2 Movies | January 14th
Bob Hope knew from an early age that he wanted to be in show business like his idol, Charlie Chaplin. And, like Chaplin, Leslie Townes Hope was born into poverty in London, England. His boozing and womanizing father, Harry, left for Cleveland, Ohio, in search of a better life, and his unwilling family followed when Hope was four. His father’s unreliability meant that Hope had to sell newspapers and do other odd jobs as a young child to help support the family. He changed his name early on from Leslie to the more masculine “Les,” and had a brief career as a boxer under the name Packy East.
Hope managed to finish high school and attended Western Reserve University for a few weeks before dropping out for good. He and a friend formed a stage act and opened for legendary film comedian Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle during one of his stage tours after being banned from movies following his acquittal of the murder of Virginia Rappe. It was Arbuckle who introduced Hope to a producer of “tabloid shows,” which gave newcomers a chance at exposure in minor touring programs. Changing his name to “Bob” Hope, he later worked as an emcee and a vaudeville and radio performer. Hope entered movies in 1934 in shorts but made a name for himself with his first feature, The Big Broadcast of 1938 (1938), in which he sang (with Shirley Ross) what would become his theme song, Thanks for the Memories. Hope spent many years under contract to Paramount where he appeared in some of his most successful films, most notably in his pairings with Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour in the Road pictures from 1940 to 1962.
In 1940, with Europe at war, it seemed inevitable that the United States would become involved. That year, Congress passed the first peacetime draft, known as the Selective Service Act, and ramped up war production. Hollywood followed suit and churned out pictures about unwilling “draftees,” the most successful being Abbott and Costello’s massive hit Buck Privates, released in February 1941. To capitalize on the pre-war atmosphere, Paramount put Hope and Lamour (for once without her famous sarong) into Caught in the Draft (1941). Directed by David Butler from a screenplay by Harry Tugend and additional dialogue by Wilkie Mahoney, the film went into production in early January 1941, finishing two months later in early March. Location filming was done in Malibu Canyon, where Hope soon purchased property that would make him a fortune. In order to have the actors appear to be real soldiers, they were trained by members of The National Guard.
Caught in the Draft has Hope playing cowardly and spoiled movie star Don Bolton, who is in the midst of making a war film. He offends Colonel Peter Fairbanks (Clarence Kolb), who is visiting the set, when he mistakes him for a bit player, but still manages to persuade the colonel’s daughter, Tony (Lamour), to go out with him. With the draft now in place, Bolton proposes to Tony in order to avoid being called up, but as soon as he learns that he is now too old to be drafted Bolton breaks off the engagement, upsetting Tony. Realizing that he really is in love with her, Bolton tries to win Tony back by hiring a fellow actor to pretend to be an enlistment officer who will reject him when he tries to sign up. Things go awry when Bolton and Tony go down to the recruitment office, the officer turns out to be the real thing… and Bolton’s in the army now. Also in the cast were Eddie Bracken playing Bolton’s assistant, Bert, and Lynne Overman as his agent, Steve.
When Caught in the Draft was released in June 1941, New York Times critic Bosley Crowther, who could be curmudgeonly in his reviews, raved about the film and Hope. “[It’s] a lively slapstick farce in which the gags are beautifully abundant. Mr. Hope throws most of them with that dry, off-hand delivery of his. […] And every one of the gags is good—even the corniest ones which have been refitted to this job. Honest to goodness, you'll start laughing the moment you see the whites of Mr. Hope's eyes. And since they are just about the first thing you see in the film—and continue to see straight through, considering the state of his nerves—you'll laugh from beginning to end. Anyhow, we did.” Audiences agreed. Caught in the Draft was Paramount’s second-highest grossing film of the year, bringing in approximately $2.2 million at the box office in the United States and Canada.
In real-life, Hope tried to enlist after Pearl Harbor, but was asked to entertain the troops instead. During the war, he traveled over 30,000 miles around the world, from Alaska to the South Pacific, and his life was endangered several times. From 1948 to 1990, he would spend each Christmas traveling to entertain American troops stationed overseas.
In the summer of 1945, Hope returned his focus to his film career, and Paramount put him into a comedy remake of their 1924 Rudolph Valentino film, Monsieur Beaucaire, based on the novel by Booth Tarkington. Hope played the title role of King Louis XV’s (Reginald Owen) barber, Beaucaire, who falls in unrequited love with an ambitious chambermaid named Mimi (Joan Caulfield). A slip of the tongue about Louis’ mistress, Madame Pompadour (Hillary Brooke), gets Beaucaire exiled from court on pain of death. Before leaving, he tries on the King’s clothing and mask, and Mimi, believing him to be the King, kisses him just as the Queen (Constance Collier) walks in. Mimi is banished to Spain, and realizing she’d been kissing Beaucaire, swears revenge. At the same time, King Philip II of Spain (Howard Freeman) wants to avoid war by securing an alliance with France by offering his daughter, Maria (Marjorie Reynolds), to be wed to a French nobleman of Louis XV’s choice. Louis chooses the Duc le Chandre (Patric Knowles), a renowned swordsman and womanizer who is currently having an affair with Pompadour. Le Chandre and Beaucaire leave for Spain, where Le Chandre unknowingly rescues Princess Maria from the evil General Don Francisco’s (Joseph Schildkraut) attempt on her life, and Beaucaire must pretend to be Le Chandre until the real Duc returns to the palace.
Paulette Goddard, Gail Russell, Olga San Juan and Hedy Lamarr were all up for the role of Mimi before it was given to Joan Caulfield. Patric Knowles had appeared with Errol Flynn in the swashbuckling The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), but even he had to train for five weeks to learn over 2,000 sword movements in preparation for his fight scenes. Monsieur Beaucaire began production on August 1, 1945, and was in the midst of filming when World War II officially ended in September. Principal filming was complete on December 10, 1945, with additional scenes shot in January and early February 1946. Location shooting was done in Chatsworth, just outside of Los Angeles and in the Santa Monica mountains. To recreate the splendor of the French Court, Paramount purchased many of the Louis XV interiors for the film from items formerly in the William Randolph Hearst collection. Hearst, one of the most powerful publishers in the United States, had financial difficulties in the late 1930s and 1940s, and was forced to sell off some of his collection of antiques, many of which had earlier been used in films starring his companion, Marion Davies.
Monsieur Beaucaire had its premiere in Los Angeles on August 22, 1946, with a nationwide release on August 30th. Again, Bosley Crowther was full of praise, writing that author Tarkington, “would not have remotely recognized his "Monsieur Beaucaire" […] But considering that Mr. Tarkington was a fellow who liked a hearty jest, he would probably have howled at the picture, just the same as everyone will.”
Bob Hope continued working well into his 90s. He was one of Hollywood’s wealthiest and oldest surviving stars, dying on July 27, 2003, just two months after his 100th birthday.
