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BOB HOPE’S LEADING LADIES

“A Bob Hope Comedy Special” (S17;E1) ~ September 28, 1966

Directed by Jack Shea

Written by Mort Lachman, Bill Larkin, John Rapp, Lester A. White, Charles Lee, Gig Henry

Bob Hope (Himself, Host) was born Lesley Townes Hope in England in 1903. During his extensive career in virtually all forms of media he received five honorary Academy Awards. In 1945 Desi Arnaz was the orchestra leader on Bob Hope’s radio show. Ball and Hope did four films together. He appeared as himself on the season 6 opener of “I Love Lucy.” He did a brief cameo in a 1964 episode of “The Lucy Show.” When Lucille Ball moved to NBC in 1980, Hope appeared on her welcome special. He died in 2003 at age 100.

The Leading Ladies (in alphabetical Order):

Lucille Ball (1911-1989) was born in Jamestown, New York. She began her screen career in 1933 and was known in Hollywood as ‘Queen of the B’s’ due to her many appearances in ‘B’ movies. With Richard Denning, she starred in a radio program titled “My Favorite Husband” which eventually led to the creation of “I Love Lucy,” a television situation comedy in which she co-starred with her real-life husband, Latin bandleader Desi Arnaz. The program was phenomenally successful, allowing the couple to purchase what was once RKO Studios, re-naming it Desilu. When the show ended in 1960 (in an hour-long format known as “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour”) so did Lucy and Desi’s marriage. In 1962, hoping to keep Desilu financially solvent, Lucy returned to the sitcom format with “The Lucy Show,” which lasted six seasons. She followed that with a similar sitcom “Here’s Lucy” co-starring with her real-life children, Lucie and Desi Jr., as well as Gale Gordon, who had joined the cast of “The Lucy Show” during season two. Before her death in April 1989, Lucy made one more attempt at a sitcom with “Life With Lucy,” also with Gordon, which was not a success and was canceled after just 13 episodes.

Joan Caulfield (1922-1991) with Bob Hope: Monsieur Beaucaire (1946), Variety Girl (1947), “The Bob Hope Show” (1957, 1960)

Joan Collins (b. 1933) with Bob Hope: The Road to Honk Kong (1962), “The Bob Hope Show” (1959, 1962)

With Lucille Ball: “All-Star Party for Lucille Ball” (1984), “Night of 100 Stars II” (1985)

With Lucille Ball and Bob Hope: “Women I Love: Beautiful But Funny” (1982)

Arlene Dahl (b. 1925) with Bob Hope: Here Come The Girls (1953)

Phyllis Diller (1917-2012) with Bob Hope: “Hollywood Star Spangled Revue” (1966), “The Bob Hope Vietnam Christmas Show” (1966), Boy Did I Get a Wrong Number! (1966), “Kraft Music Hall: The Phyllis Diller Happening” (1967), “The Phyllis Diller Show: Learn To Be A Millionaire” (1967), “The Bob Hope Show” (1967, 1970), Eight on the Lam (1967), “Rowan and Martin at the Movies” (1968), The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell (1968), “George Jessel's Here Comes the Stars: Bob Hope” (1969), “The Bob Hope Show: Bob Looks at Women's Lib” (1970), “The Bob Hope Show: Bob Hope's 22nd Anniversary” (1971), “Plimpton! Did You Hear the One About?” (1971), “The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: Bob Hope” (1974), “Bob Hope's Bicentennial Star-Spangled Special” (1976), “Joys” (1976), “The Bob Hope Comedy Special from Palm Springs” (1978), “The Bob Hope Funny Valentine Special” (1981), “The Merriest of the Merry: Bob Hope's Christmas Show, A Bagful of Comedy” (1982), “George Burns Celebrates 80 Years in Show Business” (1983), “Bob Hope's Happy Birthday Homecoming” (1984), “All-Star Party for Dutch Reagan” (1985), “All-Star Tribute to General Jimmy Doolittle” (1986), “Hope News Network” (1988), “Bob Hope's USO Christmas from the Persian Gulf: Around the World in Eight Days” (1988), “Ole! It's Bob Hope's Spring Fling of Comedy and Music from Acapulco” (1990), “Bob Hope: The First 90 Years” (1993), “Bob Hope's Birthday Memories” (1994), “Bob Hope's Young Comedians” (1995), “100 Years of Hope and Humor” (2003)

With Lucille Ball and Bob Hope: “Swing Out, Sweet Land” (1970), “The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: Lucille Ball” (1975), “Women I Love: Beautiful But Funny” (1982), “Happy Birthday, Bob” (1978) (1983), “Bob Hope's Unrehearsed Antics of the Stars (1984)”, “Bob Hope Buys NBC?” (1985), “Bob Hope's High-Flying Birthday” (1987), “Bob Hope's High-Flying Birthday Extravaganza” (1986), “America's Tribute to Bob Hope” (1988), “Happy Birthday, Bob: 50 Stars Salute Your 50 Years with NBC” (1988)

Female Impersonator Jim Bailey did his impersonation of Phyllis Diller on a November 1972 episode of “Here's Lucy.”

