, the ego, the greed, the treatment of his own staff, then you read about his great work.
This book by Grouche Marx's son Arthur Marx is filled with enormous detail of his whole life, the stories that we did not know, the large amount of land he owned, the business empire he had, the wealth he had and earned, his behaviour to his own staff.
He may have had $500 million in his bank, but would not give staff pay rises, but spent thousands on renting loads of apartments for his many girlfriends.
Often travelled around America with a troupe of ladies entertaining his American audiences, but he always had many dancers to travel with him, hand picked by him.
He may have travelled to dangerous places in the world to entertain the many soldiers in war zone areas, but also took lots of girlfriends/dancers with him.
Even to the end of his life he suffered with a huge ego and greed, refused to wear a hearing aid, could not read his cue cards and became very difficult to work with, but his live shows, radio shows were always part of American history.
Fondly remembered for his Road Films, his long friendship with Bing Crosby.
A book that takes a lot of reading at 480 pages, but nothing is left out of this book !
Recommended.
May 30, 2020
I usually find that books about Hollywood celebrities are flat and boring even with juicy sex scenes or scandalous deceptions. Film stars are really only interesting in their alter-reality--the screen. And, it's on the screen that good ol' Bob should stay. After all, immortality is much more likely in the imagination of others than in the history of a rather typical life of a hard-working, talented, adulterous old gentleman in Hollywood, or Cleveland, or London.
The book relates the scenes where Bob throws paychecks down to his devoted and groveling employees, or, being beckoned by some housewife while on a walk, he leaves his walking companion and goes into her kitchen and makes love to her, or has liaisons with almost every female lead that he worked with. However, from what I can tell, he was liked by many of his colleagues, presidents, generals, thousands of troops and of course loved by many women, not to mention the movie and television audiences. And, he made me laugh as a boy. So,while the book talks much about the sordidness of Bob's life, it helped me put one of my favorite fictional actors in the right perspective, which is his reality that stays on the screen and his infidelities in the enwrapped limbs of his many random lovers. If you like Bob, you'll appreciate the book.
The book relates the scenes where Bob throws paychecks down to his devoted and groveling employees, or, being beckoned by some housewife while on a walk, he leaves his walking companion and goes into her kitchen and makes love to her, or has liaisons with almost every female lead that he worked with. However, from what I can tell, he was liked by many of his colleagues, presidents, generals, thousands of troops and of course loved by many women, not to mention the movie and television audiences. And, he made me laugh as a boy. So,while the book talks much about the sordidness of Bob's life, it helped me put one of my favorite fictional actors in the right perspective, which is his reality that stays on the screen and his infidelities in the enwrapped limbs of his many random lovers. If you like Bob, you'll appreciate the book.
June 8, 2019
This is one of the rare books about a famous person that reveals the truth behind his vices. And it was written while Bob Hope was still alive, which is hard to believe because there are so many examples of Hope's sexual affairs, cheating his writers of money, and being a horrible person, that one can't fathom how it possibly could have been published without a lawsuit.
The author is the son of Groucho Marx and wrote a few Hope films. While there isn't much insight about Hope's movies (some get skipped over completely), there are a lot of first-hand stories about Hope having dozens of women snuck into hotel rooms or his paying for their rent so he can bed them in the middle of the night. It's shockingly good gossip with names named. The biggest question that goes unanswered is how could the hundreds of women stay silent about this, how could the dozen of Hope employees that arranged the affairs seem to have no guilt, and why wasn't this story ever reported by the media when they all knew about it?
The author seems to have a grudge against Hope due to a deal Groucho and Hope had about publicizing each other's books that Bob broke. So it's hard to say how distorted some of the evidence is, but the 400+ pages are filled with non-stop examples of Hope being a terrible guy.
