Bob Hope: Laughing with the Presidents

Sample quotes: "I don't blame Mr. Truman for not wanting to go back to Washington. You know how it is in the big city when you don't know anybody." "I know why (Gen. Eisenhower) is running for President. It's the only way he can get out of the Army." "Nixon lives here in Whittier, Calif. They're so sure he's going to be President, they're building the log cabin he was born in." That's the trouble with topical humor: it has a generational shelf life. At the time this disappointingly lame special was filmed, Bob Hope had entertained 11 presidents, and here the very feeble-looking comedian banters with co-host Tony Danza (!) between clips spanning more than five decades of his NBC specials. The odd guest list includes Ann-Margret, Tom Selleck, Don Johnson, and Naomi Judd, as well as former presidents Gerald Ford, the first George Bush, and then-current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Bill Clinton. The late Hope was, of course, a national treasure and a consummate entertainer, and some of the vintage clips here are master class quality (not to mention nicely nostalgic and worthy of the time capsule). But it's saying something that the funniest thing in this program, or at least the most endearingly spontaneous, is bloopers of Barbara Bush trying to tell a joke about Hope. Not a necessary purchase. Aud: C, P. (D. Liebenson)