VAUDEVILLIANS: Bob Hope and Bing Crosby make a scene in 1947's "Road to Rio."

A scene from 'Road to Morocco' Bob Hope's 'Road' picture formula gelled in 1942's 'Road to Morocco.' Its writers, Frank Butler and Don Hartman, received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay (MGM's 'Woman of the Year,' by Michael Kanan and Ring Lardner Jr., won). Crosby and Hope played Jeff Peters and Orville 'Turkey' Jackson, castaways who stagger onto a beach in North Africa and ride a stray camel into adventure. Stranded with no money in a hostile village, Crosby and Hope can't cover their dinner bill. So Crosby sells Hope into slavery. Hope sends Crosby a note saying he's being tortured and urging Crosby not to try to rescue him. Suspicious, Crosby tracks Hope down. He discovers his friend has been purchased by the glamorous, strangely American Princess Shalimar (Dorothy Lamour) as a love object. Hope is reclining with Lamour in her boudoir, with dozens of servants in attendance, wearing an elaborate robe and turban. When Crosby bursts in on Hope and Lamour, the scene plays out like an old vaudeville routine: CROSBY: 'Well that's pretty good! What kind of an animated Esquire is this? Leave the country! Forget you ever knew me! Flee, he says, Say nothing to nobody, he says. Flee, he says. Why you dirty, double-crossing -- (His tone changes when Lamour's guards grab him by the arms. He appeals to Hope for help. Hope has revenge on his mind. Fickle Lamour has Bing on her mind.) CROSBY: -- Turkey, it's me, Jeff! Your friend! Say something! LAMOUR: Turkey? HOPE: Why, the fellow is mad! Take him away. Toss him to the crocodiles. CROSBY: Hey, he's my friend, I tell ya. Tell 'em who I am, Turkey! He's just jokin'. Lemme go! LAMOUR: Wait! Do you know this man? HOPE: Why I never saw him before in all my life. CROSBY: Why you dirty underhanded sickle-snoot. We were kids together in the same class for years -- until I got promoted. HOPE: Bah! (Lamour dismisses all her servants and turns her seductive gaze on Crosby.) LAMOUR: Come, sit here beside me. Now Orville, I want you to tell me the truth. Do you know him? HOPE: (Sheepish). Well, I used to but I kind of outgrew him. I don't dally much with riffraff these days and he's a pretty raffy kind of a riff. LAMOUR: Why didn't you tell me you had a friend -- and SUCH a friend. CROSBY: So you didn't tell her about me, huh? HOPE: Well, I didn't want to dicker too much. It might have queered the deal. CROSBY: This kid can't handle competition. You can understand why can't you ma'am? LAMOUR: Yes I can. Here, we have a proverb: A goose is beautiful until it stands beside a peacock. HOPE AND CROSBY: (In unison) Say, goose -- CROSBY: What are you made up for anyway? What is this, ladies night in a Turkish bath or something? What time do you light up, Jack? HOPE: It might interest you to know that you're now looking at the future prince -- I'm gonna be a pasha with the accent on the pash. (He leers and pants at Lamour). CROSBY: What? HOPE: We're gonna be married on -- when is the big day, dream thing? LAMOUR: (Solemnly) When the moon in its last quarter silvers the blossoms of the almond tree. (Brightens) That's Tuesday night about 9. CROSBY: Say, how can a dream like you go for a drip like this, anyway? LAMOUR: It is written in the stars! I've been counciled by Hyder Khan, the wise one, to take this man for my husband. And I must obey. CROSBY: Yeah? Well, all I can say is old Hyder Khan must have been out of focus at the time. HOPE: Oh, is that so? Well, the nuptial knot is practically tied, see? And there's nothing you can do about it, see? I'm her Heathcliff! She bought me for 200 skins and it looks like I'm going to get your money's worth. C'mon baby, give your little princey a kiss -- king-size! (Lamour and Hope smooch so passionately the toes of Hope's slippers uncurl. Crosby scowls.) CROSBY: Now kiss him on the nose. See if you can straighten that out!

By Jack Garner
Gannett News Service

Bob Hope was on the rise in the late 1930s, but he didn't really become a star until he hit the road. No, I'm not talking about those famous tours of military camps that became annual events in his later life. I'm referring to the 'Road' pictures.

Good viewing Check out a videography of Bob Hope's film career. Then head to the classics section of your video store.

When Paramount Pictures teamed Hope with its young singing star, Bing Crosby, something special happened; when they threw another star, the sexy Dorothy Lamour, into the mix, the results were even more exciting. And when they placed all three performers into backlot versions of such exotic locales as Morocco and Singapore, it became magic.

And a box office bonanza. Starting with 1940's 'The Road to Singapore,' the Road pictures became a Paramount staple. Ultimately, the studio made seven Road pictures, from 1940 until 1962. The other destinations were Zanzibar, Morocco, Rio, Bali, Hong Kong and even Utopia.

The Road pictures were the brainchild of Paramount producer Harlan Thompson. He had seen the incidental teaming of Hope and Crosby at a big concert staged at California's Del Mar Race Track. He heard Crosby refer, for the first time, to Hope's 'ski nose.' More importantly, he saw how casually and comfortably the two men created comic sparks together.

Working with lot writers Frank Butler and Don Hartman, Thompson finally convinced Paramount to launch the duo in the first Road picture. After the series got going, Hartman realized the concept was practically effortless. 'You can throw a piece of gum on a map of the world and make a Road picture anywhere it sticks,' he reportedly said.

Once the locale was established, the films simply relied on tried-and-true vaudeville bits, moments of physical comedy and elaborate romantic entanglements as the trio got into and out of trouble. Mostly, though, the 'Road' pictures relied on the chemistry between Hope and Crosby. (Lamour was decidedly the third wheel.)

Time magazine called the films 'rummage sales of stuff out of vaudeville, burlesque -- marvelously shoddy masterpieces of farce and fantasy, stitched together with cliches and ad libs.'

Hope and Crosby pioneered a formula that continues to thrive as the so-called 'buddy picture,' typified later by the likes of Redford and Newman. The Hope-Crosby specialty was the sharp-edged but good-natured ribbing of each other.

They could really nail each other; but one always sensed they'd still run off together as soon as the day's shoot was concluded, so they could play a round of golf. The game was their shared passion, and the avocation that first brought them together.

In 'Together Again!,' a book about legendary Hollywood teams, Garson Kanin writes: 'What Crosby and Hope developed was an amiable, all-American kind of feud, unknown in other cultures.

'Good friends do not insult each other in France, nor do they rib one another unmercifully in England, but the whole approach was so fresh and original and, above all, funny, that it worked and continued to work for years.'

Kanin argues, rightfully so, that Hope and Crosby not only made a great team, but also profoundly influenced the all-around entertainers each eventually became.

'Thus in the end,' he writes, 'there was some Crosby in Hope and some Hope in Crosby. And it all fitted and it was all fine.'

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