Thanks for the Memories

Bob Hope, who began his career as an entertainer in the 1920s, worked every show business medium of his era: stage, radio, movies and television. Now he can add the Internet to the list.

The Library of Congress has posted several sections of its current exhibition, Bob Hope and American Variety, on its site at https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/bobhope.

Instead of just being a biography of Hope, now 97, the exhibit explores the different types of entertainment in which he worked, with an emphasis on his training ground, vaudeville. Included in that section are some fascinating visuals, including a calling card from his moonlighting job as a dance teacher that reads “Lester Hope will teach you to dance” and a circa 1923 photograph--by then he was Bob--from his stage act.

There are also several stills from his films and USO tours, a script of his jokes for the 1969 Academy Awards--he was the regular host of the show for several years--and a cartoon cell of his depiction on “The Simpsons.”