Laughing is Good For You!
Dolores Hope turned 100 years old this week…. Wow! Her
entertainer husband Bob also lived to be 100, (although he actually
passed away about 6 years ago.) Isn’t that amazing!? You know I think it really must be the
laughter that makes a person live longer. (I recall George Burns lived
to be 100 also even though he constantly smoked cigars!) It makes
sense… take a look at what Proverbs says about a “merry heart”:
Proverbs 15:13
“A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance, But by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.”
Proverbs 15:15
“All the days of the afflicted are evil, But he who is of a merry heart has a continual feast.”
Proverbs 17:22
“A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones.”
Here are a few news excerpts concerning Dolores Hope’s birthday and the life she has lived.
Love, Bee 
Bob Hope’s Widow Turns 100, Reveals Aging Secrets
NEW YORK (Wireless Flash – FlashNews) – Bob Hope lived to be 100 and
his widow, Dolores Hope, turns 100 today (May 27), so what’s their
aging secret?
According to Dolores, there are three main reasons for her and her hubby’s long lives: Massage, golf, and humor.
The couple married in 1934 and Dolores says their wellness rituals
always included relaxing massages and quality time on the golf course. She says humor also prolongs life and since there was never a shortage
of laughter in their home, Bob was able to live an entire century and
she’s still truckin’.
The birthday girl has kept just as busy as her late husband. Dolores
has been singing in clubs since the ’30s, which is how she met Bob in
the first place. She entertained U.S. troops overseas alongside Bob for
decades, and recorded her first album – Dolores Hope: Now And Then – at
age 83.”
From the Palm Springs Desert Sun:
“The Hopes arrived in Palm Springs when Dolores was in her 40s, and just before the attack on Pearl Harbor.
They bought a getaway home on Buena Vista Drive just before Bob went
off to entertain the troops. Dolores stayed home to raise their two
adopted children, Linda and Tony. They adopted two more in 1946, a son,
Kelly, and daughter, Nora.
The shuttled back and forth between Palm Springs and Toluca Lake with an army of pet dogs in tow.
“I had a dog and my sister had a dog and my brother had a dog, my
grandmother had a dog,” recalled Linda. “When we traveled it was the
caravan. They would all come with us. At one point, my mother decided
there were so many dogs, she would bring a trainer in to train all the
dogs. Well, it was just a disaster. But she loves the companionship of
the dogs.”
It was actually Bob and Dolores’ love of dogs that brought them together.
It’s a well-known story that Bob and Dolores met in New York when Bob
was co-starring in the Broadway hit “Roberta” while Dolores was singing
in a nightclub. Bob’s co-star, George Murphy, who would later become a
U.S. senator from California, asked Bob if he wanted to hear a pretty
girl named Dolores Reade sing.
“Dad was always interested in hearing pretty girls sing,” said Linda,
“so he went there and, as he used to tell it, it was love at first
song. He heard her singing ‘It’s Only A Paper Moon’ at this Vogue Club
in New York. He said to her, ‘Why don’t you bring your mother and come
to one of the matinees and see the show I’m doing?’ My mother thought
he was a chorus boy. When they went, she was so embarrassed because he
was one of the co-stars.”
Dolores told a writer for Modern Screen in 1943 she decided she liked
Bob after dancing with him that first night at a club called
(naturally) The Haw Haw.
She went back to see Bob in “Roberta” many times, but Bob apparently
wasn’t convinced Dolores was the girl for him until his dog, Huck, gave
her his seal of approval.
“My dad had a little Scottie puppy,” Linda said. “I think he got it as
sort of a come-on for all the chorus girls. It was a good magnet. But
the little dog growled at everybody that came near it. So, Dad knew my
mother was the one because she immediately had a rapport with the dog.
She was very solicitous and the dog fell in love with her.
“We’ve had dogs in the family ever since. Right now, she has a little
Chihuahua that was given to her just before my dad died. He’s been a
real little godsend and a great companion for her.”
“She is amazingly sharp for 100,” said her daughter, Linda, from her
Toluca Lake office. “She’s on top of all the stuff going on at the
estate and the business and the disposition of Dad’s memorabilia.”
http://www.mydesert.com/article/20090524/LIFESTYLES01/905240310/-1/lifestylesfront/Dolores+Hope+springs+eternal++
… Wouldn’t that make for good drama?
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