BING CROSBY AND TEETHING

My daughter is going through the most annoying part of her short life so far - the teething process. She is beautiful and wonderful during the day, but in the evening she becomes like Lon Chaney Jr in The Wolfman. She becomes a howling and screaming animal. This past weekend was especially brutal. My wife is a rock, and even she was beginning to crumble. So on Saturday night I took my turn with the inconsolable infant. I could not get her to settle down at all, so instead of getting worked up and making matters worse, I sat down in my favorite recliner and started singing to her. I decided to sing one song or a medley of songs from each Bing Crosby movie in order! I started with The Big Broadcast, and I opened with "Please". I thought the song was fitting as I pleaded with her to go to sleep. I then moved on to more 1930s Bing songs like "Down The Old Ox Road (from College Humor), "Temptation (from Going Hollywood), and "June In January" (from Here Is My Heart). At this point, my daughter would only let out a fleeting cry and sigh but she still was basically just staring at me. I don't know if it was very unlike Bing singing calming her or my 2am morning breath, but at least she was quieting down.

I was actually pretty excited that I knew all of Bing's films in order. I got most confused with the order of his late 1930s movies, but before you know it I was hitting Bing's prolific 1940s period. I sang a medley of songs from Holiday Inn including "Be Careful It's My Heart", "Lazy", and of course "White Christmas". I even song a few songs from the pratically banned movie Dixie like "She's From Missouri" and "Sunday, Monday, Or Always". By the time I hit 1944 my bawling daughter was off to dreamland, but to make sure she was completely out I kept singing until 1948. I ended our musical interlude with one of my favorite underrated Bing movie numbers -"Emperor's Waltz" (Love Is A Dream) from The Emperor Waltz. By this time I had been singing almost an hour, and I was pretty sure my daughter was off to dreamland.

I really hope that her teething is over soon. I don't mind it on weekends, but it loses all its cuteness on weekdays. If she does cry out I am ready with the rest of Bing's movie songs from Top O' The Morning (1949) to Robin And The Seven Hoods (1964). It's not easy being a parent sometimes, but as always Bing Crosby helps me out...