Some folks were a bit too quick to thank Bob Hope for the memories.

A screw-up by the Associated Press, a premature announcement by the House majority leader and a knee-jerk bulletin by Reuters combined yesterday to tell the world that the 95-year-old entertainer was dead.

Hope's daughter, Linda, had to hop on the phone to assure journalists that her father is very much alive in North Hollywood.

"The phone's been ringing off the hook," she told The Washington Post. "My dad had just awakened and was having breakfast when all hell broke loose. . . . He's feeling terrific -- he had plans to go out and hit some golf balls today."

It was yet another reminder that even unconfirmed reports move at the speed of light in the satellite age, especially when they get a boost from Congress.

Most news organizations prepare advance obituaries on prominent people who are getting on in years. The AP yesterday somehow managed to post an incomplete Hope obit on its Web site, the WIRE, which serves its newspaper clients. The headline: "Bob Hope, Tireless Master of the One-Liner, Dead at xx."

Advertisement

The story began: "LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Bob Hope, the master of the one-liner and tireless morale-booster for servicemen from World War II to the Gulf War, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx He was xx. (born May 29, 1903).

"Hope xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"

The article was spotted by an aide to House Majority Leader Richard K. Armey (R-Tex.), who handed the congressman a copy. "If he hadn't been already walking to the floor, I'm sure I would have seen it and probably recognized it for what it was," said Michele Davis, Armey's spokeswoman. Armey, she said, is "not familiar with the way these things work."

On the floor, Armey spotted Rep. Bob Stump (R-Ariz.) and told him that he, as chairman of the Veteran Affairs Committee, should give America the news. It was Stump who pushed through legislation last October to make Hope an honorary veteran.

Advertisement

"I didn't want to do it," Stump recalled. He handed the six-page printout back to the majority leader. "I said, Here, you do it.' "

But Armey persuaded Stump to make the announcement. "It is with great sadness I announce that Bob Hope has died. . . . We're all going to miss him," the Phoenix lawmaker said.

House Minority Whip David E. Bonior (D-Mich.) joined in the tribute: "We are all saddened by his passing. He provided so much joy and happiness to this planet and to our servicemen and women in particular."

That was enough for Reuters, which at 3:06 p.m. moved the following bulletin: "Entertainer Bob Hope is dead, lawmaker says."

ABC Radio picked up the wire report, then ran an on-air correction moments later.

Newsrooms across the country briefly shifted to red-alert status. But many kept one foot on the brake.

Advertisement

MSNBC reported nothing until correspondent Edie Magnus interviewed Linda Hope on the air. "Our news policy is that we have to have two verified sources in order to go with a story," said MSNBC spokeswoman Maria Battaglia.

"We looked into it and we couldn't confirm it," said CNN spokeswoman Maggie Simpson.

"We get rumors like this every week about someone in the entertainment industry dying," said Jim Hattendorf, executive producer at KABC-TV in Los Angeles, which was called by ABC officials and other affiliates. "We start out with a pretty callous attitude because we get so many false rumors."

Reuters moved a second story at 3:24, quoting Linda Hope as saying the entertainer was still very much with us.

Just before 4 p.m., Armey rushed to the floor and interrupted a series of after-hours speeches to announce that Hope was in fact alive.

Advertisement

"I apologize to Bob Hope, his family and the entire nation for the erroneous announcement made on the House floor today," Armey said. "Again, I regret this announcement and look forward to many more happy memories from a wonderful entertainer and distinguished American."

Wire service executives were left a bit red-faced. Ruth Gersh, editor of AP Multimedia Services, said the story was miscoded so that instead of showing up only on an internal display where an editor could work on it, it was posted on the Web site.

Wendy Zajack, Reuters' manager of media relations, said the wire service was merely repeating Stump's remarks. "If he said it on the floor of the House, we felt inclined to cover it," she said. "It was an official part of the congressional proceedings."

Stump, a tight-lipped former cotton farmer who wears anteater-skin boots to work, returned to his office to find all nine phone lines jammed. He quickly called Linda Hope to apologize.

Advertisement

Three years ago, the congressman and Hope shared a platform during the 50th anniversary of V-J Day at Pearl Harbor. Stump told the comedian he had first seen him in 1943 at the same site while serving in the Navy.

"That certainly makes us a couple of old bastards, doesn't it?" Hope replied. In the future, said Stump, he will not be so quick to announce the death of a public figure. "Next time, I'll do my own verifying," he said. And what was Hope's response to word of his demise? "He said, Well, I'm still here,' " Linda Hope recalled. "He's not angry. Believe me, at 95, every day is a gift. I'm just happy this has a happy outcome."

Staff writer Juliet Eilperin and special correspondent Sharon Waxman in Los Angeles contributed to this report. CAPTION: BOB HOPE

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7uK3SoaCnn6Sku7G70q1lnKedZK6zr8eirZ5noKS5qsDInKpoaWluhXB8lWhnb2eXp663sYyeqaunomLEsL7DZqafZZikvaa%2FjJ2cmqyYYrSzscCto7Jlla2uqLPEq5itnZRkfXJ8xW5tm2hda4WmsYxtmnFuXZaxdn%2BMnWyaamCar3GBlXBvaA%3D%3D