Shownotes
🎙️
Jenn discovered that Bob Hope was technically married to two women at the same time...and supposedly both marriages occurred in Erie, Pennsylvania. Since we were living in Erie at the time, Jenn decided to put her historian hat on and explore the locations where Bob Hope probably walked in February of 1933 AND 1934.
Furthermore...Scott has family ties to Bob Hope through his great-grandfather who was a Hollywood prop master in the 50s, 60s, and 70s!!
🚕 Google Map to Erie, Pennsylvania
-------------------------------------------------------
⬇️ Help us keep the show going and explore history with us! ⬇️
🧳 Get free travel resources in your inbox.
-------------------------------------------------------
📧 contact: talkwithhistory@gmail.com
Transcripts
[Music]
Speaker:welcome back
Speaker:uh welcome to talk with History Podcast
Speaker:I am your host Scott I'm here with my
Speaker:wife and historian Jen uh on this
Speaker:podcast we talk about history's
Speaker:continuing impact on all of us and our
Speaker:personal journey through YouTube as we
Speaker:explore record and share our history
Speaker:walks with you
Speaker:today Jen we are talking about Bob Hope
Speaker:yes best known for as like the Larger
Speaker:than Life TV radio personality best
Speaker:known probably for the 1950s and 60s but
Speaker:really he got his start in the 30s so
Speaker:um so why are we talking about Bob Hope
Speaker:today
Speaker:well
Speaker:first off I I wanted really understood
Speaker:that I I love Bob Hope especially what
Speaker:he did with the Uso and I just always
Speaker:thought he was so
Speaker:personable and funny but we found
Speaker:ourselves living in Erie Pennsylvania
Speaker:for the last two years before we moved
Speaker:here to Virginia
Speaker:and one of the urban legends of Erie
Speaker:Pennsylvania is that Bob Hope was
Speaker:married in Erie PA
Speaker:and there was more to the story
Speaker:um
Speaker:that he also claimed to be married there
Speaker:a second time to his wife that he was
Speaker:with for 69 years
Speaker:and the story went that there was really
Speaker:no
Speaker:documentation to back up that second
Speaker:marriage
Speaker:so there's documentation for the first
Speaker:marriage as a marriage license it's on
Speaker:file at the Erie County Courthouse
Speaker:but there is no documentation of the
Speaker:second marriage even though they both
Speaker:always claim that they were married in
Speaker:Erie Pennsylvania as well so so how did
Speaker:you find out about that how did you hear
Speaker:about that I think I was just looking
Speaker:through you know when you moved to a new
Speaker:location you're searching Facebook and
Speaker:looking for local things to do in local
Speaker:stories and I think I there was a eerie
Speaker:like Memories page or an ear you know
Speaker:and they were talking about things that
Speaker:had changed in Erie or you know just
Speaker:bringing up old memories of Erie and
Speaker:someone had brought up that story and so
Speaker:I had read about it I just found it so
Speaker:interesting yeah so so why don't you if
Speaker:someone hasn't watched the video
Speaker:um why don't you talk a little bit about
Speaker:Bob Hope and and why especially for that
Speaker:era I mean he was just a massive Global
Speaker:figure yeah so Bob Hope
Speaker:he has a very much an American story so
Speaker:he's born in 1903 in England and his
Speaker:parents come over to America when he's
Speaker:four and they come through Ellis Island
Speaker:and they settle in Cleveland and he's
Speaker:one of seven boys
Speaker:and he's born Leslie T hope that's his
Speaker:name when he's born and
Speaker:I think to entertain his brothers
Speaker:probably get a word in edgewise he turns
Speaker:to dancing and singing and he gets his
Speaker:start in Vaudeville which most young
Speaker:actors in the 30s are going to start in
Speaker:Vaudeville and that's where you do
Speaker:it's a variety show of singing and
Speaker:dancing and little monologues on a stage
Speaker:kind of like a traveling show kind of
Speaker:like a circus Traveling Show without all
Speaker:the animals and Oddities right and
Speaker:that's how he kind of gets to start and
Speaker:if you
Speaker:think about geography Cleveland is only
Speaker:an hour and a half away from Erie it's
Speaker:to the West also on Lake Erie and then
Speaker:Buffalo is an hour and a half to the
Speaker:east of Erie so Erie always is on a
Speaker:circuit because it's so close to these
Speaker:major cities and back in that day it was
Speaker:on the circuit yes and and it is even
Speaker:today when even when tours
Speaker:um sure they come up from Pittsburgh
