Bob Hope and American Variety

Houdini vanishing an elephant. 1918
Found in 'Illusion and Magic' in 'The Bill' section.

"Bob Hope was among the 20,000 vaudeville performers working in the 1920s. Many of these performers were, like Hope, recent immigrants to America who saw a vaudeville career as one of the few ways to succeed as a "foreigner" in America. Throughout his extraordinary professional career of nearly seventy years, Bob Hope practiced the arts he learned in vaudeville and perpetuated variety entertainment traditions in stage musical comedy, motion pictures, radio, television, and the live appearances he made around the world in support of American armed forces. Today, the stage variety show is mostly a memory but its influence is pervasive thanks to the long and rich careers of vaudeville veterans like Bob Hope. "

Fantastic exhibition and pop culture archeology. Fred Astaire (and his sister) as a very tiny gentleman, the Brochure for "Siamese Twins"Daisy and Violet Hilton ca. 1925 (Page 2 - Page 3 - Page 4) and of course the Bob Hope Tiki Sculpture!

Bob Hope and American Variety (part of the Library of Congress Exhibitions) (via PLEP)

Bobs official site can be found here.