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Season 20 (NBC) (1969-70)
Episode Guide compiled by The Classic TV Archive
with contributions by: Rina Fox, Tom Alger  [Updated June 2019]
references:
TV Guide / Library of Congress (telnet://locis.loc.gov)
Internet Movie Database (https://us.imdb.com)
UCLA Film and Television Archive / Writers Guild of America (wga)

############# The Bob Hope Show ############
############## Season 20 1969-70 ##############
##############################################
NBC

20.01 [135] The Bob Hope Special
22Sep1969 NBC Mon (52 min)
Produced by Mort Lachman
Written by Lester White, Larry Rhine, Mort Lachman, Bill Larkin, Charles Lee and Gig Henry.
Directed by Dick McDonough
Host Bob Hope
Guests:
Flip Wilson, George Gobel, Jimmy Durante, Danny Thomas,
Steve Allen, Sid Caesar, Johnny Carson, Phil Silvers,
Red Buttons, Jack Carter, Jerry Colonna, Shelley Berman, Buddy Hackett,
Wally Cox, Nipsey Russell, Richard Deacon, Shecky Greene,
Soupy Sales, Marty Allen, Pat Paulsen, Jack E. Leonard,
Bill Dana, Tom Smothers, Dick Smothers and Huntley & Brinkley
with Les Brown and His Band of Renown
Highlights:
Twenty one comics with late additions including Huntley and Brinkley, form Bob's select
list for this hour, kidding TV censorship, when Hope is fired by the network and begins to
organize his craft. Put together like "Laugh-In" to accommodate the cast, Bob battles censor
Richard Deacon to start the row, and ends up picketing with the help of George Gobel and
Danny Thomas. Tommy Smothers is in on the act, as Bob depicts the effect of censors on
moon astronauts Soupy Sales and Jack Carter, football players like Bill Dana, Tarzan Wally
Cox and Peyton Place's Constance MacKenzie (Jack E. Leonard in drag).
Bulging cast includes Flip Wilson, Pat Paulsen, Nipsey Russell, Johnny Carson, Buddy Hackett,
Phil Silvers, Jimmy Durante, Sid Caesar, Steve Allen, Red Buttons, Shecky Greene and Marty Allen.
*Note: Some of Bob's fellow comedians join him for an hour of comedy.
 

20.02 [136] The Bob Hope Special
13Oct1969 NBC Mon (52 min)
Host Bob Hope
Guests:
Jimmy Durante
Barbara McNair
Donald O'Connor
Tom Jones.
Highlights:
Barbara McNair sings "I Am Woman" and "Alley Cat".
Tom Jones sings "Fly Me to the Moon" and "I Know".
The antique acts include the jealous knife thrower, the seal in the closet and "Song and Rousing Witticisms" by the song-and-dance team of Hope and Jones.
Donald O'Connor plays the knife-thrower and Jimmy cuts up Hope on the seal act.
Barbara McNair, dressed in gold lame and feathery boa, sings "Alley Cat" with a background "chorus" composed of Hope.
Barbara also gets in Donald O'Connor's act to "Me and My Shadow."

*Note: Mitzi Gaynor, having done her bit on the Laugh-In, moves in here to intro her special, which follows.
*Note: The War of Noses has been waged continually since 1937, when Cole Porter's "Bed Hot and Blue"
opened on Broadway and presented Bob Hope and Jimmy Durante in noise to nose hilarity for the first time.
Ethel Merman was promised top billing and so was Jimmy Durante by the Producer Vinton Freedley in
Cole Porter's "Red Hot and Blue" 32 years ago, so they opted an X with Jimmy's name one diagonal
and Ethel's the other, the real winner was Bob Hope, whose name was the only one legible!