Speaker:Cleveland or Buffalo or something like
Speaker:that it's just easy to hit that town
Speaker:and so he had performed an area a couple
Speaker:times and
Speaker:and so then in the 19 actually in the
Speaker:1930s 1933 he has a Vaudeville partner
Speaker:named Grace who he marries
Speaker:at the Erie County courthouse and that's
Speaker:the one that they have the paperwork for
Speaker:they have the record of the paperwork
Speaker:for was January 25th
Speaker:1933 and they have the marriage license
Speaker:he uses his name Leslie
Speaker:and um and I think he he claims to be
Speaker:not Vaudeville I think she's a secretary
Speaker:and he's something else on the marriage
Speaker:license but it's filed and and they get
Speaker:married and somehow you know it doesn't
Speaker:work out
Speaker:but his second wife Dolores Reed who is
Speaker:his wife that most people will know for
Speaker:69 years and he will adopt four children
Speaker:with they both claim that they're
Speaker:married February 19 1934 so a little
Speaker:over a year later yeah so it sounds like
Speaker:that first year went really well for Bob
Speaker:Hope exactly so he must have met you
Speaker:know Dolores in that time they were in a
Speaker:play together called Roberta in 1934 I'm
Speaker:in they get married they claim to get
Speaker:married in February 1934 so
Speaker:January they meet so yeah him and Grace
Speaker:must not have hit it off very well I
Speaker:know in the divorce decree which is was
Speaker:is found by a historian
Speaker:filed in Cleveland
Speaker:DeForest isn't granted till November
Speaker:1934 which is after when he says he was
Speaker:married exactly he claims to have
Speaker:married Dolores February 1934 but the
Speaker:divorce isn't granted till November 1934
Speaker:and he claims gross neglect and
Speaker:um I think it's like a mean disposition
Speaker:or disagreeable disposition you know so
Speaker:who knows what that means exactly so I
Speaker:think that's what any man would put on
Speaker:divorce papers exactly yeah but him and
Speaker:Dolores always hold to the story that
Speaker:they were married in Erie
Speaker:February 19 1934 when really if you look
Speaker:at papers he was in New York on Broadway
Speaker:at that time now it's not saying you
Speaker:can't drive to Erie and get married you
Speaker:can
Speaker:but that's a good seven or eight hour
Speaker:drive by today's standards by today's
Speaker:standards and Erie seems to be so
Speaker:proud that they kept the original
Speaker:marriage license and kept the paperwork
Speaker:that they they say that they would have
Speaker:kept
Speaker:second paperwork if it actually would
Speaker:have been filed
Speaker:now
Speaker:that's not to Clay say that dolorison
Speaker:Bob were never really married because
Speaker:you will find celebrities sometimes use
Speaker:initials or they'll use
Speaker:different names pseudonym if they get
Speaker:married and maybe they had done that and
Speaker:maybe they had gotten married in another
Speaker:city in another place however they
Speaker:always claim February 19 1934 in Erie
Speaker:when he's still technically married to
Speaker:Grace still
Speaker:yeah now back then with information not
Speaker:traveling as quickly as it does today
Speaker:was that more common or was that still
Speaker:usually people back then would wait
Speaker:until divorce was final
Speaker:and then actually get married or was it
Speaker:just kind of like uh yeah follow the
Speaker:paperwork and you know she's mean so I'm
Speaker:gonna go somewhere else yeah I think
Speaker:it's a lot like that I think today DNA's
Speaker:technology is so fast
Speaker:and so
Speaker:documentation is so easy to check and to
Speaker:verify back then not so much and you
Speaker:could make up a story you could claim a
Speaker:story and you could stick by a story and
Speaker:who's going to actually verify it who's
Speaker:actually going to take the time to do
Speaker:that unless you're a big star like he
Speaker:was but I think they claim a small town
Speaker:like Erie because they can claim oh
Speaker:maybe they lost it or it wasn't filed
Speaker:correctly or something like that and
Speaker:since they knew Erie he'd already been
Speaker:married in Erie he could kind of talk
Speaker:about what the courthouse look like or
Speaker:sure you know give good verifying
Speaker:evidence did he perform in in Erie yes
Speaker:he did at the Warner Theater and I on
Speaker:the walk with history video we go there
Speaker:to the Warner Theater it's under
Speaker:construction in the video and because it
Speaker:was coveted at the time so they were
Speaker:taking the time to
Speaker:rehab it was a it's an older theater it
