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CNN Larry King Live

Tribute to Bob Hope

Aired August 27, 2003 - 21:00 ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We again raise our voice, as Bob did so often, and say, "Thanks for the memories."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY KING, CNN HOST: Bob Hope, America's comedy legend, honored today in an invitation-only Hollywood memorial service. Tonight, his grandchildren, friends and colleagues remember 100 years of Hope.

Joining us, Bob Hope's granddaughter, Miranda Hope-Smith.

His grandson, Zach Hope.

And another grandson, Andrew Lande.

Plus Kathryn Crosby, widow of Bing Crosby, Bob Hope's co-star in the classic "Road" movies, and a close friend of the Hope family.

Jane Russell, Bob's costar in the movies, "The Paleface" and "Son of Paleface."

Barbara Eden, the beloved star of TV's "I Dream of Jeannie," did more than 20 Bob Hope Christmas specials and part of his USO Tour family.

Ed McMahon, a special appreciation for his friend Bob Hope's dedication to America's troops because he's also a former fighter pilot.

Connie Stevens, a good friend of Bob Hope who did many USO tours with him.

And Art Linkletter, one of America's best-loved broadcasters and a long time friend of Hope's.

They're all next on LARRY KING LIVE.

And we begin with Bob Hope's grandchildren.

What a wonderful day today was, the mass this morning, the luncheon this afternoon and then the special memorial tribute, which I was one of those honored enough to be asked to speak.

Here are three of -- are you -- are you it, or are there other grandchildren, Miranda?

MIRANDA HOPE-SMITH, BOB HOPE'S GRANDDAUGHTER: Well, there are three of us, and then there's a fourth whose name is Alicia. But she's not here with us tonight.

KING: OK. Now, Miranda Hope-Smith, your mother and father are who?

HOPE-SMITH: Tony and Judy.

KING: Tony and Judy. And Zach Hope?

ZACH HOPE, BOB HOPE'S GRANDSON: Tony and Judy, same here.

KING: You're brother and sister?

Z. HOPE: That's right.

KING: OK. And Andrew?

ANDREW LANDE, BOB HOPE'S GRANDSON: Linda Hope is my mother.

KING: Linda Hope is your mother. And your dad?

LANDE: Nathaniel Lande (ph).

KING: OK. And they're divorced?

LANDE: They're divorced.

KING: OK.

What kind of grandpa was he, Miranda?

HOPE-SMITH: Well, he was -- he was definitely fun. He was a child at heart, I think. He was fun to be around. All the way up until -- all the way up until the end, really. We'd show up at a hotel, and he and my grandmother would be singing. They'd be wandering around. They would be just having a ball. So he was both fun, and he was also inspiring. He -- I remember once I had a monologue to learn, and he said -- I said, how do I learn this? And he said, Well, you've got to break it up into beats and just learn it. And I said, Well, it's 90 minutes long. And he said, Ooh! You've got to break it into beats and you've got to just learn it, you know? So...

KING: What do you do for a living?

HOPE-SMITH: I am an actress and I am the education director of the stage at Spring Point (ph), which is a theater company in Portland, Maine.

KING: And your husband builds boats (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

HOPE-SMITH: My husband, Andrew (ph), is a boat builder.

KING: Zach, what kind of a grandad was he for you?

Z. HOPE: I mean, he was just a terrific, terrific great guy. Guy to look up to, a guy that, you know, if you've ever had a coach or a parent or a friend or a sibling that spurred you on, championed you, who you wanted to be proud of you, you'd understand. And not because he was a big deal. You wanted him to be proud of you because he only gave you credit when you really nailed it. And when you did, you know, he never forgot.

KING: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) nothing phony.

Z. HOPE: No. No.

(LAUGHTER)

Z. HOPE: And usually he let that you know that he liked what you did through someone else. Just so you knew that he was talking about it.

KING: Andrew, what was he like for you?

LANDE: He was really a wonderful grandfather. And just have a lot of warm memories of trips, vacations with him. What really was a interesting experience for me was years back, I co-wrote an A&E biography with my mother, Linda Hope, and just doing the research on that and learning about his whole career, which I wasn't that familiar with at the time was really a gift.

KING: You learned about him by working on a biography of him?

LANDE: Exactly.

(LAUGHTER)

LANDE: Yes.

KING: Would you call him -- was he doting, Miranda? I mean, was he attentive? No?

HOPE-SMITH: I wouldn't say doting.

KING: No?

HOPE-SMITH: He was always paying attention. I went on a USO Tour with him in 1987, when he was 84 years old. And I went out the last night, and kind of partied with the crew. And I had no idea, but he was back drumming his fingers, wanting to know where I'd been, what I was doing. I had -- I had no idea that he was paying that kind of attention. But he was always, always paying attention.

KING: Because he traveled so much.

HOPE-SMITH: Yes.

KING: You know? But you were still able to be in contact a lot? HOPE-SMITH: I would say no. I was not in contact with him. But we would see him a couple times every year. And when we were there, he was just watching everything. The way that he watched the world, I think, looking for jokes. You know, when he would be at the table, he would be -- at dinner, and butter, what's funny about butter? What can I say that's funny. So he had that kind of attention.

KING: Zach, what about for you, him being away so much?

Z. HOPE: Well, you know, he did his best to try to take us with him.

KING: He did?

Z. HOPE: Sure. Sure. He often had one of us with him, as he had Miranda in the Persian Gulf. Or Tony, Linda, Kelly, growing up, taking them on tour. Some terrific stories from them about, you know, being in strange countries, or, you know, whether it's Argentina, or Miranda in Diego Garcia, a small island in the Pacific -- or in the Indian Ocean. Really good about taking you with.

KING: What do you do for a living?

Z. HOPE: I'm a hedge fund manager.

KING: Did he like that?

Z. HOPE: It's finance. You know, it's new since...

KING: Because he knew finance, though.

Z. HOPE: What's that? Oh, my goodness, he did. It's a bit inspired by him in that...

KING: Oh?

Z. HOPE: ...he watched people's behavior very closely. And there are financiers -- there's an area of economics called behavioral finance. And that's certainly my interest.

KING: Really?

Z. HOPE: And it has to do with how people make decisions. And he would always be paying very close attention. And I think that's something that we've all picked up, in one way or another. Andrew and Miranda, also are very attentive to how people behaved. He loved to go for walks, whether it was the aisles at Vons, see how people made their purchasing decisions.

KING: He walked the aisles the grocery store?

Z. HOPE: Oh, yes.

HOPE-SMITH: Every night.

KING: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) he needed to watch people. HOPE-SMITH: Yes.

Z. HOPE: Well, when his eyesight was starting to, you know, fade, he loved that there was a lot of light. So late at night he would go -- he would go to Vons, he would check out the products and the people and what they were doing.

KING: Did he like that you wrote, Andrew?

LANDE: I think he did, yes. I think...

KING: He sure was into writers.

LANDE: He was into writers and had a tremendous staff of writers.

KING: Did he take a lot of interest in what you wrote? Like, his biography -- did he watch it?

LANDE: Oh, yes. No. And he was proud of that biography, of how it turned out and that was rewarding to me that I was able to be involved with that.

KING: What -- how did you react to today's events, Miranda?

HOPE-SMITH: I loved it. The -- the mass was, it was a really wonderful combination of the religious, the civic, and the entertainment industry. There was just such a beautiful, spiritual and funny and powerful -- I thought it was just a powerful morning. Loved it.

KING: And nice lunch, right?

HOPE-SMITH: Oh, lunch was great. It's just great to see Phyllis Diller and Loni Anderson, and President Ford and all these people coming together and celebrating this man.

KING: And what about this afternoon, Zach?

Z. HOPE: How do I feel about it?

KING: Yes.

Z. HOPE: It was surreal in a way. I mean, I think...

KING: Beautiful setting there on the television.

Z. HOPE: Oh, yeah. And also at St. Charles Church, I thought that was beautifully done.

You know, we, I think, did a lot of mourning a month ago when he passed. And so today, had a little bit -- a little bit of a lighter feel to it. In both -- both in the church and also at the Television Academy.

KING: Where were you when he passed, Andrew? LANDE: I was in town. I had actually just seen him about a half hour before he passed away that Sunday night.

KING: You knew he was going?

LANDE: I knew that he wasn't doing well. I had received a phone call from my mom who that said that Pops was, you know, winding down. And that...

KING: Pops is what we called him?

HOPE-SMITH: Yes.

LANDE: Pops is what we called him.

KING: Miranda, where were you?

HOPE-SMITH: I was in Virginia. I was with my husband's parents. And I was asleep.

KING: They woke you?

HOPE-SMITH: It was 12:30 and they woke me with the phone call.

KING: Not unexpected, I guess?

HOPE-SMITH: Not unexpected. No. I was traveling out the next day.

KING: But still sad, huh? Even though he makes 100, and you expect it to happen?

HOPE-SMITH: Yeah, it is...

KING: Still a loss.

HOPE-SMITH: Even still a shock.

KING: Where were you, Zach?

Z. HOPE: When he actually passed, I was with some close friends having dinner. And I received the message that he had passed. And it was -- it was late at that time. And I stayed. The first thing I did, get up the next morning at 5:00 or 5:30 to make my way up. But on the way, when I stopped in Pavilion's (ph) grocery store, all the stock guys, everybody was talking about it. And if I hadn't found out, I would have known from 20 people at 5:30 in the morning.

HOPE-SMITH: Yes.

KING: Thank you all very much.

(CROSSTALK)

KING: Good luck to all of you.

HOPE-SMITH: I appreciate it.

KING: Miranda Hope-Smith, Zach Hope, and Andrew Lande, three of Bob Hope's four grandchildren.

When we come back, Kathryn Crosby, Jane Russell, Barbara Eden, Ed McMahon, Connie Stevens and Art Linkletter all will gather. We'll also include your phone calls.

Don't go away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAQUEL WELCH, ACTRESS: You know, I think it's very special that as they said today, that somebody who had so much talent, chose to use it in such a generous way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WELCH: Joy all (ph) you flower seekers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D), CALIFORNIA: To me, he's quintessentially American and a great patriot, and did so much for our country and our troops.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB HOPE, ENTERTAINER: Now it's tough to have a white Christmas in Washington. With all that hot air, the snow melts before it hits the ground.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM SELLECK, ACTOR: Bob basically always called personally when he wanted you to work with him. And it meant a lot. And it made it very hard to say no. I think he realized it was both.

