Friday, December 30, 2011

BING AND 2011

It's hard to believe that another year has come and gone. Bing Crosby has been gone 34 years, but it seems like only yesterday he was crooning his heart out. The year 2011 was a pretty good one in the Bing Crosby fan world. More new CDs and mention of Bing in the media (other than at Christmas) has really boosted Bing Crosby's exposure in 2011. Here are some of the highlights of the year that was...

With news that Collector's Choice Music would be going through an overhaul, everyone was worried that that would be the end of the Bing Crosby Archive series as we know it. Even though Bing Crosby Enterprises produced the excellent CDs, Collector's Choice Music was the chief distributor. Luckily, Bing Crosby Enterprises rescued the series and are now distributing them. One of the first issues under this new arrangement is BING IN DIXIELAND. The excellent issue highlights Bing's Dixieland styled recordings. I highly recommend this album, and it is my choice as the best new Bing Crosby issue in 2011!

With the passage of time, we also have to face the facts that some people we lose each year. This year in the Bing community we mourn the loss of Dolores Hope. Dolores was the widow of Bob Hope. She married the commedian in 1934 and remained married to Hope until his death in 2003. Another death that for the most part went unnoticed was the death of child star Edith Fellows. Fellows died at the age of 88. She was the orphan that Bing befriended in the 1936 film "Pennies From Heaven".

Regarding this blog, I want to thank everyone for their support and interest in 2011. This month of December saw more visitors to this page than ever before. Over 7500 visitors have visited this site, and it is still climbing. Again, without you this blog would not be here, and in 2012 I want to continue to encourage your messages, comments, and suggestions.

I hope all of you Bing fans continue to have a happy and prosperous New Year...

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

MR. MUSIC: A 1950 REVIEW

Here is a review of the forgotten Bing Crosby gem MR. MUSIC (1950). The review appeared in the NY Times on December 21, 1950. The newspaper is tough in its reviews, but they give a pretty glowing review on the movie and especially Bing...

To brighten the Christmas season, our old friend, Bing Crosby, is in town in a role (and an entertainment) that fits him—and he it—like a glove. In Paramount's "Mr. Music," which came to the Paramount yesterday, Der Bingle (which rhymes with Kris Kringle, we trust you will incidentally note) plays an easy-going song-writer who is coaxed into composing a musical score by a provokingly persistent young lady hired particularly for this job. And with newcomer Nancy Olson spreading much charm in the latter role; with Tom Ewell, Ida Moore, Charles Coburn and even Groucho Marx and Dorothy Kirsten lending assists and with one of the nicest sets of new songs that Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke have ever turned out, this "Mr. Music" is certainly one of the cheeriest and brightest of current films.

There's no point in being coy about it: Bing has not been too fortunate in the general characteristics of his roles in his past three or four films. But in this light, romantic entertainment, based on Samson Raphaelson's play, "Accent on Youth," he acts the sort of droll, informal fellow that he himself happens to be. And since Bing's genial songsmith in this story takes more joyously to golfing than to work, it's the sort of job that our hero can well wrap his golf clubs around.

Fortunately, Arthur Sheekman has turned Mr. Raphaelson's play into a lively exercise with words and music that ambles gaily across the screen. True, there are times when the action, confined largely to a penthouse drawing-room (where Mr. Crosby toys with his golf clubs just as happily as he does on the course) tends to lag slightly and grow feeblee. Even with Miss Olson as vis-a-vis, the sparring of boss and slave-driver drags just a bit now and then.


But regularly Mr. Sheekman catches up the lag with a nice bit of comic invention that Director Richard Haydn grabs upon and uses to keep the whole show going in a generally sophisticated style. It is notable that little condescension to the so-called juvenile taste is evident here. And the songs are adroitly integrated into the natural flow of the script so that Bing and the cast can get into them without pointing when they do the most good.

Best of the lot, for our taste, is a lightly philosophic rhapsody, "Life Is So Peculiar," which is done in several different ways. Bing and Peggy Lee sing it one time at a pent-house jamboree, at which the elastic young Champions, Marge and Gower, dance it spinningly. The Merry Macs also sing it in the ultimate musical show, put on as the songwriter's triumph, and Bing does it in a skit with Groucho Marx. This latter, incidentally, is a winning but strangely skimpy highlight of the film.

