The Secret Life of Bob Hope: An Unauthorized Biography

The people who panned this book *clearly* have their shorts in a wad (that's a colloquial phrase for "cognitive dissonance") over having their shiny perceptual "Bob Hope" bubbles painfully burst after discovering the rather unsavory truth. Too bad, that's what you get for putting somebody up on a pedestal. Especially somebody who doesn't deserve it. I give the book five stars because it soundly draws a clear distinction between Bob Hope's carefully crafted public persona and what he was REALLY like, "behind the scenes"... a mean-spirited, self-aggrandizing, womanizing opportunist! In other words, he was a first-class spoiled brat and a major league hypocrite. This book would be a lot less interesting if the dichotomy that is Bob Hope wasn't a fact of life, and admittedly, it will not be very interesting to the people who don't remember him. But for those of us that do, it is an excellent biography. Pretty soon we'll all be dead too, but at least we'll kick off knowing the value of "belief" in terms of accepting uncritically and without question whatever is tossed one's way by the public relations machinery.... an object lesson which translates neatly not just for the entertainment business, but for media and government as well.

Well -as you'll note from other reviews, how dare Arthur Marx pick on a great American legend! A man that has entertained us for most of the 20th century. A man that has risked his life to bring comfort to the troops of America's numerous wars and conflicts. A man that just couldn't make enough money or women! It was always known in Hollywood and in the Pentagon, what a flagrant womanizer Bob Hope was -in fact just about to the very end of his life. His wife knew it and with the patience of a saint, she stuck by him through countless affairs and one-nighters, both here and overseas. Thats the way it was. The man who always managed to have an ad-lib ready for any occassion -they were all carefully scripted in advance. Again, thats the way it was. No one likes to hear such stories about their heroes and role models, afterall it kind of makes suckers out of us if we go along and believe something like this book. We figure if Bob was that bad, we would have heard about it long ago. Thats where all those great PR people come in and Bob had the best. Worshiped by the public, the servicemen and all those American presidents from both parties. So who wants to make suckers out of all them, it's worse than burning the flag and then spitting on it. Yes, his image was greater than anyone on Mount Rushmore. What's more, Bob Hope knew it, flaunted it and fully exploited it -all the way to the bank. He became the single biggest private owner of real estate in California. Whereas Jack Benny always traded off his showbiz image of being tight with money, in reality he was the total opposite. However, Bob the benevolent was as tight as they come, extremely shrewd and always politically savvy. Not that all thats a crime, but was he really worthy of becoming the most decorated American in history? Arthur Marx, son of Groucho, a veteran TV writer, playwright, novelist and biographer, took on an impossible and thankless task of showing Bob Hope in the true cold light of reality. But he strongly felt it was something he had to do. Theres no doubt that Bob Hope was extremely talented, his timing was always spot on. Theres no doubt he was the best MC you could ever get, specially at the Academy Awards. Why is it then, that we can take the good and bad when it comes to someone like Frank Sinatra, but not in super-patriot Bob? And thats what this book is all about really. It's worthy of your making up your own mind and not blindly believing in all the PR hype. Politicians court showbiz because they crave that same insatiable fan worship. Superstar's today don't seem to mind if you think of them badly or not, as long as their name stays in the headlines and the money keeps coming in. But thats right, Bob was of another era.

Bob Hope, America's comedian -- at least among white middle-Americans of a certain age. But like any institution, and he is an institution, there is a downside to one of the country's favorite success stories. Arthur Marx pulls no punches in characterizing Hope's many flaws. Chief are the secretly promiscuous womanizing, the penny-pinching among staffers, the ceaseless self-promotion, and a generally curmudgeonly personality. Not really bad stuff, like mixing with gangsters or playing with drugs, the sorts of things Hollywood is generally prone to. But bad enough to tarnish a nurtured image as family man and patriot. Many readers will avoid a tell-all book like Marx's for that sort of defensive reason. Moreover, I get the feeling that like many in Hollywood Marx respects Hope the comedian at the same time he generally dislikes the man. Nonetheless, he is careful to point out Hope's many strengths as a performer -- his matchless ability with one-liners; his energy, verve and sass; his tireless dedication to servicemen,(which appears genuine); and his shrewd sense of the business. Additionally, Hope makes up for a lack of creative spark with a sound sense of comedy, which has helped him stay on top for a remarkable period. I like the way Marx has included excerpts from routines to provide period flavor. They furnish a sense of popular humor over time, and Hope was an expert purveyor of popular tastes until at least the 1960's when the unpleasant war-mongering side took over. Marx's style is easy and readable. Even so, as another reviewer has pointed out, there is a notable shortage of citations to back up fact. What there are consists of a list of persons interviewed for the book, which seems a little over general for a work of this type. Nevertheless, many allegations are also attributed by name from the list of interviewees. So, however you take it, be prepared for an eye-level approach to a legend who is also very much a flawed individual.

Bob Hope is known the world over as an all-American American. A devoted husband and father, a patriot and a man who entertained countless millions of soldiers during war. But in this book, we discover a Bob Hope few knew existed. A Bob Hope who used his travels as an excuse to sleep with sexy young women. The story has many credible sources, including such longtime Hope friends as Milton Berle and Steve Allen. And, Marx, as the son of the great Groucho, undoubtedly has known a lot of dirt about Hope for years. He has waited until now to write the book, because Hope is too old, feeble and forgotten to fight back. Although it's disappointing to read such things about Hope, this book is anyone interested in the truth.