Did anyone ever really love Bob Hope?

Why does everything these days have to be a superlative? Why must writers scream for our attention, yelling that the guy in their book blows everyone else out of the water? Bob Hope, claims Richard Zoglin in this biography, was the most important entertainer of the 20th century. In fact, he adds, you could argue that Hope was ‘the only important entertainer’. Can Zoglin really believe this? Is he really telling Chaplin, Sinatra, Elvis, Monroe et al to roll over? Even if you made the ‘only important …’ boast about one of those people it would sound absurd. Making it about Bob Hope sets you up for a 486-page fall.

It isn’t that Hope’s story lacks importance. If Zoglin had said ‘look, here’s a guy who lived to be 100, who saw vaudeville give way to Hollywood, radio give way to TV and mastered all four, who’s one of several dozen 20th-century stars worthy of your attention’, we might have cut him more slack.