Editing Bob Hope (section)

=== 1950–1979: Television specials ===
[[File:Jack Hope Jack Benny Bob Hope 1954.JPG|thumb|upright|left|Hope (right) with his brother [[Jack Hope|Jack]] (seated), who produced his early 1950s show, with comedian [[Jack Benny]]]]

Hope did many specials for the NBC television network in the following decades, beginning in April 1950. He was one of the first people to use [[cue card]]s. The shows often were sponsored by [[Frigidaire]] (early 1950s), [[General Motors]] (1955–61), [[Chrysler]] (1963–73), and [[Texaco]] (1975–85).{{sfn|Grudens|2002|pp=47–48}} Hope's Christmas specials were popular favorites and often featured a performance of "[[Silver Bells]]"—from his 1951 film ''[[The Lemon Drop Kid]]''—done as a duet with an often much younger female guest star such as [[Barbara Mandrell]], [[Olivia Newton-John]], [[Barbara Eden]], and [[Brooke Shields]],{{sfn|Grudens|2002|p=160}} or with his wife Dolores, a former singer with whom he dueted on two specials.

On April 26, 1970, [[CBS]] released the [[Raquel Welch]] television special ''[[Raquel! (TV program)|Raquel!]]''; in it Hope appears as a guest.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Du Brow|first=Rick|date=April 23, 1970|title=Sunday night 'special' features Raquel Welch|page=6|work=The News-Herald}}</ref> Hope's 1970 and 1971 Christmas specials for NBC—filmed in [[Vietnam]] in front of military audiences at the height of the war—are on the list of the [[List of most watched television broadcasts#Top 46 network prime-time telecasts|Top 46 U.S. network prime-time telecasts]]. Both were seen by more than 60 percent of the U.S. households watching television.{{sfn|Grudens|2002|p=48}} Likely the most unusual of his television specials was ''Joys!'', a parody of murder mystery narratives, where the audience discovers at the end of the broadcast that Johnny Carson was the villain.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Joys1 {Bob Hope} (TV) |url=https://www.paleycenter.org/collection/item/?q=&p=1&item=B:07257 |access-date=2023-07-30 |website=www.paleycenter.org}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=McDonough |first=Dick |title=Joys! |date=1976-03-05 |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0164066/ |type=Comedy, Mystery |access-date=2023-07-30 |others=Bob Hope, Don Adams, Jack Albertson |publisher=Hope Enterprises}}</ref>

[[File:Bob Hope James Garner 1961.JPG|thumb|upright|Hope with [[James Garner]] (1961)]]
Beginning in early 1950, Hope licensed rights to publish a [[celebrity comics|celebrity]] comic book titled ''[[The Adventures of Bob Hope]]'' to National Periodical Publications, alias [[DC Comics]]. The comic, originally featuring publicity stills of Hope on the cover, was entirely made up of fictional stories, eventually including fictitious relatives, a high school taught by movie monsters, and a superhero called [[Super-Hip]]. It was published intermittently and continued publication through issue #109 in 1969. Illustrators included [[Bob Oksner]] and (for the last four issues) [[Neal Adams]].{{citation needed|date=March 2018}} Hope reprised his role as Huck Haines in a 1958 production of ''Roberta'' at [[The Muny]] Theater in [[Forest Park (St. Louis, Missouri)|Forest Park in]] [[St. Louis, Missouri]].<ref name="The Muny 1958"/> Additionally, Hope rescued the [[The Bob Hope Theatre|Eltham Little Theatre]] in England from closure by providing funds to buy the property. He continued his interest and support, and regularly visited the facility when in London. The theater was renamed in his honor in 1982.<ref name="bobhopetheatre 100th"/>