According to Charles Thompson's biography, Bob rarely had a feud with a co-worker, and was very well known for his generosity. That doesn't mean he wasn't all those other things, but there are many who remember him fondly. He got along well with Bing Crosby, Judy Garland, Lucille Ball, Eve Arden, Jane Russell, Dorothy Lamour, Jack Benny, Jimmy Durante, George Burns, Danny Kaye, James Cagney, George Murphy, Fred MacMurray and John Wayne.

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Monica
That's just it: the labor board gives restaurant owners a free pass to pay their servers BELOW mininum wage(which they have to still report to IRS) and have to rely on tips,exploiting both their employees and the customer.

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He wasn't a billionaire with a "B" like Oprah or Trump and no one owes you a tip to do your job. Weren't you already paid to serve people?

I can't believe that so many people here still choose to turn a blind eye to Bob Hope's actual behavior. I am the poster who related that he sat at my station in a restaurant countless times in the 80's. I lived this and I am not embellishing or tarring Bob Hope with a black brush when I say he was a rotten guy.
This was not an isolated incident. I was Hope and Linda's waiter (Linda was his daughter), at least 25 times. He always sat in the same rear booth and he was my call party. Because he was such a horrific tipper I was never amused to see him, after his initial visit. I might add he also stiffed the valet parking attendants, when a tip of $5.00 was then customary.
I said he was "profane." Someone asked for details. Well, I will be specific. He used the word "mother f-" constantly and this was to his daughter. He littered his conversation with expletives. When the bus boys would clear his utensils, he would frequently swear at them and say, "get these fing dishes outta here." It was almost unbelievable, almost like a skit from SNL.
How was he sullen? I spent many hours serving him, he never smiled, cracked a smile or seemed happy. He was simply rude and cheap.
As for being hypocritical that he tipped $1.00 on a $34.00 tab what planet are you living on? Frank Sinatra routinely tipped $500 for a piece of pie. Ernie Borgnine came in every Sunday for years and would tip $200 for an average breakfast. Hope was a billionaire with a "B." The service he received in the established was of the highest class. My beef is that he was incredibly wealthy and still saw fit to tip an insultingly cheap amount.

Here's a very simple answer. Many of us born in the 50's and 60's, perhaps even the 40's, were forced to watch his shows. We didn't understand his significance to our parents and resented it.
Add in politics, and you have it.
Some people may have known about his alleged "disrespect" to pursuing fans, but frankly, you can't expect someone of his fame to sign autographs for everyone or to stop and talk to everyone. Celebrities simply do not have to accommodate the public every second of the day.
The mention above from the waiter claiming Hope was cheap in tipping is a common complaint from waiters in general - and completely anonymous, by the way. Hope was born in what? 1903 or 04? You don't suppose he had different values than people in the 50's? What did people tip in the 20s? 5%? 10%? 1%? I'm a little tired of waiters complaining that people don't tip, to be quite truthful. Customers owe them nothing to begin with. So to complain that someone doesn't tip "enough" is hypocritical. (And don't every waiter in the world complain, TIPS - to insure prompt service - was simply a way to get an advantage over other customers when it started. It got translated into a "right" in some f5b4olks minds. Like the time I went to a brunch buffet with my family of 4 and we all served ourselves and then had a 15% "tip" tacked onto the bill (no notice of that in any manner, by the way) for the "service" we had received. Not paid. It isn't a "right".)

Gossip paper.

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This post really isn't just about Bob Hope, it's about anyone famous who has had trash written about them (truth or not).
If Hope did have an affair, I would say that the only one who has a right to call him on that would be his wife, or do extramarital affairs only happen to the rich and famous and not to us common ordinary everyday folk? I am not defending his actions, but rather his right to a private life.
As for the comments on rudeness, we only hear things out of context that are all to often set in a different tone, depending on how bad or good the person telling it wants it to sound. There are many actors and actresses out there that I am a big fan of but I don't live in a fantasy world and expect them to be perfect and always on their best behavior, that is more than what I can accomplish so I have no right to ask/demand it of anyone else.
So I encourage anyone who was once a fan of Mr. Hope or anyone else but have been put off by rumors, let them be and just enjoy the talent the man had that brought a smile or some laughter to your life, because when it's all said and done, that's all that really counts right?
To you Bob Hope, though you are no longer with us, thanks for the laughter, the memories, and to all your selfless work to entertain our troops, I salute you.