Rhonda Fleming (b. 1923) with Bob Hope: The Great Lover (1949), “The Bob Hope Show” (November 24, 1957 & December 11, 1959) “The All-Star Christmas Show” (1958), Alias Jesse James (1959), The Road to Eltham (1978), “All-Star Party for Dutch Reagan” (1985)

With Lucille Ball and Bob Hope: “Bob Hope Presents: Have Girls, Will Travel” (1964), “Dinah: Bob Hope The Road to Hollywood” (1977), “Bob Hope's Road to Hollywood” (1983)

Joan Fontaine (1917-2013) with Bob Hope: Casanova's Big Night (1954)

Signe Hasso (1910-2002) with Bob Hope: Where There's Life (1947), “Bob Hope Presents: Code Name Heraclitus Parts One and Part Two“ (1966 & 1967)

Hedy Lamarr (1914-2000) with Bob Hope: My Favorite Spy (1951)

Dorothy Lamour (1914-1996) with Bob Hope: The Big Broadcast of 1938, Road To Singapore (1940), Road To Zanzibar (1941), Caught In the Draft (1941), Road To Morocco (1942), Star Spangled Rhythm (1942), They Got Me Covered (1943), Road To Utopia (1945), My Favorite Brunette (1947), Variety Girl (1947), Road To Rio (1947), “All-Star Revue” (1951), The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), Road to Bali (1952), “The Bob Hope Show” (1954 & 1956), “The Arthur Murray Special for Bob Hope” (1960), “The Bob Hope Show” (March & April 1962), The Road To Honk Kong (1962), “Bing Crosby Special: Making Movies” (1968), “The Annual National Sports Award” (1974), The Road To Eltham (1978), “The John Davidson Show” (February 1982), “All-Star Party for Dutch Reagan” (1985), “Bob Hope and Friends: Making New Memories” (1991),

With Lucille Ball and Bob Hope: “Dinah: Bob Hope The Road to Hollywood” (1977), “Women I Love: Beautiful But Funny” (1982), “Bob Hope's Road to Hollywood” (1983), “Happy 100th Birthday Hollywood” (1987)

Marilyn Maxwell (1920-1972) with Bob Hope: “The Colgate Comedy Hour” (1950, 1951, 1953, 1953), The Lemon Drop Kid (1951), Off Limits (1952), “The Bob Hope Show” (1954)

With Lucille Ball: DuBarry Was A Lady (1943), Thousands Cheer (1943), Forever Darling (1956), “Here's Lucy: Lucy The Co-Ed” (1970)

With Lucille Ball and Bob Hope: Critic's Choice (1963), “Bob Hope Presents: Have Girls, Will Travel” (1964)

Virginia Mayo (1920-2005) with Bob Hope: The Princess and the Pirate (1944), “All-Star Party for Dutch Reagan” (1985)

With Lucille Ball and Bob Hope: “Bob Hope's Road to Hollywood” (1983)

Dina Merrill (1923-2017) with Bob Hope: I'll Take Sweden (1965)

With Bob Hope and Lucille Ball: “Bob Hope's Road to Hollywood” (1983)

Vera Miles (b. 1929) with Bob Hope: Beau James (1957), “America's All-Star Tribute To Elizabeth Taylor” (1989)

Janis Paige (b. 1922) with Bob Hope: “The Colgate Comedy Hour” (1951), “The Bob Hope Show” (1954, 1955, 1957, 1957, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1963, 1965), Roberta (1958), “The Tonight Show” (1963), Roberta (1969), “All-Star Party for Dutch Reagan” (1985)

With Bob Hope and Lucille Ball: “Women I Love: Beautiful But Funny” (1982), “Bob Hope's Road to Hollywood” (1983)

Also Starring:

