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Bill Remsen. Here are five facts about the musician, actor, and avid golfer, who was born on May 3, The entertainer was born Harry Lillis Crosby, which doesn't have quite the same ring to it. The nickname "Bing" found him when he was just 7 years old. The Spokane Spokesman-Review ran a comic feature called The Bingville Bugle , which was a parody of hillbilly newspapers. The young Crosby thought the feature was a riot, and would giggle uncontrollably when reading it.
A neighbor noticed his laughter and started calling Crosby "Bingo from Bingville. When television fans think of Columbo , they probably envision Peter Falk starring as the title character.
However, the job could have been Crosby's. Thomas Mitchell also spent some time in the role, but the character really exploded when NBC decided to make a television movie in The film's producers wanted either Crosby or the great Lee J. Cobb to portray Columbo, but Cobb couldn't squeeze it into his schedule. Crosby turned down the role for a funnier reason: he thought it would interfere with his golfing. At that point Bing considered himself mostly retired, and he didn't want to deal with the long drag of shooting keeping him off of the links.
At the time of his death, he was estimated to have waxed some songs with combined sales of ,, Furthermore, new recordings—in the latest electronic configurations—seem to appear almost daily. Up to , Bing had recorded extensively with both of the major U.
On August 8, , however, he became the first artist to sign with the newly founded Decca, headed by visionary Jack Kapp. Bing would later comment,. It was an immense success, and before the end of the year Bing was signed as the new host. When Jimmy Dorsey—concerned that only one radio program per week was undercutting his identity as a major big band leader—expressed his wish to leave the Kraft organization after two years, John Scott Trotter was brought in as the orchestra leader.
Bing took an immediate liking to the musical director and let him significantly modify the style of the orchestra. During the s, it could be argued that Crosby film accomplishments lacked far behind his stature in radio, performing venues, and the recording industry. The "Road" series would change that perception in dramatic fashion. Beginning with Road to Singapore , the series—which encompassed seven films made over a twenty year period—ultimately broke all existing box office records as well as creating a new style of cinema.
With Hollywood in the midst of a South Sea Island fad calculated to provide escapist fare for a world facing the harsh realties of economic depression and global warfare, Paramount decided to team Bing and Bob Hope, a pairing which had already produced inspired comedy on the airwaves. The films were notable for enabling the two stars to ad-lib almost at will.
Co-star Dorothy Lamour would later recall,. Shortly after the second film of the series, Road to Zanzibar , was released the U. Cutting back on his radio and film activities, Crosby shifted the bulk of energies to raising money for the Armed Forces.
One tour, which teamed him with Jimmy Van Heusen, covered more than 5, miles stateside as they performed for servicemen and visited hundreds of hospital wards.
The trips, which lasted throughout the war years, were extremely taxing, averaging three show a day in camps across the nation. In late summer Crosby travelled to Europe to help boost morale among American military personnel and the Allied citizenry. In addition to live performances and personal appearances, he was persuaded to broadcast to Germany from London. He talked and sang in phonetic German, expressing the hope that soon the German nation would know the freedoms enjoyed by Americans and Britons.
From that time on, the enemy fondly referred to him as "Der Bingle. While Crosby was less visible in the mass media during the war years, his work reached new heights for both commercial success and artistic achievement.
Holiday Inn , released in , became the top grossing musical up to that time. In addition, the soundtrack included two of his most popular records ever, "Swinging on a Star" which received an Oscar as song of the year and an updated rendition of "Silent Night. He also made brief film appearances in support of the war effort. Crosby was now at the pinnacle of his popularity. Evidence of his popularity seemd to be everywhere:. Much in the same manner as the "Battle of the Baritones" in the early s, the clash between "the Swooner versus the Crooner" was hype as a result of its box office appeal.
Sinatra soon acquired his own radio show and his chief gag writer, Carroll Carroll, continued to function in this capacity for Crosby as well. Carroll would later outline the characterizations supplied to each star: "Bing was the avuncular elder man who wanted to see a young man come along and make it; Frank was the impatient newcomer who wanted to push everything aside and get in there.
In the summer of Crosby negotiated a break with Kraft and signed on with the Philco Radio Corporation. Wednesday was promoted as "Bingsday" by the network. This enabled him to stockpile shows, leaving relatively long periods of time free to pursue other professional and recreational interests.
In short order, other radio stars began following his example. During this period Crosby became directly involved in a wide variety of activities outside of performing. He sold his one-third interest in the racetrack in April to avoid a conflict of interest relating to his part ownership of the Pittsburgh Pirates major league baseball franchise. His interest in professional sports continued with the purchase of a ten percent interest in the Los Angeles Rams National Football League franchise on December 13, In Bing joined forces with Jock Whitney, at one time the U.
