Archive for December, 2011

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Once when he was a little boy in England, Leslie Hope (He later renamed himself “Bob” after a race car driver he idolized) wanted to pick an apple off a tree. Symbolic of his career, he didn’t want just any apple but the highest one possible. He lost his balance, fell — and permanently changed the slope of his nose.

After years in vaudeville, his big break in Hollywood was getting the part Jack Benny had turned down in the Paramount film “The Big Broadcast Of 1938″.

The director Mitchell Leisen could not stand the star of the film, the ornery WC Fields, who would run off the movie set and come back too soused to do the required scenes, flub his lines and scream for his lawyer.

Liesen found Bob Hope much more cooperative, although he was a nervous ham in front of the camera. Desperate to be a more traditional leading man like Fred MacMurray, Hope begged Paramount to pay for a nose job but they refused. It was in this film he got to sing “Thanks For The Memories” which along with his ski slope nose became Bob Hope’s trademarks.

When Bob Hope found out that Jack Benny had hired two writers for $1,000 a week for HIS radio show, he in turn hired ten writers for $100 a week each and hated paying. At times he would gather the staff at the bottom of a stairwell and toss their paychecks down as paper airplanes. Other times Hope would deliberately interrupt his scribes intimacy with their wives by calling their houses very late at night to go over new material.

For a man who played third billing to Siamese twins and trained seals, Bob Hope has become the most recognized profile and talent in the world. And, in the entire history of show business, no individual has travelled so far — so often — to entertain so many.

Hope’s entertainment persona has been evident in every decade of the 20th century — from impersonating Charlie Chaplin in front of the firehouse in Cleveland in 1909, to celebrating an unprecedented 60 years with NBC in 1996.

For their part, the writers created the Bob Hope movie character, egomaniacal, womanizing and cowardly; and all but the last trait were true.

1. Bob Hope’s relationship with Bing Crosby was a love-hate attraction. In one of their early road movies Paramount Studios filmed two endings in which each of the boys ended up with Dorothy Lamour, to see which star the audiences preferred. They overwhelmingly chose Bing which annoyed Hope, who got back at his costar by constantly reminding him that he wore a toupee.

   In one scene both of them had to lie on the same bed together (innocently, they were resting) and Bing refused to take his hat off. No amount of coaxing from Paramount executives could get Crosby to change his mind; he did not want to hear Bob’s toupee barbs.

   Hope later said the greatest acting performance he ever gave was smiling when Bing won his academy award for Going My Way (1944).

   Bob Hope’s frequent leading lady, Lucille Ball, was an even match for Hope in the ambition department. She lobbied the comedian to hire her little-known band leader husband Desi Arnaz for his radio show. She later regretted it when Desi slept with every showgirl who applied for a job, with rumours flying about Hope ending up with his second choices.

   Delores Hope was as long suffering as Lucy was. One time she was among a crowd waiting backstage for him after a live show. A reporter asked her,”Are you connected to Bob Hope in some way Miss?”

   “No,” she responded. “I’m just his wife.”

   In the late 30s, Hope made fun of veterans on his radio show. However, performing at army bases was a way to bring up ratings. Then came World War II with Bob Hope and a number of other stars recruited by the government for a war bond selling, victory caravan tour.

   Unlike many of the pampered celebrities who complained about the cramped quarters on their shared train, the ex-vaudevillian Hope was exhilarated by the travel. It was no problem for him to go overseas to entertain the troops.

   At first Hope found America’s homesick young fighting men to be the easiest audience he ever faced. Jokes that would die in the states would get uproarious laughter from the troops. In the beginning Hope stayed out of combat areas, but then he reasoned that those in actual battles needed him the most and would laugh harder. In time, Hope became addicted to the to the danger of flying in planes that might get shot down or performing in places that had recently been attacked.

   But he was greatly moved by the injuries he saw in hospital wards, and quietly helped set up several of the soldiers he met in their own businesses after the war ended.

   Later he could not understand the Vietnam situation, getting in trouble when he repeatedly suggested we should bomb the enemy into submission. Bob Hope’s love for the troops stayed constant, even in Nam when they booed him.

   Hope got along great with all the Presidents he met, whether he agreed with their politics or not. He once said that Roosevelt laughed so hard at his jokes he almost voted democratic.

   He loved telling the story about a marine in World War II who was disappointed that he had not killed any Japanese soldiers. At the edge of a jungle he tried to smoke them out, by shouting,” To hell with Hirohito!”

   It worked, a Japanese soldier came out and shouted,”To hell with Roosevelt!”