Jerry Colonna as Smithers, Lucy's Chauffeur (1904-1986) with Bob Hope: Watch the Birdie (1935), College Swing (1938), Road To Singapore (1940), Star-Spangled Rhythm (1942), Road To Rio (1947), “The Colgate Comedy Hour” (1953), “The Bob Hope Show” (1954, 1956, 1959, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1973), The Road To Honk Kong (1962), “The Bob Hope Christmas Show” (1962), “The Bing Crosby Show” (1964), “The Bob Hope Vietnam Christmas Show” (1966), “The Bob Hope Special” (1971), “Dinah!” (1975), “Joys” (1976)

With Lucille Ball: G.I. Journal (1946)

Paul Lynde as Doctor Fleischer (1926-1982) with Bob Hope: “Bob Hope Presents: The Blue-Eyed Horse” (1966), “The Bob Hope Show” (1967), “The Hollywood Squares” (1967), “Donny and Marie” (1975), “The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast: Dean Martin” (1976), “Bob Hope for President” (1980)

With Bob Hope and Lucille Ball: “The Dean Martin 1968 Christmas Show”, “The Dean Martin Show” (1970)

With Lucille Ball: “Donny and Marie” (1977)

Ken Murray as Harvey Sarnoff (1903-1988) with Bob Hope: Rough But Hopeful (1946), “The Colgate Comedy Hour” (1951), “The Bob Hope Show” (1957, 1967, 1973)

With Lucille Ball: “The Ken Murray Show” (1950)

Les Brown and His Band of Renown

Featuring on Tonight's Show (End Credits):

Phil Arnold as Delivery Boy (1909-1968) with Bob Hope: I'll Take Sweden (1965), “The Bob Hope Show” (1967), Eight on the Lam (1967)

With Lucille Ball: “I Love Lucy”: “Lucy is Matchmaker” (1953) and “Lucy Changes Her Mind” (1953)

Frank Barton (Announcer)

Lilyan Chauvin as Mary, Dina Merrill's Maid (1925-2008)

Bob Jellison as Phyllis Diller's Hairdresser (1908-1980) with Bob Hope: “The Bob Hope Show” (1955, 1963, 1968, 1969, 1969, 1970, 1971)

With Lucille Ball: “I Love Lucy: The Gossip” as the Milkman (1953); “I Love Lucy” Hollywood episodes as Bobby the Bellboy (6 episodes,1955); “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour: Lucy Hunts Uranium” as Las Vegas Bellhop (1958)

With Lucille Ball and Bob Hope: “The Bob Hope Show” (1962)

Ray Kellogg as H.B., Dina Merrill's Director (1919-1981) with Bob Hope: “The Bob Hope Show” (1969, 1971, 1971)

With Lucille Ball: “I Love Lucy” (1954, 1955), “The Lucy Show” (6 episodes 1964-68), “Here's Lucy” (1968, 1969), “Jack Benny's Birthday Special” (1969)

Johnine Lee as NBC Page (b. 1950) with Bob Hope: “The Bob Hope Show” (April 1966)

Peter Leeds as Hank Hellman, Reporter (1917-1996) with Bob Hope: “The Red Skelton Hour: Clem and Married Life” (1951), “The Bob Hope Show” (13 episodes, 1955-1967), “The Colgate Comedy Hour” (1955), “The Bob Hope Christmas Show” (1962, 1965), “The Bing Crosby Show” (1964), “The Bob Hope Comedy Special” (1965, 1972), I'll Take Sweden (1965), The Oscar (1966), Eight on the Lam (1967), “Bob Hope Lampoons Show Business” (1990), “Bob Hope and Friends: Making New Memories” (1991)

With Lucille Ball and Bob Hope: “I Love Lucy: Lucy and Bob Hope” (1956), The Facts of Life (1960)

With Lucille Ball: “I Love Lucy: The Publicity Agent” (1952), The Long, Long Trailer (1954), “Here's Lucy: Lucy and Candid Camera” (1971)

Eddie Marr as Joseph, Joan Caulfield's Chauffeur (1900-1987) with Bob Hope: “The Bob Hope Show” (8 episodes, 1956-1972), “Bob Hope's All-Star Comedy Spectacular from Lake Tahoe” (1977)

With Bob Hope and Lucille Ball: “The Bob Hope Show” (1970)

With Lucille Ball: The Affairs of Annabel (1938)

