Bob Hope visits Waco
By Terri Jo Ryan
Tribune-Herald staff writer
A showbiz institution paid Waco a visit in early 1948, promoting his popular radio program. Bob Hope (1903-2003) flew into Waco’s municipal airport while on tour with “The Pepsodent Radio Show Starring Bob Hope.”
Hope’s broadcasting career spanned more than six decades and included a long association with NBC. He made his radio debut with the network in 1937. A year later, “The Pepsodent Radio Show Starring Bob Hope” began, and it ran through 1953, when Hope moved to television.
A glib host with a keen intellect, Hope specialized in extremely topical humor that was wildly appreciated by his audiences.
On that Waco stop, according to photos obtained by Fred Larson of Waco at a local estate sale, Hope brought big band vocalist Doris Day with him. She made her film debut later that year in Romance on the High Seas, a musical-comedy originally intended for Betty Hutton, who dropped out due to pregnancy.
Brazos Past would like to see more pictures of celebrity sightings in Waco’s history. For more details, contact Terri Jo Ryan at 900 Franklin Ave., Waco, 76701, or tjryan@wacotrib.com.
Sources: BobHope.com, DorisDay.net, TCM.com, IMDb.com, Waco-Texas.com, Handbook of Texas Online.
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