GUEST REVIEWER: HERE COMES THE GROOM

Our guest reviewer Bruce Krogan is back with his usual excellent review. This time around it is the second pairing of Der Bingle and director Frank Capra in 1951's Here Comes The Groom...

Frank Capra in his autobiography called Bing Crosby, "the master of the cultured ad-lib." A lot of time Crosby would drop several ad-libs into a script and Capra kept them in. According to Capra they were better than what the screenwriter had written. Of course partnering with Bob Hope in several films and thousands of radio, television, and live shows Bing had to be quick on the uptake.

Capra wanted to do another of his populist films like Mr. Deeds etc., in the three picture deal he signed with Paramount. But after doing Riding High and doing it well with Bing Crosby, he wanted to do one of his type film. The Paramount brass said no, but since he was unhappy at Paramount they agreed to drop their last picture commitment on his contract for one more Crosby film. Just make a good one.

Capra was as good as his word. This film is entertainment plus and a lot of that has to do with the chemistry between Bing and Jane Wyman. Most of Crosby's leading ladies were nice women who just melted with the Crosby charm. Not so here. Ms. Wyman gives as good with the wisecracks as Crosby does and is no pushover. What she is here is a fiancé who's grown tired of waiting for her man who's out gallivanting all over the world as per his job as correspondent. When he finally does come back he has two French orphans in tow. But Jane's decided to marry millionaire Franchot Tone. Bing has to get her back or those kids will be deported. That's where the fun starts.

By now Paramount was giving Crosby vehicles some respectable budgets and that included letting Frank Capra hire a lot of his favorite supporting players. Those folks make a Capra film an enjoyable experience.

Franchot Tone does nicely as millionaire rival and critics were astounded at Alexis Smith who turned out to have a real flair for comedy. Funny parts she wasn't getting at Warner Brothers. She plays a "kissing" cousin of Franchot Tone and figures prominently in Bing's machinations.

They were also astounded at Jane Wyman who nobody realized could sing. Why they were is beyond me since she did start in musical choruses. The song In the Cool Cool Cool of the Evening by Hoagy Carmichael and Johnny Mercer won an Oscar for best song and became one of Bing's million selling records, dueted with Jane Wyman on screen and on vinyl.

The rest of the score is by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans who were under contract to Paramount and for some reason or other never wrote another Crosby film score. Probably because Paramount didn't assign them because many years later they scored and arranged a whole album of duets with Bing and Rosemary Clooney called That Traveling Two Beat Time. And Bing did pretty good with a song written for his friend Bob Hope by them called Silver Bells.

One of the Livingston-Evans songs was a patented philosophical number called Your Own Little House. A nice song on record, on screen it's a great impromptu style number that so many of Crosby's seemed to be. Sung with a group of kids who are French war orphans, Bing does some gentle kidding of fellow entertainers Jimmy Durante and Maurice Chevalier.

This is one of Bing's best and great entertainment...

BRUCE'S RATING: 9 OUT OF 10

MY RATING: 9 OUT OF 10

PAST OBITS: SKITCH HENDERSON

Here is the New York Times obituary for legendary conductor Skitch Henderson from November 3, 2005. He died ten years ago...

Skitch Henderson, the conductor, pianist and radio and television entertainer who provided music and repartee for the "Tonight" show in the 1950's and 60's and who founded and led the New York Pops, died on Tuesday at his home in New Milford, Conn. He was 87.

His death was announced by James M. Johnson, executive director of the Pops.

With his neatly trimmed Vandyke beard and friendly disposition, Mr. Henderson was a familiar personality to millions of Americans over a long career. He had shows of his own on radio and television, and made many guest appearances in the 1950's and 1960's on "To Tell the Truth" and other game shows.

He was also a mainstay of the "Tonight" show, conducting the studio band and swapping stories with Steve Allen beginning in 1954 and later with Johnny Carson. He devised the "Stump the Band" routine, in which members of the studio audience would suggest obscure song titles and challenge the band musicians to play the tunes.

Mr. Henderson liked to stretch his players when he could, using arrangements by distinguished writers like Neal Hefti and Ernie Wilkins. Among the sidemen in the Henderson band were the trumpeter Clark Terry and Doc Severinsen, who took over as leader in 1967.

Though he became as much a performer as a conductor-pianist, Mr. Henderson always maintained his musical presence. He once described himself as "a middlebrow musician who does quality show music," and critics over the years seemed to agree with that assessment.