Michael Ross as Bob Hope's Masseur (1911-1993) with Bob Hope: My Favorite Spy (1951), The Lemon Drop Kid (1951), Off Limits (1952), Here Come the Girls (1953), Casanova's Big Night (1954), Alias Jesse James (1959), “The Bob Hope Christmas Show” (1965), “The Bob Hope Show” (1965, 1969)

With Lucille Ball: Miss Grant Takes Richmond (1949)

Archive Footage

Madeleine Carroll (1906-1987) as Karen Bentley in My Favorite Blonde (1942)

Anita Ekberg (1931-2015) as Luba in Call Me Bwana (1963)

Jane Russell (1921-2011) as Calamity Jane in The Paleface (1948)

Bob's Opening Monologue

Hope: “I'm B.O.B. Hope. They only performer on TV who isn't from U.N.C.L.E.”

“The Man from U.N.C.L.E” (1964-68) was a hit NBC spy series at the time. Two days later the show presented the third episode of their third season, which coincidentally also starred Joan Collins.

Hope jokes that the title of this show is “15 of My Leading Ladies” or “Richard Burton Eat Your Heart Out”. Both Burton and Elizabeth Taylor are mentioned during the show. Two years earlier, the two stars had wed and become one of Hollywood’s super couples. They would appear on “Here’s Lucy” in 1970.

Hope: “I always enjoyed working with Lucille Ball. She's the nicest producer I've ever kissed.”

Hope says that he will be appearing on Lucy's show in exchange. He actually had already done so, doing a walk-on cameo in a 1964 episode of “The Lucy Show” guest-starring Jack Benny. Reciprocal appearances by Hope and Ball were common and date back to the early 1950s.

Hope talks about the new TV shows like “How The West Was Won,” linking it to discussion of California politics talking about Governor Pat Brown and Ronald Reagan, who ran against Brown and won, becoming Governor in January 1967. Hope jokes about First Lady Lady Bird Johnson's visit to California on a “Beauty and Conservation Tour” in early September 1966.

He talks more about TV shows with animal names in the title like “Rat Patrol,” “T.H.E. Cat,” “Iron Horse” and “The Monkeys”. He says that “Run Buddy, Run” and “The Fugitive” had a head-on collision. “Daktari” and “Rawhide” are both returning.

After a commercial break, a film segment depicts an armored car with a two motorcycle escort pulling up to the NBC Studios where Bob Hope, golf clubs in tow, emerges from the truck. When Bob gets inside his dressing room there is a surprise party waiting for him, thrown by the NBC executives to celebrate his 30th year at the network. One of the men is named Sarnoff (Harvey, a nephew of NBC founder David Sarnoff), and the other two are named Hubert and Humphrey, a jab at the current vice president.

Hope's Emmy is dramatically behind an elaborate curtain. He won it in 1966 for “Bob Hope Presents The Chrysler Theatre.” Although Hope received the Governor's Award in 1984, this was his only competitive Emmy.

The Executives leave Hope to get a physical by a doctor (Paul Lynde) – which is an exercise in futility, especially when a buxom blonde Page (Johnine Lee) delivers some telegrams to Hope, making his face twitch. The Doctor turns into Hope's therapist. He recalls some of his leading ladies accompanied by clips of the films in which he starred with them. Madeleine Carroll in My Favorite Blonde (1942), Anita Ekberg in Call Me Bwana (1963), and Jane Russell in The Paleface (1948), and a gorilla (“The one time Crosby let me win the girl.”)

Hope relates that he has the same dream every night, all alone with his leading ladies. The dream materializes, and Hope is seen in a tuxedo in an elegant, cloud-like setting with fountains and chandeliers. He sees Marilyn Maxwell and they slow dance.

Maxwell: “Bob, when are we going to do another picture together?” Hope: “Don't be greedy. I put you in this dream, didn't I?”

Maxwell dances off and is replaced by Rhonda Fleming.

Fleming: “Is this a private dream, or can anyone cut in?”

Fleming asks for a kiss. Hope dips her and up comes Arlene (“with the beauty spot”) Dahl. Dahl sings “I Believe In You,” a song written by Frank Loesser for the 1961 Broadway musical How To Succeed in Business...Without Really Trying. Maxwell and Fleming join Dahl in singing to Hope. The three women vanish as the show goes to commercial.

Back with the Doctor in his dressing room Bob is having his blood pressure taken.

Hope (muttering): “Shirley Ross, Martha Hyer, Yvonne DeCarlo, Milly Vitale, Vera Zorina, Betty Grable...”

