Bob Hope & Bing Crosby

Friends and rivals in Road To Singapore

An example of two good friends using Hollywood as their personal playground manifests in the team of Bob Hope and Bing Crosby. They appeared together in 17 feature-length films (see the list below), a feat which is mostly misleading owing to the fact that only in each of the seven Road movies did they both appear throughout the entire film. For most of their remaining joint appearances in films, 10 movies showcasing primarily the talents of Bob Hope, Bing Crosby appears only in scene-stealing cameos that invariably take a comedic swipe at his sometimes partner. With these escapades as the criteria for their teamwork, we could perhaps conclude that movies were their plaything and, accordingly, include in the list of their collaborations Bob Hope’s The Lemon Drop Kid (1951) by virtue of the sequence in the film where Mr. Hope applies the name “Crosby” to a cow that comes lumbering through the set in an apparent attempt to steal the scene.

Road to Singapore (1940)
Road to Zanzibar (1941)
Road to Morocco (1942)
Star Spangled Rhythm (1942)
My Favorite Blonde (1942)
They Got Me Covered (1943)
The Princess and the Pirate (1944)
Road to Utopia (1946)
My Favorite Brunette (1947)
Road to Rio (1947)
Son of Paleface (1952)
Road to Bali (1952)
The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
Scared Stiff (1953)
Off Limits (1953)
Alias Jesse James (1959)
The Road to Hong Kong (1962)

Despite all their clowning around for the delight of audiences, a poignant and very telling tribute to how much they delighted one another occurred on October 14, 1977, the day that Bing Crosby died. Bob Hope did something he rarely did; he cancelled a performance he was scheduled to give. Mr. Hope begged off appearing, claiming that, on this one particular day, he just didn’t feel like being funny. The next day the following statement was released on behalf of Mr. Hope: “a heart may have stopped and a voice stilled, but the real melody Bing sang will linger on as long as there is a phonograph to be played — and a heart to be lifted.”

Leaning on one another in Road To Morocco

Incidentally, the show did go on in New Jersey as scheduled. Bob Hope was not about to disappoint his audience entirely and secured a substitution in one Bill Cosby.