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CNN Live Today

Interview with Melville Shavelson

Aired July 28, 2003 - 10:22   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.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Now we have on the phone with us Melville Shavelson. He wrote a book with Bob Hope. It's called "Don't Shoot, It's Only Me: Bob Hope's Comedy History of the U.S."
Melville, thanks for being with us today.

MEL SHAVELSON, CO-AUTHORED BOOK WITH HOPE: Well, I'm sorry to be with you today. But you know, it's difficult for me to talk about because I've known Bob -- I was one of the first who came out here in 1938 to put him on the air for the first time with "The Bob Hope Pepsodent Show." And we've known each other off and on all of that time, which is almost too long.

KAGAN: Tell me about meeting him for the first time.

(LAUGHTER)

SHAVELSON: Well, I went with my partner when we had written some material. And he met us at the door of his apartment holding our script, and he said, How much do you guys expect to be paid for writing this junk? And he didn't use the word "junk" either.

KAGAN: A word we won't say on television is what you're saying.

SHAVELSON: No, this is radio. The year was 1937, I believe, 1938. And my partner said, $100 a week. And Bob said, Each? And my partner said, Each. And Bob said, That's a little rich for my blood, and we walked out.

KAGAN: You walked out on Bob Hope the first time you met him?

SHAVELSON: Yes. And then I turned to my partner. I said, you've got to be out of your mind. You know, I'm making 15 bucks a week. You;re not making that much. You just turned down 100 bucks a week.

And he says, Don't worry. He says, We were with that comic for 20 minutes, he didn't say one funny thing. He needs us. And the next week we had the deal and we came out, at that time by train of course, to start The Bob Hope Pepsodent Show" for the first time.

KAGAN: Now, funny, you just said that you were with him for that amount of time and he didn't say a funny thing. Was he in person not a funny guy?

SHAVELSON: No, he was. But at that moment, since we were talking about money, it was a little bit more serious... (CROSSTALK)

SHAVELSON: But no, he was very -- Bob was very...

KAGAN: He was a naturally funny guy.

SHAVELSON: ... he had a tremendous sense of humor. That was put him through.

And I'd just say that hundreds of thousands of men involved in this country's battles from World War II to the Persian Gulf, he brought America and a memory of homes wherever they were around the world, often risking his life to bring laughter into theirs. People don't realize that what he did, yes, what he did was great for his career. But he took chances he didn't have to take.

KAGAN: Now, let's talk about this book. Melville, that you wrote with Bob Hope, "Comedy History of the U.S." Bob Hope is a comedy history of the U.S.

SHAVELSON: I would say so. It was basically a history of 50 years. Bob Hope wanted to call it "The Comedy History," "Bob Hope's Comedy History." And the publisher says, You can't make two cents with a history book. And so he changed the title to "Don't Shoot, It's Only Me." But I had to talk him into that.

And he was -- you know we spent a lot of time and I talked to him a great deal over bringing back all of the years that he had gone through. And everything was with a sense of humor. He looked at life with a sense of humor. He had to.

And not only that, but he brought a lot into a lot of other lives besides his own, I think. When history writes a record, he may not be the No. 1 humorist -- he will not be the No. 1 actor, though he tried -- he will not be the No. 1 golfer. But despite all his flaws to me, he will be the No. 1 human being.

KAGAN: Well I'll tell you this: he does hold a couple No. 1s. He holds two entries in "The Guinness Book of World Records," one for the distinction for being Entertainer With the Longest-Running Contract with a single network spanning 61 years.

SHAVELSON: That's correct.

KAGAN: And the second for being Most Honored Entertainer with well over 1,500 awards.

SHAVELSON: Yes, yes. Well he had, you know, he built a building next to his house to keep his awards. And also he kept every one of the scripts that were written for him in all those 50 years.

And when I wrote the book with Bob, I said, I won't write it unless you give me the combination to the safe. Most people didn't know he had a safe there where he kept the best jokes and you had to get the combination to get access to them. And when I opened the safe I found material I had written for him over 50 years ago on the paper had I written it on because he never bothered to copy it. And he was saving them all and some day he figured he might use all of them.

You know, they are all in the Library of Congress now, the Bob Hope section of the Library of Congress. And every one of them, something like 500,000 jokes is there, categorized. And if you want to get on your computer, you can go there and find almost every joke written for Bob during his career.

KAGAN: Unfortunately, none of us can say it as funny as he did. So we'll have to live with those memories.

Melville Shavelson, thank you so much for sharing your memories.

SHAVELSON: OK, thank you. I'm sorry for the occasion, but...

KAGAN: Absolutely. But it's a day to celebrate a fantastic life.

SHAVELSON: Yes, I thank him for being Bob Hope, and along with the rest of the world, thanks for the memories, Bob.

