I'm still on the back-up computer so I can't write what I'd like to write about Bob "But I Wanna Tell Ya" Hope, who's celebrating his 100th birthday today…probably not by doing anything the rest of us would associate with the word, "celebrating." I guess when you hit the century mark, just breathing is a kind of celebration.
I have a couple of anecdotes about my exceedingly-brief encounters over the years with Mr. Hope but they seem especially trivial today, as those who knew him well are filling the papers and Internet with tributes and stories. So I'll just direct you to the best possible website to learn about the amazing career of the outstanding comedian of his generation. Here's the link to some online samples of the Bob Hope and American Variety Exhibition in the Library of Congress. Those pictures say more than anything I can write tonight…
…except to answer the oft-asked question I see on comic book discussion boards tonight: Who, apart from Mort Drucker, did the Bob Hope comic book that DC published all those years? Answer: The early issues were drawn by Owen Fitzgerald, who was followed by Mort Drucker and Bob Oksner. Near the end, there were a few issues illustrated by Neal Adams and one by Carmine Infantino. The later issues were primarily written by Arnold Drake. Before him, the main writer was Cal Howard, but it is believed that a few others were authored by Sy Reit, Jack Miller and even Bill Finger. It all made for an odd corner of Mr. Hope's illustrious career — but one that, oddly enough, is included in the above-linked Library of Congress display.