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MoreHopeby Richard ZoglinPrice: $30.00(Hardcover)Published: November 04, 2014Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)From the Publisher: The first definitive biography of Bob Hope,featuring exclusive and extensive reporting that makes thepersuasive case that he was most important entertainer of thetwentieth century.Born in 1903, and until his death in 2003, Bob Hope was the onlyentertainer to achieve top-rated success in every major mass-entertainment medium, from vaudeville to television and everythingin between. He virtually invented modern stand-up comedy. Histours to entertain US troops and patriotic radio broadcasts, alongwith his all-American, brash-but-cowardly movie character, helpedto ease the nation’s jitters during the stressful days of World WarII. He helped redefine the very notion of what it means to be a star:a savvy businessman, pioneer of the brand extension (churningout books, writing a newspaper column, hosting a golftournament), and public-spirited entertainer…Rate This Book|Rate/ReviewAdd To BookshelfGet This Book
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Personalize / Add More ChoicesWhat We SayEntertainer Bob Hope is one of the signal figures in pop culture, a key influence on Woody Allen and an innovator inmany areas of the star-making machinery and especially in his perfection of the monologue, that topical andsomewhat anonymous form of stand-up that plays off the news of the day, making it both timely and ultimatelydisposable. Biographer Richard Zoglin is certainly the right man for the job of delivering a comprehensive anddefinitive look at this entertainer: he's an unabashed fan (surely only Zoglin believes that no one looked better in atuxedo, news that would surprise Cary Grant and about ten thousand other stars). But he's also a serious enoughjournalist to not shy away from Hope's many extra-marital affairs, stand-offish nature and other less flattering details.Zoglin believes Hope has faded from memory because his best work -- the radio shows, the constant parade of TVspecials for decades on CBS, those monologues with built-in expiration dates and his hosting of the AcademyAwards -- are dimly remembered or simply not seen and heard today. He tells Hope's story with care andintelligence, from the man's birth in1903 to his death in 2003, from his heights as the top radio and movie star in theworld to the long, slow decline during which this entertainer never learned how to exit gracefully and thus tarnishedhis legacy. Zoglin certainly had me appreciate anew what Hope accomplished in terms of branding and marketing(he tub-thumped for his movies and TV specials like every project was his first). And Zoglin especially makes clearhow Hope's perfection of the monologue was a fresh new approach to stand-up embraced now by virtually every talkshow host in late night around the world. (Hope had no rapport with Johnny Carson but the details of how they andtheir teams interacted are sparse here. Hope's true heir is probably Jay Leno.) What Zoglin can't do is retroactivelyturn most of Hope's career into one of artistic accomplishment. Quite simply, most of his movies are bad and Zoglin'sdescriptions of their filming and subject matter are master classes in shades of grey as he makes fruitless distinctionsbetween projects that are merely awful from those that were lazily awful and the many that were godawful. It's alsoan exaggeration to say Hope was the only star to have top-rated success in every entertainment medium fromvaudeville to TV. Actually, no star ever accomplished that. As Zoglin makes perfectly clear, Hope was arguably thelast major star launched by vaudeville but he was not a big vaudeville star. Hope made his bones in that area but thatworld was dying off and he was never a big draw in it. (In later years he would tour the heartland in a vaudeville-likestyle to huge audiences, but that was long after the vaudeville circuit was gone.) And as Zoglin makes even clearer,Hope was by no stretch of the imagination a Broadway star, though he does illuminate what Hope drew from theexperience. Further, Hope's recording career was negligible. That does nothing to detract from his remarkablesuccess as the biggest name in radio (the TV of its day) and movies, where one year Hope was indeed the biggeststar in America. More significantly, Zoglin can't make Hope terribly interesting. He wasn't introspective enough tooffer insight into his own character. Hope wasn't cruel enough in private to make the contrast from his public personamore shocking. Even to his children, Hope seems to have been little more than a public persona, though not in a sador fascinating way. That's just the way he was: a man who came alive on stage. And again, despite some genuinelygood movies (namely the Road movies costarring the far greater artistic talent Bing Crosby) and some good one-liners, you don't want to return to much of his comedic work. Hope created a distinctive profile as the brash coward,the fast-talker with nothing to say, the sex crazy guy who probably wouldn't know what to do with the girl if he caughther. (Something that was assuredly not true with the real Hope right into his dotage.) It served him well throughouthis film career. He pioneered innovations that stars draw upon today. His tireless work entertaining soldiers poweredhis career but was clearly genuine, even if his deeply conservative politics ultimately made him out of touch with thechanging times and the Vietnam War. Zoglin is especially touching as Hope becomes bewildered by the soldiers hecan't quite relate to as that disaster swamps Nixon and even for a while that ardent Nixon supporter Hope himself. Inthe end, the book is comprehensive but not penetrating. It's not the fault of Zoglin: there isn't much to penetrate inthis story of a very commercially successful but essentially uninteresting man. -- Michael GiltzLess
https://www.evernote.com/Home.action#n=120c9a5c-2e5b-494c-b314-de953cedee7b&ses=4&sh=2&sds=5&1/3HomeTop Picks: All BooksHope
