New York's Museum of Television and Radio (formerly the Museum of Broadcasting) staged a Bob Hope retrospective in 1986. Here are a few of Hope's shows in its exhibition catalog:
Sept. 27, 1938: 'The Pepsodent Show' debuts on NBC with guest Constance
Bennett. The time slot was 10 p.m. Tuesday
Oct. 17, 1939: Judy Garland debuts as a regular vocalist.
May 6, 1941: Hope and company broadcast from March Field in Riverside.
Sept. 23, 1941: Frances Langford becomes a regular.
June 6, 1944: Hope does an abbreviated show after the Normandy Invasion pre-empts broadcasting. He delivers a patriotic speech and Langford sings 'Ave Maria.'
Jan. 22, 1947: Hope hosts the inaugural broadcast of KTLA, the Los Angeles television station.
Nov. 4, 1947: Hope pays tribute to Will Rogers in a Pepsodent radio broadcast from Claremore, Okla., where Variety Club International was dedicating a plaque to the late humorist. Hope took the opportunity to criticize censorship and Red-baiting.
Nov. 25, 1947: Hope covers Princess Elizabeth's royal wedding festivities in London for Pepsodent.
Sept. 14, 1948: 'The Bob Hope Show' debuts with a new sponsor, Swan Soap. Jerry Colonna departs, but Doris Day joins the lineup. Irene Ryan (Granny on 'The Beverly Hillbillies') is another regular.
March 3, 1950: Hope and Jane Russell recreate 'The Paleface' for radio.
April 9, 1950: Hope makes his television debut as a host with the 'Star-Spangled
Revue.' Guests include Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Beatrice Lillie and Dinah Shore.
In following weeks, Frank Sinatra, Lucille Ball and Bing Crosby make appearances.
March 19, 1953: Hope emcees the first televised Academy Awards ceremony.
March 20, 1956: Hope and Greer Garson play a feuding couple in a TV adaptation of 'The Awful Truth.'
Sept. 19, 1958: Hope adapts his broadway triumph 'Roberta' to the small screen. He reprises the role of Huckleberry Haines, which he created at 30 in 1933. He is now 55. Other leads are Howard Keel and Anna Maria Alberghetti.
Feb. 6-7, 1965: Billy Casper wins the Bob Hope Desert Classic, broadcast from Indian Wells Country Club.
Sept. 28, 1966: Hope brings together 18 former leading ladies in a musical special, including Dorothy Lamour, Lucille Ball and Joan Collins.
Nov. 6, 1969: Hope, at 66, again plays Huck Haines in 'Roberta.' Youthful leads John Davidson and Michelle Lee perform a Jerome Kern-Otto Harbach score that was written before they were born.
Jan. 17, 1973: 'The Bob Hope Christmas Special' featured highlights of Hope's final USO tour. Dolores Hope joined him at bases in the Aleutian Islands, Guam and Southeast Asia.
July 4, 1976: Hope marks the Bicentennial with Sammy Davis Jr., Donny and Marie Osmond and the Captain and Tennille.
March 5, 1988: President Reagan and a slew of stars honor Hope at the opening of the McCallum Theatre in a special taped Jan. 2, 1988. 'Naming a cultural center after me is like naming a monastery after Gary Hart,' Hope quips.