20.03 [137] The Bob Hope Special: Roberta
06Nov1969 NBC Thu (60 min)
Adapted by Mort Lachman, Bill Larkin, Mel Tolkin, Lester A. White, Gig Henry and Charles Lee.
Based on the book by Otto A. Harbach
Directed by Dick McDonough
Musical Director Les Brown
Guests:
Bob Hope .......... Huckleberry Haines
John Davidson ..... John Kent
Michele Lee ....... Stephanie
Janis Paige ....... Madame Nunez
Laura Miller ...... Sophie Teale
Ann Shoemaker ..... Aunt Minnie
Irene Hervey ...... Mrs. Teale
Eve McVeagh ....... Anna
Summary:
John Kent, an all-American fullback inherits an exclusive Paris dress shop "Roberta" from his Aunt Minnie,
he and his friend Huckleberry Haines travel to Paris to run the shop. A romance blooms between John and Stephanie,
the dress shop assistant until the arrival of John's old girlfriend Sophie who causes alot of problems for everyone.
Highlights:
Songs include "Lovely to Look At", "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes", "Touch of Your Hand", "Let's Begin", "Yesterdays",
"I Won't Dance" and "You're Devastating".
Presented on "Bob Hope Special." Television adaptation of the Jerome Kern-Otto Harbach musical.
John Davidson, Janis Paige and Michele Lee join Bob Hope in a new version of the 1933 musical-comedy hit that made Hope a Broadway star.
This was the second "Roberta" TV adaptation for Hope whose character Huckleberry Haines was first seen on television, broadcast on September 19, 1958.
Lyrics by Otto A. Harbach and music by Jerome Kern opened on Broadway November 19, 1933 at the Ambassador Theatre
Cast included Lyda Roberti, Bob Hope, Fay Templeton, Tamara, George Murphy, Sydney Greenstreet, Ray Middleton and Fred MacMurray.
*Note: The 1935 film "Roberta" starred Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Randolph Scott and Irene Dunne.
Lucille Ball has a very small role as a fashion model in the film.

20.04 [138] The Bob Hope Special
24Nov1969 NBC Mon
Host Bob Hope
Guests:
Danny Thomas
Virna Lisi
Eydie Gorme & Steve Lawrence
Highlights:
Bob plays in three sketches besides delivering his monologue.
He's the hippie son of an Alaskan oil king (Danny Thomas) who gives Danny a hard time.
He's a bartender who listens to Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme air their woes.
Hope plays the German villain hunting for hidden pizzas in a takeoff of "The Secret of Santa Vittoria"
with Virna Lisi playing the Italian countess.
Steve Lawrence sings "The Drifter"
Eydie sings "Tonight, I'll Say a Prayer".

*Note: Bob Hope guests on "The Movie Game" for the week of November 24, 1969
with June Allyson, Cesar Romero and Patricia Crowley.

20.05 [139] The Bob Hope Christmas Special
18Dec1969 NBC Thu
Host Bob Hope
Guests:
Andy Williams
Elke Sommer
Anthony Newley
and the Look All-America Football Team for an hour of entertainment.
Bing Crosby and Dean Martin make cameo appearances.
Look for All-Americans Jack Tatum, Walker Gillette and Steve Owens.
Highlights:
Anthony Newley teams with Bob for a "Midnight Cowboy" spoof.
Andy Williams appears as Dr. Sigmund Fruit trying to get Elke Sommer to appear on his show.
Elke also appears as Mrs. Santa Claus unhappy about being left alone on Christmas.
Bing Crosby returns Hope's earlier favor by appearing in this skit.
Andy Williams sings "I Believe".
Anthony Newley sings "There's No Such Thing as Love".

*Note: Bob Hope also does a cameo appearance in the NBC special "Together Again for the First Time"
with Bing Crosby and Carol Burnett also Juliet Prowse and Roy Clark.
Bob Hope pops up among the toy soldiers with a crack about "being where the troops are".

20.06 [140] The Bob Hope Special: Around the World with the USO (Part 1)
with Bob Hope and his troupe during a 16-day tour of Washington D.C.,
Germany, Italy, Turkey, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan and Guam.
14Jan1970 NBC Wed (87 min)
Director Dick McDonough
Host Bob Hope
Guests:
Ursula Andress
Johnny Bench
Jennifer Hosten
Gloria Loring
Bobbi Martin
Yvonne Ormes
The Golddiggers.
*Note: First of a two-part special that highlights Bob's Christmas tour to servicemen overseas.