MoreHopeby Richard ZoglinPrice: $30.00(Hardcover)Published: November 04, 2014Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)From the Publisher: The first definitive biography of Bob Hope,featuring exclusive and extensive reporting that makes thepersuasive case that he was most important entertainer of thetwentieth century.Born in 1903, and until his death in 2003, Bob Hope was the onlyentertainer to achieve top-rated success in every major mass-entertainment medium, from vaudeville to television and everythingin between. He virtually invented modern stand-up comedy. Histours to entertain US troops and patriotic radio broadcasts, alongwith his all-American, brash-but-cowardly movie character, helpedto ease the nation’s jitters during the stressful days of World WarII. He helped redefine the very notion of what it means to be a star:a savvy businessman, pioneer of the brand extension (churningout books, writing a newspaper column, hosting a golftournament), and public-spirited entertainer…Rate This Book|Rate/ReviewAdd To BookshelfGet This Book
Go to your preferred retailer, click to choose a format and you' ll be taken directly to their site whereyou can get this book.BookFilter
12/1/2015BookFilter | Evernote Web
https://www.evernote.com/Home.action#n=120c9a5c-2e5b-494c-b314-de953cedee7b&ses=4&sh=2&sds=5&2/3
Personalize / Add More ChoicesWhat We SayEntertainer Bob Hope is one of the signal figures in pop culture, a key influence on Woody Allen and an innovator inmany areas of the star-making machinery and especially in his perfection of the monologue, that topical andsomewhat anonymous form of stand-up that plays off the news of the day, making it both timely and ultimatelydisposable. Biographer Richard Zoglin is certainly the right man for the job of delivering a comprehensive anddefinitive look at this entertainer: he's an unabashed fan (surely only Zoglin believes that no one looked better in atuxedo, news that would surprise Cary Grant and about ten thousand other stars). But he's also a serious enoughjournalist to not shy away from Hope's many extra-marital affairs, stand-offish nature and other less flattering details.Zoglin believes Hope has faded from memory because his best work -- the radio shows, the constant parade of TVspecials for decades on CBS, those monologues with built-in expiration dates and his hosting of the AcademyAwards -- are dimly remembered or simply not seen and heard today. He tells Hope's story with care andintelligence, from the man's birth in1903 to his death in 2003, from his heights as the top radio and movie star in theworld to the long, slow decline during which this entertainer never learned how to exit gracefully and thus tarnishedhis legacy. Zoglin certainly had me appreciate anew what Hope accomplished in terms of branding and marketing(he tub-thumped for his movies and TV specials like every project was his first). And Zoglin especially makes clearhow Hope's perfection of the monologue was a fresh new approach to stand-up embraced now by virtually every talkshow host in late night around the world. (Hope had no rapport with Johnny Carson but the details of how they andtheir teams interacted are sparse here. Hope's true heir is probably Jay Leno.) What Zoglin can't do is retroactivelyturn most of Hope's career into one of artistic accomplishment. Quite simply, most of his movies are bad and Zoglin'sdescriptions of their filming and subject matter are master classes in shades of grey as he makes fruitless distinctionsbetween projects that are merely awful from those that were lazily awful and the many that were godawful. It's alsoan exaggeration to say Hope was the only star to have top-rated success in every entertainment medium fromvaudeville to TV. Actually, no star ever accomplished that. As Zoglin makes perfectly clear, Hope was arguably thelast major star launched by vaudeville but he was not a big vaudeville star. Hope made his bones in that area but thatworld was dying off and he was never a big draw in it. (In later years he would tour the heartland in a vaudeville-likestyle to huge audiences, but that was long after the vaudeville circuit was gone.) And as Zoglin makes even clearer,Hope was by no stretch of the imagination a Broadway star, though he does illuminate what Hope drew from theexperience. Further, Hope's recording career was negligible. That does nothing to detract from his remarkablesuccess as the biggest name in radio (the TV of its day) and movies, where one year Hope was indeed the biggeststar in America. More significantly, Zoglin can't make Hope terribly interesting. He wasn't introspective enough tooffer insight into his own character. Hope wasn't cruel enough in private to make the contrast from his public personamore shocking. Even to his children, Hope seems to have been little more than a public persona, though not in a sador fascinating way. That's just the way he was: a man who came alive on stage. And again, despite some genuinelygood movies (namely the Road movies costarring the far greater artistic talent Bing Crosby) and some good one-liners, you don't want to return to much of his comedic work. Hope created a distinctive profile as the brash coward,the fast-talker with nothing to say, the sex crazy guy who probably wouldn't know what to do with the girl if he caughther. (Something that was assuredly not true with the real Hope right into his dotage.) It served him well throughouthis film career. He pioneered innovations that stars draw upon today. His tireless work entertaining soldiers poweredhis career but was clearly genuine, even if his deeply conservative politics ultimately made him out of touch with thechanging times and the Vietnam War. Zoglin is especially touching as Hope becomes bewildered by the soldiers hecan't quite relate to as that disaster swamps Nixon and even for a while that ardent Nixon supporter Hope himself. Inthe end, the book is comprehensive but not penetrating. It's not the fault of Zoglin: there isn't much to penetrate inthis story of a very commercially successful but essentially uninteresting man. -- Michael GiltzLess