Bob lived and laughed in an age when Americans liked themselves far better than is the case today. There was more -- how shall I say it? -- tolerance for folly, more appreciation of human nuttiness and contrariness. Nowadays, differences of viewpoint are commonly ascribed to evil and bigotry. I do not remember it so in the '50s, when Bob's sun still shone brightly.

Bob Hope, Fred Allen, Jack Benny, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Red Skelton, "Fibber McGee and Molly," "The Life of Riley" ... stop! How many have the slightest idea what I am talking about? Would you advance and be recognized? The aforementioned comedians and shows, I started to say, dispensed merriment for its own sake, not for the sake of eviscerating an ideological opponent or wising up some Church Lady type on the second row with a string of obscenities or double-entendres.

The infirmities of age removed Bob Hope from the comedic circuit just about the time he would have been pronounced unspeakably out of date. It was perhaps as well for him. He lived on to be appreciated for what he had never thought would become necessary -- the defense of American-ness.

Yes. Fine. Wonderful. Give a great patriot his due. Just so long as the tributes don't cease there. Here's the next step -- I might almost say, in present context, a subversive one. Lay hands on some Bob Hope movies from the '40s and '50s -- "The Ghost Breakers." "The Paleface." "Alias Jesse James." The "Road to ... " anywhere. Pop 'em in the VCR. Proceed to laugh like crazy.