KAGAN: And we thank you, Thank you for being with us.

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 July 28, 2003 - 10:22   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Now we have on the phone with us Melville Shavelson. He wrote a book with Bob Hope. It's called "Don't Shoot, It's Only Me: Bob Hope's Comedy History of the U.S."
Melville, thanks for being with us today.

MEL SHAVELSON, CO-AUTHORED BOOK WITH HOPE: Well, I'm sorry to be with you today. But you know, it's difficult for me to talk about because I've known Bob -- I was one of the first who came out here in 1938 to put him on the air for the first time with "The Bob Hope Pepsodent Show." And we've known each other off and on all of that time, which is almost too long.

KAGAN: Tell me about meeting him for the first time.

(LAUGHTER)

SHAVELSON: Well, I went with my partner when we had written some material. And he met us at the door of his apartment holding our script, and he said, How much do you guys expect to be paid for writing this junk? And he didn't use the word "junk" either.

KAGAN: A word we won't say on television is what you're saying.

SHAVELSON: No, this is radio. The year was 1937, I believe, 1938. And my partner said, $100 a week. And Bob said, Each? And my partner said, Each. And Bob said, That's a little rich for my blood, and we walked out.

KAGAN: You walked out on Bob Hope the first time you met him?

SHAVELSON: Yes. And then I turned to my partner. I said, you've got to be out of your mind. You know, I'm making 15 bucks a week. You;re not making that much. You just turned down 100 bucks a week.

And he says, Don't worry. He says, We were with that comic for 20 minutes, he didn't say one funny thing. He needs us. And the next week we had the deal and we came out, at that time by train of course, to start The Bob Hope Pepsodent Show" for the first time.

KAGAN: Now, funny, you just said that you were with him for that amount of time and he didn't say a funny thing. Was he in person not a funny guy?

SHAVELSON: No, he was. But at that moment, since we were talking about money, it was a little bit more serious... (CROSSTALK)

SHAVELSON: But no, he was very -- Bob was very...

KAGAN: He was a naturally funny guy.

SHAVELSON: ... he had a tremendous sense of humor. That was put him through.

And I'd just say that hundreds of thousands of men involved in this country's battles from World War II to the Persian Gulf, he brought America and a memory of homes wherever they were around the world, often risking his life to bring laughter into theirs. People don't realize that what he did, yes, what he did was great for his career. But he took chances he didn't have to take.

KAGAN: Now, let's talk about this book. Melville, that you wrote with Bob Hope, "Comedy History of the U.S." Bob Hope is a comedy history of the U.S.

SHAVELSON: I would say so. It was basically a history of 50 years. Bob Hope wanted to call it "The Comedy History," "Bob Hope's Comedy History." And the publisher says, You can't make two cents with a history book. And so he changed the title to "Don't Shoot, It's Only Me." But I had to talk him into that.

And he was -- you know we spent a lot of time and I talked to him a great deal over bringing back all of the years that he had gone through. And everything was with a sense of humor. He looked at life with a sense of humor. He had to.

And not only that, but he brought a lot into a lot of other lives besides his own, I think. When history writes a record, he may not be the No. 1 humorist -- he will not be the No. 1 actor, though he tried -- he will not be the No. 1 golfer. But despite all his flaws to me, he will be the No. 1 human being.

KAGAN: Well I'll tell you this: he does hold a couple No. 1s. He holds two entries in "The Guinness Book of World Records," one for the distinction for being Entertainer With the Longest-Running Contract with a single network spanning 61 years.

SHAVELSON: That's correct.

KAGAN: And the second for being Most Honored Entertainer with well over 1,500 awards.

SHAVELSON: Yes, yes. Well he had, you know, he built a building next to his house to keep his awards. And also he kept every one of the scripts that were written for him in all those 50 years.

And when I wrote the book with Bob, I said, I won't write it unless you give me the combination to the safe. Most people didn't know he had a safe there where he kept the best jokes and you had to get the combination to get access to them. And when I opened the safe I found material I had written for him over 50 years ago on the paper had I written it on because he never bothered to copy it. And he was saving them all and some day he figured he might use all of them.

You know, they are all in the Library of Congress now, the Bob Hope section of the Library of Congress. And every one of them, something like 500,000 jokes is there, categorized. And if you want to get on your computer, you can go there and find almost every joke written for Bob during his career.

KAGAN: Unfortunately, none of us can say it as funny as he did. So we'll have to live with those memories.

Melville Shavelson, thank you so much for sharing your memories.

SHAVELSON: OK, thank you. I'm sorry for the occasion, but...

KAGAN: Absolutely. But it's a day to celebrate a fantastic life.

SHAVELSON: Yes, I thank him for being Bob Hope, and along with the rest of the world, thanks for the memories, Bob.

KAGAN: And we thank you, Thank you for being with us.

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