HOPE: Tom, I'd like to hear more about "High Road to China"

SELLECK: Well, bless you. I play this airplane pilot in World War I whose stuck in Europe -- no that's wrong too.

GEN. WILLIAM WESTMORELAND, RETIRED ARMY GENERAL: Bob was one of my great best friends over the years in good times and bad times.

HOPE: Here we are back in Vietnam with a 101st fights there is Hope. You mean when the fight starts Hope is gone. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOPE: We played the Capital Theater in New York, which was a big picture house. And Bing and I were featured, Abe Lieman was the orchestra. And we did three and four shows a day. And it got kind of boring me just introducing him. So we started to ad lib. And we worked up in routine. When I got out here in '37, Bing invited me down to Del Mar, and we did the routine down there and somebody saw it and went back to Paramount and said, you've got to put these guys together. Boy -- they didn't know we rehearsed it 5 years before.

KING: In retrospect, Bob, as you looked at it, what do you think was the magic with the two of you?

HOPE: I don't know, Larry. I think it was the fact that we had great respect for each other. And we both understood how to feed each other. And it was more fun. I've never had that much fun anywhere making a picture. It was just -- and you never knew what was going to happen. Because we used to rat out on each other and steal a punch line before he was supposed to take it, he would do the same thing to me. It was a shambles all the way. It was fun.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: It was quite a day today with the mass this morning, the luncheon and then the special memorial this afternoon. And with us to discuss it, and him, are Katheryn Crosby, the widow of Bing Crosby a good friend of the Hope family. Bing and Hope made seven road pictures together. The first was the "Road to Singapore" the last, "The Road to Hong Kong."

Jane Russett, knew and worked with Bob Hope. Costarred with Bob in "The Paleface" and "Son Of Paleface," and also did a cameo in the "Road to Bali."

And Barbara Eden, the actress and entertainer. Starred in "I Dream of Genie" called Bob Hope her mentor. Did more than 20 Bob Hope Christmas specials. Went with him on his final USO tour to the Persian Gulf and was queen of the 1970 Bob Hope Chrysler Desert Classic Golf Tournament.

Ed McMahon, the famed television personality and close frind of Hope's, a former fighter pilot. In fact, on the day before Bob died Ed hosted attribute to veterans of the Korean War which included vintage films of Bob Hope entertaining troops.

Connie Stevens the entertainer and entrapeneuror who recently did sold-out one-woman concert tours in New Mexico and Las Vegas. Good friend of Hope. Did USO tours with Bob. Traveled to Vietnam and many other places.

And finally, the long-time friend of Bob Hope and one of the best-loved broadcasters, best-selling author, and popular speaker, who turned 91 last month, our friend Art Linkletter. Katheryn, what was it like for today for you?

KATHRYN CROSBY, BING CROSBY'S WIDOW: It was like "Hamlet." It was the most full spectacle I've ever seen. It was so beautiful, and it was so moving. And it had so much of Delores in it.

Behind the altar where you're not supposed to put anything, full of roses. She wanted white roses and they were there, marching down the isle. It reminded me of Tony's wedding because there were priests, of course, but there was also Reverend Shuller (ph). And there were other denominations represented, because that was the way Delores would have it. There were also Franciscans and other kinds of people. It was amazing and wonderful.

KING: This afternoon, wasn't that a great idea to have Les Brown and the band play?

ED MCMAHON, TV PERSONALITY: Oh, I walked in there. I felt right at home. Les Brown and the band renowned. He traveled so many times with him. And they had such a great relationship. But that was an incredible study today of the man. Really, when it was over, you really got to know him. Some things you didn't know before, you found out today.

KING: Every person had a touch. Yes. Connie, what did you think?

CONNIE STEVENS: ENTERTAINER: I thought it was very reverent. I thought it had all the elements. It had dignity, and laughter. Larry Gilbert was just marvelous. And Tony was very touching. And everybody showed up. The world was there. And it's attribute to how eclectic his friends were, Bob.

KING: And when you reach 100 Jane, it wasn't sad today, was it?

JANE RUSSETT: ACTRESS: No, it was a celebration of life. That's what it was.

KING: That's a good way to put it. Did you enjoy it, Barbara? Enjoy is a good word.

BARBARA EDEN, ACRESS: Yes, I did enjoy it. I must say, I thought the choir was phenomenal. I enjoyed the music. And I held myself together until the end, and when they started humming, "Thanks For The Memory," I lost it. That was it.

KING: Art, you were unable to make the festivities?

ART LINKLETTER, AUTHOR: No, I had booked a speech out of town, as I usually am, was traveling. I couldn't get back until 3:00. But I saw some of it on television. And of course, as you know, I was a business partner of Bob's, which is different than most all of these folks. For 40-some years.

KING: What was he like to do business with? LINKLETTER: Great. Tough, sharp. He had funny idea about real estate, whenever we had a property that we developed and had it for sale and we got a buyer, he'd say, he knows something we don't know, let's not sell it.

KING: If someone wants to buy it...

LINKLETTER: If someone wants to buy it, then don't sell it. I finally said, Bob, I don't know how rich you are, but I've got to sell something if I'm going to buy something.

KING: Which is how he wound up owning the valley.

LINKLETTER: That's right.

KING: Right.

Was he easy to deal with, Katheryn?

CROSBY: Oh, yes.

KING: I mean, easy?

CROSBY: In a family way. When we lived there, Kelly Hope taught us how to play croquet by hitting the ball into the hedge. He got bored with the game and just hit the ball in the hedge. And Bob and Bing fell on the ground laughing. And he loved things like that. He was very proud of Tony for being able to cut out all the classes, at Georgetown, because he aced the exams.

KING: Tony's his son?

CROSBY: My son, who spoke so beautifully today.

KING: We'll take a break. We'll come right back. Later, in a little while, we'll be including your phone calls on this tribute to Bob Hope. All these services held today. We thank our outstanding panel for being with us. We'll be right back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY HOPE, BOB HOPE'S SON: We loved him and we miss him. But he's not gone. He's just gone on ahead. And some day we'll all catch up. See you, dad.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOPE: Here we are in this beautiful wilderness called Knock-on- Phenom.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOPE: Here we are in Uta Pah (ph), the garden spot of Thailand.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOPE: Here we are in Insurlik, Turkey. Insurlik -- that's a Turkish word meaning don't knock it, it beats Vietnam.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: What was it like, Barbara, to tour with him?

EDEN: Oh, it was wonderful. Absolutely. He kept you on your toes. I've never seen anyone with so much energy.

Connie and I were together on that tour. And we were, like, tired, but Bob was -- in fact, we almost killed Bob on that tour. Did you tell him about that?

STEVENS: I was going to tell that story.

KING: What? What happened?

STEVENS: Well, this -- you know, we were really exhausted. So one night, could not sleep, couldn't get a comfortable position. And I see Barbara squirming. And I get up to go to the ladies' room, and I pass by, and Bob had just gone to sleep in this tent.

EDEN: Little bunk bed.

STEVENS: And he had a bunkbed above him, empty. So I go get her and I said, come with me. I know where there's a bed. So we go climb in quietly. And I said, put your feet that way, I'll put my feet this way.

EDEN: Like kids, and we had our hands...

(CROSSTALK)

STEVENS: You know? And all of a sudden we started laughing, Larry. We had the pillows across our faces. I said, Delores is going to kill us. Can you just see, "Two blonde actresses kill Hope."

EDEN: The bed breaking. We just -- we had visions of this bed breaking right on top of the poor man.

KING: Did you ever tour with him, Jane?

RUSSELL: I beg your pardon?

KING: Did you ever tour with him?

RUSSELL: Oh, all over the United States. I never went overseas with him. I went over with Johnny Grant. But it was because my kids were little, you know? But Bob always had Christmas at home. And Les Brown and the guys, they just put Christmas off a week or two. They had it when they got home.

KING: Good to do movies -- was he fun to do movies with?

RUSSELL: He was wonderful.

KING: Yes?

RUSSELL: I thought I'd died and gone to heaven when I got to do "Paleface" because my first two pictures were so slow and terrible. And then I also did a did a show in -- at the Paramount Theater in New York with him. It was for, you know, several weeks.

And I stayed right across the street from the theater. And he was way over on the East Side. But one morning I hadn't awakened in time. And I thought, Oh, I'm on stage.

KING: Because you did morning shows.

RUSSELL: And I went tearing across the street in my fur coat. And I went to the side of the -- side of the stage, and he was already on, about to introduce me. And I opened my coat, and I had a flannel nightgown on. And he went -- Um. And then just told some more stories.

(LAUGHTER)

KING: Ed, on "The Tonight Show," he often just came, right?

MCMAHON: He had an open carte blanche -- you know, he owned the property that NBC was built on. He sold it to NBC.

STEVENS: Really?

MCMAHON: Yes, he owned all that land.

Anyway, he had an open...

KING: Poor guy.

MCMAHON: ...open invitation whenever he wanted. And he was smart. Whenever he was going to do a show, you know, the next night, one of his specials, he would come in and do "The Tonight Show," and then stay and keep our audience after the show was over, Johnny Carson's audience. Then he would do his monologue. He wanted it right up to date. And someone mentioned today about how the Sputnik had gone up, and he went back and redid his monologue before another audience like that.

But that's how smart he was. And he could always walk out, just arrive, like a monument, you know.

KING: And he never acted rich, Art. I mean, he was very rich, but he never was, like, above it.

LINKLETTER: No. When you talked to him, it was like two guys in a locker room at a baseball game. I saw him the last time a few years ago, just before he began to be quite sick. We were having dinner at Buddy Hackett's house, it was a birthday. And I was getting a little old myself. And I said to him, How do you feel about getting old, Bob? He says, Well, I don't feel old. And he says, In fact, I don't feel anything until noon. And then it's time to take a nap.

(LAUGHTER)

KING: Did you stay close to him, Kathryn?

CROSBY: Yes, as much as I could.

(CROSSTALK)

CROSBY: Well that's it -- he adopted me. We did the Crosby in North Carolina and went to Salem. And he came there every year. He and Delores -- Delores nearly won it one year.

KING: For the golf tournament?

CROSBY: And speaking of golf, she did beat him at Sunningdale.

KING: She did?

CROSBY: In England, yes. And Bing said he never forgave her. He would never play Sunningdale with her after that.

KING: I hope she does all right. She was in a wheelchair today.