20.07 [141] The Bob Hope Special: Around the World with the USO (Part 2)
with Bob Hope and his troupe during a 16-day tour of Washington D.C.,
Germany, Italy, Turkey, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan and Guam.
15Jan1970 NBC Thu (87 min)
Director Dick McDonough
Host Bob Hope
Guests:
Connie Stevens
Teresa Graves
Romy Schneider
Suzanne Charny
Neil Armstrong
The Golddiggers
Eva Reuber-Staier (Miss World)
The Peiro Brothers.
Highlights:
Beginning with a White House dinner.
Connie Stevens sings "Bill".
"Laugh-In's" Teresa Graves, the Golddinggers and Suzanne Charney dance for the GIs.

Quote: Bob Hope's punchline before a throng of 30,000 at Long Bin -
"This surprises me; President Nixon thinks you're all home".

20.08 [142] The Bob Hope Special (From New York's Waldorf Astoria)
Benefit for the Eisenhower Medical Center.
16Feb1970 NBC Mon
Host Bob Hope
Guests:
Bing Crosby, Johnny Cash, Ray Bolger, Raquel Welch, Johnny Carson
Governor & Mrs Nelson Rockefeller
President Nixon
Guest of Honor Mrs. Mamie Eisenhower 
 11 winners of the Medal of Honor
Astronauts Neil Armstrong, Frank Borman and Walter Schirra
Oleg Cassini 
  Terence Cardinal Cooke
 West Point Glee Club. 
Highlights:
Ray Bolger sings "Once in Love With Mamie"
*Note: This highly publicized recent $1,000-a-plate dinner at New York's Waldorf Astoria Hotel
for the Eisenhower Medical Center, being constructed on 80 acres of Palm Springs, California
land donated by Bob Hope. Bob Hope, who has called this event the highlight of his career,
is obviously having the time of his life while raising $2,000,000 for the hospital.
Also featured an Oleg Cassini fashion show and an audience participation singalong conducted by Ray Bolger.

20.09 [143] The Bob Hope Special: Keeping In Step With the Times
18Mar1970 NBC Wed
Host Bob Hope
Guests:
Tony Curtis
Perry Como
Barbara Eden
Billy Casper (golfer)
Joanne Worley (cameo appearance)
Les Brown and His Band of Renown.
Highlights:
Bob presents an all-star outing. Topical targets in Bob's opening monologue include the Oscar nominations,
program changes in the TV schedules and people in the news.
Tony Curtis (an outspoken anti-smoking crusader) portrays a spokesman for Smokers Anonymous.
Perry Como and Bob demonstrate how two song-and-dance men could spice up TV coverage of a space shot to Mars.
Barbara Eden in "The Kissless Society" a look into the future after the UN has banned love to save the world from overpopulation.
Golfer Billy Casper shows Bob how to improve his game.

*Note: (April 7, 1970) Bob Hope is a guest on "The Robert Goulet Show".

20.10 [144] The Bob Hope Special
13Apr1970 NBC Mon
Host Bob Hope
Guests:
Ann-Margret
Phyllis Diller
Jerry Colonna
Buddy Greco
The Spurrlows, Chrysler's musical ambassadors of safe driving.
Wally Cox (cameo appearance)
Highlights:
Ann-Margret appears in a sketch with Bob called "The Odd Squad", she's Nancy Nice and he's Harry Youth.
Ann-Margret's production number is "It All Depends on You".
Bob and Buddy's medley parodying country western laments.
Feminist co-pilot Phyllis Diller is confronted by would-be hijacker Wally Cox.

[--] The World of Bob Hope
08Aug1970 BBC Thu (50 min) (NOT 10Aug1970)
Documentary on Bob Hope made for British television
with: Cary Grant, Gregory Peck, Arnold Palmer (golfer), Jack Benny
and Les Brown and his Band of Renown
plus a bearded David Janssen in rehearsal for a May 1970
benefit at the Houston Astrodome. In it he rehearses a song.

############## The Bob Hope Show ###########
############### end of Season 20 ##############
##############################################

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