Ambassador to England, to market Minute Maid orange juice concentrate. He worked out an arrangement with Philco to tout the product on the radio, taking advantage on preferential options to purchase stocks and shares in the venture. Crosby was no longer merely an entertainment giant, but an American institution as well.
The Music Digest estimated that his recordings filled more than half of the 80, weekly hours allotted to recorded radio music at the time, that his radio show was heard by 25 million listeners weekly, and that each film was seen by million viewers.
The proliferation of Crosby references in films and other mass media attests to the fact that his name was a household word e. Mize discussed how he might melt a tone away, scoop it "flat and sliding up to the eventual pitch" as a "glissando," sometimes "sting a note right on the button," and take diphthongs for "long musical rides.
Osterholm would state,. By , as the cultural changes were gathering momentum in postwar America, cracks began appearing in the firmament of Crosby the institution. The Philco show was losing its mass appeal; the last broadcast would take place on June 1. Nevertheless, many signs of outward success could still be found. British distributors named Bing the most popular international star in In Communist Czechoslavakia, an overflow crowd reportedly assembled in October in a Prague theater to hear—and applaud—Crosby records.
While vacationing in Europe at the time—without Dixie—Crosby narrowly avoided a fifth stay in jail, on this occasion for violating the grass near the Champs Elysees while awaiting a luncheon appointment. In the spring of a Vancouver hotel clerk insultingly refused Bing and companion Bill Morrow a room because they were unshaven. Meanwhile, Bing Crosby Productions committed wholeheartedly to television.
Another 24 shows would soon follow. Beginning with his second appearance on February 27, , when he sang several songs on The Red Cross Program NBC , he became increasingly visible in the new medium. His third appearance took place on June 21, , as he joined Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour in a telethon concerning with financing the American Olympic team. While abroad Bing received word that Dixie was dying of ovarian cancer.
He returned home October 4, Dixie meeting him at Union Station with the aid of daily blood transfusions. She had a relapse the following morning , as Bing prepared for the General Electric program, which premiered on October 9.
Dixie died October 31, one day before she was to have turned Crosby went into private mourning with Judy Garland and Jimmy Stewart serving as guest hosts on the radio show for two weeks. By early he had returned to work on a full-time basis.
When he began dating Mary Murphy, a Paramount starlet, and divorcee Mona Freeman rumors began circulating in the mass media. The reviews for the program, which featured Bing singing several songs and guests Jack Benny and Sheree North, were decidedly cool.
Why do I do it? Decca decided to honor Crosby by assembling a special album of 89 songs, many re-recorded and all complemented by an audio commentary. In the meantime, his opinions regarding the rhythm and blues-inflected sounds then becoming popular were published in the November 2, issue of Look.
In his essay, entitled "I Never Had to Scream," he noted popular music had changed, "but not all for the better, by any fair means or foul. Despite his reservations about the state of pop music at the time, Crosby remained a commercially viable recording artist. According to Osterholm, "each jukebox in America offered at least four Crosby songs. However, he continued to champion the old guard. When music publishers and disc jockeys were being investigated regarding possible payola violations in the late s, he made the following point in a letter to the Senate Commerce Committee: "It galls me exceedingly to see so much trash on our airlines and TV screens while the work of the talented and dedicated songwriters is crowded out of the picture.
Crosby remained busy making films in After a brief recuperation following surgery for kidney stones and a minor eye problem, he returned to the Paramount lot to finish filming Anything Goes. The TV film, High Tor , was aired March 10; despite generally high marks for the music, the overall production received cool reviews. After several postponements over a two-year period, Crosby secretly married actress Kathryn Grant in Las Vegas October 24, Despite some adjustment problems—Kathryn would later relate that on returning to their Hollywood home she had been shocked to find a portrait of Dixie in the bathroom and a blanket cover on their double bed bearing the initials D.
The second marriage and subsequent family appears to have spurred a marked change in Crosby. According to Army Archerd, an entertainment journalist who knew Bing for twenty-five years,. Crosby finally committed himself to television in a big way when he signed a five-year contract with ABC in June Its terms included a two-million-dollar payment to star in two one-hour shows per year in addition to producing another ten on film.
His first special per the agreement was aired in October Furthermore, his marriage to Kathryn seemed to exacerbate the problems he had in communicating with them. Evidently feeling the public deserved an explanation, Bing granted an interview to Joe Hyams of the Associated Press in late March I think I failed them by giving them too much work and discipline, too much money, and too little time and attention.
While still capable of boffo box office feats, his best days were considered to be long past. Like other Hollywood titans such as Bob Hope and Jerry Lewis, Bing lent his time and public persona to variety of charitable causes. His Crosby Clambake, now a major international event, garnered further attention in January when Bing, prompted by a newspaper column written by baseball legend Jackie Robinson, forced the Professional Golfers Association to rescind certain racial discrimination practices.
Honors from outside the show business community included having President John F. Kennedy as a house guest in his Palm Springs home.
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