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Television
With No Borders / GIVE
P
We
Preserve The Moment /
KASLC
May
29, 2003
Street Signs and Hollywood & Vine Marks 100th
Birthday for Hollywood Legend - Bob
Hope.
Henry Kissinger sent roses. Sarah Kellerhals of
Nashville, Ind., sent a hand-knitted cap, complete
with a pompom. A 75-year-old from Lincoln, Neb.,
made his own card featuring a photo of himself --
with his refrigerator.
----- Then there was
the note, similar to many, many others, signed by a
man from Hagerstown, Md. Along with greetings, he
enclosed a black-and-white snapshot he had taken of
the birthday boy and a bathing beauty on stage back
in 1944, somewhere in the South Pacific. "We are
grateful we had someone who cared enough to come to
the danger zones," he wrote. "You deserve to be an
honorary veteran."
----- On Wednesday,
the eve of the big 1-oh-oh for Bob Hope, his Toluca
Lake compound was besieged by an onslaught of
affection that would warm the heart of any florist
or card seller -- and challenge the fortitude of
the hardest-working secretary.
----- "It's like
triage," said one, Annette Siegel, as she worked
through her lunch hour, trying to sort the mail
into "VIP," "fans and friends" and "touching"
categories. "When I came in on Tuesday," she said,
"I had 6,000 e-mails. I haven't had time to sort
them out."
----- In the foyer of
the staff's office, a laundry-sized wicker basket
overflowed with unopened cards. One of the family
dogs, a yellow Labrador named Luke, lay in the hall
and watched lazily as more mail was carried into
the small office where longtime staffers Siegel and
Jan Morrill coped with birthday greetings from
around the world.
----- There was ice
cream from Boston and cake from community leaders
who had lined the street with Bob Hope banners.
----- Some birthday
messages to the quintessential American entertainer
were simple. "Dear Bob," wrote a woman from
Christchurch, New Zealand, "I hope you have a
lovely day." From North Hollywood, Mike Phillips, a
former corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps, sent a
Hallmark card with a flag on the front, and the
greeting, "It's people like you who make this
country great."
----- Others were a
little more complex. Sharilyn Wissink of Maple
Grove, Minn., concluded her birthday greeting with
additional congratulations for having "remained
faithful to your wife and that is wonderful." Then
she wrote, "If you ever need a golf partner -- just
call" and gave him her phone number.
----- Reached
Wednesday by phone in Maple Grove, just outside
Minneapolis-St. Paul, Wissink said she and her
husband saw Hope perform in 1965 when her husband
was in college and she was teaching school. "We
scraped together this money to hear Bob Hope. He
was so funny. I just couldn't get enough of him....
But I really feel that he needed to know that
people were appreciative of what he has done not
only for the troops but as a role model for a great
man."
----- The writers had
sent their cards to his business offices, to his
home in Palm Springs or directly to the stately
Toluca Lake home where he has lived since 1939. In
previous years, his assistants said, he has
received mail addressed only to "Bob Hope,
Somewhere in the United States." He once received a
letter with only his picture slapped on the
envelope.
----- In the big house
near the offices, Hope was preparing to celebrate
quietly with some of his family: his wife, Dolores,
who turned 94 on Tuesday, children Linda, Kelly and
Tony, and three grandchildren. This evening, there
will be an intimate party at home with a 100-candle
celebration.
----- Linda Hope said
that while her father is too frail to attend any of
today's public celebrations or televised tributes,
he does see a sampling of the cards. "Some of the
most touching are the cards from people Dad doesn't
even know he knows," she said. "When we go up and
tell him, he smiles and says, 'Isn't that
something' or 'For me?' as if people turn 100 every
day."
----- While mail from
veterans is the most typical, Hope has plenty of
other correspondents out there, ranging from the
queen of England and both Presidents Bush to a
middle school student who enclosed his "What Makes
an American Hero" speech.
----- One candidate
for the "touching" category: An Englishman who
served in the Royal Artillery in World War II and
saw one of Hope's films, "Monsieur Beaucaire" three
times during his service, wrote: "I know of no
other person that could make me laugh three times
watching the same film. Thank you for lifting the
spirits of so many, especially during the darker
days. God Bless You!"
