With the recent passing of Bob Hope, I have at least one anecdote about this great comedian.
In the late fifties I had a summer job with Sydney Reynolds Ltd. at the corner of Government and Humbolt. They dealt in china and crystal and I was employed in the packing and shipping dept. Bob Hope had been in the store that spring and ordered 12 five-piece place settings of custom Minton china. The plates were white with a 24 carat gold trim around the edge and a gold H in the centre. They were very impressive. Anyway the shipment eventually arrived from the Minton factory in England and Bob showed up in his yacht which he anchored across from the Empress in the inner harbour. The china was carried over to his yacht in boxes and after it was loaded he went through the motions of trying to find some change for a tip. His wife came to the rescue and handed out five dollar bills. After loading the china, one plate was found still in the store. It seems Mr. Reynolds made a point of ordering one extra which was eventually put on display.
Also, while I was away in California between the 15th and 28th of July, my ISP had a mail server crash and a bunch of emails were lost. If anyone sent me an email during that period, it never made it. Please try again.
Until some technical problems are resolved, please send your Email Chat to garywilcox@shaw.ca with EMAIL CHAT (all caps) as the subject. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Described as the "Inferno from Hell," this photo was taken during the height of the blaze that destroyed over two hundred homes in the Mission area of the city, August 21–22 / 03.
