Saturday, April 25, 2020

SPOTLIGHT ON GARY CROSBY

I have taken a look at three of the sons Bing Crosby had with his first wife, Dixie Lee. However, I hesitated to profile Bing's oldest son Gary Crosby. As a lifelong fan of Der Bingle, I have been bitter against Gary for the scathing book he wrote about his father in 1983. However, now nearly 40 years later, it is what it is. Bing had a very difficult relationship with his four sons especially Gary. Despite that book, Gary's life was a life worth living, and I feel his life should not be forgotten.

Gary Crosby was born on June 27, 1933 in Los Angeles and graduated from Stanford University. He entered the entertainment business and performed in a harmony singing group, The Crosby Boys, with his three brothers, Philip, Lindsay, and Dennis, during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. As a teenager, he sang with his father on numerous records songs, and two of them "Sam's Song" and "Play a Simple Melody",  became the first double-sided gold record in history.  He also recorded duets with Louis Armstrong and at least one 45-single with Sammy Davis Jr.. He also performed on several variety programs, including ABC's The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom and NBC's The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford. In the mid-1950s, Gary also had his own radio program, the Gary Crosby Show on CBS. The musical variety program debuted June 6, 1954, as a summer replacement for Bing Crosby's show.


As an actor, Crosby appeared in many television programs. On March 20, 1955, he appeared on the Jack Benny Program Season 5, Episode 13. Later, he was briefly under contract to 20th Century-Fox in the late 1950s. He appeared in a number of supporting roles for the studio, normally comedies in which Crosby played a soldier: Mardi Gras (1958) with Pat Boone; Holiday for Lovers (1959), as Carol Lynley's love interest; A Private's Affair (1959), with Sal Mineo; The Right Approach (1961) with Frankie Vaughan. Gary spent a small stint in the military where he was stationed with Elvis Presley whom he would make Girl Crazy with in 1965.

He is perhaps best-remembered for his recurring roles as Eddie the scheming bellhop on The Bill Dana Show and Officer Edward "Ed" Wells on NBC's Adam-12 from 1968–75, as well as appearances on several other shows produced by Jack Webb's Mark VII Limited (including an episode of Dragnet 1969 and five episodes of Emergency!). In addition to the aforementioned, he also appeared in three episodes of The Rockford Files.


In the 1970s, he appeared occasionally on game shows such as Match Game and Tattletales as a guest panelist. He married and divorced three times; he had one stepchild as a result. A lifelong alcoholic, Gary jumped at the change to write about his famous father. The children of other famous stars such as Christina Crawford (daughter of Joan Crawfrod) had made millions off of the tell-all tales of growing up famous.

In 1983, six years after his father's death, Crosby published an autobiography, Going My Own Way, which revealed the effects of his alcoholism and his difficult childhood as a result of his mother's alcoholism and his father's emotional and physical abuse. Some, especially his brother Phillip, said the abuse was not as severe as Crosby described. Gary himself reportedly admitted the book was a big exaggeration to make money.

In the late 1980s, Gary gained peace in his life and became sober. At the time of his death, he was planning a duets album with his father like Natalie Cole had done with her father Nat King Cole. Gary Crosby died of lung cancer in Burbank, California on August 24,1995, and is interred at Forest Lawn-Hollywood Hills Cemetery. Just like Gary Crosby made peace with his father, I feel I need to make peace with Gary's book. Who know how anyone would have turned out if they had Gary's life. The important thing is that he finally had peace at the end...


Thursday, April 23, 2020

HOW THE MODERN GENERATION CAN BECOME INTERESTED IN BING - A PERSONAL ACCOUNT

Here is a guest writer to this blog. ModernBingFan0377 makes some great points on keeping Bing's memory alive...


The first exposure to Der Bingle was when I was 2, Disney had separated some of their half hour shorts from the 40s on VHS. I had 'Mickey and the Beanstalk', but the trailers before the main program showed clips from the others including 'The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow'. I was entertained by the Ichabod song and wanted to watch it, but alas I never did. A few years later I was helping my mother put up Christmas decorations, and we had on a TV that played Christmas music, and Bing's 'Frosty the Snowman' came up. I remember initially judging it as I loved Jimmy Durante's version of 'Frosty'. I would encounter his Christmas music from time to time after that and watched Holiday Inn and White Christmas with my family.


About 10 years after hearing him sing 'Frosty', as a Christmas fanatic, I decided to find a few free Christmas albums on Amazon Prime music, and I greatly enjoyed what I heard. Around this same time my parents and I were trying to find music I liked besides Christmas music. I didn't like modern stuff or Elvis, I tried Frank Sinatra and he just didn't grab my attention. I grew to like some of Frank's Christmas outings as well as Bing's, so a picked up 2 Christmas CDs of theirs. A Laserlight mostly radio CD of Bing, and a Columbia Christmas Compilation for Frank. Another year went by and I got a few more CDs, mainly of Bing, The Complete Decca Christmas Songbook and the Christmas TV Specials, Volume 2 of the the Television Specials. At the time I didn't realize I was buying duplicates. I listened to the CDs and decided to look for some non-Christmas outings by Bing, and enjoyed them. I then bought a import 2CD set from Amazon called 'The Very Best Of Bing Crosby' and loved it. Later on that spring I decided to buy my first load of regular Crosby stuff (not counting the 2CD set mentioned), ordering multiple records and the His Legendary Years set. From then on I was a set-in-stone Crosby fan.