There's hardly a great star that has not been reviled, usually after they're dead. Rather cowardly, wouldn't you say?
If any of us became wildly famous, don't you think people would come out of the woodwork with tell-all articles and books which would conflict with our public image (thus making it more saleable) and making the writer a ton of money?
Bob Hope was a brave, tough, intelligent man who made more money in California real estate than he did as a star. I'm sure that makes a lot of people very jealous. I guess there are some who are angry that Hope's movie image as somewhat dumb and cowardly with an exagerrated ego was carefully crafted for the sake of comedy.

" crumple up the bill as a tip"

Sorry, but I find this a bit hard to believe. A wealthy public figure would pay a price being that tight with the buck.
Hope has a certain image and it isn't particularly nice. But as long as he was a generous person to some I'm not going to knock the guy. I really don't care what he was like unless it can be proved that he was disgustingly cheap.

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Rubbish.
Everyone has off days and bad points.
But you tell the very emotional ex-army speakers at the service where Hope was given an honourary medal on his 100 birthday that he was a bad guy.
Hope brought a lot of pleasure to many fighting men and women for decades. At times like those it meant a lot.
He gave and raised millions for charities, hospitals and theatres.
And for every negative remark (which may indeed be based on truth) you can find a positive one.
And how you deliver a comic line or sketch is JUST as important (if not more so) as the actual writing of it. Many great performers.read PERFORMERS.never wrote stuff. That does not make them any less skilled or worthy.
As for his WifeAn affair (especially in the context of a popular star being surrounded by gorgeous women for decades) does not mean a lack of love if it was purely sexual.
People tend to forget we are animals. We are meant, naturally, to find a sexually attractive woman alluring and to mate. That is how animals survive and no amount of civilisation can change that most basic wiring. That biology.
To find another woman attractive enough to have sex with her (as long as sex is all it is) does NOT mean Hope (or anyone) did not love his Wife and his family.
Yes, it would be better if these, pretty much surrounded by temptation, flings never occurredbut they do not mean a lack of love or devotion to his wife. And people need to remember that basic biological wiring we have as a species.

generalusgrant, I want to thank you for sharing your experience. It has truth written all over it, and it dovetails nicely with my earlier post on this subject. Why don't people realize that the public image that has been carefully crafted over the years can be at such odds with reality? Someone might try to argue with you saying, "Oh come on! This can't be! Do you think Bob Hope would act that way in public? What would his fans think?" My answer is an emphatic "Yes." Sometimes the truth isn't pretty.

WOW, did I open a can of worms, or what??!!
Hello all, Original Poster of this thread here. Hadn't visited it in a lonnng time, just going back through some old posts today.
Bob Hope seems to have been the ultimate enigma, that's all I'm gonna say lest I make somebody mad at me. I don't really have the interest in him to do much research, it's just that I've always been a little bit troubled when watching him since an incident I related to in my OP of 8-5-06. This WWII veteran from my area said in a newspaper interview that Hope was a real arrogant SOB, or something to that affect. This was years ago that I read that, but it stuck with me, and I always tried to picture Hope instead offering his hand and that mile-wide grin and saying something like "I'm Bob Hope, what's your name, soldier?!" Sounds CORNY AS HELL, I know, but dammit, I hate it sometimes when my perceptions get screwed with. Just call me naive, I guess.
Oh well, I can't say as I really care, but Mr. Hope is one of the old timers that seeems to stir up a lot of dander, both pro and con.

Did you find him profane, insulting and sullen because he brushed off fans?
Or was it because you thought he was not generous?
Remember Bob Hope was in his 80s by this time and probably just wanted to be alone.

In 1984 and 1985, Bob Hope used to come in regularly to the Velvet Turtle restaurant in Pasadena. I was then in college and worked there. He always came in with daughter, Linda. I had always been a big fan of Bob Hope and even more of a fan of Bing Crosby.
All I can say is this: Bob Hope was one of the rudest customers I ever saw in that place. On a tab of $34, he would always leave one dollar as a tip and crumple up the bill. He was profane, insulting and sullen. It devastated me because I had been a great fan, but his behavior was always so boorish it just totally turned me off. His daughter wasn't much better, but on occasion she would hand the server a 10 dollar bill upon exiting, to make up for her dad's measley tip.
I will say that whenever anyone approached him for an autograph, he would sign it, but would not chat with the fan, just brush them off.

Being a pedophile is typically Republican? Gee, I didn't know Brando and thorn were Republicans.
So if Hope was a "woman-izer," would that make thorn a "teenboy-izer"?
"I've been beaten up but I'm not beaten, and I'm not quitting"

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Here's an article that ma2000y explain why some people don't think too highly of Bob Hope, the man:
http://blogs.citypages.com/amadzine/2003/07/
I think there's probably a lot of truth to what is written and it certainly colored my opinion of Hope as a person. It's always disappointing to find out sordid details about someone who has a family man image.

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