Acting in Sketches is More Difficult Than it Looks

While Hope sketches were broad, farcical and in the opinion of some, too silly, he had definite ideas about how he wanted them played. Most of the guests followed his directions to the letter, but once in awhile he'd run into a problem case - one like former model Susan Anton.

On one of our football specials, Susan was cast as a scientist hired by the NFL to test the safety of the equipment. Hope answers her want ad for a guinea pig and is put through a series of punishing tests.

Susan was going with British actor Dudley Moore at the time, and he was never far away during rehearsal. During the read-through, Hope had warned Susan not to laugh at her own lines while putting him through the wringer - literally. In one sequence, he's in a stretching "machine" we had designed like a magician's trick. Following our diagram, the NBC prop department built a box with hidden shelves and dummy pants, legs and shoes that would appear to belong to Hope.

But despite his advice, Susan insisted on injecting a series of giggles before, during and after every one of her lines. Distracting enough during rehearsal, but later in front of an audience, her giggling if anything, increased.

Repeatedly, Hope stopped the taping, called her off to the side and whispered instructions. Then she'd go over to Dudley who'd give her more tips - apparently to keep up the good work.

Finally, Hope surrendered and finished the sketch, hoping that Susan's delivery could be fixed in post. But no amount of editing could save her performance, and we lost a perfectly serviceable eight-minute sketch - not to mention an opportunity to introduce the world to a human stretching machine that would have made Dick Cheney proud.

Hope went out of his way to treat his guests well and did anything he could to help improve their performance. They, of course, usually welcomed his guidance and suggestions. On the other hand, he could be as protective as a mother bear with cubs if he felt the quality of the show was being threatened.

We were in Fort Lauderdale, Florida taping a special on which Tony Randall was a guest. Tony was by nature genial and gregarious and easily connected with people on a personal level. As we taped each segment over a period of several days, Tony had developed the habit of wandering onto the set in advance to make contact with the audience prior to his performance.

Unfortunately, Tony went beyond the usual behind-the-scenes jokes and "Where are you from?" chatter and began quoting lines from the sketch about to be taped - "Now when I say such and such, you laugh."
An audio line to Hope's dressing room was left open, and he overheard Tony's repartee. As soon as he came offstage, Hope was all over him like a baseball manager berates a catcher who's telegraphing the signals.

He was as angry as I'd ever seen him. "Tony, what in the hell are you doing out there? You know better than that! How do you expect us to get laughs if they already know the lines?" Tony, a true gentlemen who had
meant no harm, was devastated, his humiliation evident. He apologized and assured Hope that it would never happen again. But the message was clear. Hope wouldn't hesitate to vent his anger even at a well-known star if he believed the show was being sabotaged, regardless of how innocently.

Before taping a segment, Hope would often emerge to chat with the audience but was careful never to audition the material in the script. When rehearsing the monologue in front of an audience, he'd recite his
lines in gibberish. There were no joke previews.

So sensitive was he to the possibility of dulling the spontaneous reaction at hearing lines for the first time, he refused to allow them the traditional "audience warm-up," common on all sitcoms taped in front of people. This despite the boredom that sets in when people are asked to remain in their seats for long delays between takes.

Later, I suggested that he play segments already taped so the waiting audience would have something to watch other than technicians making adjustments. He agreed, and that was done for our last five or six seasons.

Perry Como hosted The Kraft Music Hall from 1959 to 1967 and had posted some high chart stats with hits like "Catch a Falling Star," "Papa Loves Mambo," "Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes" and "It's Impossible."
Perry was a laid-back former barber, who like Dean Martin, spent most of his time on the golf course.
Also like Dean, he loved singing but didn't care to get overly involved with other elements of his show- like rehearsing. (Dean actually preferred to study a tape of Greg Garrison, his producer, rehearsing in his place!)

Perry's musical director, Ray Charles (who was nicknamed "the Sighted One") told me that Perry was loath to rehearse the comedy bits on his show and would wing it, just reading his lines so he could get back on the tenth tee. But, said Charles, it never seemed to matter. Perry would read his lines straight and became adept in sketches since that's just the delivery they require.

I learned what Ray meant while working with Perry one Christmas on a Star Wars sketch. During dress rehearsal, he drifted over to me, impressive in his Luke Sleepwalker costume and holding his light saber which he was about to use to try to decapitate "Barf" Vader.

He whispered as though a little embarrassed, "Bob, can I ask you a question?" I said "Sure, Perry," thinking he was having a problem with a line - although he had seemed confident reading Barney's cards. Sheepishly, he said, "I've been out on the course a lot lately and may have missed something. Is this sketch based on a movie?"

If Hope wasn't satisfied with a particular performance, you'd know about it - fast. Charlotte Rae, star of a seventies sitcom called The Facts of Life, was in a parody of Dallas, cast as Miss Ellie. Since Hope watched
little television (save for football and golf ), he had no idea who the animated Broadway-trained actress was. Delayed at the airport, he had missed the read through, so the dress rehearsal was his first opportunity
to appraise his fellow performers. During a break, he came rushing back to his dressing room.

"Who is that playing Miss Ellie?" he asked the producer. "That's Charlotte Rae. She's a well-known sitcom star." "Well, tell her to knock off the mugging. She looks like Mickey Rooney." High praise, indeed, as the Mick is one of Hollywood's legendary scene thieves.

However, sometimes a less-than-stellar performance by the usual standards would provide unexpected comedic dividends. There was an actress on Dallas named Charlene Tilton whom we had on as a guest. About five feet tall, she was bubbly and appeared to get a great deal of enjoyment out of life.

We cast Charlene in a parody of the sitcom "Happy Days" opposite Hope as the "Fonz." Like Susan Anton, she consistently telegraphed the laughs, but did so in such a charming and disarming way. Hope realized she brought an additional element of entertainment to the sketch (which, if I recall correctly, it needed).

Moreover, when Charlene flubbed a line, she'd break up and go into hysterics, sometimes literally kneeling on the floor. Whenever Hope sensed he was getting interesting outtakes, he'd tell the director to keep the tape rolling. This was one of those times - in spades.

Over the years, he ended up with some priceless flubs and bloopers which were used in NBC's promos for the show and on Hope's obligatory "Tonight Show" appearance. "Save that one for Carson," he'd say. We got some irreplaceable classics from Miss Tilton.

Because of the challenges sketches pose, casting amateurs was always risky and Hope avoided using them. But one year, we saluted the N.F.L. and among the guests were legendary coaches Hank Stramm, Weeb Ewbank and George Allen. .

During rehearsals, it was clear that they showed a sense of timing and projection that belied their lack of experience treading the boards. Each showed up knowing his lines, and when changes were made in the script, they were quick studies. They had as much poise in front of the camera as many of our more experienced guests lacked.

I was so impressed by them during rehearsal, I mentioned it to Hope. He said, "They're not amateurs. They're on television more than I am."

Excerpted from THE LAUGH MAKERS: A Behind-the-Scenes Tribute to Bob Hope's Incredible Gag Writers (c) 2009 by Robert L. Mills and published by Bear Manor Media: . The book was chosen by Leonard Maltin as a "Top 20 Year-End Pick" for 2009. FREE sample chapters can be read at: : http://www.laughmakers.blogspot.com
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