Photo: Daily News

Les Jr., Butch Stone (bottom left) and the Band Of Renown played the music 
for Bob Hope's last event. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
"Bob Hope told me:
Butch, keep moving onstage, because you never know when someone is going to throw something at you."
- Butch Stone

On August 27 I attended the memorial services for Bob Hope at the St. Charles Borromeo church in North Hollywood, California. The services were presided over by Cardinal Roger Mahoney. The guest list read like a "who’s who" of the worlds of entertainment, the government and the military. After the Mass, the guests lunched at Bob’s favorite Lakeside Country Club and then were off to the Television Academy for a celebration of this great man’s life. Many people were asked to speak and I was honored to be one of them.
 
What struck me most though was being reunited with so many of the "behind-the-scenes" people that worked with Bob for all the years at NBC. I hadn't seen many of them for a number of years and speaking with them again brought back so many memories: it reminded me what a fairy-tale life I’ve had. From the time Dad joined Bob in the 1940’s to their last show together in 1996, I was always allowed to hang around and meet the famous guests on Bob’s shows. Man, what an education.
 
The movie stars, the athletes, and world leaders came and went, but the crew, the writers and producers, the musicians, the sound and light men, the costumers and secretaries were always there year-in and year-out. The audience rarely gets to meet these wonderful people, but they were the backbone of the organization that made it all possible.
 
The world knows what Bob Hope, the entertainer, brought to it, but the real joy for me was to share what the profound effect that Bob Hope, the human being, had on those who worked so closely with him.
 
  -Les Brown Jr.

Note: Bob Hope’s last public performance was in 1996 on the PBS Documentary ‘Swing Alive! The Les Brown Tribute Concert,’ produced by Les Brown Jr.    More about the Swing Alive! CD. 

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