Next best is a smoothly melodious song of wistful love, "Accidents Will Happen," which Bing, after tinkering throughout, sings in a pleasing duet with Dorothy Kirsten. And "High on the List" is that, too. Otherwise "Wouldn't It Be Funny," "You'll Be Home" and "Wasn't I There" are in the category of wholly agreeable tunes.


Miss Olson, who will be remembered as the young lady in "Sunset Boulevard," here demonstrates a thorough ability to handle a fragile romantic lead, and Charles Coburn is familiarly amusing as a harassed producer of musical shows. Ida Moore is chirpily comic as a starry-eyed chaperone, while Mr. Haydn, the commendable young director, is very funny in an asthmatic bit.

"Mr. Music" may not stack up with the best of the Crosby films, but it is certainly a contemporary achievement that the master may lean happily upon.

On the stage at the Paramount are Louis Prima and his orchestra, Jan Murray and Shirley Van.

SOURCE

Saturday, December 24, 2011

BING AND HIS CHRISTMAS SPECIALS

Christmas programs from years past
By Mack Williams

At Thanksgiving, I watched Lady GaGa’s Thanksgiving special (solely out of curiosity, of course) and was pleasantly surprised. It wasn’t filled with crazily styled outfits or a scarcity of cloth in the clothing’s design. The “diva” aspect was toned down, and the program had the look and feel of one of those old variety show Christmas specials of the 1950s and ’60s.

There were many Christmas specials of the variety-show format in those days. It was a staple of programming back then, and as its name implied, the content was varied. It seemed kind of like a descendant of vaudeville and had included in its roster some of those performers who began their careers in that earlier medium. One such was the great Jimmy Durante, whom I always associate with “September Song” and “Goodnight, Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are!” He, of course, revisits us each year at Christmastime as the narrator of the cartoon “Frosty the Snowman.”

Bing Crosby’s Christmas specials were something to never be missed. (Actually, anything with Crosby in it was special, just due to the fact of his presence.) Jackie Gleason’s Christmas offering, complete with the June Taylor Dancers, was another good variety production. Mentioned last, but not least, I must confess that I greatly enjoyed and never missed the Christmas specials provided by Lawrence Welk and his Champagne Music Makers (even now on their re-runs on PBS).

In looking back on those days, I realize that one of the best of the Christmas specials was not broadcast into “TV land” but could be purchased for a small sum of money and only heard on an entertainment device that predated television by many years: the phonograph. The company that produced this concert also produced other products from petroleum, and its name was Firestone. We referred to this medium as records, because back then, there was no need to make a distinction as there is now between vinyl, tape or CD. Tape players were in their infancy, and CDs were years in the future, so the proper term was “records.”


I recall listening to those annual Christmas “concerts” on the floor-model hi-fi in our old living room, just off of the Old Concord Road. I seem to remember the “Firestone Christmas Album” as well as Goodyear’s “Great Songs of Christmas” being sold at Salisbury’s old W.T. Grant Company where my mother worked. Some of the performers included in those varied seasonal collages were: Bing Crosby; Burl Ives; Andy Williams; Robert Merrill; Richard Tucker; Harry Belafonte; Lena Horne; Mitch Miller with his orchestra and chorus (since this was audio, the “bouncing ball” was left to the imagination); The Mormon Tabernacle Choir; Peter, Paul and Mary; Mahalia Jackson; Roger Williams; The Ray Conniff Singers and many more.

Once the televised Christmas special was over (in which a few of these same artists were included, but not as many, as the cost would have probably made it prohibitive), it couldn’t be seen again, as videotape recorders had not yet made their advent in those Christmases of the early 1960s. The local church choirs would then move on to the music appropriate to the following seasons of the church year, not returning to Christmas music again until the earth had come back around to that same approximate place in its orbit as when such music had been previously heard.

As opposed to the Christmas television special and the church Christmas cantata, one could hear the soloists, choristers and orchestras of the Firestone Christmas Album over and over, presumably having one’s own “Christmas in July” (minus the sales) if so desired.

The automotive wheels of Firestone are exceptionally well-made, with treads that make traction with the road. Those other Firestone “wheels,” turning on the turntable of our old, floor-model hi-fi, had the tiniest of “treads” which made the music of Christmas.

SOURCE

Thursday, December 22, 2011

MUSIC REVIEW: BING IN DIXIELAND


For the past two years now, Bing Crosby Enterprises, run by Bing's widow Kathryn Crosby, has issued some pretty rare and amazing work that Bing has done. I always think I have most of the recordings by Bing, but I am amazed at this new CD issue. It is one of the best issues I have seen this year.

