Suspended Animation # 214
In the 2008 season seven episode of Family Guy entitled “Baby Not on Board”, Stewie refers to Glenn Quagmire as “Bob Hope”.
Hope – by Al Hirschfeld
Creator Seth McFarlane voices the character with the same tone, cadence and rapid-fire delivery as Hope. Hope actually briefly appeared in two episodes.
In the 2001 episode “A Very Special Family Guy Freakin’ Christmas”, there is a TV clip of Hope entertaining Union soldiers during the Civil War referencing his famous decades-long USO tours during Christmas.
In “PTV” (2005), newscaster Tom Tucker announces that Hope had come back to life, decided to attempt to jump trashcans on a motorcycle and when the stunt failed ended up dying again.
Of course, there were several episodes with Stewie and Brian parodying Hope’s famous “Road” pictures with Bing Crosby.
Hope had a lengthy and successful career in vaudeville, the Broadway stage, radio, film and television. He also received praise for his hosting of the Academy Awards nineteen times and his USO specials to raise troop morale around the world.
One of Hope’s film directors was Frank Tashlin who had a long career in animation including Van Bueren, Terrytoons, Warner Brothers, Disney, and Columbia among others before writing gags and directing live-action films that incorporated several animation style gags like in the Bob Hope film Son of Paleface (1952).
Hope’s National/DC comic book, The Adventures of Bob Hope (of which he was proud to have a complete collection of the 109 issues that ran from 1950-1968) was initially drawn by artist Owen Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald was an assistant animator with Disney Studio between 1937 and 1939, and then subsequently worked as an animator for Fleischer Studio (‘Gulliver’s Travels’, ‘Popeye’), MGM, Warner Bros (‘Looney Tunes’), De Patie-Freleng (‘Pink Panther’ and others.) and Hanna-Barbera (‘Flintstones’, ‘Superfriends’, ‘Smurfs’) up until the mid 1980s. During World War II, he was in the Army Signal Corps, the animation unit responsible for the famed ‘Private SNAFU’ cartoons.
Hope has been caricatured several times in animation, most notably in cartoons distributed by Paramount where Hope did several live-action comedies.
Malibu Beach Party (Warner Brothers. Merrie Melodies. September 14, 1940). Bob Hope is among several celebrities at Jack Benny’s party. [Link]
The Wizard Of Arts (Fleischer Studios. Animated Antics. August 8th, 1941). An Artist shows off his latest works, which include sculptures of “Despair” (a flat tire) and “Hope” (a bust of Bob). [Link]
From “The Baby Sitter” (1947)
The Baby Sitter (Famous Studios. Little Lulu. November 28, 1947). Babysitter Lulu dreams she finds the bratty baby she is watching hanging out at The Stork Club where Hope is one of the celebrities. [Link]
Toys Will Be Toys (Famous Studios. Screen Songs. July 15, 1949). Another one of the many cartoons where after the store closes for the night the toys come to life in a toy store. Hope’s sloped nose becomes a ski jump for other toys. [Link]
The Case of the Cockeyed Canary (Famous Studios. Noveltoons. Little Audrey. December 19, 1952). Little Audrey imagines herself as a detective who is solving the murder of Cock Robin. A number of Hollywood stars are portrayed as birds. Hope is depicted as a penguin perhaps because of his familiar image at the time as the tuxedo-wearing host of the Oscars. [Link]
Popeye’s 20th Anniversary (Famous Studios. Popeye. April 2, 1954). Again, because of his prominence as a host for the Oscar ceremonies, he is depicted as an emcee as animated caricatures of Paramount movie stars including Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis and Jimmy Durante turn out for the award ceremony celebrating Popeye’s twenty years as a movie star. [Link]
King Yakko (Warner Bros. Animaniacs September 1993). Hope is caricatured as the court jester of Anvil-ania: “I don’t know. I can’t see the cue card.” The line references Hope’s well-known dependence on cue cards on his television show. [Link]
Lisa, the Beauty Queen (The Simpsons. October 15, 1992). Hope provided the voice for his caricature in the show that had a segment that parodied his many USO shows. Hope was 89 years old when he recorded the part but he was animated to look much more youthful. He later died at the age of 100. [Link]
At Fort Springfield, Hope with his trademark golf club addressed the servicemen: “Hello, this is Bob ‘What the hell am I doing in Springfield?’ Hope. Hey, this Mayor Quimby, he’s some golfer. His ball spends more time underwater than Greg Louganis.”
Hope introduces Lisa as the reigning Little Miss Springfield to show the soldiers what they would be “fighting for, if there was a war on”.
But the troops were expecting an older pageant winner Miss Springfield and riot. Hope and Lisa make their escape on a helicopter. Hope asks to be set down at a boat show which is his next gig.
The Road to Dendron (Duckman. May 11, 1996). Rather than a caricature, Duckman and Corny parody the famous Hope-Crosby “Road” films where they are on the loose in Sudan, rescuing Ajax from a Sultan and wooing a beautiful princess.
