Rain Fails To Dampen Bob Hope
by Don Metivier, The Post-Star, July 17, 1978
A violent electrical storm greeted comedian Bob Hope’s debut at Saratoga Performing Arts Center Sunday evening.
Many in the crowd of 5,111 were forced to leave their seats in the middle of Hope’s performance as torrential rain swept through the inside of the huge amphitheater.
“You sure are great,” Hope joked, “for an audience that has gone down for the third time. Bring out the rowbots. Hey,” he yelled to those in the wings. “Does this place float?”
Despite the distractions of heavy thunder, flashes of lightning, and rains so heavy the lights high above stage on the catwalks kept popping. Hope’s first performance in the amphitheater was well received.
The audience greeted him with a standing ovation as he walked on stage to begin the show, and gave him two more ovations when it was over two wet hours later. Hope was on stage for nearly the entire show, leaving only when singer Patricia Price sang two songs, one of them, appropriately, “You Brought the Rain,” which brought more laughs to the drenched audience.
The 75-year-old comedian recalled playing this area in his vaudeville days —”I closed theaters in Troy and Schenectady” — and more recently at the Saratoga Fair. He is completing a grueling 4/4 weeks on the road, and flew to Saratoga from the Heart of Illinois Fair in Peoria, having to make an emergency stop in Oneonta after encountering four storms en route.
“The damn thing is following us,” Hope said, peering at the lightning-filled skies.
He told endless jokes, sang, danced, and talked about his career, government, golf, and finally his love for America.
Although half of the crowd got soaked as rain blew inside the theater, they moved, went into the orchestra pit, stood in the aisles, and huddled under umbrellas, but none left, certainly a tribute to the popularity of this English-born comedian who has become an American institution.
Recent Comments