Under Mr. Henderson's leadership, the New York Pops were born unofficially in the 1950's, with 70 members of the New York Philharmonic. It faded, but Mr. Henderson started it again, formalized its existence in 1983 and conducted it for many years, drawing musicians from the city's freelance pool.

Mr. Henderson was regarded as one of the best-traveled musicians on the scene. In addition to turns on the podium of the New York Philharmonic, he made appearances as a guest conductor of orchestras in San Diego, Minneapolis, Salt Lake City, Tulsa and Stamford, Conn., and of quality pops orchestras in Virginia, Florida and Kentucky. Abroad, he conducted the Royal Philharmonic and the London Symphony.

He received a 1963 Grammy Award for an album of selections from "Porgy and Bess," with the RCA Orchestra and Leontyne Price as the main soloist. "What's great about Skitch," Marvin Hamlisch, who performed with him often, once said, "is that he can move between any type of music. Now he does a lot of pop music, but he knows the repertoire of the classics as well as anyone. He's a consummate musician."

Lyle Russell Cedric Henderson was born on Jan. 27, 1918, in Birmingham, England. In interviews over the years he said that he took piano lessons when he was 6 from his mother, a church organist, and that he came to the United States when he was 14. By the time he turned 15, he said, he had decided to try to make his mark in music.

Mr. Henderson told reporters that when he was very young, "I ran away and played with a rinky-dink band." He was somewhere in the Midwest in the 1930's, playing a hotel, when he encountered Judy Garland. He stepped in when her regular accompanist became ill and later was a rehearsal accompanist for both Garland and Mickey Rooney.

In 1938 he played piano for "The Bob Hope Pepsodent Show" on radio. Two years later, Mr. Henderson enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force. When the United States entered the war in 1941, he joined the Army Air Corps and became a fighter pilot.

After his discharge in 1945, he organized his own dance band and toured the United States. He worked with Bing Crosby on the radio and was also music director of Frank Sinatra's "Light-Up Time" radio show.

He was often asked where he got the name Skitch. He said it was given to him by Bing Crosby, who told him the public would never remember proper names like Harry Lillis Crosby but couldn't forget him once he became Bing. Crosby began to call him the Sketch Kid, because as a rehearsal pianist he made piano sketches for the orchestrator. From that came Skitch.

In 1998, he summarized his career for The Salt Lake Tribune. "I've never had goals," he said. "I have worked and been lucky enough. If one trolley broke down, I was able to get on another that was running. Goals are dreams but they are seldom realistic."

SOURCE

BING AND THE SIMPSONS

It is amazing that the adult cartoon The Simpsons is still on television. What has it been 150 years?! Seriously, the show has been on for over 25 years now. I just found out that even Der Bingle got the The Simpsons treatment...

In the Simpson world...in 1956 Bing came to Springfield and he spent the afternoon playing mini-golf at Sir Putt-A-Lott's, while his car's Johnson rod is replaced.

He appears in the Itchy & Scratchy short, "Dogday Hellody of 1933"

He appeared in "A Zombie Christmas with Bing Crosby, Elvis and the 1932 All American Football Team"...

50 ROLES THAT BING DID NOT GET

Here is a list of films either intended for Bing, proposed for him, or sought by him. There is a lot to tantalise here. More additions would be most welcome. This should put to rest the misconception that Bing was not considered a " hot " film property after High Society...

1) Alice In Wonderland 1933.
2) Vienna Nightingale 1935 planned operetta.
3) Fly by Night 1936.
4) The Story of Will Rogers 1944 (eventually made with Will Rogers, Jr.).
5) Comin' through The Rye 1946 (the life of Robert Burns).
6) Adventures of a Ballad Hunter ( life of folk singer John Avery Lomax ).
7) Road To Brooklyn 1946.
8) Untitled Film 1947 to be produced by Alexander Korda, scripted by Damon Runyon in England.
9) Friendly Persuasion 1948 scheduled to be Frank Capra's first Paramount film, planned for Bing and Jean Arthur,project cancelled due to budgetary limitations.
10) The Silver Whistle 1949, part originated on Broadway by Jose Ferrer.
11) Pardners,1950 with Hopalong Cassidy, remake of Rhythm On The Range, eventually filmed with Martin and Lewis.
12) Road To Paris 1950

