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The facts surrounding the multi-decade, multi-generational success of Bob Hope are irrefutable. He was a resounding success -- a true star -- on the Broadway stage, in movies, on radio, and television, staying with NBC in the latter two ventures for over half-a-century. He appeared in over 70 movies in a film career that spanned four decades. He logged over six million miles entertaining troops in both war and peace time, becoming a goodwill ambassador to every country he traveled to. He became an American show business icon and perhaps one of the richest entertainers this country ever produced, the cable and video age notwithstanding. But with the success came the assertion that Hope was little more than the Michael Bolton of standup comics; adored by millions, but with no respect forthcoming from his immediate peer group. Groucho Marx once acerbically opined that Hope was merely a public-address system for a joke machine fed by an army of writers. High irony indeed, especially for a...