One last chorus of "Thanks for the Memories" echoed across Bob Hope's battered office desk and joke-writers' table Monday.
Mementos from his 70 years of showmanship went on display in Beverly Hills as Hope's family gathered the entertainer's favorite golf clubs, hats, signed presidential letters and thousands of other personal items in preparation for a weekend auction.
Proceeds will be turned over to veterans' organizations by the Bob and Dolores Hope Charitable Foundation, said daughter Linda Hope, who was the producer on his TV specials for the last two decades.
"It's a bittersweet kind of thing," she said as she settled into the worn-out leather office chair her father used for several decades and refused to have reupholstered because it was so comfortable just the way it was.
"Dad never liked to throw anything out. He was a bit of a pack rat," she said. "If he were here, he'd have something to say about everything here."
The trove is on display this week at the Beverly Hilton's old Trader Vic's restaurant -- one of Hope's favorite places, according to his daughter. "He'd get a kick out of the fact this is occurring here," she said.
Hope died five years ago at age 100. The souvenirs being sold this weekend are from his sprawling office at his Toluca Lake estate.
Auctioneer Darren Julien said the Saturday and Sunday sales will be streamed on the Internet and could raise as much as half a million dollars for veterans.
One display room is devoted almost exclusively to Hope's golf clubs, golfing attire and other items related to his love of the links, Julien said.
There's a collection of golf-themed neckties that could fetch as much as $600. Golfing plaques, badges, buttons and caps could go for hundreds of dollars. More than two dozen novelty putting irons -- in the shape of whiskey bottles, several depicting Hope's signature facial profile, with bent shafts -- could bring in thousands, according to auctioneers' estimates.
A polished golf bag made of red, black and white leather filled with 14 of Hope's favorite clubs is expected to sell for about $6,000.
A golfing ensemble comprising pants, a sweater and a shirt that Hope wore in 2001 for the Foster Brooks Pro-Celebrity golf tournament could go for as much as $1,500.
Display shelves and walls at Hope's office were lined with other sports objects: an autographed baseball from Yankee Don Larsen's perfect World Series game against the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1956, signed basketballs and footballs from professional and college teams, even a mounted king salmon caught by Hope in 1991.