To help keep his legacy alive I've introduced him to many of my friends both at school and online. This has made a few more people Crosby fans. One tip I will give is to, if you have children, have your children, if they like Crosby, tell their friends about him. I know I was glad to find his music...

By ModernBingFan0377


Monday, April 20, 2020

COMING SOON: HAPPY BIRTHDAY BING

To celebrate what would have been Bing Crosby's 117th birthday on May 3, 2020 - we are doing seven days of audio aspirins! From May 1st to May 7th we will be playing a recording of Bing and remembering what a wonderful singer he was. The songs will be from movies, radio, and records. So please feel free to leave comments and come join the birthday party!


Monday, April 13, 2020

NEW CD: BING CROSBY - PHILCO RADIO TIME

A new excellent two CD set will be coming out in May from Sepia records called "Bing Crosby - Philco Radio Time". From the Philco Radio Time series starring Bing Crosby broadcast between 1946 & 1949 this 2CD set picks up Bing's cover versions of the hits of the day. It's a historical archive of those immediate post-war years and demonstrates Bing's versatility with all kinds of songs as he duets with Ezio Pinza, Al Jolson, Burl Ives, Dick Powell, Peggy Lee, Rhonda Fleming, Dorothy Kirsten..



TRACKS:

CD1:
Five Minutes More
Timber
In The Evening By The Moonlight
You Are My Sunshine
If You Were The Only Girl In The World
La Borrachita
(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons
The Anniversary Song
Among My Souvenirs
Guilty
Country Style
Linda
How Are Things In Glocca Morra?
Time After Time
Mam'selle
Peg O' My Heart
Feudin', Fightin' And Fussin'
That's My Desire
I Wonder, I Wonder, I Wonder
I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now?
Almost Like Being In Love
Sweet Betsy From Pike
Clementine
Just An Old Love Of Mine
You Do
 I Still Get Jealous
With A Hey! And A Hi! And A Ho! Ho! Ho!
The Best Things In Life Are Free
I Only Have Eyes For You
With Plenty Of Money And You
You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby
Jeepers Creepers
Shuffle Off To Buffalo
Thanks A Million
How Lucky You Are
Love Is So Terrific
Hooray For Love



CD2:
I May Be Wrong
Blue Shadows On The Trail
Baby Face
Nature Boy
You're Too Dangerous, Cherie
My Happiness
A Tree In the Meadow
Rambling Rose
Something To Remember You By
Hair Of Gold, Eyes Of Blue
Cuanta La Gusta
My Darling, My Darling
The Missouri Waltz
I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm
So In Love
Sunflower
You Was
Once In Love With Amy
While The Angelus Was Ringing
Down The Old Ox Road
Cruising Down The River
Riders In The Sky
Blue Hawaii
Careless Hands
When Is Sometime
Again
Buttons And Bows
It's Magic
So Dear To My Heart
I Got Lucky In The Rain
Far Away Places
So Tired
Powder Your Face With Sunshine
Some Enchanted Evening


Saturday, April 4, 2020

THE ETHNICITY OF BING


Birth Name: Harry Lillis Crosby, Jr.

Date of Birth: May 3, 1903

Place of Birth: Tacoma, Washington, U.S.

Date of Death: October 14, 1977

Place of Death: Alcobendas, Madrid, Spain

Ethnicity: English, Irish

Bing Crosby was an American singer and actor. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for Going My Way (1944).

His father, Harry Lillis/Lincoln/Lowe Crosby, was of English descent and his mother, Catherine Helen (Harrigan), was of Irish descent. Bing was raised Catholic.

Bing was married to actress and nightclub singer Dixie Lee, until her death, and to actress Kathryn Grant, until his death. He had four children with Dixie, and three children with Kathryn.

Actor and businessperson Harry Crosby is his son. Actress Denise Crosby is his granddaughter.

Bing’s patrilineal line can be traced to Anthony Crosby, who was born, c. 1545, in Holme-on-Spalding-Moor, Yorkshire, England.

Bing’s paternal grandfather was Nathaniel Crosby (the son of Nathaniel Crosby and Mary Lincoln). Bing’s grandfather Nathaniel was born in Maine, and was of English descent, from a family resident in New England since the 1600s. Bing’s great-grandfather Nathaniel was the son of Nathaniel Crosby and Ruby Foster; Ruby was the daughter of Chillingsworth Foster III and Sarah Freeman. Mary was the daughter of Isaac Lincoln and Mary Foster.

Bing’s paternal grandmother was Cordelia Jane Smith (the daughter of Jacob Smith and Priscilla Fearnley). Cordelia was born in Indiana. Priscilla was born in England.

Bing’s maternal grandfather was Dennis Harrigan (the son of Dennis Harrigan and Catherine Driscoll/Driscol). Bing’s grandfather Dennis was born in Williamstown, Northumberland County, New Brunswick, Canada, and was of Irish descent.

Bing’s maternal grandmother was Catherine Ahearn/A’Hearn (the daughter of John Ahearn and Ann Meighan). Catherine was born in New Brunswick, to Irish parents...