COMMON INTEREST: Fellow Eisenhower Medical Center supporters Mamie Eisenhower and Bob Hope sit together at a dedication ceremony in the 1970s.

Giving back Eisenhower Medical Center: Bob Hope provided the land in Rancho Mirage for Eisenhower Medical Center and raised millions of dollars for the facility through his golf tournament. He was not only a friend of the hospital, but of the people it was named after. Sports writer Jack Olsen told this yarn (attributed to Bob's friends) about Hope's oldest son Tony and his college days at Georgetown University. (Sports Illustrated, June 1963): Bob took Tony to visit Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower in the White House. Mamie asked the young man if he was a freshman and he said he was a junior. 'A junior?' Mamie Eisenhower allegedly said. 'How come you've never been to the house before?' A class act: Robert Shahnazarian and Greg Schmalle, Palm Springs High School Class of 1990, aimed high when they were lining up speakers for their graduation ceremonies. The class officers had been courting Ronald Reagan and drove into Century City to pick up a letter from the former president to read at the ceremony. While they were there, they decided to drop in on another quarry: Bob Hope. They arrived unexpected at Hope's Los Angeles office and asked the secretary if the comedian would attend the commencement. The secretary went away for a few minutes, Shahnazarian told The Desert Sun, and returned with Hope's acceptance. On June 14, 1990, the 87-year-old Hope picked up his honorary PSHS diploma and delivered a humorous 10-minute address to 500 graduates and an audience of 3,500: 'This is great for me, getting a high school diploma. I've gone back in time further than Michael J. Fox. I think I've received a lot of honorary degrees from colleges, but this is a first from a high school. If you're trying to make me feel young, it's working, believe me. 'Of course, you could have invited me to the senior prom, too.'

By Jan Curran
For The Desert Sun

Heads turned, flashbulbs popped, conversations stopped.

It didn't matter whether it was his grand entrance at the annual Bob Hope Classic Ball, as a surprise member of the audience at 'The Fabulous Palm Springs Follies,' or as a patron at a home tour -- it was always the same. Everyone knew Bob Hope was there.

Not only was he there, he was approachable. There were no security guards surrounding him. If you wanted to talk to Bob Hope, you did. And, chances were, he'd introduce you to the others at his table.

Want a picture? No problem. 'What do you want me to do?' he'd ask. 'Who do you want in the picture?' If you needed a quote, he'd deliver that, too.

The Bob Hope Classic is the granddaddy of all fund-raising events in the Coachella Valley, having raised millions of dollars for Eisenhower Medical Center and other desert charities.

At the 1988 gala, Hope looked around the crowded Palm Desert Marriott's Desert Springs ballroom and said, 'You can really tell this is a family affair. There's a lot of guys here with their nieces.'

Hope was either an honorary chairman or the guest of honor at a variety of benefits over the years. Thirty years of society clips show photographs of the Hopes attending party after party.

And there were the parties that didn't make the society pages. The intimate gatherings for six or eight couples the Hopes held at their Palm Springs homes.

They often entertained out, too, taking family and friends to Sorrentino's in Palm Springs.

'Whenever they'd come in, the piano player would play "Thanks For The Memory" and everyone in the restaurant would applaud,' said Mary Sorrentino. 'Other patrons would go to his table, to say hello, and get his autograph. He never complained, never refused to talk to anyone.'

Everyone knew Hope was a golfer, but few knew he was also a walker. No matter what the party, after the guests had left or Hope returned home, he would go out again around midnight. With a golf club in hand, he and his friend, former caddy Scorpy Doyle, would walk up and down Palm Canyon.

In later years, Hope changed his pattern. Oh, he still walked, but now he went to Palm Springs Regional Airport and did his walking indoors in the terminal.

The evening of his 62nd wedding anniversary, Feb. 19, 1996, he and his wife attended a party for the Buddy Rogers golf tournament at Indian Wells Country Club. The hour was late when the party ended, but Hope went home, changed into his walking clothes, and was at the airport by 11 p.m. for his nightly stroll.

Age never stopped the former hoofer from dancing, either. During the 1995 Eisenhower Medical Center Desert Showcase outdoor party, he took to the dance floor with Dolores, singing in her ear.

When line dancing became a fad, Hope hired a teacher to come to the house.

Even in his 90s, Hope always wanted to know what was going on socially. In the kitchen of his Southridge home was a big calendar.

The late Diana 'Mousie' Powell, a close friend of the Hopes, said, 'Bob checked that calendar every day, making sure he had somewhere to go, a golf game, a tournament, a party.'