MCMAHON: Yes.

KING: Looked OK.

STEVENS: She looked lovely.

KING: Yes.

STEVENS: She really did.

KING: She's tough -- a tough lady.

We'll take a break and come back and go to your phone calls for Kathryn Crosby and Jane Russell, Barbara Eden, Ed McMahon, Connie Stevens and Art Linkletter. This was a great day. A memory of a great man. We'll be right back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHYLLIS DILLER, ENTERTAINER: I loved him very much. He was my guru. I adored his work. I adored his talent. Everything about him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SID CAESAR, ENTERTAINER: He entertained a lot of servicemen. And that's -- that's something (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DICK CLARK, ENTERTAINER: Years and years ago, when I was a little younger, and Bob was a little younger, they had asked me would I be sort of like co-chair, the new version, to come up and take the reins when Bob retired. Well, Bob never retired. So I never got the job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOPE: At this time I'd like to present a young lady that I think you'll

...down the hall, second door to your left.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At CBS we had them in our dressing room.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: He was a master.

Let's go to calls for this great panel. Decatur, Alabama, hello.

CALLER: Hello, how are you? I enjoy your show so much.

KING: Thank you.

CALLER: I heard Mr. Linkletter say he spoke with Mr. Hope a couple of years ago. I was just wondering when was the last time the rest of your guests spoke with him?

KING: Good question. Connie?

STEVENS: I saw him at Red Buttons' 80th or 85th birthday. I forget which one but...

KING: When they get that old they start mounting up.

STEVENS: Yes.

KING: Did he know you?

STEVENS: Yes. Not for a while. Delores said, it's Connie. And he focused and looked real deep and he said, hi, Connie.

LINKLETTER: No, he forget.

KING: Oh, so he was forgetting.

STEVENS: He had to go back into his memory and refocus. And I could see it happening right in his eyes. It was really interesting. KING: When was the last time you saw him?

CROSBY: I've been to the house recently. But I saw Bob a couple of years ago. We had lunch. And it was lovely. It is hard -- it was hard for him to hear, and hard for him to see but he could always hear Delores. And the responses were always right. So that he was able to send a wire to the guy who did "Roberta," played his roles and get it right, kid.

KING: Did he have any bad memory loss? He must have had at that age?

CROSBY: I don't know. But he responded appropriately to everything Delores said.

KING: Jane?

RUSSETT: It was a birthday, but I can't remember when. But he had trouble seeing, and he had trouble hearing. So Delores always came up to his ear and would talk to him. So I would go up to the other ear and talk to him. And I remember one time I went up to him and I went, look, see? See this? And he says, what are you doing? Are you trying to make me feel bad? Because he wouldn't wear a hearing aid. You know.

KING: Barbara, the last time you saw him?

EDEN: It was at NBC. And it was one of the last Christmas shows. He didn't participate much in it. He was sitting on the sofa. And Linda was talking to him through an earpiece from the eye in the sky.

He couldn't see. Actually, I worked with Bob when he was really having a problem with his eyes. That was in New York. And also with Bing. And Bing was reading the cue cards for Bob.

KING: Really?

EDEN: And I just thought that was the greatest thing. You know, he was whispering the words in his ear during the sketch. It was fabulous.

KING: Last time you did, Ed?

MCMAHON: It was Milton Berle's 90th birthday, we were all there celebrating. This will tell you how great Delores was, I walked over, and as I walked over, she would whisper in his ear, it's Ed McMahon. And he said Ed, it's so good to see you. He couldn't see me, but it was so good to see me.

KING: Did he know you, Art?

LINKLETTER: He didn't know me for a while, Dolores did -- just as what happened -- she would talk to him. Most of the time when we had dinner, he just sat there and whistled. And it was part of -- as you know, I'm chairman of the board of the Center of Aging in UCLA, so we make a study of what happens as this brain begins to lose its function. And people who stay real active last longer. But I don't know how he -- he slowly faded out. He didn't just turn over.

Maybe you know.

CROSBY: I'll tell a story of the last -- Crosby he was at -- because he had hurt his arm trying to get to Dolores in the middle of the night and tripped over a gate to keep the dog out. So he came and he was in a sling. And we didn't know if he could be on the show or not. Then the show ran long. And he sat the there. Dolores and I were getting edgier and edgier, as we went along and why couldn't everybody finish and get out of the way so he could do his 15 minutes.

He was at the edge of the stage, and I thought somebody's going to walk him on the edge of the stage. He dropped the sling. He strolled out onto the stage. He sang 34 verses of a song that had been specially written for him. And he got interested in the show. He played until 12:30. Nobody left. It was the most wonderful event because he came truly and truly alive when he was doing his stories.

KING: Oceantownship, New Jersey, hello.

CALLER: Hi. My question is to Katheryn Crosby.

KING: Yes.

CALLER: After so many years of a wonderful marriage to Bob Hope, how is Dolores handling this now that Bob's gone?

CROSBY: Dolores is so grateful that she had Bob for all those years. She has managed this wonderful day, this memorial. It is the most exquisite tribute that could ever be paid to a man.

Right after he died, there was a quiet family funeral. And she said, this is just for Bob. It was the caretakers, the people who were with him for those last years. But today was for the people that he loved. And it was done in such a loving reverent, religious way. And that was Delores.

KING: A very tasteful way.

Jane?

RUSSETT: I remember in Palm Springs one time, my husband and I had Dolores in the car. And we pulled into their house there. And it was only a cottage then, it wasn't the big house on the hill. And she looked and she saw a car and she said, oh, my darling is home, isn't that wonderful? Now, what other wife would we know.

KING: Ocklawaha, Florida, hello.

CALLER: How are you doing, Larry?

KING: Hi.

CALLER: I was wondering, how about him being buried in Arlington Cemetery. I think that's where he should be buried.

KING: They offered that, didn't they Ed.

MCMAHON: Yes they did. The family doesn't want that. But somebody came up with a great idea. They had the idea to do a statue of him in front of the Kodak Theater, in his tails, holding the Oscar and a microphone. It's still happening. It could happen. And you're going to help me. I appreciate.

Anyway, somebody came up with a great idea. They sent a proposal, and it's all about putting him in khakies at Arlington Cemetery, a statue, still entertaining the troops. Which could be a great thing. If he's not buried there, at least he's still there doing what he did.

KING: The first noncombat person to be buried there, right? The first non -- who never served in the military? What do you think of that idea?

LINKLETTER: Great idea. Might even have a sound box attached with some of his material.

STEVENS: Actually, you know, we're doing that. I have joined forces with a lot of the military, from the Taffy 3 Organization, and they have the land already and they're going to do a memorial.

KING: At Arlington?

STEVENS: No, in San Diego. As our ships go by.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, San Diego. We're doing a wonderful one.

STEVENS: A military tribute to Bob Hope. The statues, you press the button and you're going to hear his jokes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, wonderful!

KING: Citrus Heights, California, hello.

CALLER: Good evening. Questions for Katheryn Crosby.

KING: Yes.

CALLER: Hi, Katheryn. A few years ago, I was in a boys' choir and my boys' choir and I did a Christmas special with you and Bing about 1974 on KPAX (ph) in San Francisco. So the simple question is, how often did Bing and Bob get together to do Christmas specials?

CROSBY: They did not do any Christmas specials apart, that I know of. They always showed up on each other's shows. That was part of the deal. As a matter of fact, Bob said to me about ten years ago, you know he still owes me three shows.

KING: Germantown, Wisconsin, hello.

CALLER: Hi.

KING: Hi.

CALLER: I'd like to direct my question to Ed McMahon. Was Johnny Carson at the memorial service today? And I would like to thank Bob Hope's family for sharing this time with us.

MCMAHON: He was not. Johnny made an announcement years ago that he would not go to funeral services. He just said he can't handle it. And he doesn't go. And he had great difficulty Fred Decorder (ph) our long-time producer, when he died. And a couple others, Buddy Rich and a few other people that just tore him up. So he made an announcement that he doesn't go to any more.

KING: When you're 91, is it hard to go to funerals? Does it scare you?

LINKLETTER: No, I've been everywhere and done everything.

KING: Don't you think at 91 and...

LINKLETTER: I've done so many you eulogies now, that I -- I one time asked George Chessel who was going to do his. And he says, I've already done my own. And so I'm thinking of doing one more myself. It may not do justice to me.

But really, as you get older, you think of all the wonderful things of your life. And you think, gee, this has been a great life. And all of the people we're talking about, Bing and Bob and everybody, had such a great life. That it's wonderful to think as we are now of the good things. And that's what I think of as I approach 100. Because I'm already booked for a speaking date on my 100th birthday.

KING: Great.

LINKLETTER: On July 17, 1912 in Washington, D.C.

KING: I'll be there.

LINKLETTER: You're a good audience, by the way. I was entertaining the other night. You led the laughter.

KING: We'll be right back with more of your phone calls. Don't go away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SINGING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC) (END VIDEO CLIP)

RUSSELL: He said he hadn't rehearsed for that.

KING: That was a great scene from "The Seven Little Foys" (ph). That was from "The Seven Little Foys." Jimmy Cagney playing George M. Cohan, as he had in an Academy Award performance, teaming up with bob hope. Took him three weeks learning those dance steps.

Hello to Ellijay, Georgia, hello.

CALLER: Yes. Larry, terrific show. I'd like to ask your outstanding panel, can you hear me OK?

KING: Yes, go ahead.

CALLER: Thank you so much. Don't you think it would be appropriate to name a stamp in honor of Bob Hope, since he was such a great American?

KING: It takes, what, 10 years I think, Barbara?

(CROSSTALK)

STEVENS: I'll bet it's started. It's got to be.

KING: Yes. But it takes -- you can't get a stamp for 10 years. Sinatra doesn't have one yet.

EDEN: Oh, wow.

(CROSSTALK)

MCMAHON: That's a good question, though.

KING: The stamp permission takes 10 years. And you must be American.

MCMAHON: Right.

KING: There's only one non-American on the American stamp, the little known fact.

MCMAHON: Who's that?

KING: Churchill.

MCMAHON: Wow.

STEVENS: Oh wow!

(CROSSTALK)

KING: Yes. Little known fact.

LINKLETTER: Well, I'm out of it. I'm Canadian born. KING: You can't get a stamp. Chesterfield -- you can get a Canadian stamp.

LINKLETTER: I can't run for president.

KING: Chesterfield township, Michigan, hello.