Speaker:was built by Warner Brothers
Speaker:um but yeah he had performed in Erie
Speaker:many times so saw a place he would know
Speaker:pretty well
Speaker:but
Speaker:no one's ever found any evidence of that
Speaker:second marriage and and I mean like I
Speaker:said Dolores and and Bob Hope were
Speaker:married for 69 years they had one of
Speaker:those marriages that people really look
Speaker:to
Speaker:as like a golden standard of Hollywood
Speaker:marriage now
Speaker:you will always hear stories of Bob
Speaker:Hope's philandering we don't I don't
Speaker:really talk about that but he was yeah
Speaker:there's a lot of that well he traveled
Speaker:quite a bit didn't he quite a bit Uso
Speaker:shows I think as we say it in the walk
Speaker:with history video but from 1941 to 1991
Speaker:he did 57 tours with the Uso oh my gosh
Speaker:so
Speaker:I think most every Leading Lady
Speaker:had some kind of affair with Bob Hope
Speaker:and they they openly admit to it and I
Speaker:think his wife Dolores was just
Speaker:accepting of it
Speaker:and I don't know if this story has
Speaker:anything to do with that because
Speaker:they're technically not married I mean
Speaker:common law depending on how long and
Speaker:what state you're in
Speaker:and what's interesting about that as
Speaker:well and I say this in the walk with
Speaker:history video
Speaker:is his first wife Grace
Speaker:he maintains a financial
Speaker:situation with her he takes care of her
Speaker:children by her second marriage and he
Speaker:pays for her funeral
Speaker:and even after he passes away Dolores
Speaker:still keeps up that Financial connection
Speaker:to Grace's children
Speaker:so
Speaker:I'm just
Speaker:telling you that truth I don't know what
Speaker:that Financial connection was all about
Speaker:but it seems like there's more
Speaker:there more there yeah now you mentioned
Speaker:connection now I actually have yeah the
Speaker:family connection uh in you know Six
Speaker:Degrees of Bob Hope
Speaker:um but so so once you talk about my
Speaker:family connection because you were
Speaker:actually more excited about my family
Speaker:connection and Bob Hope than I than I
Speaker:was when I found out about it so I I
Speaker:married a true Californian I married a a
Speaker:man with Hollywood history
Speaker:your great-grandfather Dwight Thompson
Speaker:was a prop master and I think he worked
Speaker:for Paramount and for Universal he did
Speaker:Ten Commandments he did The Greatest
Speaker:Show on Earth he did Some Like It Hot
Speaker:with Marilyn Monroe and Tony Curtis and
Speaker:Jack Lemmon
Speaker:he did rear window and in our home we
Speaker:have a picture a rear window the movie
Speaker:with Alfred Hitchcock and Jimmy Stewart
Speaker:I'm sitting here looking at it right now
Speaker:and he has placed the name cards under
Speaker:the windows so if you ever see the movie
Speaker:Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly kind of
Speaker:name every window they give him kind of
Speaker:like a cute name based on how they're
Speaker:acting or what they see and he actually
Speaker:has those name cards under the windows
Speaker:as he's setting curtains or
Speaker:props that you would see in the
Speaker:background like what's on the table or
Speaker:The Pianist on his the composer on his
Speaker:piano and things like that so we have a
Speaker:picture of him with Yul Brenner and Ten
Speaker:Commandments yep and we have a picture
Speaker:of him setting the basket in Moses yeah
Speaker:no and and just for for the audience
Speaker:right I was vaguely aware growing up
Speaker:right so in my youth I would drive from
Speaker:Central California down to Southern
Speaker:California to visit my grandparents and
Speaker:in the garage yes I always remember
Speaker:seeing so he used to work this set of
Speaker:Bonanza yes all of he did all of the
Speaker:episodes he did every single at the All
Speaker:Seasons all the episodes and all that
Speaker:stuff right so so that was his regular
Speaker:job and I always remember seeing in my
Speaker:childhood I would that's where we would
Speaker:go down and we would play Nintendo and
Speaker:then the adults would be in the other
Speaker:rooms like hoping that we didn't come
Speaker:bother them but I always remember seeing
Speaker:the the three main characters
Speaker:from Bonanza with their signatures to my
Speaker:great grandfather yes and it's just it's
Speaker:in my I can picture it right now but
Speaker:just above the light switch in my garage
Speaker:just down the stairs off to the right
Speaker:that's where the picture would just hang
Speaker:it might still be there I'm like Michael
Speaker:Landon yep
