|
We Hope to Be of Service in the Following Areas,
Hope was born in Eltham, London, England, the fifth of seven sons. His father, William Henry Hope, was a stonemason from Weston-super-Mare, his Welsh mother, Avis Townes, worked as a cleaning woman.
The family lived in Whitehall and St George in Bristol,
before moving to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1908.
The family emigrated to the United States aboard the SS Philadelphia, and passed inspection at Ellis Island on March 30, 1908.
Hope became a U.S. citizen in 1920 at the age of 17.[5] In a 1942 legal document, Hope's legal name is given as Lester Townes Hope.
His name at birth as registered during the July–August–September quarter in the Lewisham district of Greater London was Leslie Towns Hope.
From the age of 12, Hope worked at a variety of odd jobs at a local boardwalk. He would busk, doing dance and comedy patter to make extra money
He entered many dancing and amateur talent contests and won prizes for his impersonation of Charlie Chaplin. Hope also boxed briefly and unsuccessfully under the
name Packy East (after the popular Packey McFarland), once making it to the semifinals of the Ohio novice championship.
In 1918, at the age of 15, Hope was admitted to the Boys Industrial School in Lancaster, Ohio. Formerly known as the Ohio Reform School,
this was one of the more innovative, progressive institutions for juvenile offenders. As an adult, Hope donated sizable sums of money to the institution.
Silent film comedian Fatty Arbuckle saw one of Hope's performances with his first partner, Lloyd "Lefty" Durbin, and in 1925 got the pair steady work with
Hurley's Jolly Follies. Within a year, Hope had formed an act called the Dancemedians with George Byrne and the Hilton Sisters, conjoined twins who had a tap
dancing routine. Hope and his partner, George Byrne, had an act as a pair of Siamese twins as well, and both danced and sang while wearing blackface, before friends
advised Hope that he was funnier as himself.[12] In 1929, he changed his first name to "Bob". In one version of the story, he named himself after racecar driver
Bob Burman. In another, he said he chose Bob because he wanted a name with a friendly "Hiya, Fellas!" sound to it. After five years on the vaudeville circuit, by his
own account, Barbara Eden and Bob Hope honor the Apollo 7 astronauts, Bob Hope closed his shows by singing thanks for the memories
|