Bob Hope was one among the many vaudeville performers working in the 1920's. Hope was an immigrant who saw a vaudeville career as one of the few ways to succeed as a foreigner in America. Bob Hope practiced the arts he learned in vaudeville and perpetuated variety entertainment traditions in stage musical comedy, motion pictures, radio, television and live performances he made around the world to support the American armed forces.
Bob Hope started his career in 1914 when he entered a Charlie Chaplin imitator contest. He entered into vaudeville in the 1920's with his first tours as half of a two man dancing team. The act appeared in small time vaudeville houses where tickets were ten cents and the performances were continuous. Within five years Bob Hope was in big time playing in the expensive houses where only the most popular acts were played. In 19
In 1950, he signed a deal with NBC that turned into 40-plus years of TV specials. Hope spoke to new generations of television viewers through his annual song, dance and comedy Christmas specials. Hope was a success in television until he passed away in July of 2003. Hope’s career covered almost every example of mass entertainment of the 20th century. He first earned fame on the vaudeville circuit, starred in Broadway stage, moved over to movies and radio, and then made generations laugh with five decades of television specials.
Bob Hope conquered the radio medium at nearly the same time as he found success in motion pictures. Hope was featured regularly in several radio series throughout the 1930's. His success in the film the big broadcast of 1938 brought him to NBC’s The Pepsodent Show which aired for over ten years as the highest-rated program on radio during WWII. Much of Bob Hope’s success on radio can be attributed to the hard work that
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