The album Bing In Dixieland, contains some tremendous Dixieland music that Bing did on his radio show in the 1950s. There is not a bad recording in the bunch and some of the recordings are completely new to me like Bing's renditions of "Strike Up The Band", "I'd Climb The Highest Mountains", and "The Object Of My Affection" to name a few. The standout for me is "I'd Climb The Highest Mountain", which is a favorite song of mine. I have a jazz instrumental version by Mugsy Spanier, a vocal version by Connee Boswell from the 1950s, and a swinging version by Jo Stafford in the 1960s, but Bing's recording is tops.

Bing was influenced by the Dixieland sound in the 1920s, and you can hear it in his recordings here. He never sounded more at home or happier. If you like great music or Bing Crosby or Dixieland then this is the music for you! You can only buy this CD from the Bing Crosby website: here.

Here is a track listing:
1. AT THE JAZZ BAND BALL
2. SOMETIMES I'M HAPPY
3. MUSKRAT RAMBLE
4. WAY DOWN YONDER IN NEW ORLEANS
5. STRIKE UP THE BAND
6. THAT'S A PLENTY
7. MY BABY JUST CARES FOR ME
8. I'D CLIMB THE HIGHEST MOUNTAIN
9. SMILES
10. JUST AROUND THE CORNER
11. THE BANJO'S BACK IN TOWN
12. WHEN MY BABY SMILES AT ME
13. THE OBJECT OF MY AFFECTION
14. I GOT RHYTHM
15. MARGIE
16. YES SIR! THAT'S MY BABY
17. OH HOW I LAUGHED WHEN I THINK HOW I CRIED ABOUT YOU
(written by George Jessel!!!)
18. EVERYBODY LOVES MY BABY
19. BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA
20. FIVE FOOT TWO, EYES OF BLUE
21. BLUES MY NAUGHTY SWEETIE GIVES TO ME
22. MEMPHIS BLUES (with Ella Fitzgerald)
23. NOW YOU HAS JAZZ (with Louis Armstrong)

my rating: 10 out of 10

Monday, December 19, 2011

BEHIND THE HIT WHITE CHRISTMAS

Behind the 1954 hit 'White Christmas'
By The Associated Pres

You know the movie "White Christmas," right? The one for which Irving Berlin wrote that famous song? The one starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire?

BZZZZ! That's the sound of the Wrong Answer buzzer. Because neither common belief is correct. Here's the scoop on Paramount's 1954 musical "White Christmas," airing on AMC twice Tuesday night at 8 and 10:45 through tomorrow (plus Thursday at 5:15 p.m.).

THE SONG 'WHITE CHRISTMAS' ACTUALLY DEBUTED in the 1942 film "Holiday Inn" (Thursday night at 12:30 a.m. on AMC). Singer-actor Crosby and dancer-actor Astaire were paired in that black-and-white film as a song-and-dance team at a New England inn, staging themed floor shows for holidays from Lincoln's Birthday to July Fourth to, of course, Christmas. Renowned musical composer Berlin wrote 12 songs for the film, but "White Christmas" is the one everybody remembers. In fact . . .

THE TOP-SELLING RECORD EVER is said to be Crosby's "White Christmas." His near-identical 1942 and 1947 recordings for Decca Records are reported to have sold 50 million copies. Including album versions, the total might be north of 100 million. Try finding a household today that doesn't own this melancholy/hopeful ballad on record (78, 45 or 33 rpm), CD or MP3.

SO THE MOVIE 'WHITE CHRISTMAS' was planned as a semi-remake of "Holiday Inn" featuring the original starring pair. Crosby was on board, but when Astaire passed, Donald O'Connor was offered the role. When he couldn't do it, Danny Kaye ended up as Crosby's partner. The Technicolor film was the first made in Paramount's supersharp widescreen VistaVision (used for "Star Wars" special effects). Opening at Radio City Music Hall, "White Christmas" became 1954's smash hit, raking in 30 percent more box office than any other film that year.


THE MOVIE'S 'SOUNDTRACK' ALBUM strangely features Peggy Lee singing the songs performed on-screen by movie co-star Rosemary Clooney (George's aunt and sister to his dad, ex-AMC host Nick Clooney). Clooney was a hot '50s pop singer ("Come On-a My House") recording exclusively for another record label. Lee rerecorded the film's songs alongside Crosby and Kaye. That album was included on CD with some recent DVD releases, but remains a rare find on its own.