CALLER: Yes, Larry, we love you here in Michigan.

KING: Thank you.

CALLER: I'd like to know how long Mr. Hope -- Bob Hope outlived his last sibling or are they still -- some of them still alive?

CROSBY: They're all gone.

KING: They're all -- his brothers and sisters are all gone. Did he have brothers and -- did he have many?

CROSBY: He had a lot of brothers.

(CROSSTALK)

CROSBY: Had a lot of brothers.

KING: Maryville, Tennessee, hello.

CALLER: Hi, Larry, love your show.

KING: Thank you.

CALLER: I wanted to know is anything going to be done in Washington, D.C. to honor Bob Hope? I think he was one of the greatest American patriots that ever lived.

KING: Well, Ed McMahon just told us they tried to have him buried at Arlington, but the family didn't want that. And now they're thinking of a statue at Arlington of Hope entertaining troops.

MCMAHON: In that garb, you know? In the fatigues.

LINKLETTER: And, of course, while he was alive, they did everything for Washington.

MCMAHON: Yes.

LINKLETER: I think he's even in the Smithsonian by now.

MCMAHON: Yes, well he's the only one who has the Medal of Freedom.

KING: There was a mass for him in Washington earlier this month. There was a mass. And they'll probably name a lot of streets after him, Barbara.

EDEN: Well, he has streets, yes... KING: He has streets here now, right?

EDEN: Yes.

STEVENS: And I think he has 10 stars, somebody told me, on the walk.

EDEN: Does he? 10?

STEVENS: I think he should have one on every block.

KING: Midland, Texas, hello.

CALLER: Hi. Everybody that you have on your panel, I just love. And can I ask everybody, did Mr. Hope, did he know how much we loved him, and does he know how much we enjoyed his movies?

KING: Did he know -- Ed, do you think he knew --

MCMAHON: Sure. Absolutely, yes. He loved it. I mean, he loved doing what he did. He loved performing. I mean, if three people gathered in a corner, he'd do a show. He loved that.

I've got a great story being a military man. You know, the dream was to be entertained by Bob Hope. And I was going through pre-flight down in Georgia, getting ready to become a Marine fighter pilot. And he came on the base, and, you know, it was real tough, pre-flight is tough. So anyways -- it's like boot camp. So he did a show. Nobody knew he was going to do a second show. It wasn't planned. But we stood in the rain for two hours waiting to get in. And they finally agreed to do a second show. He heard we were outside. He said, we'll do another show. Now, 3,000 cadets in those khaki uniforms soaking wet in an auditorium, that was a heavy show.

(CROSSTALK)

KING: You would all agree that he knew he was loved?

(CROSSTALK)

STEVENS: He loved to perform. I've never met anybody like that.

KING: Why did he stop doing the Academy Awards? Does anyone know?

STEVENS: I don't know.

KING: Did they stop asking him?

LINKLETTER: He did how many? Seventeen of them?

KING: Yes.

MCMAHON: Yes.

STEVENS: Yes. MCMAHON: I don't know.

KING: Did Carson replace him?

MCMAHON: Yes.

RUSSELL: Somebody asked him one time why he didn't, you know, quit and go fishing. And he says, fish can't clap.

(LAUGHTER)

KING: Highlands, North Carolina, hello.

CALLER: Good evening. Thank you for taking my call.

KING: Sure.

CALLER: Bob Hope led an exemplary life and was a great example for us as Americans. But I'd like to know if he had some message to give to us, what do you think the panel think he may have said?

KING: What do you think Bob Hope was saying to us?

STEVENS: Laugh.

KING: He certainly was a -- laugh.

MCMAHON: Make them laugh, yes.

(CROSSTALK)

LINKLETTER: I think he, rather than what he said, was what he is and has done. He is the emblem of success, what really success is. Which is, spending your life doing what you love to do.

MCMAHON: And doing it well.

LINKLETTER: That's what success is.

STEVENS: You know, Father Mahoney said something today -- Cardinal Mahoney, excuse me. And he said that he not only was a great entertainer, but he brought joy and transformed someone's life for two days a week, a month. And that is a...

KING: The gift of laughter.

EDEN: Yes. But he also -- I found Bob to be interested in everything. And everybody. He's always, looking, seeing things. I mean, even on our tour. You know, he was the one who got up in the middle of the night and watched the planes being reloaded in the middle of the night. We were asleep.

MCMAHON: An attention to detail, that thing they told today about that telegram that he sent to one of his secretaries who got married, it was delivered to her honeymoon suite, and it said, "Act surprised." KING: We'll take a break and be back with our remaining moments with this great panel. Don't go away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOPE: I want to tell you, it's a great -- which camera is working?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOPE: Usually I do all my Christmas shopping in the January sales, and I mark the packages "delayed by post office."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOPE: Would you know that when I started, Joe Namath worn men's underwear?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOPE: I saw a guy driving down Hollywood Boulevard with a tree in his front bumper. I said, Getting ready for Christmas? He said, No, I'm teaching my wife how to drive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOPE: I'm surprised we're having Christmas this year. It's the only thing Reagan hasn't cut.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BING CROSBY: Hey, look.

HOPE: We could have thought of another way to get us here.

CROSBY: Here we go again, junior.

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: New Port Richey, Florida, hello.

CALLER: Hi.

KING: Hi.

CALLER: This is for all the panelists. And Larry, I love your show.

KING: Thank you. What's your question?

CALLER: The question is for Barbara Eden. Barbara Eden, did you make a lot of movies with Bob Hope? And what was it like working with him?

EDEN: No, I didn't make any films with Bob Hope. But I did do 20 Christmas specials. And I worked with him live on stage in about, oh, four or five cities.

KING: Toronto, hello.

CALLER: Good evening. My comment/question for your panel is, Bob Hope was an absolute stellar, class A act. He never used vulgarity in his humor. And I'm wondering if the panel could tell us how did Bob feel about more modern comedy that tends to go towards, you know, less classy approaches to making people laugh.

KING: Do you know, Connie?

STEVENS: I think that he believed that you didn't have to be dirty to entertain. It was all about the story, the entertainment value.

KING: He loved a good raucous joke, though.

STEVENS: Yeah, but raucous or naughty, not dirty.

KING: Good way to put it. Beacon, New York, hello.

CALLER: Hi. I'm wondering if Mr. Hope has any interaction with Mae West

KING: Did they ever do anything together?

LINKLETTER: No, you're thinking of Cary Grant, because he was one of Mae West's first fellows. And he would never admit it.

KING: Really?

LINKLETTER: He'd say, no, it wasn't me, it was just a double they had.

KING: Ponca City, Oklahoma, hello.

CALLER: Hello. Hello, panel.

KING: Hi.

CALLER: This question is to Jane Russell, if she might know the answer. How did the song, "Thanks for the Memories," come about to be Bob Hope's theme song? KING: Does anyone know? Jane, do you know?

RUSSELL: "Thanks for the Memories."

KING: How did he pick that song as his theme?

EDEN: Great broadcast.

KING: That was from the Broadway...

(CROSSTALK)

EDEN: Yeah, he sang it in the film.

KING: The film, 1938.

EDEN: Yeah. Yeah.

KING: And he sang it, and it became his theme song.

EDEN: Yeah.

KING: Sammy Khan (ph) did special lyrics for him. It's also a wonderful song.

(CROSSTALK)

RUSSELL: Yeah, it belonged to him.

KING: What are you going to remember the most, Kathryn?

CROSBY: Dolores' devotion, the children's extraordinary work for this last celebration, which is something I shall never forget.

KING: Jane?

RUSSELL: Oh, there's so much about him. I adored him. The whole family. They're just great people.

KING: Connie?

STEVENS: The extraordinary talent he really had. He could dance, he could really dance, and loved it. And he sang in tune. And he loved to entertain. And he loved his family. He loved life. He just, like, exuded what it was supposed to be all about.

KING: Barbara?

EDEN: One of my fondest memories of Bob is, on the occasion of my star on Hollywood Boulevard, I arrived, I couldn't find Bob and I couldn't find my son. And I walked into the ice cream parlor, and there was Bob and Matthew. They both with an ice cream cone.

KING: Ed?

MCMAHON: The fact that he never stopped. I was with him, he played in a golf tournament I had up in the Quad Cities. And we were driving around one night, and he said, what's that building? And I said, that's the John Deere Hall. He said, see if it's open Saturday night, we'll do a show. So I checked, it was open. So he went in to do a show for the Eisenhower Medical Center. I mean, we played golf for four days, but he did a show Saturday night.

KING: What are you going to remember the most, Art?

LINKLETTER: Sixty years ago, I arrived in Hollywood a young, striving emcee. And at a party, Bob walked up to me, and he said, Art Linkletter, he says, I'm a big fan of yours. And I said, wait a minute, I'm supposed to be saying that to you. And he said, no, but you're good, kid, but you ought to use your name more often. You're selling your name. Use your name over and over and over.

KING: Our guests have been Kathryn Crosby, the widow of Bing Crosby, Jane Russell, great movie star, Barbara Eden, who worked -- toured with Bob. Ed McMahon, the famed TV personality, Connie Stevens, who recently, by the way, did a sold-out one-woman concert shows in New Mexico and Las Vegas, and the wonderful Art Linkletter.

And I'll be back in a couple of minutes to tell you about tomorrow night. Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: Before we leave you tonight, a modern-day Seabiscuit story involving what may be the best horse on the planet. The horse is Candy Ride. And we offer our congratulations to my good friends and the owners of this amazing horse, the diet guru Jenny Craig, who's been a guest on this show and her husband Sid. On Sunday, despite a little stumble at the start, Candy Ride scored a very sweet victory in the $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar. Candy Ride was the second choice in the betting, a very prestigious race, blew by the favorites, set a track record won by more than three lengths. The Argentine-bred is undefeated. Congratulations to the Jackie -- Julie Krone, the first woman to win $1 million race in the United States, and a member of the Hall of Fame, and to 70-year-old trainer, Ron McAnally.

Aaron Brown is next with "NEWSNIGHT," which reminds you, have you seen "Seabiscuit?"

AARON BROWN, HOST, "NEWSNIGHT": I haven't yet. I read the book.

KING: Aaron, see the film.

BROWN: OK.

KING: Before I come to New York, see that movie and tell me what you think.

BROWN: OK, but it's just like the book, only I don't have to move my lips as much.

KING: Go.

