############## season 1 1950-51 ##############
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NBC mainly Sundays
[01] Bob Hope Special: "Star Spangled Revue"
09Apr1950 (Easter Sunday) NBC 5:30-7pm Eastern
Sponsored by Frigidaire / Produced by Max Liebman / Directed by Hal Keith
Host Bob Hope (his network television debut)
Guests:
Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Dinah Shore, Beatrice Lillie, Hal LeRoy, Maurice Rocco, Walter Greaza
David Burns, Carl Reiner, Don Liberto & Gloria Patrice
The Look Magazine Cover Girls, the Mexico City Boys Choir.
Comedy:
Bob Hope and Dinah Shore sing a rendition of "Baby, It's Cold Outside" set in an igloo.
"Dragalong Cavendish," an Anglicized version of "Hopalong Cassidy."
Music:
Dinah Shore sings "I Didn't Know What Time It Was"
Program Breakdown: KShavo
1) Show Introduction with a song
2) Monologue. Bob announces "Television, well, they finally got me!"
3) Maurice Rocco - Unknown (stand up pianist)
4) Maurice Rocco - St. Louis Blues (stand up pianist)
5) Frigidaire Refrigerator commercial with Wendell Niles
6) Douglas Fairbanks talks with Bob Hope
7) "One Dozen Double Damask Dinner Napkins". An increasingly flummoxed matron (Beatrice Lilly)
attempts to purchase dinner napkins from a linen store.
8) Frigidaire Refrigerator commercial - a man gets his shirt laundered
9) Happy Easter - Unknown man and woman (song)
10) Bob Hope goes to NBC. NBC tries to lure Bob to their network. They wine and dine him to try to convince him to work at their network.
11) Frigidaire appliance commercial - Bob and Douglas Fairbanks sing and woman look and the appliances.
12) Dinah Shore sings "I Didn't Know What Time it Was".
13) The Origin of "Baby, It's Cold Outside" (Comedy and song). An Eskimo boy, Bobu (Bob Hope)
and an Eskimo girl, Nakapui (Dinah Shore) talk about how cold it is.
14) Frigidaire appliance commercial
15) Beatrice Lillie - Paris
16) Hal LeRoy dances and Bob joins him
17) Frigidaire appliance commercial
18) The British Version of Hop Along Cassidy. A woman (Beatrice Lillie) enters a saloon. She has a large amount of money with her.
Smelly Pete (Douglas Fairbanks Jr), a polite criminal, arrives and holds up the saloon. He takes the woman's money.
Dragalong Cavindish (Bob Hope) arrives to save the day. Drangalong is a clumsy hero. Dragalong saves her from Smelly Pete.
19) Frigidaire appliance commercial
20) The Boys Choir of Mexico City - Alleluia Chorus
21) Dinah Shore, Douglas Fairbanks, Beatrice Lillie & Bob Hope - Easter Parade (Comedy and song)
22) Closing
*Note: The cost of Bob's first special was $135,000 which included fees for talent, rehearsal expenses and payment for the hour and a half on the air.
By comparison, the cost of bringing the musical "South Pacific" to Broadway was $180,000. Bob's salary was $40,000.
[02] The Bob Hope Show (From New York).
27May1950 NBC Saturday 9-10:30pm Eastern
Produced and directed by Max Liebman
Host Bob Hope
Guests:
Frank Sinatra (Sinatra's first appearance on television),
Peggy Lee, Beatrice Lillie, Arnold Stang Milton Berle (cameo appearance),
Michael Kidd & Janet Reed (ballet dancers) along with other members of the New York Ballet,
Sugar Chile Robinson
Condos and Brandow (extraordinary dance team)
Bill Hayes, Sylvia Miles, Tom Avera, David Burns, Louise Kirtland, Leila Hyer
Dennis James, Wendell Niles, The DeMarlos, Jack Russell, Tom Avera
Highlights:
A sketch titled "The Road to Frigidaire" based on the Hope-Bing Crosby running feud is acted out.
Beatrice Lillie does a take-off of Dorothy Lamour from the Road to series.
Peggy Lee sings "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered".
Milton Berle shows up in drag making a play for Bob.
Program Breakdown:[KShavo]
1) Monologue
2) Frank Sinatra - "Come Rain or Shine"
3) Frank Sinatra and Bob speak
4) Trying to buy Lunch at Food Machines. Bob Hope tries to buy lunch from a food machine but he is interrupted by many
different people and never gets to eat.
5) Janet Reed and Michael Kidd with Jack Russell & the Choir - "Suzette" Dancing sequence based on how wine is made in the south of France.
6) Frigidaire refrigerator commercial with Dennis James
7) Visiting an actress Back stage. After an exhausting show an actress is visited, in her dressing room, by Miss Nancy (Beatrice Lillie).
Miss Nancy is a self absorbed woman who never stops talking about herself. The actress is seeking praise from Miss Nancy regarding her performance
but Miss Nancy only offers the actress backhanded praise for her performance.
8) Peggy Lee - "Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered".