While he's listing the women, the blood pressure cuff balloons! The Doctor asks Hope when it all started, and a flashback begins at Schwab's Drugstore 28 years earlier (1938). [An establishing slide of the exterior of Schwab's looks nothing like the actual Hollywood landmark.]

In the flashback, Hope walks into the drug store with a head of dark hair, sunglasses, yellow shoes, pink trousers, and a purple check sport coat. Virginia Mayo is behind the pharmacy counter.

Hope: “I got so many jobs right now I'm trying to decide between a big musical for Arthur Freed or a comedy for George Marshall.”

George Marshall would later direct several on-location episodes of “Here’s Lucy.” Marshall had first directed Ball in Valley of the Sun (1942) and with Hope in Fancy Pants (1950).

Mayo says she's working on a new act, but one of her two partners is quitting. She calls the act in and it is a pantomime horse. Mayo intimates that Hope could play the back end to “take advantage of his best side.”

Bob runs into Janis Paige. He tries to convince her to be his escort to a soiree. While pasting his 8 by 10 over magazine covers, he meets Joan Collins. They have lunch together at the soda fountain counter where Hope criticizes everything she orders. Janis Paige grabs him away and sings “Big Spender,” a song written by Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields for the 1966 Broadway musical Sweet Charity. Mayo and Collins join her.

Back in the dressing room, the Doctor leaves Bob with a prescription and Harvey Sarnoff returns to introduce Hope to Hank Hellman (Peter Leeds), a reporter. After checking the room for spies, Bob announces that he's going to make Gone With The Wind as a musical.

Hellman: “It'll be bigger than 'My Fair Lady' and 'Mary Poppins' combined!”

Actually, there was a Gone With The Wind musical by Harold Rome – on the London stage. It premiered in 1972 and was revived in 2008. The search for an actress to play Scarlett O'Hara for the original 1939 film was one of Hollywood's biggest publicity stunts, with over 1,400 actresses auditioned before the role went to Vivien Leigh.

On a sound stage, Vera Miles walks off her latest picture thinking she is the one to play Scarlet.

At an airport, Joan Caulfield cancels a trip thinking she is the next Scarlett.

At her home, Dina Merrill tells her maid to unpack because Bob Hope needs her.

At a corner newsstand, Signe Hasso tells a news vendor that she's from the south – of Sweden - so ideal for Scarlett.

At the beauty salon, Phyllis Diller is perusing a magazinethat makes her think she's the one to get the role.

At Bob Hope's home, he's getting ready for bed. Hedy Lamarr shows up to thank him for casting her. Joan Fontaine is on her way up, so Hope asks Lamarr to study the script – in the closet. When he hears Dorothy Lamour is coming, he stows Fontaine in another room. Hearing sirens, he tells Lamour to wait in the bathroom. It is Lucy!

Lucile Ball arrives pedaling an adult-size tricycle with Smithers (Jerry Collona), her chauffeur behind her.

Hope: “Lucille Ball! What happened to your car?” Ball: “Oh, Gary got up earlier than I did.”

Like the other leading ladies, Lucy is convinced she's the one playing Scarlett. As a young RKO contract player, Lucille Ball was one of the 1,400 actresses considered for the role in the 1939 MGM film. Soon, all the women come into the room demanding to know which one has been cast.

Including a surprise contender with a black veil – Phyllis Diller, who gets the part!

In this scene, Lucille Ball and Bob Hope crack each other up to the point that Lucy looks to the director as if to say “Are we cutting or not?” The other actresses in the sequence are all directed to acknowledge the studio audience's entrance applause before going back into the scene. The scene is somewhat clumsily filmed and edited, with the boom mic frequently in the shot, and even the end of the bedroom carpet visible.

After a preview of “And Baby Makes Five,” the next presentation on “Bob Hope Presents The Chrysler Theatre,” Hope and all the leading ladies (each on their own) sing “Thanks For the Memory” with special lyrics about Bob Hope. Lucy's verse compares him to Turhan Bey, a Turkish actor active in Hollywood from 1941 to 1953.

“Lucy the Bean Queen” (TLS S5;E3) ~ was aired on CBS two days earlier, September 26, 1966. Interestingly, Lucille Ball wears the same blue shirt that she wears on the “Bob Hope Show”!

This Date in Lucy History ~ September 28th

“Lucy and the Plumber” (S3;E2) – September 28, 1964 (coincidentally featuring a cameo by Bob Hope!)

"Lucy and Sammy Davis, Jr." (S3;E3) – September 28, 1970

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