BROWN: I will. Thank you, Mr. King

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com

Aired August 27, 2003 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We again raise our voice, as Bob did so often, and say, "Thanks for the memories."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY KING, CNN HOST: Bob Hope, America's comedy legend, honored today in an invitation-only Hollywood memorial service. Tonight, his grandchildren, friends and colleagues remember 100 years of Hope.

Joining us, Bob Hope's granddaughter, Miranda Hope-Smith.

His grandson, Zach Hope.

And another grandson, Andrew Lande.

Plus Kathryn Crosby, widow of Bing Crosby, Bob Hope's co-star in the classic "Road" movies, and a close friend of the Hope family.

Jane Russell, Bob's costar in the movies, "The Paleface" and "Son of Paleface."

Barbara Eden, the beloved star of TV's "I Dream of Jeannie," did more than 20 Bob Hope Christmas specials and part of his USO Tour family.

Ed McMahon, a special appreciation for his friend Bob Hope's dedication to America's troops because he's also a former fighter pilot.

Connie Stevens, a good friend of Bob Hope who did many USO tours with him.

And Art Linkletter, one of America's best-loved broadcasters and a long time friend of Hope's.

They're all next on LARRY KING LIVE.

And we begin with Bob Hope's grandchildren.

What a wonderful day today was, the mass this morning, the luncheon this afternoon and then the special memorial tribute, which I was one of those honored enough to be asked to speak.

Here are three of -- are you -- are you it, or are there other grandchildren, Miranda?

MIRANDA HOPE-SMITH, BOB HOPE'S GRANDDAUGHTER: Well, there are three of us, and then there's a fourth whose name is Alicia. But she's not here with us tonight.

KING: OK. Now, Miranda Hope-Smith, your mother and father are who?

HOPE-SMITH: Tony and Judy.

KING: Tony and Judy. And Zach Hope?

ZACH HOPE, BOB HOPE'S GRANDSON: Tony and Judy, same here.

KING: You're brother and sister?

Z. HOPE: That's right.

KING: OK. And Andrew?

ANDREW LANDE, BOB HOPE'S GRANDSON: Linda Hope is my mother.

KING: Linda Hope is your mother. And your dad?

LANDE: Nathaniel Lande (ph).

KING: OK. And they're divorced?

LANDE: They're divorced.

KING: OK.

What kind of grandpa was he, Miranda?

HOPE-SMITH: Well, he was -- he was definitely fun. He was a child at heart, I think. He was fun to be around. All the way up until -- all the way up until the end, really. We'd show up at a hotel, and he and my grandmother would be singing. They'd be wandering around. They would be just having a ball. So he was both fun, and he was also inspiring. He -- I remember once I had a monologue to learn, and he said -- I said, how do I learn this? And he said, Well, you've got to break it up into beats and just learn it. And I said, Well, it's 90 minutes long. And he said, Ooh! You've got to break it into beats and you've got to just learn it, you know? So...

KING: What do you do for a living?

HOPE-SMITH: I am an actress and I am the education director of the stage at Spring Point (ph), which is a theater company in Portland, Maine.

KING: And your husband builds boats (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

HOPE-SMITH: My husband, Andrew (ph), is a boat builder.

KING: Zach, what kind of a grandad was he for you?

Z. HOPE: I mean, he was just a terrific, terrific great guy. Guy to look up to, a guy that, you know, if you've ever had a coach or a parent or a friend or a sibling that spurred you on, championed you, who you wanted to be proud of you, you'd understand. And not because he was a big deal. You wanted him to be proud of you because he only gave you credit when you really nailed it. And when you did, you know, he never forgot.

KING: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) nothing phony.

Z. HOPE: No. No.

(LAUGHTER)

Z. HOPE: And usually he let that you know that he liked what you did through someone else. Just so you knew that he was talking about it.

KING: Andrew, what was he like for you?

LANDE: He was really a wonderful grandfather. And just have a lot of warm memories of trips, vacations with him. What really was a interesting experience for me was years back, I co-wrote an A&E biography with my mother, Linda Hope, and just doing the research on that and learning about his whole career, which I wasn't that familiar with at the time was really a gift.

KING: You learned about him by working on a biography of him?

LANDE: Exactly.

(LAUGHTER)

LANDE: Yes.

KING: Would you call him -- was he doting, Miranda? I mean, was he attentive? No?

HOPE-SMITH: I wouldn't say doting.

KING: No?

HOPE-SMITH: He was always paying attention. I went on a USO Tour with him in 1987, when he was 84 years old. And I went out the last night, and kind of partied with the crew. And I had no idea, but he was back drumming his fingers, wanting to know where I'd been, what I was doing. I had -- I had no idea that he was paying that kind of attention. But he was always, always paying attention.

KING: Because he traveled so much.

HOPE-SMITH: Yes.

KING: You know? But you were still able to be in contact a lot? HOPE-SMITH: I would say no. I was not in contact with him. But we would see him a couple times every year. And when we were there, he was just watching everything. The way that he watched the world, I think, looking for jokes. You know, when he would be at the table, he would be -- at dinner, and butter, what's funny about butter? What can I say that's funny. So he had that kind of attention.

KING: Zach, what about for you, him being away so much?

Z. HOPE: Well, you know, he did his best to try to take us with him.

KING: He did?

Z. HOPE: Sure. Sure. He often had one of us with him, as he had Miranda in the Persian Gulf. Or Tony, Linda, Kelly, growing up, taking them on tour. Some terrific stories from them about, you know, being in strange countries, or, you know, whether it's Argentina, or Miranda in Diego Garcia, a small island in the Pacific -- or in the Indian Ocean. Really good about taking you with.

KING: What do you do for a living?

Z. HOPE: I'm a hedge fund manager.

KING: Did he like that?

Z. HOPE: It's finance. You know, it's new since...

KING: Because he knew finance, though.

Z. HOPE: What's that? Oh, my goodness, he did. It's a bit inspired by him in that...

KING: Oh?

Z. HOPE: ...he watched people's behavior very closely. And there are financiers -- there's an area of economics called behavioral finance. And that's certainly my interest.

KING: Really?

Z. HOPE: And it has to do with how people make decisions. And he would always be paying very close attention. And I think that's something that we've all picked up, in one way or another. Andrew and Miranda, also are very attentive to how people behaved. He loved to go for walks, whether it was the aisles at Vons, see how people made their purchasing decisions.

KING: He walked the aisles the grocery store?

Z. HOPE: Oh, yes.

HOPE-SMITH: Every night.

KING: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) he needed to watch people. HOPE-SMITH: Yes.

Z. HOPE: Well, when his eyesight was starting to, you know, fade, he loved that there was a lot of light. So late at night he would go -- he would go to Vons, he would check out the products and the people and what they were doing.

KING: Did he like that you wrote, Andrew?

LANDE: I think he did, yes. I think...

KING: He sure was into writers.

LANDE: He was into writers and had a tremendous staff of writers.

KING: Did he take a lot of interest in what you wrote? Like, his biography -- did he watch it?

LANDE: Oh, yes. No. And he was proud of that biography, of how it turned out and that was rewarding to me that I was able to be involved with that.

KING: What -- how did you react to today's events, Miranda?

HOPE-SMITH: I loved it. The -- the mass was, it was a really wonderful combination of the religious, the civic, and the entertainment industry. There was just such a beautiful, spiritual and funny and powerful -- I thought it was just a powerful morning. Loved it.

KING: And nice lunch, right?

HOPE-SMITH: Oh, lunch was great. It's just great to see Phyllis Diller and Loni Anderson, and President Ford and all these people coming together and celebrating this man.

KING: And what about this afternoon, Zach?

Z. HOPE: How do I feel about it?

KING: Yes.

Z. HOPE: It was surreal in a way. I mean, I think...

KING: Beautiful setting there on the television.

Z. HOPE: Oh, yeah. And also at St. Charles Church, I thought that was beautifully done.

You know, we, I think, did a lot of mourning a month ago when he passed. And so today, had a little bit -- a little bit of a lighter feel to it. In both -- both in the church and also at the Television Academy.

KING: Where were you when he passed, Andrew? LANDE: I was in town. I had actually just seen him about a half hour before he passed away that Sunday night.

KING: You knew he was going?

LANDE: I knew that he wasn't doing well. I had received a phone call from my mom who that said that Pops was, you know, winding down. And that...

KING: Pops is what we called him?

HOPE-SMITH: Yes.

LANDE: Pops is what we called him.

KING: Miranda, where were you?

HOPE-SMITH: I was in Virginia. I was with my husband's parents. And I was asleep.

KING: They woke you?

HOPE-SMITH: It was 12:30 and they woke me with the phone call.

KING: Not unexpected, I guess?

HOPE-SMITH: Not unexpected. No. I was traveling out the next day.

KING: But still sad, huh? Even though he makes 100, and you expect it to happen?

HOPE-SMITH: Yeah, it is...

KING: Still a loss.

HOPE-SMITH: Even still a shock.

KING: Where were you, Zach?

Z. HOPE: When he actually passed, I was with some close friends having dinner. And I received the message that he had passed. And it was -- it was late at that time. And I stayed. The first thing I did, get up the next morning at 5:00 or 5:30 to make my way up. But on the way, when I stopped in Pavilion's (ph) grocery store, all the stock guys, everybody was talking about it. And if I hadn't found out, I would have known from 20 people at 5:30 in the morning.

HOPE-SMITH: Yes.

KING: Thank you all very much.

(CROSSTALK)

KING: Good luck to all of you.

HOPE-SMITH: I appreciate it.

KING: Miranda Hope-Smith, Zach Hope, and Andrew Lande, three of Bob Hope's four grandchildren.

When we come back, Kathryn Crosby, Jane Russell, Barbara Eden, Ed McMahon, Connie Stevens and Art Linkletter all will gather. We'll also include your phone calls.

Don't go away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAQUEL WELCH, ACTRESS: You know, I think it's very special that as they said today, that somebody who had so much talent, chose to use it in such a generous way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WELCH: Joy all (ph) you flower seekers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D), CALIFORNIA: To me, he's quintessentially American and a great patriot, and did so much for our country and our troops.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB HOPE, ENTERTAINER: Now it's tough to have a white Christmas in Washington. With all that hot air, the snow melts before it hits the ground.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM SELLECK, ACTOR: Bob basically always called personally when he wanted you to work with him. And it meant a lot. And it made it very hard to say no. I think he realized it was both.

