{"id":37163,"date":"2022-05-27T18:37:28","date_gmt":"2022-05-27T22:37:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=37163"},"modified":"2022-05-27T18:42:00","modified_gmt":"2022-05-27T22:42:00","slug":"the-bootleg-files-a-bob-hope-special-15-of-my-leading-ladies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2022\/05\/27\/the-bootleg-files-a-bob-hope-special-15-of-my-leading-ladies\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bootleg Files: A Bob Hope Special (15 Of My Leading Ladies)"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOOTLEG FILES 802: <\/strong>\u201cA Bob Hope Comedy Special (15 of My Leading Ladies).\u201d <\/p>\n

LAST SEEN:<\/strong> On YouTube.<\/p>\n

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO:<\/strong> None.<\/p>\n

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS:<\/strong> Mostly likely due to rights clearance issues.<\/p>\n

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE:<\/strong> Probably not.<\/p>\n

On September 28, 1966, Bob Hope hosted his first comedy special of the fall television season with a stellar cast \u2013 the ski-nosed funnyman recruited 15 actresses who starred opposite him during his film career.
\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI make love to 15 of my leading ladies in movies,\u201d Hope quipped. \u201cThe title of the show is \u2018Richard Burton Eat Your Heart Out.\u2019\u201d Hope complimented his co-stars with an insider\u2019s cinematography joke: \u201cThey all look so gorgeous. They must have some secret \u2013 I\u2019m the only one they have to use the fuzzy lens on. You\u2019ve heard about the fuzzy lens, haven\u2019t you? I hope I\u2019m not giving away Bing\u2019s secret.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hope\u2019s opening monologue, as usual, was the best aspect of the show, and it included cracks about the then-current race for California\u2019s governorship between Democratic incumbent Pat Brown and Republican challenger Ronald Reagan. Hope threw in a crack about President Lyndon B. Johnson\u2019s crass handling of his pet dogs by joking, \u201cRonnie Reagan\u2019s very ambitious \u2013 I don\u2019t know how he wants to go, but this morning he picked his agent up by his ears.\u201d He also observed the dismal economy of the day by noting \u201cI passed a bank yesterday and it had a poor box out front.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the monologue, the crux of the special begins with Hope being escorted to his NBC dressing room with gun-toting security guards. Hope is carrying is golf bag and insists, \u201cIt\u2019s only September \u2013 they can\u2019t be out of reruns already.\u201d Hope goes into his dressing room and finds an NBC executive (Ken Murray) and his underlings Hubert and Humphrey. Hope is given a physical exam by the network\u2019s physician (played by Paul Lynde in his typical bitchy-sneery manner). After a few stale jokes related to health care, Lynde plays therapist as Hope recalls his starring roles opposite beautiful actresses. Hope insists \u201cwhen I make love, I\u2019m sincere\u201d before a montage of scenes featuring Hope with Madeleine Carroll, Anita Ekberg, Jane Russell and a gorilla from \u201cRoad to Zanzibar.\u201d None of the ladies, nor the gorilla, showed up in this special \u2013 with home lamenting the gorilla was \u201cthe one time Crosby let me win the girl.\u201d (Crosby is also absent from the show, despite the multiple mentions.)<\/p>\n

From here, the special goes into an extended dream sequence of skits with Hope encountering the 15 leading ladies that he promised in the introduction. Each woman is barely on for a few minutes \u2013 they are cited by name (followed by some obviously pre-recorded applause) and they engage Hope in brief exchanges of silly dialogue before disappearing from view.<\/p>\n

The 15 women corralled into the show were, in alphabetical order, Lucille Ball, Joan Caufield, Joan Collins, Arlene Dahl, Phyllis Diller, Rhonda Fleming, Joan Fontaine, Signe Hasso, Hedy Lamarr, Dorothy Lamour, Marilyn Maxwell, Virginia Mayo, Dina Merrill, Vera Miles and Janis Paige. At the time, Ball and Diller were the only actresses who were still working regularly and maintaining their star status \u2013 the others were either off the screen for a number of years or were slumming in crummy films and TV guest sports unworthy of their talents. <\/p>\n

None of the women really stood out \u2013 not unlikely his movies, Hope steamrolled the leading ladies, getting the bigger jokes at their expenses. There were a few stylistic attempts to one-up the comic \u2013 Joan Collins\u2019 severely unflattering haircut and Hedy Lamarr with uncharacteristic blonde hair made them stand out, if only for visual shock. Not surprisingly, Lucille Ball and Phyllis Diller knew how to claw laughs and attention away from Hope, but only barely.<\/p>\n

Hope got a lot of publicity mileage from this endeavor for being able to bring so many recognizable (if mostly past their prime) stars on his show. But this was one of his least invigorating TV specials of the era \u2013 Hope was able to do better and he was clearly on auto-pilot for most of the production.<\/p>\n

To date, this special was never made available on home entertainment formats. A decent dupe can be found on YouTube, but it would be mostly of interest to Hope enthusiasts.<\/p>\n