Speaker:um the Ponderosa right the ranch see we
Speaker:we don't even I our parents would know
Speaker:better than us yeah but um
Speaker:but so your connection is your
Speaker:grandmother so his daughter
Speaker:your grandmother has a picture with Bob
Speaker:Hope and it's it's signed to her and
Speaker:dedicated and it looks like a very
Speaker:familiar picture yeah she was she looks
Speaker:like she was probably 16. she's a
Speaker:teenager yeah and it looks like she's in
Speaker:a home with him or like it doesn't look
Speaker:like she's at some kind of signing thing
Speaker:it looks like she's like oh he probably
Speaker:brought her to work one day because he
Speaker:did a movie with him he did fancy pants
Speaker:with him and Lucille Ball it's on his
Speaker:IMDb page if you ever look up Dwight
Speaker:Thompson and
Speaker:maybe he had brought her
Speaker:that's your grandmother his daughter
Speaker:maybe he had brought her to the set one
Speaker:day or something like that yeah but
Speaker:that's how we have uh that family
Speaker:connection to Bob Hope yeah which which
Speaker:I have through marriage now yeah yeah so
Speaker:it's it's been really interesting and
Speaker:again for for those listening and for
Speaker:those who haven't seen the video
Speaker:um we talk a little bit about in my
Speaker:family connection but it's it's fun to
Speaker:talk a little bit more about it here
Speaker:because you really Dove more into
Speaker:my family ties with Bob Hope and the
Speaker:movie industry and I started finding out
Speaker:about my family history in the in
Speaker:Hollywood through you because you were
Speaker:asking my father and yes he had all
Speaker:these records and old things we've got
Speaker:movie scripts sitting in our house now
Speaker:yes we got the call sheets to um The
Speaker:Greatest Show on Earth with Charlton
Speaker:Heston and Jimmy Stewart
Speaker:CeCe DeMille movie which was um
Speaker:same thing as Ten Commandments and then
Speaker:we have a call sheet from Some Like It
Speaker:Hot with the Marilyn Monroe going to set
Speaker:at the hotel Dell yeah so it was
Speaker:interesting doing this video because it
Speaker:let us explore not just Bob Hope and his
Speaker:two supposed marriages and the
Speaker:interesting kind of secret there that
Speaker:not a lot of people know about but if
Speaker:you're from Erie yeah it's kind of a
Speaker:part of you know the in these small
Speaker:towns Erie is about a hundred thousand
Speaker:people yes and for for I would call it a
Speaker:smaller City in the greater United
Speaker:States
Speaker:someone a big character like that that's
Speaker:a that's a kind of a point of Pride
Speaker:there yeah it's a big deal I mean Bob
Speaker:Hope
Speaker:we were trying to think about who would
Speaker:be the equivalent to him today and we
Speaker:can't really think of someone because he
Speaker:was a larger than life figure he did
Speaker:like 54 feature films he did a ton of
Speaker:things with Bing Crosby he went he was
Speaker:one of those actors who transitioned
Speaker:from Radio to feature film and then he
Speaker:hosted the Academy Awards forever yeah
Speaker:so I was trying to think about it and at
Speaker:first I was like well maybe Jay Leno
Speaker:right The Tonight Show but he did Jay
Speaker:Leno didn't travel all over the world
Speaker:going to Uso show so I think if you
Speaker:combined like Billy Crystal Jay Leno and
Speaker:you know take someone from Radio
Speaker:put them all together yeah that was Bob
Speaker:Hope I mean Bob Hope was the larger than
Speaker:life host I mean he was the Hollywood
Speaker:host that's how I would describe him for
Speaker:the 50s it was a huge influence on the
Speaker:Uso he it's because of him that Marilyn
Speaker:Monroe went on the Uso tours and Ann
Speaker:Margaret like he was the the pull for
Speaker:all that I mean he was
Speaker:he was his comedic timing they say his
Speaker:comedic timing is one of the best in
Speaker:history although I I will say one thing
Speaker:when I was researching stuff for the the
Speaker:YouTube video and I encourage folks to
Speaker:go watch it if you're listening because
Speaker:it is very interesting and I find some
Speaker:old Uso clips and and the clips and the
Speaker:jokes that he tells overseas to these
Speaker:GIS overseas he would not be able to
Speaker:tell today they don't stand up in time
Speaker:no yeah I mean I would say probably 40
Speaker:of them don't he was pretty clean it's
Speaker:not like he was cursing like no it was
Speaker:just the cultural it was the more
Speaker:cultural references that like back then
Speaker:people didn't think about today he would
