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Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Time Machine: Comedian Bob Hope visited Cedar Rapids three times
Performances ranged from vaudeville program in 1929 to sold-out show at Five Seasons Center 50 years later
Iconic comedian and showman Bob Hope performed in Cedar Rapids three times during his long career, which spanned more than 70 years and covered much of the 20th century -- from 1924 to 1998.
His first visit to Cedar Rapids came early in his career, when he was 26 years old and still performing mostly on the theater scene.
He was included in a 1929 Father’s Day vaudeville program at the Iowa Theater. The Gazette reported, “Bob Hope, recently featured in (Broadway’s) ‘Sidewalks of New York,’ has some entertaining song and talk numbers that made a hit.”
Second trip to Cedar Rapids draws more fanfare
By the time he returned to the city more than 20 years later, he had made the jump from theater into film and television. He also had begun touring with United Service Organizations, providing entertainment to U.S. troops starting in 1941 and continuing through 1991.
With this higher profile, Hope attracted considerably more fanfare on his second visit to Cedar Rapids, which came in June 1951.
The visit came on the heels of a two-week tour in England, Ireland, Scotland and military bases in England and Germany. He arrived back in the United States on June 6, 1951, then embarked on a U.S. tour two days later. After shows in New Jersey, Maine, Connecticut, Chicago, Minneapolis, Sioux Falls, S.D., and Lincoln, Neb., he arrived in Cedar Rapids on June 16 for a pair of shows at Veterans Memorial Coliseum on May’s Island.
He was accompanied by Clarinda, Iowa, native Marilyn Maxwell, co-star in his film “The Lemon Drop Kid.” The movie had been released just a few months earlier, in April 1951.
Hope and Maxwell arrived at the Cedar Rapids airport on a flight from Omaha that Saturday afternoon. About 300 people were there to get a glimpse of the stars. Maxwell preceded Hope off the plane and broke into a wide grin. Hope saw the source of her glee when he stepped out behind her.
A banner greeting the new arrivals proclaimed, “Welcome, Marilyn Maxwell.” Tacked above that in smaller letters was “Bob Hope and.”
Hope, then 48, told the crowd, “It’s good to be back in Cedar Rapids.”
He then headed for the Cedar Rapids Country Club with Maxwell and his agent, Charlie Cooley. The group played nine holes. While Hope held his own, shooting 40 on a par 35, Maxwell was a novice who shot 10 on the first hole. After that, no one counted her strokes, but Hope continued to coach her.
“Is this right, Bob?” she asked him about her stance.
“That’s it,” he told her. “At least that’s what they told me, only it cost me $8,000.”
From there, they headed to the Hotel Montrose to get ready for the night’s two shows, one at 7:30 and one at 9:30. On the trip there, Hope talked to a Gazette reporter about the British and German tour and his shows for American servicemen.
Hope's movies with Bing Crosby by that time included many with “Road” names, such as “Road to Rio,” “Road to Zanzibar” and “Road to Utopia.” Asked if there were any more “Road” pictures coming up, Hope quipped, “Yes, they’re writing one now. It will probably be ‘The Road to Clarinda.’ ”
In addition to his comedy performance, Hope provided commentary for a style show included in each of his troupe’s two-hour performances that night in Cedar Rapids.
1979 performance at Five Seasons Center
Twenty-eight years later, in September 1979, a 76-year-old Hope returned to Cedar Rapids to perform for his biggest Eastern Iowa audience yet.
A sold-out crowd of more than 4,000 watched his Sept. 9, 1979, show at the Five Seasons Center (now the Alliant Energy PowerHouse). The 8 p.m. performance was presented by the Mercy Hospital Auxiliary.
“It’s nice to be in Cedar Rapids – this is a beautiful garage,” he said of the arena. It was the same joke he had told when he performed at Veterans Memorial Coliseum nearly three decades before.
Hope did his homework to localize his monologue. He said, “Cedar Rapids is such a clean town – it doesn’t have any slums. To spice things up, a hobo comes over from Waterloo once in a while.”
About facelifts, he said, “The big names usually go away somewhere quiet like Switzerland or Shueyville to have it done.” In poking fun at then-President Jimmy Carter, he said, “I don’t know why people pick on Carter. Hell, he hasn’t done anything.”
As he strolled around the stage, he stopped now and then to pose for a camera-wielding fan in the audience. The performance included his theme song, “Thanks for the Memory.”
When the show was over, Hope hopped into his 1935 Rolls Royce, driven up to the back door of the arena, and headed to the airport, where his private plane waited to take him and the car to his next stop.
Other Iowa stops
Cedar Rapids wasn’t the only city Hope visited in Iowa during his decades-long career. In 1976, he spoke at St. Ambrose College’s graduation ceremony in Davenport. He was awarded an honorary doctorate in public service from the school.
In 1980, he helped dedicate former first lady Mamie Doud Eisenhower’s birthplace in Boone. Hope was a close friend of the former first lady, who had died the year before, and former President Dwight Eisenhower, who died in 1969. Hope previously had helped raise money to restore the Boone birthplace at a 1976 appearance in Des Moines.
In 1990, at age 87, Hope was back in Davenport, performing at the Adler Theatre. The show offered discounted admission for those 60 and over. As he cruised through town on the way to the Adler, he remembered being in the Quad Cities for a pro-am golf tournament hosted by Ed McMahon.
In 2001, the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library in West Branch presented an exhibit, “Red, White and Hope,” featuring memorabilia from Hope’s tours performing for troops from World War II to Operation Desert Storm.
Hope died in July 2003, two months after his 100th birthday.
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