Bob Hope’s Encore for Statue Proves Memorable

Bob Hope’s theme song is “Thanks for the Memories.” But, at a benefit to pay for a controversial sculpture commemorating war veterans, the title could have been “Thanks for the Monument.”

Hope was the sponsor and headliner at the Thursday-night benefit for the sculpture, which critics have said resembles a three-cupped bra or an upside-down molar. The sculpture is intended to resemble a flame.

About 300 people, including some city officials who had said they found the monument less than monumental, attended the $100-a-plate dinner at the Lakeside Country Club in Toluca Lake. Although it wasn’t clear Friday how much was netted, the event was a sellout, and audience members were treated to routines by Hope and comedians Foster Brooks, Pat Buttram and Johnny Yune.

Though it pales in comparison to some of the wars Hope has seen while entertaining troops, the battle over the sculpture has been fierce.

The sculpture, titled “Requiem” by artist Erwin Binder, was commissioned by Mayor Michael Hastings, who has locked horns with fellow City Council members about its look and appropriateness.

Critics, including council members, have said the sculpture is too abstract or vague to symbolize patriotism or war.

Hope went to bat for the sculpture for the second time Thursday night. The first time was in September, when he performed at a fund-raiser for the sculpture and only 1,500 people showed up at the 6,000-seat Burbank Starlight Amphitheatre.

“Let’s face it, we bombed out, which I had never done before,” Hope quipped to the audience Thursday. “But I told Mayor Hastings that I loved his plan and that we had to do something else.”

Hastings said Friday that the Hope dinner, and “substantial contributions” from Burbank-based Columbia Pictures, would help pay for “Requiem,” a plaque listing contributors’ names and a plaque saluting Vietnam veterans.

The 14-foot sculpture will cost $35,000 to $50,000, Hastings said.

“I’m more than ecstatic,” Hastings said about the dinner.

Since last year, the sculpture has been a political hot potato for Hastings.

None of his colleagues on the City Council likes “Requiem,” and Councilman Robert R. Bowne said the council should have had more to say about its design.

The city lent Hastings $25,000 to stage the Starlight fund-raiser. When that event lost money, the council, with the exception of Bowne, voted to forgive $16,000 of the loan. Bowne called the loan “a gift of public funds.”

Hastings said: “What’s good about the Hope dinner is that not a nickel of taxpayers’ money was spent.”

Bowne and Councilwoman Mary E. Kelsey attended the dinner. Notably absent was Councilwoman Mary Lou Howard. Howard has been criticized for her statement after the Starlight fund-raiser that Hope was not popular enough to attract a larger crowd.

“I had another commitment, another meeting,” Howard said of her absence from the Hope dinner.

The sculpture, which has been completed, may be placed in Buena Vista Park, Hastings said. No date for its dedication has been scheduled.