----- Starting out in
vaudeville, Hope became one of the few show
business celebrities who achieved star status on
Broadway, in radio, in films and on television. He
was almost as famous for his "ski slope" nose as
for his razor-sharp comic delivery and cowardly
persona developed in a series of "Road" pictures
with Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour, and TV
specials. He began visiting Army bases abroad to
entertain troops with the USO in 1942 and is
remembered by U.S. service personnel from World War
II through Korea, Vietnam and the Persian Gulf.
----- Tributes have
been scheduled throughout the week and the coming
months. On Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Board of
Supervisors proclaimed him "Citizen of the
Century," a fact noted by some letter writers.
Today there'll be festivities in Hollywood, led by
"honorary mayor" Johnny Grant, to designate the
intersection of Hollywood and Vine "Bob Hope
Square." His family members have taped an
appearance that will be shown tonight on "Larry
King Live" to celebrate his legendary career.
----- States from
California to New Hampshire are expected to
proclaim today "Bob Hope Day." And one of the
quirkier homages has turned up at Eisenhower
Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, for which Hope
donated land. The center has been offering cookies
decorated with Hope's face to visitors all
week.
----- While there is
no official Bob Hope fan club, it was clear from
the private correspondence that his public regards
him as a family member. There were cards from
Eltham, England, his birthplace, where the Bob Hope
Theatre will honor him; and from Cleveland, his
family's home after they immigrated to America,
where a street in the theater district will be
named "Bob Hope Way."
----- His assistants
said many people write to Hope to say he reminds
them of their father. One enclosed a second,
smaller card from "Fido."
----- While the
assistants try to acknowledge the writers, at the
least through a Web site posting, many cards will
never make their way across the driveway to their
intended recipient. Lorie Emmons, for one, doesn't
care. A self-described "huge fan," she wrote, "I
know you'll probably never get a chance to read
this, since I know you'll receive a mountain of
birthday cards. But I gotta tell ya I'm proud and
honored just to have my card to you be one little
pebble in that mountain of cards."
----- She adorned her
card's envelope with a full lavender lipstick kiss
and a jaunty "Happy Birthday, Toots!"
-////
Respectfully
Submitted
Josie
Cory
Publisher/Editor
TVI Magazine
1956-2008©úÆTVI
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The internet is here to
stay. Good for the consumer! Today's
Puzzle: What's
Piracy? Who Really Pays the Performers? Hollywood
critics say that old worldwide movies and TV shows
exceed over one million units -- and recycled
movies and TV shows are said to glut the worlds
vaults with over two million units. Hollywood
mischaracterizes legal behavior, as one who
interferes with the mechanics of Supply and Demand!
_____________
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- Respectfully
Submitted
Josie
Cory
Publisher/Editor
TVI Magazine
TVI
Magazine, tviNews.net, Associated Press, Reuters,
BBC, LA Times, NY Times, VRA's D-Diaries, Press
Releases and SmartSearch were used in compiling and
ascertaining this news report.
LookRadio.com
-
Do
it with movies, slide shows and
music!
-----
Smart90's
24-hour, 365 days-a-year Broadband S90tv
WebMagic
web page is the simplest way to add the WebMagic to
your existing web pages. It's an Exciting New Way
to Advertise.
-----
Advertise
Now on Smart90.com and utilize S90tv's Web Magic on
your own domain. Email
your insertion order and advertising copy or banner
requests to the attention of: Advertising Marketing
Director at
look@smart90.com™.
- -----To
get you started today, you can attach to your
Email, your logo, slides, transparencies,
illustrations, photographs or other computer
graphics. The materials will be forwarded directly
to our art department.-
- -----
Advertising
material must be received by the 10th of every
month to be included in the following scheduled
print magazine issue. In regards to our daily
tviNews.net edition, your banner, logo, web movie,
slide show or 60x500 animated banner, that is to be
headlined at the top of our featured news page, as
a linkonad or smartkudoad,
can be Emailed to us at your convenience.
- -----
Or
better yet, tell us where to go to fetch the
information -- this way it will be much quicker to
get you up and running. For Ad rates please click
on: TVI
Advertising Rates.
Please
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