Bob Hope Goes Home

By Stephen M. Silverman

Tuesday September 08, 1998 12:00 AM EDT

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Reinforcing the old adage about how humor helps a human to heal, veteran comic Bob Hope, 97, was released from the hospital yesterday, a day earlier than expected. "I'm up, I'm dressed, I might as well go home," his publicist quoted him as saying. Hope, who was rushed into intensive care last Thursday because of some internal bleeding, waved to a crowd that had gathered to greet him outside Eisenhower Regional Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, Calif. He looked shaky but alert, and had his wife Dolores, 91, and his doctor at his side. Hope even has a sense of humor when it comes to the inevitable. When asked by his wife about what sort of funeral and internment arrangements he'd like when the time comes, he said, "Oh, just surprise me."