Want to create an interactive transcript for this episode?
Podcast: Breaking Walls: The Podcast on the History of American Network Radio Broadcasting
Episode: BW - EP148—001: February 1944 With Bob Hope—Hope's Rise To Top Star
Description: He was born Leslie Townes Hope on May 29th, 1903 in Eltham, England. The fifth of seven sons, his parents were William Henry Hope, a stonemason from Somerset, and Welsh mother Avis, a light opera singer who later worked as a cleaner.
The family eventually moved to Bristol for a time before emigrating to the U.S. aboard the SS Philadelphia, passing through Ellis Island on March 30th, 1908, before settling in Cleveland, Ohio.
He earned pocket money by singing, dancing, and performing, winning a prize in 1915 for his impersonation of Charlie Chaplin. In December 1920, Hope and his brothers became U.S...