Bob Hope’s Nbc Contract Runs Out After 60 Years

Sat., Nov. 23, 1996

Associated Press

One of the longest roads in show business comes to an apparent end tonight when Bob Hope presents his last television special under a 60-year contract with NBC.

“Bob Hope’s Laughing with the Presidents” covers the comedian’s entertaining of chief executives from Franklin Roosevelt to Bill Clinton. Appearing on the program will be Clinton and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, George and Barbara Bush, Gerald and Betty Ford, and David and Julie Nixon Eisenhower.

The last of Hope’s 285 NBC specials won’t be like the others. The comedian feels the weight of his 93 years, and his razor-sharp timing isn’t what it used to be. There will be no monologue, and Tony Danza will share hosting duties.

Hope started his own radio show with NBC in 1938 and starred in 1,145 broadcasts, many of them before servicemen and women in the United States and overseas. On Easter Day 1950, he performed his first TV show on NBC, and his unprecedented contract continued until this year.

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