OWE RUSSIA $1200

For years Bob Hope has been trekking around the world in various professional capacities. He's entertained American troops in Alaska, Iceland, Greenland, the Far East, and Europe. He recently returned from a trip to Russia. I Owe Russia... is a comedic account of the various things that happened to the entertainer during his travels. And -- quite predictably -- it is a lengthy monologue: spotty, stylized, occasionally nipped by a classic one-liner. On foggy, foggy England: ""I tried to whistle for a cab; but I couldn't find my mouth"". On England in general: ""The whole country is so well-cast"". On Russian cigarettes: ""By the time the smoke reaches your mouth, you've kicked the habit"". The highlight of the book is, of course, the Russian episode and it's replete with a plethora of cracks about tractors, feminine dowdiness, room service, and the ""Gothic wombs"" that house the Bolshevik dead. It's Hope carried to a charitable extreme.