Hugo (voice of Dave Thomas) and Hooft (voice of Joe Flaherty) are two comedic characters from the 2001 Disney syndicated television show The Legend of Tarzan. They were meant to be loose caricatures in terms of personality although not in appearance of Bob Hope and Bing Crosby from their classic “Road” films.
They are American deserters of the French Foreign Legion which they joined because they owed money to a loan shark in Chicago and can’t go home. They are portrayed as funny conmen who are still good-natured and loyal to their friends. [Link]
D’oh-in’ in the Wind (The Simpsons. November 15, 1998). Hank Azaria provided the voice for Hope. Homer tries to learn about hippie culture and watches an old Bob Hope comedy sketch where dressed as a hippie, he is invited to a love-in thinking he will go with actress Jill St. John but gets Phyllis Diller instead.
Homer: “If I’m gonna be a real hippie, I have to learn from the master. Mr. Bob ‘Flower-Child’ Hope.” Bob: “Hey, peace, man. Far out. Groovy, I’m a hippie.” [Link]
Bart has Two Mommies (The Simpsons. March 19, 2006). Dave Thomas provided the voice for Hope. While Maude Flanders is trying to watch her son Rod from Heaven, Hope is entertaining God who wonders why he waited so long to bring Hope up to Heaven. [Link]
Are there any Hope animated references I have missed? While a live action Bob Hope appeared on several Disney specials, he never seems to have been caricatured in any Disney cartoons.
By the way, artist Dorothea Redmond who designed the sets for Hope’s film Road to Bali (1952) later designed the mural in Cinderella Castle at the Magic Kingdom.
Jim Korkis is an internationally respected animation historian who in recent years has devoted his attention to the many worlds of Disney. He was a columnist for a variety of animation magazines. With his former writing partner, John Cawley, he authored several animation related books including The Encyclopedia of Cartoon Superstars, How to Create Animation, Cartoon Confidential and Get Animated’s Animation Art Buyer’s Guide. He taught animation classes at the Disney Institute in Florida as well as instructing classes on acting and animation history for Disney Feature Animation: Florida.
You missed Kitty Caddy (1947, Screen Gems), I believe.
I’m mildly surprised WB’s “Hollywood Canine Canteen” isn’t referenced, since in the brief segment with Hope, the team puts him opposite Jerry Colonna, and they engage in a bit of their trademark banter.
Poor Columbia. No one ever thinks of them.
Hope and Crosby appear as a running gag in “Kitty Caddy” (1947).
This post is super doops. There is one Mighty M film where Pearl says,
“I’ll never give up hope….he’s my favorite radio comedian!”
Dave Thomas also voiced a Hope doppelganger, Bob “Doodles” Dawson, in an episode of The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley, “Grimley, P.F.C.”.
Last season My Little Pony did “The Road to Friendship,” a near beat-for-beat parody of the Road flicks. This review compares the two: https://youtu.be/dGEm9_fjsY4
The Road films have also been homaged in Talespin and ALF Tales, as well as the Dreamworks feature The Road to El Dorado, which has a brief scene where the reflections of the two main characters briefly turn into Hope and Crosby.
Bob Hope was also caricatured in Tiny Toon Adventures in the Christmas special, where he acts as the Ghost of Christmas Past in a brief skit based on A Christmas Carol.
The third Aladdin feature Aladdin and the King of Thieves has Genie (voiced by Robin Williams) briefly turn into both Hope and Crosby.
In “Happy Birthdaze”, Popeye tells Shorty he looks just like Bob Hope. Shorty pulls out a gun to shoot himself. Popeye then says “…I mean, BING CROSBY!”
A caricature of Hope also hosted a faux “65th Anniversary Special” for the Warners on an episode of Animaniacs.
Hope wasn’t visually in another Paramount effort, “Happy Birthdaze”, but one of the best gags of the cartoon was when Popeye is trying to cheer Shorty up after he puts the gun to his head, by telling him he looks like a movie star. When he tells him he looks like Bob Hope. when get a very fast switch to a very big gun by Shorty, until Popeye changes the reference to Bing Crosby (Famous’ 1942-43 Popeye efforts had faster timing in the West Coast style than anything anyone besides Avery or Clampett were doing that it was a shame the timing started to slow down after the studio moved back from Miami to New York).
Odd that Hope got a pass while still alive,via a crew of press agents that possibly rivaled his gag writers,for his serial womanizing. In this “Me too” era,while Bill Cosby rots in prison,Hope still gets a pass. Maybe these affairs seemed consensual as opposed to drug induced, one suspects if a woman in show business said: “No!”,their future in the industry would be in peril. Like Cosby,much of his legacy can make folks laugh. The Road flicks are Exhibit #1.But he was indeed scum and never punished.
True
Also on ANIMANIACS: “Yakko’s New Gookie”.