HOPE: Tom, I'd like to hear more about "High Road to China"

SELLECK: Well, bless you. I play this airplane pilot in World War I whose stuck in Europe -- no that's wrong too.

GEN. WILLIAM WESTMORELAND, RETIRED ARMY GENERAL: Bob was one of my great best friends over the years in good times and bad times.

HOPE: Here we are back in Vietnam with a 101st fights there is Hope. You mean when the fight starts Hope is gone. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOPE: We played the Capital Theater in New York, which was a big picture house. And Bing and I were featured, Abe Lieman was the orchestra. And we did three and four shows a day. And it got kind of boring me just introducing him. So we started to ad lib. And we worked up in routine. When I got out here in '37, Bing invited me down to Del Mar, and we did the routine down there and somebody saw it and went back to Paramount and said, you've got to put these guys together. Boy -- they didn't know we rehearsed it 5 years before.

KING: In retrospect, Bob, as you looked at it, what do you think was the magic with the two of you?

HOPE: I don't know, Larry. I think it was the fact that we had great respect for each other. And we both understood how to feed each other. And it was more fun. I've never had that much fun anywhere making a picture. It was just -- and you never knew what was going to happen. Because we used to rat out on each other and steal a punch line before he was supposed to take it, he would do the same thing to me. It was a shambles all the way. It was fun.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: It was quite a day today with the mass this morning, the luncheon and then the special memorial this afternoon. And with us to discuss it, and him, are Katheryn Crosby, the widow of Bing Crosby a good friend of the Hope family. Bing and Hope made seven road pictures together. The first was the "Road to Singapore" the last, "The Road to Hong Kong."

Jane Russett, knew and worked with Bob Hope. Costarred with Bob in "The Paleface" and "Son Of Paleface," and also did a cameo in the "Road to Bali."

And Barbara Eden, the actress and entertainer. Starred in "I Dream of Genie" called Bob Hope her mentor. Did more than 20 Bob Hope Christmas specials. Went with him on his final USO tour to the Persian Gulf and was queen of the 1970 Bob Hope Chrysler Desert Classic Golf Tournament.

Ed McMahon, the famed television personality and close frind of Hope's, a former fighter pilot. In fact, on the day before Bob died Ed hosted attribute to veterans of the Korean War which included vintage films of Bob Hope entertaining troops.

Connie Stevens the entertainer and entrapeneuror who recently did sold-out one-woman concert tours in New Mexico and Las Vegas. Good friend of Hope. Did USO tours with Bob. Traveled to Vietnam and many other places.

And finally, the long-time friend of Bob Hope and one of the best-loved broadcasters, best-selling author, and popular speaker, who turned 91 last month, our friend Art Linkletter. Katheryn, what was it like for today for you?

KATHRYN CROSBY, BING CROSBY'S WIDOW: It was like "Hamlet." It was the most full spectacle I've ever seen. It was so beautiful, and it was so moving. And it had so much of Delores in it.

Behind the altar where you're not supposed to put anything, full of roses. She wanted white roses and they were there, marching down the isle. It reminded me of Tony's wedding because there were priests, of course, but there was also Reverend Shuller (ph). And there were other denominations represented, because that was the way Delores would have it. There were also Franciscans and other kinds of people. It was amazing and wonderful.

KING: This afternoon, wasn't that a great idea to have Les Brown and the band play?

ED MCMAHON, TV PERSONALITY: Oh, I walked in there. I felt right at home. Les Brown and the band renowned. He traveled so many times with him. And they had such a great relationship. But that was an incredible study today of the man. Really, when it was over, you really got to know him. Some things you didn't know before, you found out today.

KING: Every person had a touch. Yes. Connie, what did you think?

CONNIE STEVENS: ENTERTAINER: I thought it was very reverent. I thought it had all the elements. It had dignity, and laughter. Larry Gilbert was just marvelous. And Tony was very touching. And everybody showed up. The world was there. And it's attribute to how eclectic his friends were, Bob.

KING: And when you reach 100 Jane, it wasn't sad today, was it?

JANE RUSSETT: ACTRESS: No, it was a celebration of life. That's what it was.

KING: That's a good way to put it. Did you enjoy it, Barbara? Enjoy is a good word.

BARBARA EDEN, ACRESS: Yes, I did enjoy it. I must say, I thought the choir was phenomenal. I enjoyed the music. And I held myself together until the end, and when they started humming, "Thanks For The Memory," I lost it. That was it.

KING: Art, you were unable to make the festivities?

ART LINKLETTER, AUTHOR: No, I had booked a speech out of town, as I usually am, was traveling. I couldn't get back until 3:00. But I saw some of it on television. And of course, as you know, I was a business partner of Bob's, which is different than most all of these folks. For 40-some years.

KING: What was he like to do business with? LINKLETTER: Great. Tough, sharp. He had funny idea about real estate, whenever we had a property that we developed and had it for sale and we got a buyer, he'd say, he knows something we don't know, let's not sell it.

KING: If someone wants to buy it...

LINKLETTER: If someone wants to buy it, then don't sell it. I finally said, Bob, I don't know how rich you are, but I've got to sell something if I'm going to buy something.

KING: Which is how he wound up owning the valley.

LINKLETTER: That's right.

KING: Right.

Was he easy to deal with, Katheryn?

CROSBY: Oh, yes.

KING: I mean, easy?

CROSBY: In a family way. When we lived there, Kelly Hope taught us how to play croquet by hitting the ball into the hedge. He got bored with the game and just hit the ball in the hedge. And Bob and Bing fell on the ground laughing. And he loved things like that. He was very proud of Tony for being able to cut out all the classes, at Georgetown, because he aced the exams.

KING: Tony's his son?

CROSBY: My son, who spoke so beautifully today.

KING: We'll take a break. We'll come right back. Later, in a little while, we'll be including your phone calls on this tribute to Bob Hope. All these services held today. We thank our outstanding panel for being with us. We'll be right back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY HOPE, BOB HOPE'S SON: We loved him and we miss him. But he's not gone. He's just gone on ahead. And some day we'll all catch up. See you, dad.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOPE: Here we are in this beautiful wilderness called Knock-on- Phenom.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOPE: Here we are in Uta Pah (ph), the garden spot of Thailand.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOPE: Here we are in Insurlik, Turkey. Insurlik -- that's a Turkish word meaning don't knock it, it beats Vietnam.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: What was it like, Barbara, to tour with him?

EDEN: Oh, it was wonderful. Absolutely. He kept you on your toes. I've never seen anyone with so much energy.

Connie and I were together on that tour. And we were, like, tired, but Bob was -- in fact, we almost killed Bob on that tour. Did you tell him about that?

STEVENS: I was going to tell that story.

KING: What? What happened?

STEVENS: Well, this -- you know, we were really exhausted. So one night, could not sleep, couldn't get a comfortable position. And I see Barbara squirming. And I get up to go to the ladies' room, and I pass by, and Bob had just gone to sleep in this tent.

EDEN: Little bunk bed.

STEVENS: And he had a bunkbed above him, empty. So I go get her and I said, come with me. I know where there's a bed. So we go climb in quietly. And I said, put your feet that way, I'll put my feet this way.

EDEN: Like kids, and we had our hands...

(CROSSTALK)

STEVENS: You know? And all of a sudden we started laughing, Larry. We had the pillows across our faces. I said, Delores is going to kill us. Can you just see, "Two blonde actresses kill Hope."

EDEN: The bed breaking. We just -- we had visions of this bed breaking right on top of the poor man.

KING: Did you ever tour with him, Jane?

RUSSELL: I beg your pardon?

KING: Did you ever tour with him?

RUSSELL: Oh, all over the United States. I never went overseas with him. I went over with Johnny Grant. But it was because my kids were little, you know? But Bob always had Christmas at home. And Les Brown and the guys, they just put Christmas off a week or two. They had it when they got home.

KING: Good to do movies -- was he fun to do movies with?

RUSSELL: He was wonderful.

KING: Yes?

RUSSELL: I thought I'd died and gone to heaven when I got to do "Paleface" because my first two pictures were so slow and terrible. And then I also did a did a show in -- at the Paramount Theater in New York with him. It was for, you know, several weeks.

And I stayed right across the street from the theater. And he was way over on the East Side. But one morning I hadn't awakened in time. And I thought, Oh, I'm on stage.

KING: Because you did morning shows.

RUSSELL: And I went tearing across the street in my fur coat. And I went to the side of the -- side of the stage, and he was already on, about to introduce me. And I opened my coat, and I had a flannel nightgown on. And he went -- Um. And then just told some more stories.

(LAUGHTER)

KING: Ed, on "The Tonight Show," he often just came, right?

MCMAHON: He had an open carte blanche -- you know, he owned the property that NBC was built on. He sold it to NBC.

STEVENS: Really?

MCMAHON: Yes, he owned all that land.

Anyway, he had an open...

KING: Poor guy.

MCMAHON: ...open invitation whenever he wanted. And he was smart. Whenever he was going to do a show, you know, the next night, one of his specials, he would come in and do "The Tonight Show," and then stay and keep our audience after the show was over, Johnny Carson's audience. Then he would do his monologue. He wanted it right up to date. And someone mentioned today about how the Sputnik had gone up, and he went back and redid his monologue before another audience like that.

But that's how smart he was. And he could always walk out, just arrive, like a monument, you know.

KING: And he never acted rich, Art. I mean, he was very rich, but he never was, like, above it.

LINKLETTER: No. When you talked to him, it was like two guys in a locker room at a baseball game. I saw him the last time a few years ago, just before he began to be quite sick. We were having dinner at Buddy Hackett's house, it was a birthday. And I was getting a little old myself. And I said to him, How do you feel about getting old, Bob? He says, Well, I don't feel old. And he says, In fact, I don't feel anything until noon. And then it's time to take a nap.

(LAUGHTER)

KING: Did you stay close to him, Kathryn?

CROSBY: Yes, as much as I could.

(CROSSTALK)

CROSBY: Well that's it -- he adopted me. We did the Crosby in North Carolina and went to Salem. And he came there every year. He and Delores -- Delores nearly won it one year.

KING: For the golf tournament?

CROSBY: And speaking of golf, she did beat him at Sunningdale.

KING: She did?

CROSBY: In England, yes. And Bing said he never forgave her. He would never play Sunningdale with her after that.

KING: I hope she does all right. She was in a wheelchair today.

MCMAHON: Yes.

