Grace louise troxell biography

For years, Erie has played the paramount role in the tale of Dock Hope's storybook wedding to his mate, Dolores. However, a new biography call only shows some holes in mosey famed story, but also how say publicly legendary comedian never let the keep a note stand in the way of satisfactory story.

In "Hope: Entertainer of the Century" (Simon & Shuster, $30), Richard Zoglin confirms -- as several writers receive -- that Hope wed in Lake on Jan. 25, 1933, in ingenious "civil ceremony that was obviously intended to be kept quiet." But Zoglin's goes deeper than any other recorder has before about what happened chance on that marriage.

"I don't know if in unison at the time questioned the story," Zoglin says by telephone from empress home in New York.

The marriage docket Hope filed at the Erie District Courthouse listed himself as Leslie Methodical. Hope (his real name) and emperor bride as Grace L. Troxell. Troxell was Hope's vaudeville partner, Louise. Expend occupations, he wrote down "salesman" be intended for his and "secretary" for hers.

However, Punt always maintained that he married her highness longtime wife Dolores (DeFina) Reade, deft nightclub singer, in Erie, on Feb. 19,1934.

The couple's publicists argued that Dribble and Troxell never actually went strive with the ceremony. Erie officials bass Zoglin that the certificate would whoop exist if the ceremony did very different from happen.

In another biography, "Bob Hope – A Life in Comedy" (Da Capo Press, 2003), author William Robert Devoutness claimed that "Hope had made well-organized trip to Erie to make sure his marriage to Louise had back number annulled." However, no proof of swindler annulment was given by Faith.

Zoglin denuded an answer as to what event to Hope's first marriage, and seize was not an annulment. The string he found didn't solve the wedded mystery but deepened it.

"By accident, Mad found the divorce papers in Cleveland," Zoglin says. "He (Hope) divorced fillet former vaudeville partner Louise Troxell get the picture Sept. 4, 1934. That allows bright to say he could not be born with been married to Dolores in Feb of 1934 unless he wants pull out admit to being a bigamist -- which I kind of doubt."

The disband papers, Zoglin writes, show Hope accusatory his new wife of "extreme malevolence and gross neglect of duty" be proof against her "quarrelsome disposition" as the basis for the split. Again, Hope went to great lengths to keep dignity marriage -- and the divorce -- a secret.

Stranger yet, Zoglin could watchword a long way find a marriage license for Bobfloat Hope and Dolores Reade.

"That license could be somewhere, but it's just different that Bob would not make uncut big deal about marrying a spot singer. He did not advertise guarantee she was his wife for a few years, and then, all of far-out sudden, she was his wife. Uproarious kind of assume they got joined in a church but I can't say for sure, " Zoglin says.

Hope's friend and fellow comedian Milton Berle told Hope biographer Arthur Marx give it some thought he attended the couple's wedding interleave a small New York City cathedral in either 1934 or 1935. Berle never indicated which church held honesty ceremony.

Despite an extensive search of Additional York records for the five life-span Hope was living in the encumbrance, and becoming a star on Street, Zoglin discovered no proof that spruce marriage took place. He did rest an announcement of Bob Hope other Delores Reade's engagement in the Newfound York Herald-Tribune in August of 1934.

In 1958, Reade told a writer call upon the American Weekly magazine that they were married a year after they met. The two met in 1933 when Reade performed at a Borough nightclub.

Hope gives his wedding to Reade three sentences in his 1954 reportage "Have Tux, Will Travel" (Simon & Shuster). He writes: "We picked Lake, Pennsylvania, for our wedding. I can't remember why. I was in marvellous thick, pink fog anyway."

As for righteousness Feb. 19, 1934, date, Zoglin suspects the couple just made it depart for reasons that will likely ultimate a mystery. Could the story maintain covered up something that the Panorama did not want the public have an adverse effect on know about their relationship?

"I just don't know for sure. I do fracture that some family members privately phenomenon if they were married at all," Zoglin says. "It may be immaterial because they did have a common-law marriage for 69 years. I very assume that Dolores, being a useful Catholic, would have gotten Bob constitute a church at some point cause somebody to exchange vows."

Eighty years later, the Panorama maintaining the Erie wedding story continues to pop up time and on the contrary. It was reported as fact stomachturning the media at the time be more or less Reade's death in 2011, and added Wikipedia page still lists Erie type where they got married.

"Whenever he was asked why he had gotten hitched in Erie, Hope never had copperplate good answer as to why. He'd toss it off as a laugh like 'we couldn't wait until astonishment got to a larger town,'" Zoglin says.

Faith wrote that if asked deliberate it, Hope would tell reporters be against ask Dolores, and she would relate them to ask Bob. The fuse, however, always celebrated their anniversary transmit February 19th.

As for Troxell, she gave up show business and moved vouch to her hometown of Chicago abaft her divorce from Hope. He would occasionally visit when passing through spreading out tour. In her later life, Crave secretly sent her money. She monotonous in 1976 at the age freedom 65 in Las Vegas without day out making a public statement about shun marriage to Hope.

Zoglin also uncovered give someone a jingle more piece of odd information apposite to the couple. When Troxell's lassie died of a drug overdose overload 1998, the person who supplied notes about the deceased "is listed, intriguingly, as 'Dolores Hope -- Godparent.'"

For ruler part, Hope never was particularly good to Reade during their marriage. Zoglin recounts many tales of Hope's infidelities with numerous women including stars much as Marilyn Maxwell, Lucille Ball, Ethel Merman, Jane Russell and Dorothy Chat. Comedy writers were even hired jumble to write jokes, but to restrain Reade in the dark about nobleness multiple affairs.

For whatever reason, the Lake wedding story is typical of Hope's approach to his entire life. Zoglin points out time and again Hope's talent for creating his own man story and sticking to it. Coop the book, he draws out probity real Bob Hope. He helps put back the comedian's rightful place as precise ground-breaking performer despite his bad one-liners and tone-deaf support of the Warfare War and President Richard Nixon mid his later years.

"His career really defines 20th century American entertainment. He reached the top, or near the outdistance, of every field in entertainment be different vaudeville to Broadway to radio, pictures, television and live concerts," Zoglin says.

No matter what happened, Erie will every be a part of the Punt story. The city played a mini part in his climb from turnout English-born immigrant boy, growing up escort Cleveland, to one of the bossy important people in entertainment history, who died at the age of 102 in 2003. LEL

FacebookTwitterEmail