13) Come Back Little Sheba 1952, role went tp Burt Lancaster.
14) Guys and Dolls 1952,with Bob Hope.
15) Road To The Moon 1953 with possibly Marilyn Monroe taking Lamour part.
16) The Rainmaker 1955, part again went to Burt Lancaster.
17) Untitled film 1957,with Jackie Gleason about songwriters Dubin and Warren.
18) The Music Man 1958, Bing became interested after seeing the play, part went to Robeert Preston.
19) Two For The Seasaw 1958, again Bing became interested after seeing the play, part went to Robert Mitchum.
20) Bachelor's Baby 1959, Fox project to be produced by Dick Powell.
21) The Jimmy Durante Story 1959, with Dean Martin playing Durante and Frank Sinatra playing Lou Clayton. Bing was to portray Eddie Jackson. Frank Capra was to direct and produce. The plan fell apart when Capra became displeased with contractual arrangements.
22) The Brothers Grimm 1960, Bing asked to play whichever brother he wanted.
23) The Great Western Story 1960,to be produced by Cinerama and Bing Crosby productions,which owned the rights,eventually became How The West was Won.
24) Tender Is The Night 1960, Bing considered for part which went to Jason Robards, Jr.
25) Advise and Consent 1961,Otto Preminger wanted Bing who was at the time commited to The Road To Hong Kong.

26) The Art of Llewellyn Jones 1961.
27) By The Beautiful Sea, planned for Bing and Judy Garland.
28) The Devil's Advocate, Dore Schary wanted Bing to play the lead in the film of Morris West's book for Warners Bros. with Fredric March and Sophia Loren.
29) Road To Calcutta 1962.
30) All The Way Home 1962,producer David Susskind wanted Bing, part went again to Robert Preston.
31) Never Too Late 1962, Bing attempted to buy the rights to play and would have played Paul Ford part.
32) Untitled film 1963 with Lucille Ball.
33) Musical version of The Rainmaker 1963.
34) Here's Love 1963 film version of Meredith Wilson musical.
35) Choice of Violence 1963, a murder melodrama.

 
36) Popi,1965, part went to Alan Arkin.
37) Say It With music 1965 with Julie Andrews with Irving Berlin score.
38) Bloomer Girl 1966, with Katherine Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine, based on Arlen and Mercer musical.
39) The Absence of a Cello 1966, musical with Vivien Leigh.
40) Rocket to the Moon 1966 ,Bing to play P.T. Barnum in Jules Verne story.
41) Mad Dogs And Englishmen 1966.
42) The Family Band 1966, part went to Walter Brennan.
43) The Great St. Bernard 1967, a story about a monk in the Alps.
44) Untitled film with Fred Astaire 1967.
45) The Detective, with Frank Sinatra 1967.
46) Road To Christmas 1968.
47) Paint Your Wagon 1968, part went to Lee Marvin.
48) The Birds Wore Blinkers, with Hope and Gleason and John Wayne to be made in Ireland.
49) The Sunshine Boys 1973 with Hope, parts went to Walter Matthau and George Burns.
50) Road To Tomorrow or The road To The Fountain of Youth 1975, with Lamour and Hope and Mae West.

THE FATE OF BING'S FINANCIAL EMPIRE

On this, the 38th anniversary of Bing Crosby's death, I figured it would be interesting to take a look at what became of his financial empire...

HLC Properties is a Nevada limited partnership formed in 1980 for the purpose of managing the entertainment empire created by Harry Lillis Crosby, professionally known as Bing Crosby, who died in 1977. Crosby’s personal representative and widow transferred to HLC his interests in various record masters, television programs, motion pictures, radio programs, music compositions, music publishing agreements, literary works, and the contract rights related to those interests, as well as the right of publicity. The general partner of HLC, Hillsborough Productions, Inc., was to manage the operations, including making all creative and business decisions about the interests transferred to HLC.

Before Crosby’s death, the business interests transferred to HLC were owned by Crosby but managed and operated by a staff of employees that had managed Crosby’s holdings for decades. Basil F. Grillo (1905-1995), the manager and accountant who had run Crosby’s organization for over 30 years, said that when he first began working for Crosby in 1945 or 1946, the Crosby operation was already so extensive that six months passed before he even met Crosby. That operation included musicians, singers, writers and agents, all of whom were involved in the creative and business aspects of records, motion pictures and radio and television programs. It also had interests in other fields. At times, business activities operated within formal entities. For example, Bing Crosby Productions was engaged in motion picture and television production. Bing Crosby Enterprises, Inc., was formed, but was later liquidated in the 1950s. The various businesses and entertainment interests of Crosby generally were managed under the name “Bing Crosby Enterprises,” but that operation was not a formal entity.