KING: Looked OK.

STEVENS: She looked lovely.

KING: Yes.

STEVENS: She really did.

KING: She's tough -- a tough lady.

We'll take a break and come back and go to your phone calls for Kathryn Crosby and Jane Russell, Barbara Eden, Ed McMahon, Connie Stevens and Art Linkletter. This was a great day. A memory of a great man. We'll be right back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHYLLIS DILLER, ENTERTAINER: I loved him very much. He was my guru. I adored his work. I adored his talent. Everything about him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SID CAESAR, ENTERTAINER: He entertained a lot of servicemen. And that's -- that's something (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DICK CLARK, ENTERTAINER: Years and years ago, when I was a little younger, and Bob was a little younger, they had asked me would I be sort of like co-chair, the new version, to come up and take the reins when Bob retired. Well, Bob never retired. So I never got the job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOPE: At this time I'd like to present a young lady that I think you'll

...down the hall, second door to your left.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At CBS we had them in our dressing room.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: He was a master.

Let's go to calls for this great panel. Decatur, Alabama, hello.

CALLER: Hello, how are you? I enjoy your show so much.

KING: Thank you.

CALLER: I heard Mr. Linkletter say he spoke with Mr. Hope a couple of years ago. I was just wondering when was the last time the rest of your guests spoke with him?

KING: Good question. Connie?

STEVENS: I saw him at Red Buttons' 80th or 85th birthday. I forget which one but...

KING: When they get that old they start mounting up.

STEVENS: Yes.

KING: Did he know you?

STEVENS: Yes. Not for a while. Delores said, it's Connie. And he focused and looked real deep and he said, hi, Connie.

LINKLETTER: No, he forget.

KING: Oh, so he was forgetting.

STEVENS: He had to go back into his memory and refocus. And I could see it happening right in his eyes. It was really interesting. KING: When was the last time you saw him?

CROSBY: I've been to the house recently. But I saw Bob a couple of years ago. We had lunch. And it was lovely. It is hard -- it was hard for him to hear, and hard for him to see but he could always hear Delores. And the responses were always right. So that he was able to send a wire to the guy who did "Roberta," played his roles and get it right, kid.

KING: Did he have any bad memory loss? He must have had at that age?

CROSBY: I don't know. But he responded appropriately to everything Delores said.

KING: Jane?

RUSSETT: It was a birthday, but I can't remember when. But he had trouble seeing, and he had trouble hearing. So Delores always came up to his ear and would talk to him. So I would go up to the other ear and talk to him. And I remember one time I went up to him and I went, look, see? See this? And he says, what are you doing? Are you trying to make me feel bad? Because he wouldn't wear a hearing aid. You know.

KING: Barbara, the last time you saw him?

EDEN: It was at NBC. And it was one of the last Christmas shows. He didn't participate much in it. He was sitting on the sofa. And Linda was talking to him through an earpiece from the eye in the sky.

He couldn't see. Actually, I worked with Bob when he was really having a problem with his eyes. That was in New York. And also with Bing. And Bing was reading the cue cards for Bob.

KING: Really?

EDEN: And I just thought that was the greatest thing. You know, he was whispering the words in his ear during the sketch. It was fabulous.

KING: Last time you did, Ed?

MCMAHON: It was Milton Berle's 90th birthday, we were all there celebrating. This will tell you how great Delores was, I walked over, and as I walked over, she would whisper in his ear, it's Ed McMahon. And he said Ed, it's so good to see you. He couldn't see me, but it was so good to see me.

KING: Did he know you, Art?

LINKLETTER: He didn't know me for a while, Dolores did -- just as what happened -- she would talk to him. Most of the time when we had dinner, he just sat there and whistled. And it was part of -- as you know, I'm chairman of the board of the Center of Aging in UCLA, so we make a study of what happens as this brain begins to lose its function. And people who stay real active last longer. But I don't know how he -- he slowly faded out. He didn't just turn over.

Maybe you know.

CROSBY: I'll tell a story of the last -- Crosby he was at -- because he had hurt his arm trying to get to Dolores in the middle of the night and tripped over a gate to keep the dog out. So he came and he was in a sling. And we didn't know if he could be on the show or not. Then the show ran long. And he sat the there. Dolores and I were getting edgier and edgier, as we went along and why couldn't everybody finish and get out of the way so he could do his 15 minutes.

He was at the edge of the stage, and I thought somebody's going to walk him on the edge of the stage. He dropped the sling. He strolled out onto the stage. He sang 34 verses of a song that had been specially written for him. And he got interested in the show. He played until 12:30. Nobody left. It was the most wonderful event because he came truly and truly alive when he was doing his stories.

KING: Oceantownship, New Jersey, hello.

CALLER: Hi. My question is to Katheryn Crosby.

KING: Yes.

CALLER: After so many years of a wonderful marriage to Bob Hope, how is Dolores handling this now that Bob's gone?

CROSBY: Dolores is so grateful that she had Bob for all those years. She has managed this wonderful day, this memorial. It is the most exquisite tribute that could ever be paid to a man.

Right after he died, there was a quiet family funeral. And she said, this is just for Bob. It was the caretakers, the people who were with him for those last years. But today was for the people that he loved. And it was done in such a loving reverent, religious way. And that was Delores.

KING: A very tasteful way.

Jane?

RUSSETT: I remember in Palm Springs one time, my husband and I had Dolores in the car. And we pulled into their house there. And it was only a cottage then, it wasn't the big house on the hill. And she looked and she saw a car and she said, oh, my darling is home, isn't that wonderful? Now, what other wife would we know.

KING: Ocklawaha, Florida, hello.

CALLER: How are you doing, Larry?

KING: Hi.

CALLER: I was wondering, how about him being buried in Arlington Cemetery. I think that's where he should be buried.

KING: They offered that, didn't they Ed.

MCMAHON: Yes they did. The family doesn't want that. But somebody came up with a great idea. They had the idea to do a statue of him in front of the Kodak Theater, in his tails, holding the Oscar and a microphone. It's still happening. It could happen. And you're going to help me. I appreciate.

Anyway, somebody came up with a great idea. They sent a proposal, and it's all about putting him in khakies at Arlington Cemetery, a statue, still entertaining the troops. Which could be a great thing. If he's not buried there, at least he's still there doing what he did.

KING: The first noncombat person to be buried there, right? The first non -- who never served in the military? What do you think of that idea?

LINKLETTER: Great idea. Might even have a sound box attached with some of his material.

STEVENS: Actually, you know, we're doing that. I have joined forces with a lot of the military, from the Taffy 3 Organization, and they have the land already and they're going to do a memorial.

KING: At Arlington?

STEVENS: No, in San Diego. As our ships go by.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, San Diego. We're doing a wonderful one.

STEVENS: A military tribute to Bob Hope. The statues, you press the button and you're going to hear his jokes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, wonderful!

KING: Citrus Heights, California, hello.

CALLER: Good evening. Questions for Katheryn Crosby.

KING: Yes.

CALLER: Hi, Katheryn. A few years ago, I was in a boys' choir and my boys' choir and I did a Christmas special with you and Bing about 1974 on KPAX (ph) in San Francisco. So the simple question is, how often did Bing and Bob get together to do Christmas specials?

CROSBY: They did not do any Christmas specials apart, that I know of. They always showed up on each other's shows. That was part of the deal. As a matter of fact, Bob said to me about ten years ago, you know he still owes me three shows.

KING: Germantown, Wisconsin, hello.

CALLER: Hi.

KING: Hi.

CALLER: I'd like to direct my question to Ed McMahon. Was Johnny Carson at the memorial service today? And I would like to thank Bob Hope's family for sharing this time with us.

MCMAHON: He was not. Johnny made an announcement years ago that he would not go to funeral services. He just said he can't handle it. And he doesn't go. And he had great difficulty Fred Decorder (ph) our long-time producer, when he died. And a couple others, Buddy Rich and a few other people that just tore him up. So he made an announcement that he doesn't go to any more.

KING: When you're 91, is it hard to go to funerals? Does it scare you?

LINKLETTER: No, I've been everywhere and done everything.

KING: Don't you think at 91 and...

LINKLETTER: I've done so many you eulogies now, that I -- I one time asked George Chessel who was going to do his. And he says, I've already done my own. And so I'm thinking of doing one more myself. It may not do justice to me.

But really, as you get older, you think of all the wonderful things of your life. And you think, gee, this has been a great life. And all of the people we're talking about, Bing and Bob and everybody, had such a great life. That it's wonderful to think as we are now of the good things. And that's what I think of as I approach 100. Because I'm already booked for a speaking date on my 100th birthday.

KING: Great.

LINKLETTER: On July 17, 1912 in Washington, D.C.

KING: I'll be there.

LINKLETTER: You're a good audience, by the way. I was entertaining the other night. You led the laughter.

KING: We'll be right back with more of your phone calls. Don't go away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SINGING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC) (END VIDEO CLIP)

RUSSELL: He said he hadn't rehearsed for that.

KING: That was a great scene from "The Seven Little Foys" (ph). That was from "The Seven Little Foys." Jimmy Cagney playing George M. Cohan, as he had in an Academy Award performance, teaming up with bob hope. Took him three weeks learning those dance steps.

Hello to Ellijay, Georgia, hello.

CALLER: Yes. Larry, terrific show. I'd like to ask your outstanding panel, can you hear me OK?

KING: Yes, go ahead.

CALLER: Thank you so much. Don't you think it would be appropriate to name a stamp in honor of Bob Hope, since he was such a great American?

KING: It takes, what, 10 years I think, Barbara?

(CROSSTALK)

STEVENS: I'll bet it's started. It's got to be.

KING: Yes. But it takes -- you can't get a stamp for 10 years. Sinatra doesn't have one yet.

EDEN: Oh, wow.

(CROSSTALK)

MCMAHON: That's a good question, though.

KING: The stamp permission takes 10 years. And you must be American.

MCMAHON: Right.

KING: There's only one non-American on the American stamp, the little known fact.

MCMAHON: Who's that?

KING: Churchill.

MCMAHON: Wow.

STEVENS: Oh wow!

(CROSSTALK)

KING: Yes. Little known fact.

LINKLETTER: Well, I'm out of it. I'm Canadian born. KING: You can't get a stamp. Chesterfield -- you can get a Canadian stamp.

LINKLETTER: I can't run for president.

KING: Chesterfield township, Michigan, hello.