It's refreshing to hear a book tell it like it is. So many celebrity memoirs are just PR pieces and biographies are usually incomplete, mostly adoring portraits--but this one has almost too many examples, as well as needing some good editing to get rid of the repetitive stories and better organizing of the awkwardly-written material. There are also a number of unnecessary jabs at Hope's Republican politics, with the claim that the star was "ultra right wing," when in truth he was just a patriotic conservative who tried to do good. And, oddly, the book wraps up the last 15 years of Hope's life before publication in just a few pages, without explanation of not having more details.
It's difficult to list all that you learn from reading this book but it's proof that a man's public image can be the opposite of who he is as a private human. The damage Bob Hope did to those in his family, the people who worked for him, and the women he took advantage of is shocking. One woman takes her own life, a couple people die early deaths due directly to the stress of his secrets, a number of them are abandoned and leave Hollywood due to Hope's broken promises, and virtually every person in his life is used by the comic for his own selfish good then tossed aside (even the government and military employees that authorize payment for his visiting the troops, which he ends up making money off of due to TV specials). While he raised large amounts of money for charities, he failed as a husband, refused to stay home to be around his kids, and mostly went off on charity trips in order to bed women while on the road away from his family. It's a must-read book for insights into a disgusting celebrity and proof that you can't believe the media image of anyone in Hollywood.
The author is the son of Groucho Marx and wrote a few Hope films. While there isn't much insight about Hope's movies (some get skipped over completely), there are a lot of first-hand stories about Hope having dozens of women snuck into hotel rooms or his paying for their rent so he can bed them in the middle of the night. It's shockingly good gossip with names named. The biggest question that goes unanswered is how could the hundreds of women stay silent about this, how could the dozen of Hope employees that arranged the affairs seem to have no guilt, and why wasn't this story ever reported by the media when they all knew about it?
The author seems to have a grudge against Hope due to a deal Groucho and Hope had about publicizing each other's books that Bob broke. So it's hard to say how distorted some of the evidence is, but the 400+ pages are filled with non-stop examples of Hope being a terrible guy.
It's refreshing to hear a book tell it like it is. So many celebrity memoirs are just PR pieces and biographies are usually incomplete, mostly adoring portraits--but this one has almost too many examples, as well as needing some good editing to get rid of the repetitive stories and better organizing of the awkwardly-written material. There are also a number of unnecessary jabs at Hope's Republican politics, with the claim that the star was "ultra right wing," when in truth he was just a patriotic conservative who tried to do good. And, oddly, the book wraps up the last 15 years of Hope's life before publication in just a few pages, without explanation of not having more details.
It's difficult to list all that you learn from reading this book but it's proof that a man's public image can be the opposite of who he is as a private human. The damage Bob Hope did to those in his family, the people who worked for him, and the women he took advantage of is shocking. One woman takes her own life, a couple people die early deaths due directly to the stress of his secrets, a number of them are abandoned and leave Hollywood due to Hope's broken promises, and virtually every person in his life is used by the comic for his own selfish good then tossed aside (even the government and military employees that authorize payment for his visiting the troops, which he ends up making money off of due to TV specials). While he raised large amounts of money for charities, he failed as a husband, refused to stay home to be around his kids, and mostly went off on charity trips in order to bed women while on the road away from his family. It's a must-read book for insights into a disgusting celebrity and proof that you can't believe the media image of anyone in Hollywood.
March 5, 2019
The biography was a very clear and concise story that included personal as well as historical data about the actor. The personal parts made a lot of sense since Marx was someone within the circle of artists that came into contact with Hope. Was it salacious? Somewhat. Believable? Absolutely.
February 13, 2019
Dishes the dirt on Bob Hope.
March 5, 2019
#25 of 120 books pledged to read during 2019
October 18, 2024
Could have done without the endless joke retellings and movie reviews
August 14, 2011
An interesting book.
I've written and posted a review on my blog:
http://baggyparagraphs.wordpress.com/...
I've written and posted a review on my blog:
http://baggyparagraphs.wordpress.com/...
November 8, 2016
Pretty much verified what I had heard from other sources about Bob Hope. Great read and as a big fan of old time radio it was great to read about his radio show and the process to get it on the air.
April 26, 2013
I could not finish this. Too depressing.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews