Five years earlier, NBC also presented a three-hour show at the Kennedy Center for Bob Hope's 75th birthday. Returning for this show are Dolores Hope, Lucille Ball, George C. Scott, George Burns, Kathryn Crosby, and Jim Henson as Kermit the Frog.
Two years later Bob Hope returned to the Kennedy Center as an honoree on "The Kennedy Center Honors." Five years later, Hope returned to the Kennedy Center stage to tribute honoree George Burns on "The Kennedy Center Honors."
Of those celebrities performing, Lucille Ball had appeared with Bob Hope, George Burns, and Flip Wilson on her sitcoms.
This special earned a 23.9 rating and a 38 share, the highest of the evening. Ironically, (considering the venue was the Kennedy Center) it was opposite a rerun of an ABC TV movie about Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. CBS re-ran sitcoms and an episode of "Cagney & Lacey."