   The marine lowered his weapon,” Darn it, I can’t shoot a fellow Republican.”

by Colby Cosh on Sunday, December 11, 2011 1:46am – MacLean’s Magazine

I learn from a sister publication that a handful of economists in Iceland is recommending that the volcanic statelet adopt the Canadian dollar. News from Iceland is always of special interest in Canada, where the Icelandic diaspora has given us legitimate world-historical notables like William Stephenson and, er, the other William Stephenson. The inherent vulnerability of Iceland’s own currency, the króna, has had Icelanders looking at the euro as a refuge, but that option has been yanked off the table for the time being, and may be permanently unavailable within weeks.

One of Canada’s contributions to humanity, as it happens, is the theory of optimum currency areas. The loonie-ization advocates argue that the Canadian dollar is a good choice because Iceland is dependent upon commodity exports and thus has a business cycle more or less in sync with Canada’s. Iceland is also part of the EFTA, with which Canada has a rudimentary free-trade agreement. But that agreement doesn’t cover services and credentials. Mundell’s test for optimality would require free movement of labour between the countries, a common language, and, ideally, some fiscal-transfer mechanism to smooth out the differential effects of the single exchange rate. There is a strong presumption that a currency area should actually be a contiguous area, or very nearly one.

From the Icelandic point of view, however, this raises a tricky question: what the hell is a small sovereign state to do when it’s not part of any optimum currency area? Iceland has appeared on the world stage lately as a tiny, obstreperous gang that banded together to shed financial obligations and swindle British lenders. But when you contemplate its situation, it is hard to see how else Iceland could act in a crisis; we’re talking about 318,000 people, almost all of them each other’s cousins, huddled together on a godforsaken cluster of pumice. Under pressure, of course they will unify to fleece outsiders rather than each other. From this standpoint, the hypothetical power of Icelandic state fiat is never going to be very attractive to investors.

Iceland doesn’t have the power to make the world use its notes; all it really has control over is the unit Icelanders get paid in and use at the corner shop to buy poetry books and kegs of herring. The choice is between the króna, which is a glorified poker chip, or some other unit that has a protective floor value—one established either outside Iceland by someone else’s central bank, or by “nature”, like gold. The pound sterling, sometimes suggested in the past, seems less suitable than ever for a fanatically de-financialized Icelandic economy. Perhaps notes backed by the aluminum Iceland produces in enormous quantities might be the answer? (The mind reels at the possibilities. Could this involve claims on large, physical Yap-esque aluminum megacoins? Or stamped sheets of aluminum foil?) It’s an unnatural choice in theory, but what in the name of Eyjafjallajökull is the natural one?

The Bank of Canada refuses to comment on a foreign country’s monetary affairs, but has indicated it will be happy to provide Icelanders with as many coins and notes as they wish to buy. If Iceland loonie-ized, the seigniorage would actually provide a minor ongoing windfall to the Canadian federal treasury. Unfortunately, I saw a comment on one Icelandic blog that raises a significant objection to the idea: anti-British loathing is, and will be for the foreseeable future, so strong in Iceland that the populace would be psychologically reluctant to accept notes bearing the face of the Queen. When you’re designing or adopting a currency, such “animal spirits” considerations do count.

by Sally Hogshead on November 14, 2011

Do you have a career goal that makes you a little uncomfortable? You should.

This goal doesn’t have to be majestic, like ending world hunger. It can be specific to your profession, like helping every single customer find exactly the product they need. Or it can be personal, like saving enough to put three kids through college.

There are only 2 ground rules:

1. Your goal has to expose you to a very real chance of failure.
2. Your goal has to be big and important enough to proclaim a true purpose for your work.

As I’ve said before: If your goal is comfortable, it’s not big enough.

What do you stand for, really? What’s your career about? Once you figure that out, and then steer your life toward it, you can start to realize your true potential. This can be daunting to consider. (At least, it will be daunting if you’re doing it right.) But don’t play it safe.

Here, I’ll go first:

The goal that truly inspires me is teaching people how to become their most fascinating.

Why? Because when you fascinate, you communicate your best self. You are heard and remembered.

When you fascinate, you slice through distraction. You are not ignored or forgotten. You are not irrelevant. You have the chance to actually connect.

When you fascinate your customer, you sell more and earn more. When you fascinate your co-workers, they act upon your best ideas. By fascinating your employees, you’re motivating them to more fully engage.

When you fascinate your family, you build stronger trust.

Only by understanding your natural, authentic fascination strengths can others see your best self.

Then, and only then, can you start to make a real difference in this world.

As part of my goal, I’ll be launching the HowToFascinate.com site in about a month.

Okay, that’s my goal that scares the crap out of me.
Your turn. Go.

(And remember: If your goal is comfortable, it’s not big enough.)