It appears that any formal business entity that Crosby utilized for his operations was dissolved or otherwise liquidated, for there is no suggestion of the existence of such an entity at his death. There is no indication of how or in what manner those entities were terminated -- whether by a formal dissolution or informal liquidation. After Crosby’s death, the executor of his estate, Richard C. Bergen of the law firm of O’Melveny & Meyers, continued to maintain “Mr. Crosby’s business office,” where Enterprises operated. In 1980, the executor entered into a limited partnership agreement with Hillsborough Productions, Inc. and Kathryn G. Crosby (Crosby’s second and surviving spouse) to form HLC Properties, an entity that would manage the interests Crosby left. Ultimately, the executor transferred the estate’s 78.685 percent interest in certain properties to HLC Properties. Kathryn Crosby also transferred her 21.315 percent interest in these same properties to HLC Properties.

In 1981, the probate court approved the formation of HLC Properties, approved the estate’s agreement to transfer estate properties and assets to HLC Properties, and approved the estate’s transfer of its limited partnership interest in HLC Properties to various family member trusts. Upon final distribution of the estate, the executor was discharged.

Mark Brodka, the second husband of Bing's only daughter, Mary Frances, served as chief legal counsel for HLC and filed lawsuits against Bing's recording company, Universal Music Group, alleging unpaid royalties. Universal countersued and in 2012 Universal and HLC reached agreement to cooperate in promoting Bing's musical legacy. Mr. Brodka was relieved of his legal duties to HLC by Bing's eldest son, Harry, with the approval of Mrs. Crosby...

SOURCE

AUDIO ASPIRIN: DOMENICA

PHOTOS OF THE DAY: BING AND HIS UNDERRATED LEADING LADIES

When you are taking a look at the filmography of Bing Crosby, he had some stunning female co-stars. You instantly think of Dorothy Lamour in all of those Road movies or Grace Kelly in the technicolor masterpiece High Society (1956). However, there are some female leads that you might have forgotten made movies with Der Bingle. They all wanted to work with Bing, and some of these great pictures showcases that...

Ida Lupino in ANYTHING GOES (1936)

Joan Blondell in EAST SIDE OF HEAVEN (1939)

Betty Hutton in HERE COMES THE WAVES (1944)

Ann Blyth in TOP O THE MORNING (1949)

Zizi Jeanmaire in ANYTHING GOES (1956)

Nicole Maurey and Tuesday Weld in HIGH TIME (1960)

AUDIO ASPIRIN: HIT THE ROAD TO DREAMLAND

PAST OBITS: DOROTHY LAMOUR

Bing Crosby's most frequent movie co-star Dorothy Lamour died on this day 19 years ago. It is hard to believe it has been so long...

Dorothy Lamour, 81, Sultry Sidekick in Road Films, Dies
By RICHARD SEVERO
Published: September 23, 1996

Dorothy Lamour, whose sarong-draped charms adorned many films of the late 1930's and 40's, especially the ''road'' pictures she made with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope, died yesterday at her home in North Hollywood, Calif. She was 81 years old.

Miss Lamour, a comely brunette who was also a favorite pinup of thousands of G.I.'s during World War II, was in her heyday at a time when the major studios believed that certain actresses needed something of a signature. Veronica Lake peered out from behind the lock of hair that invariably hid part of her face; Miss Lamour had her trademark sarong. She wore that clinging garment in a series of films, from the 1936 ''Jungle Princess'' through such 1940's comedies as ''Road to Singapore'' and ''Road to Morocco.''

Miss Lamour appeared in seven of the road pictures, in which she was always the exotic but demure girl invariably won by a crooning Mr. Crosby at the expense of a more comedic Mr. Hope. On occasion, Miss Lamour would join Mr. Crosby in a ballad, such as ''Moonlight Becomes You'' or ''Constantly.'' By the late 1940's, her salary rose to a top of around $450,000 a movie.

But she had no illusions about either her acting or singing ability. Asked by an interviewer if she had ever studied acting or singing, she replied, ''No, can't you tell?''

