Thanks For The Memory

This now familiar melody, synonymous with Bob Hope (pictured here in a younger year), was first heard in the Paramount film, "Big Broadcast of 1938." It was Bob Hope's feature film debut, in which he and Shirley Ross co-stared and was named to Variety's Fifty Year Hit Parade. Over the years, Hope has used this song as his theme, changing the lyric to fit the occasion.
Words and Music by Leo Robin and Ralph Rainger.

In 2003, Bob Hope, ski jump-nosed master of the one-liner and favorite comedian of servicemen and presidents alike, died, just two months after turning 100. He was born Leslie Townes Hope on May 29, 1903, in Eltham, England, the fifth of seven sons of a British stonemason and a Welsh singer of light opera. The Hopes emigrated to the United States when he was 4 and settled in Cleveland.

The nation's most-honored comedian, Hope was a star in every category open to him - vaudeville, radio, television and film, most notably a string of "Road" movies with longtime friend Bing Crosby. For decades, he took his show on the road to bases around the world, boosting the morale of servicemen from World War II to the Gulf War.

17:54 8/3/2003

Thanks for the memory of
candle light and wine,
castles on the Rhine,
the Parthenon and moments on the Hudson River Line.
How lovely it was!

Many's the time that we feasted,
and many's the time that we fasted.
Oh, well, it was swell while it lasted;
we did have fun and no harm done.

And thanks for the memory of
sun burns at the shore,
nights in Singapore,
You might have been a headache, but you never were a bore,
so thank you so much!

Thanks for the memory of
rainy afternoons,
swingy Harlem tunes,
and motor trips and burning lips and burning toast and prunes.
How lovely it was!

We said goodbye with a highball;
then I got as "high" as a steeple.
But we were intelligent people;
no tears, no fuss, hurray for us.

So thanks for the memory and
strictly entre nous, darling, how are you?
And how are all the little dreams that never did come true?
Afl'ly glad I met you, cheerio and toodle-oo,
and thank you so much!

Music provided by: Deb Ackley's MIDI Files.

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