Speaker:get canceled totally get canceled he um
Speaker:he was self-deprecating of course he
Speaker:would definitely make fun of himself and
Speaker:his one-liners are great and so funny a
Speaker:lot like Billy Crystal right does
Speaker:um
Speaker:but yeah he definitely was a larger than
Speaker:life character and
Speaker:the marriage
Speaker:like the the marriage story is just a
Speaker:very very interesting story and that's
Speaker:why we kind of have the thumbnails kind
Speaker:of of him saying like shh be quiet
Speaker:because it's kind of like a secret yep
Speaker:that he never really married
Speaker:I mean there's no documentation that he
Speaker:ever really married Dolores
Speaker:and I don't know if I actually
Speaker:convey that very well in the video
Speaker:because it is one of our early videos
Speaker:yeah and I'm trying to say it but that
Speaker:that's the whole point is he a bigamist
Speaker:or did he lie
Speaker:about his
Speaker:um second marriage yeah well and this
Speaker:was our third video I think that we had
Speaker:done so right then if we transition over
Speaker:to talking about how we're filming and
Speaker:how we're trying to figure this out like
Speaker:we had literally this was our third one
Speaker:filming right you were still getting
Speaker:used to yes the handling the camera and
Speaker:talking to the camera and I was getting
Speaker:used to trying to how to tell these
Speaker:stories which is difficult to do when
Speaker:there's lots of information and you're
Speaker:trying to tell a story about a true per
Speaker:you know a real person true events and
Speaker:still keep it interesting yes
Speaker:um so that so that was difficult so you
Speaker:know it's one of our earlier videos I
Speaker:would say more recent videos If folks
Speaker:are interested they can go watch but um
Speaker:it was still just a very interesting
Speaker:because he is he is Americana he is
Speaker:embodied so um people know that profile
Speaker:absolutely it's yeah absolutely now
Speaker:there was uh
Speaker:I mean Bob Hope was kind of a jokester
Speaker:all the way
Speaker:basically until his deathbed oh yes
Speaker:so um do you remember what he said to
Speaker:his wife
Speaker:um when she asked him where where would
Speaker:you like to be buried do you remember
Speaker:what he said to her I don't he said
Speaker:surprise me he said surprise me so so if
Speaker:you think about that right here's Bob
Speaker:Hope you know knowing that he's probably
Speaker:gonna pass uh before too long and his
Speaker:wife says hey where do you want to be
Speaker:buried and he just says surprise me yeah
Speaker:um he dies at 100 in 2003 so it was a
Speaker:hundred it's a hundred oh my gosh well
Speaker:so
Speaker:again this this was a very interesting
Speaker:video and it was fun to make because not
Speaker:only do we live in Erie
Speaker:and that Erie had ties to Bob Hope and
Speaker:his first marriage and supposedly his
Speaker:divorce and second marriage which no one
Speaker:was able to ever confirm so that's what
Speaker:we point out in the video is hey was he
Speaker:technically married to two people at the
Speaker:same time
Speaker:um
Speaker:and then from there Not only was there
Speaker:that in here in Erie but then I go on to
Speaker:find out through you through my family
Speaker:that I have personal ties we have family
Speaker:ties now to Bob Hope through my family
Speaker:and my great grandfather who worked in
Speaker:the Hollywood Hollywood industry he was
Speaker:a prop Master for many old movies yes in
Speaker:the uh 60s 70s 50s all that stuff so
Speaker:um again thank you Jen for kind of
Speaker:taking us through an interesting fact
Speaker:that a lot of people don't know about
Speaker:Bob Hope who was a larger than life
Speaker:character for those who were listening I
Speaker:I we thank you for listening please feel
Speaker:free to share this podcast with your
Speaker:friends if you think that they would
Speaker:find this kind of these kinds of topics
Speaker:fun to listen to you can reach out to us
Speaker:on Twitter at talk with history and tell
Speaker:us where in the world you're tweeting
Speaker:from and I want to know if you guys know
Speaker:of any other interesting uh facts about
Speaker:Bob Hope for those listening if you on
Speaker:Twitter or you can just reach out to us
Speaker:through our website talk with
Speaker:history.com let us know if you know
Speaker:anything else interesting about Bob Hope
Speaker:absolutely are you rediscovering him now
Speaker:through us or did you know who he was
Speaker:yeah so thank you again and we will talk
Speaker:to you guys again soon thank you
Speaker:foreign
Speaker:[Applause]
Speaker:[Music]
