The Time Life November 14, 2017 release of the gift set "Thanks for the Memories: The Bob Hope Specials Deluxe Collection" shows what becomes a legend most. The excitement begins with the colorful sturdy box that houses the set, continues with discovering the booklet that begins with a love letter from Linda Hope to both her father and his fans and goes on to provide essays and photos that chronicle the career of Hope, and goes on with finding the four DVD sets that are the heart (in both senses of that word) of the collection.
The fun of the "Thanks" for boomers and for Gen Xers who develop a love of classic comedy early on is revisiting the Hope specials and Dean Martin roasts that are "appointment television" of the '60s and '70s. The treat for Millennials is expanding their horizons beyond the mostly edgy content of their formative and adult years. They will see folks who thrive on performing and who love and admire each other. Please remember that it is hip to be square.
The set by the numbers is that the 19 discs include 39 specials, which include 20 that are seeing the light of day for the first time since first airing. This collection is la creme de la creme of the 250 Hope television specials over five decades.
Rather than try to list the numerous stars who appear in these specials, it suffices to say that most big names from the '50s through the '70s show up at least once. They include edgy comedian Redd Foxx and the still sexy Raquel Welch.
The collection begins with the six-disc "Thanks for the Memories: The Bob Hope Specials." The 13 specials from 1956 - '96 include the "in living color" October 1975 program "Highlights of a Quarter Century of Bob Hope on Television" in which Hope introduces clips from his specials dating back to his very first one with Dinah Shore and has his showbiz friends stop by to say hi.
A highlight of "highlights" include a skit in which Hope and the "I Love Lucy" cast appear in a "Love" skit in which Lucy goes to great lengths to conceal having a seal in a closet; we also get a clip from roughly 20 years later in which John Wayne plays an old west Archie Bunker reacting to Hope as his son telling his father about his "mixed marriage."
Other fun clips from past specials have Ingrid Bergman and Hope play a highly competitive Hollywood couple and Hope and Jackie Gleason as cops who don drag to catch muggers.
The January 1968 "Bob Hope Christmas Special" has Hope do voice-over narration of his 1967 USO Christmas tour of Vietnam; the stops include bases scarily close to the front lines and an air craft carrier that requires an equally frightening landing and takeoff.
This one particularly is a time capsule in having Hope include a liberal dose of conservative humor among his one-liners about military life and '60s-era celebrities. The right-wing humor includes joking that a chemical company makes asbestos draft cards as revenge against protesters.
An especially amusing aspect of these specials is watching Welch wildly gyrate around the stage regardless of whether she is singing a solo, performing a duet with Hope, or getting down with the soldiers.
A nice gesture that gives these guys in this tough war nice recognition includes rewarding soldiers by having them introduce Hope, having Hope call some men up to provide a greeting from home, or otherwise literally giving a grunt a moment in the spotlight.
A dual time capsule comes in the form of a September 1984 special titled "The Hilarious Unrehearsed Antics of the Stars." This set of clips of Hope and his guests flubbing their lines and cracking each other up reflects the love of (inexpensive to produce) "blooper" shows in the '80s.
The last special in "Thanks" aptly is the last chronologically of the specials. "Bob Hope: The First 90 Years" is a virtual night of 1,000 stars that celebrates the 90th birthday of Hope. The entertainment includes copious Hopeful clips.
"The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast" of Hope that is a bonus disc is a great reminder of these very popular specials of the '70s. Two exceptional aspects of the roast are that they are much more good-natured than the current Comedy Central version of these events and they reflect an era in which the public has a sense of humor and takes things in context. The latter element prompts a disclaimer on the DVD box.
Great fun include Rev. Billy Graham joking about Hope trying to get that man of God to commit a sin regarding the golf score of Hope and both Martin and Jimmy Stewart joking about the on-screen stammering style of Stewart. We further get Wayne be amusingly open in promoting his most recent film.
The disclaimer largely relates to the monologue of black comedian Flip Wilson; Wilson joking about holding a golf tournament for black people and about not being allowed to play at the country club of Hope is one of the best sets. We further later get impressionist Rich Little and Wilson exchange takes on the Wilson drag character Geraldine; this leads to a hilarious joke that seems borderline risque for '70s network television.
The remaining two fun-filled sets in "Collection" are "Bob Hope: Entertaining the Troops" (4 discs) and "Bob Hope: TV Legends (8 discs). These sets feature full-length versions of the USO shows and TV specials that Hope and his admirers/friends celebrate in "Thanks" and that earn him the honor of being roasted.
The message of Hope to take away from both this review and this set is that the man of many hours has a rare talent and inherent goodness that warrants the love behind the collection and the specials that comprise it. Bringing this love home provides a chance to relive the days of mostly wholesome comedy, singing, and dancing by folks who know what they are doing and love doing it.
Anyone with questions or comments regarding "Collection" is strongly encouraged to email me.
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