During World War II, Miss Lamour was also known as ''the bond bombshell'' because of the volunteer work she did selling United States War Bonds. In tours around the country, she was credited with selling some $300 million of the bonds. So effective was she as a saleswoman that the Government put a private railroad car at her disposal when she decided to go on a bond tour.

She received a belated citation for her bond work from the Treasury in 1965, at which time William H. Neal, at that time the director of the United States Savings Bond Division, credited her with being the first star to offer her services to sell war bonds and the originator of the successful Government plan for payroll deductions for those who wanted part of their salaries set aside for war bond purchases.

Her contributions to the war effort did not stop there. She was frequently seen at the Hollywood Canteen, the nightclub for servicemen founded by Bette Davis and John Garfield, where she spent many hours talking to and dancing with G.I.'s.

Miss Lamour was born on Dec. 10, 1914, in New Orleans as Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton, the daughter of John Watson Slaton and the former Carmen Louise La Porte. Her father was a waiter. Her mother, who soon divorced her father, worked as a waitress.

Young Dorothy never finished high school. The family finances were so desperate that when she was 15, she forged her mother's name to a document that authorized her to drop out of school.

Later, however, she did go to a secretarial school that did not require her to have a high school diploma. She regarded herself as an excellent typist and usually typed her own letters, even after she became quite wealthy.

After she won the 1931 Miss New Orleans beauty contest, she and her mother moved to Chicago, where Miss Lamour earned $17 a week as an elevator operator for the Marshall Field department store on State Street. She had no training as a singer but was persuaded by a friend to try out for a female vocalist's spot with Herbie Kay, a band leader who had a national radio show called ''The Yeast Foamers,'' apparently because it was sponsored by Fleischmann's Yeast.

She left Mr. Kay's group and moved to Manhattan, where Rudy Vallee, then a popular singer, helped her get a singing job at a popular night club, El Morocco. She later worked at 1 Fifth Avenue, a cabaret where she met Louis B. Mayer, the Hollywood studio chief. It was Mayer who eventually arranged for her to have a screen test, which led to her Paramount contract in 1935.

When she was at her zenith as a star, her fans suggested that an agent had adopted her last name from the French word for ''love'' as a box-office ploy. In fact, the name was close to one in the family; Miss Lamour adapted it herself from Lambour, which was the last name of her stepfather, Clarence, to whom her mother was briefly married.

Miss Lamour's more than 50 films included ''Typhoon'' (1939), ''Johnny Apollo'' (1940), ''The Fleet's In'' (1941), ''Star-Spangled Rhythm'' (1942), ''Duffy's Tavern'' (1945), ''Here Comes the Groom'' (1951), ''Donovan's Reef'' (1962) and ''Pajama Party'' (1964).

The seven movies in which she appeared with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope were ''Road to Singapore (1940), ''Road to Zanzibar'' (1941), ''Road to Morocco'' (1942), ''Road to Utopia'' (1946), ''Road to Rio'' (1948) ''Road to Bali'' (1953) and ''Road to Hong Kong'' (1962). Although Miss Lamour worked closely with Mr. Hope and Crosby for many years, she said that she was not close to them personally.

After she retired from the movies, Miss Lamour remained active. In 1968, she starred in the national road show production of ''Hello, Dolly!'' And in 1969, she was named to the Civic Center Commission of Baltimore, where she then lived. She was active in various causes there for many years. In the 1980's, she worked the cabaret circuit, where she sang many of the songs she had sung in her movies.

In the 1987 film ''Creepshow 2,'' she played a sloppily dressed housewife who gets murdered. ''Well, at my age you can't lean against a palm tree and sing 'Moon of Monakoora,''' she said. ''People would look at that and say, 'What is she trying to do?' ''

While ''Creepshow 2'' was her only film role in two decades, she was frequently seen on television, doing guest shots such shows as ''The Love Boat,'' ''Murder, She Wrote'' and, naturally, a few Bob Hope specials.

She is survived by her two sons, John Ridgley Howard and Tom Howard; a stepson, William Ross Howard 4th; a grandson, and a granddaughter...

SOURCE

BING CROSBY IS PEACHY

Bing Crosby was as American as apple, but he is is promoting canned peaches from Canned Cling in 1949. He was doing this promoting while appearing in his newest film A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court...