Tiny Greenfield, N.H., population 1,500, and far from the bustle of cities, was the perfect place for Bob Hope to relax, play golf and drop a few one-liners.

After dinner, he would take a walk on the short main street with its single stop light.

“He said he was going to do a benefit for the town so we could buy another street light,” dentist David Hedstrom said Monday. On another occasion, when a car drove by, and then another, “he said, ‘Move over, fellas. It’s the busy season,”‘ said Hedstrom.

Hope’s death Sunday at the age of 100 brought back the memories for Hedstrom and Vic Mangini, a friend of Hope’s for more than four decades and the reason Hope and his wife, Dolores, came to Greenfield and stayed at Mangini’s Greenfield Inn.

Hope stayed at the inn in southern New Hampshire at least four times in the 16 years Mangini has owned it. While Hope took his golf seriously, everything he said was funny, Hedstrom said. “My impression was he was a genuinely funny guy all the time,” he said.

During lunch at the club, when people discovered he was there, “he was very, very gracious,” Hedstrom said. Hope signed autographs and posed for pictures with fans.

Mangini, 77, talks about Hope the same way.

“He was not any different in private than he was behind a microphone,” he said.

Although Mangini took no other guests at the 12-room inn when the Hopes visited, Hope would sit on the porch and neighbors, such as the Hedstroms, would come over and sit and talk with him.

“He was that way, very relaxed with people,” Mangini said.

On one occasion, during the late 1980s, U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg came by for dinner. His home was in Greenfield.

“He was very engaging, and his wife was even more engaging,” he said.

Gregg, who as governor at the time, said his family’s favorite photo was when Hope gathered everybody on the couch – Gregg, his wife, Kathy and their three children, with one of them on Hope’s lap.

“It’s one of our fondest memories, right up there with meeting the pope,” Gregg said of the evening.

Mangini was working for Hart Schaffner & Marx clothing in Chicago in marketing and advertising when he tried to get Hope to pose in one of the company’s suits. Hope did on the conditions that the picture be taken at his home and the ad would mention his next movie, “A Global Affair” in 1964.

Mangini said the two hit it off – “From the minute we met, we were insulting each other” – and Hope invited him back to his home. They remained friends through the years.

Mangini last saw Hope about 11/2 years ago at his home in the Los Angeles area when Hope, in ill health, joined them for dinner. On other occasions, Hope was confined to his bedroom and didn’t see anyone, he said.

AP-ES-07-28-03 1520EDT

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