CALLER: Yes, Larry, we love you here in Michigan.

KING: Thank you.

CALLER: I'd like to know how long Mr. Hope -- Bob Hope outlived his last sibling or are they still -- some of them still alive?

CROSBY: They're all gone.

KING: They're all -- his brothers and sisters are all gone. Did he have brothers and -- did he have many?

CROSBY: He had a lot of brothers.

(CROSSTALK)

CROSBY: Had a lot of brothers.

KING: Maryville, Tennessee, hello.

CALLER: Hi, Larry, love your show.

KING: Thank you.

CALLER: I wanted to know is anything going to be done in Washington, D.C. to honor Bob Hope? I think he was one of the greatest American patriots that ever lived.

KING: Well, Ed McMahon just told us they tried to have him buried at Arlington, but the family didn't want that. And now they're thinking of a statue at Arlington of Hope entertaining troops.

MCMAHON: In that garb, you know? In the fatigues.

LINKLETTER: And, of course, while he was alive, they did everything for Washington.

MCMAHON: Yes.

LINKLETER: I think he's even in the Smithsonian by now.

MCMAHON: Yes, well he's the only one who has the Medal of Freedom.

KING: There was a mass for him in Washington earlier this month. There was a mass. And they'll probably name a lot of streets after him, Barbara.

EDEN: Well, he has streets, yes... KING: He has streets here now, right?

EDEN: Yes.

STEVENS: And I think he has 10 stars, somebody told me, on the walk.

EDEN: Does he? 10?

STEVENS: I think he should have one on every block.

KING: Midland, Texas, hello.

CALLER: Hi. Everybody that you have on your panel, I just love. And can I ask everybody, did Mr. Hope, did he know how much we loved him, and does he know how much we enjoyed his movies?

KING: Did he know -- Ed, do you think he knew --

MCMAHON: Sure. Absolutely, yes. He loved it. I mean, he loved doing what he did. He loved performing. I mean, if three people gathered in a corner, he'd do a show. He loved that.

I've got a great story being a military man. You know, the dream was to be entertained by Bob Hope. And I was going through pre-flight down in Georgia, getting ready to become a Marine fighter pilot. And he came on the base, and, you know, it was real tough, pre-flight is tough. So anyways -- it's like boot camp. So he did a show. Nobody knew he was going to do a second show. It wasn't planned. But we stood in the rain for two hours waiting to get in. And they finally agreed to do a second show. He heard we were outside. He said, we'll do another show. Now, 3,000 cadets in those khaki uniforms soaking wet in an auditorium, that was a heavy show.

(CROSSTALK)

KING: You would all agree that he knew he was loved?

(CROSSTALK)

STEVENS: He loved to perform. I've never met anybody like that.

KING: Why did he stop doing the Academy Awards? Does anyone know?

STEVENS: I don't know.

KING: Did they stop asking him?

LINKLETTER: He did how many? Seventeen of them?

KING: Yes.

MCMAHON: Yes.

STEVENS: Yes. MCMAHON: I don't know.

KING: Did Carson replace him?

MCMAHON: Yes.

RUSSELL: Somebody asked him one time why he didn't, you know, quit and go fishing. And he says, fish can't clap.

(LAUGHTER)

KING: Highlands, North Carolina, hello.

CALLER: Good evening. Thank you for taking my call.

KING: Sure.

CALLER: Bob Hope led an exemplary life and was a great example for us as Americans. But I'd like to know if he had some message to give to us, what do you think the panel think he may have said?

KING: What do you think Bob Hope was saying to us?

STEVENS: Laugh.

KING: He certainly was a -- laugh.

MCMAHON: Make them laugh, yes.

(CROSSTALK)

LINKLETTER: I think he, rather than what he said, was what he is and has done. He is the emblem of success, what really success is. Which is, spending your life doing what you love to do.

MCMAHON: And doing it well.

LINKLETTER: That's what success is.

STEVENS: You know, Father Mahoney said something today -- Cardinal Mahoney, excuse me. And he said that he not only was a great entertainer, but he brought joy and transformed someone's life for two days a week, a month. And that is a...

KING: The gift of laughter.

EDEN: Yes. But he also -- I found Bob to be interested in everything. And everybody. He's always, looking, seeing things. I mean, even on our tour. You know, he was the one who got up in the middle of the night and watched the planes being reloaded in the middle of the night. We were asleep.

MCMAHON: An attention to detail, that thing they told today about that telegram that he sent to one of his secretaries who got married, it was delivered to her honeymoon suite, and it said, "Act surprised." KING: We'll take a break and be back with our remaining moments with this great panel. Don't go away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOPE: I want to tell you, it's a great -- which camera is working?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOPE: Usually I do all my Christmas shopping in the January sales, and I mark the packages "delayed by post office."

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOPE: Would you know that when I started, Joe Namath worn men's underwear?

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOPE: I saw a guy driving down Hollywood Boulevard with a tree in his front bumper. I said, Getting ready for Christmas? He said, No, I'm teaching my wife how to drive.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOPE: I'm surprised we're having Christmas this year. It's the only thing Reagan hasn't cut.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BING CROSBY: Hey, look.

HOPE: We could have thought of another way to get us here.

CROSBY: Here we go again, junior.

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: New Port Richey, Florida, hello.

CALLER: Hi.

KING: Hi.

CALLER: This is for all the panelists. And Larry, I love your show.

KING: Thank you. What's your question?

CALLER: The question is for Barbara Eden. Barbara Eden, did you make a lot of movies with Bob Hope? And what was it like working with him?

EDEN: No, I didn't make any films with Bob Hope. But I did do 20 Christmas specials. And I worked with him live on stage in about, oh, four or five cities.

KING: Toronto, hello.

CALLER: Good evening. My comment/question for your panel is, Bob Hope was an absolute stellar, class A act. He never used vulgarity in his humor. And I'm wondering if the panel could tell us how did Bob feel about more modern comedy that tends to go towards, you know, less classy approaches to making people laugh.

KING: Do you know, Connie?

STEVENS: I think that he believed that you didn't have to be dirty to entertain. It was all about the story, the entertainment value.

KING: He loved a good raucous joke, though.

STEVENS: Yeah, but raucous or naughty, not dirty.

KING: Good way to put it. Beacon, New York, hello.

CALLER: Hi. I'm wondering if Mr. Hope has any interaction with Mae West

KING: Did they ever do anything together?

LINKLETTER: No, you're thinking of Cary Grant, because he was one of Mae West's first fellows. And he would never admit it.

KING: Really?

LINKLETTER: He'd say, no, it wasn't me, it was just a double they had.

KING: Ponca City, Oklahoma, hello.

CALLER: Hello. Hello, panel.

KING: Hi.

CALLER: This question is to Jane Russell, if she might know the answer. How did the song, "Thanks for the Memories," come about to be Bob Hope's theme song? KING: Does anyone know? Jane, do you know?

RUSSELL: "Thanks for the Memories."

KING: How did he pick that song as his theme?

EDEN: Great broadcast.

KING: That was from the Broadway...

(CROSSTALK)

EDEN: Yeah, he sang it in the film.

KING: The film, 1938.

EDEN: Yeah. Yeah.

KING: And he sang it, and it became his theme song.

EDEN: Yeah.

KING: Sammy Khan (ph) did special lyrics for him. It's also a wonderful song.

(CROSSTALK)

RUSSELL: Yeah, it belonged to him.

KING: What are you going to remember the most, Kathryn?

CROSBY: Dolores' devotion, the children's extraordinary work for this last celebration, which is something I shall never forget.

KING: Jane?

RUSSELL: Oh, there's so much about him. I adored him. The whole family. They're just great people.

KING: Connie?

STEVENS: The extraordinary talent he really had. He could dance, he could really dance, and loved it. And he sang in tune. And he loved to entertain. And he loved his family. He loved life. He just, like, exuded what it was supposed to be all about.

KING: Barbara?

EDEN: One of my fondest memories of Bob is, on the occasion of my star on Hollywood Boulevard, I arrived, I couldn't find Bob and I couldn't find my son. And I walked into the ice cream parlor, and there was Bob and Matthew. They both with an ice cream cone.

KING: Ed?

MCMAHON: The fact that he never stopped. I was with him, he played in a golf tournament I had up in the Quad Cities. And we were driving around one night, and he said, what's that building? And I said, that's the John Deere Hall. He said, see if it's open Saturday night, we'll do a show. So I checked, it was open. So he went in to do a show for the Eisenhower Medical Center. I mean, we played golf for four days, but he did a show Saturday night.

KING: What are you going to remember the most, Art?

LINKLETTER: Sixty years ago, I arrived in Hollywood a young, striving emcee. And at a party, Bob walked up to me, and he said, Art Linkletter, he says, I'm a big fan of yours. And I said, wait a minute, I'm supposed to be saying that to you. And he said, no, but you're good, kid, but you ought to use your name more often. You're selling your name. Use your name over and over and over.

KING: Our guests have been Kathryn Crosby, the widow of Bing Crosby, Jane Russell, great movie star, Barbara Eden, who worked -- toured with Bob. Ed McMahon, the famed TV personality, Connie Stevens, who recently, by the way, did a sold-out one-woman concert shows in New Mexico and Las Vegas, and the wonderful Art Linkletter.

And I'll be back in a couple of minutes to tell you about tomorrow night. Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: Before we leave you tonight, a modern-day Seabiscuit story involving what may be the best horse on the planet. The horse is Candy Ride. And we offer our congratulations to my good friends and the owners of this amazing horse, the diet guru Jenny Craig, who's been a guest on this show and her husband Sid. On Sunday, despite a little stumble at the start, Candy Ride scored a very sweet victory in the $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar. Candy Ride was the second choice in the betting, a very prestigious race, blew by the favorites, set a track record won by more than three lengths. The Argentine-bred is undefeated. Congratulations to the Jackie -- Julie Krone, the first woman to win $1 million race in the United States, and a member of the Hall of Fame, and to 70-year-old trainer, Ron McAnally.

Aaron Brown is next with "NEWSNIGHT," which reminds you, have you seen "Seabiscuit?"

AARON BROWN, HOST, "NEWSNIGHT": I haven't yet. I read the book.

KING: Aaron, see the film.

BROWN: OK.

KING: Before I come to New York, see that movie and tell me what you think.

BROWN: OK, but it's just like the book, only I don't have to move my lips as much.

KING: Go.

BROWN: I will. Thank you, Mr. King

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