9) It's Nice to have a Man Around the House. Peggy (Peggy Lee) and her finance Robert (Bob Hope) discuss their future together but they keep getting
interrupted by other boyfriends that she has. Bob and Peggy sing "It's Nice to Have a Man Around the House".
10) Beatrice Lillie - "There's Rhythm"
11) Frigidaire Ranges commercial with Wendall Niles. Includes two woman in a kitchen discussing the Frigidaire range.
12) Men of the Diamond. Peewee (Frank Sinatra) and Yogi (Bob Hope) are two superficial baseball players.
The two are in the dugout are more concerned with there looks than the game.
13) Condos & Brandow Tap dancing. Bob taps with them and has trouble keeping up.
14) Frigidaire automatic washing machines with Dennis James.
15) The Road to Frigidaire (A parody of the "Road" pictures) Bing (Frank Sinatra) and Bob (Bob Hope) are two men traveling through Tahiti in a canoe,
they are looking for Princess Lamore. They arrive to the island of Papayas. They are lost and hungry. Bob is so hungry he considers cannibalism.
Then a native girl (Beatrice Lillie) shows up. The men are competing for the affections of the island girl when Milton Berle enters and leaves with her.
16) Closing
*Note: Bob Hope stars in the film "Fancy Pants" released July 19, 1950.
[03] The Bob Hope Show
14Sep1950 NBC Thursday 8-9pm Eastern / 24Sep1950 NBC Sunday [Oakland Tribune]
Sponsored by Frigidaire / Producer Lee Morgan / Directed by Hal Keith
Host Bob Hope
Guests:
Lucille Ball, Dinah Shore, Bob Crosby, Jack Cole Dancers, Al Goodman and his Orchestra
Highlights:
Bob Crosby (Bing's brother) sings "There'll Always Be a Crosby, But We're Running Out of Hopes".
*Note: [Long Beach Independent 17Sep50.] Bob Hope and Frigidaire have agreed and the comedian will be on NBC-TV
with an hour show every fourth Sunday to begin October 29.
This is the fourth in the Sunday series that will alternate Fred Allen, Eddie Cantor and Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.
*Note:
05Oct1950 through 04Nov1950 - Bob Hope joined by a troupe of entertainers, Bob Hope entertains US troops stationed in Asia and Alaska.
05Oct1950 - Hope leaves for Korea to entertain US troops.
31Oct1950 - Hope's Tuesday night NBC radio show was recorded in Toyko (to an audience of US troops).
04Nov1950 - Bob Hope returns home after tour of Japan, Korea, and Alaska.
Trivia: The Japanese called Bob Hope, "Bopa Hopa".
19Nov1950 New York Times 'News of TV and Radio' column:
"Bob Hope, back from his trip entertaining troops in the Far East, will make his initial appearance in the NBC Sunday-night-at-8 comedian lineup next week."
"Bob's show will come from the stage of the International Theatre and will be presented to a studio audience composed entirely of servicemen.
The video show will be built around the members of the company which made the service camp tour, including Marilyn Maxwell;
Les Brown's Orchestra; Jimmy Wakely, cowboy singer; the Tailor Maids; Judy Kelly and the Highhatters, a dance group."
[04] The Bob Hope Show (From New York).
26Nov1950 NBC Sun 8pm
10Dec1950 NBC Sun [Long Beach Independent]
Produced and Staged by Danny Dare
Written by Marvin Fisher, Larry Gelbart, Larry Marks, Norman Sullivan and Fred Williams
Guests:
Bob is joined by beautiful Marilyn Maxwell, Jimmy Wakely, Judy Kelly, the magnificent dance duo The High Hatters,
and The Taylor Maids for an hour of music and comedy.
with Les Brown Orchestra.
Program Breakdown: [KShavo]
1) Monologue
2) Les Brown band - Got My Love to Keep me Warm
3) The Three Taylor Maids - Orange Colored Sky
4) "Designing the F63" - A New Plane Tailwind Hope (Bob Hope) is the test pilot for a new plane. He is an arrogant playboy.
He flies the plane and crashes.
5) Frigidaire Commercial. A child buys a Frigidaire for his mom for Christmas
6) Judy Kelly dances
7) Operation Frigidaire. Three GI's are in the arctic for 22 months and they begin to crack from the living conditions.
The GI from California (Bob Hope) complains to his friends about the situation.
An Eskimo arrives with the mail and the men excitedly read the letter.
Unexpectedly the men learn they are going stateside and rush off. It's to late for the California, he's to far gone.
8) Frigidaire commercial with a salesman and a husband and his wife
9) Marilyn Maxwell & Bob Hope talk.
10) Marilyn Maxwell & Bob Hope - "That's Love".
11) Hi Hatters tap dance, Bob Joins in.
12) Jimmy Wakely - "Hang Your Head and Cry".
13) Jimmy Wakely & Bob Hope - Unknown
14) Frigidaire commercial
15) "Navy Men on Leave". Clyde (Bob Hope) gets six hours in Tokyo and goes to meet a girl (Marilyn Maxwell). She is a secret agent
and tries to get military secrets out of Clyde.
16) Closing (Be back on 12-24)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7EIRy1Zueg