SOURCE

Saturday, December 17, 2011

PHOTOS OF THE DAY: HOLIDAY INN

It's hard to believe but nearly 70 years ago the classic holiday favorite HOLIDAY INN was first shown. The movie started off as just a little film combining the talents of singer Bing Crosby, dancer Fred Astaire, and song writer Irving Berlin, but the film spawned the hit song "White Christmas" as well as shot Bing further up the ladder of super stardom. Here are some great scenes and pictures from that classic movie...


BING CROSBY (1903-1977), FRED ASTAIRE (1899-1987), MARJORIE REYNOLDS (1917-1997) and VIRGINIA DALE (1917-1994)



THIS IS A DIFFERENT PUBLICITY PHOTO, SHOWING BING WITH VIRGINIA DALE AND FRED ASTAIRE WITH MARJORIE REYNOLDS



HERE IS THE GREAT SCENE WHERE BING FIRST SANG WHITE CHRISTMAS ON FILM. IT WAS SUNG AS A DUET WITH MARJORIE REYNOLDS. HOWEVER, REYNOLDS VOICE WAS DUBBED IN BY MARTHA MEARS (1910-1986).



HERE IS THE NOW CONTROVERSIAL "ABRAHAM" BLACKFACE SCENE. IN 1942, IT WAS NOT CONSIDERED RACIAL AT ALL.



HERE IS BING AND FRED ASTAIRE WITH THE GREAT CHARACTER ACTOR, WALTER ABEL (1898-1987).



A FEW YEARS AGO, THE MOVIE WAS RE-RELEASED AS A COLORIZED MOVIE. I RECOMMEND EVERYONE TO SEE THIS VERSION. IT IS EXCELLENT!

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

THE HOLIDAYS, GOLF, AND BING

THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR TO REMEMBER BING
By Stan Awtrey, PGATOUR.COM Contributor

The holiday season wouldn't be complete without a viewing of "White Christmas." The days would be neither merry nor bright without watching the classic movie starring Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye and filled with some of the greatest songs ever written by Irving Berlin.

And while many of the scenes are filled with snow, you get the impression that Bob Wallace (the character played by Bing Crosby) would probably rather be playing golf with Major General Waverly (Dean Jagger) rather than getting ready for his next musical number.

That's because Der Binger probably loved golf more than almost anything else. He was most known as a singer and "White Christmas" is one of the season's seminal songs. He was also an accomplished actor who appeared in 86 titles and won an Oscar for his performance as Father O'Malley in "Going My Way." He produced albums and movies, owned race horses and was one of the world's most popular figures.

But those familiar with golf know that Crosby's real love was golf. He took up the sport when he was 12 years old, working as a caddy, but stopped playing until 1930. That's when he got the bug, at age 27, that would consume the rest of his life. He was an excellent player who was good enough to eventually compete in the U.S. Amateur and the British Amateur.

Crosby was a member at Lakeside Golf Club in Hollywood and won the club championship on five occasions. Among his career highlights was a hole-in-one on the 16th hole at Cypress Point, the famous Pacific-fronted hole where Ben Hogan used to lay up and hope to get up-and-down for par.

One of his major contributions to golf came in 1937 when he founded the Bing Crosby Pro-Am, most commonly referred to as the Crosby Clambake. Crosby drew the game's greats to the West Coast to play in the event, which was won by the likes of Sam Snead, Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson and Jimmy Demaret -- four faces that belong on golf's Mount Rushmore. The tournament began at Rancho Santa Fe Country Club in the San Diego area and moved to the Monterey Peninsula after World War II, where it endures today as the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. First televised in 1957, today millions of viewers tune in for the pleasure of seeing the scenery from the Pebble Beach area.


Crosby once said, "If I were asked what single thing has given me the most gratification in my long and sometimes pedestrian career, I think I would have to say it is this tournament."

Crosby even accepted an invitation to serve as a reporter during the 1958 Masters. He was hired as a stringer for the week by Atlanta Journal Sports Editor Furman Bisher, himself the greatest writer/columnist to ever come from the South. Bisher told Crosby to grab his pipe and walk around Augusta National, watch the players and make some notes about what he saw.

Crosby took his assignment seriously and turned in his work. Bisher, now 93 and still writing columns, has the hand-written notes from his special golf analyst. In one place Crosby wrote, "I like the looks of this Palmer kid." Nice call.

Ironically, it was Crosby and Palmer who would each help popularize the game. Oddly enough, the Clambake was one of the few events that Palmer never won. He was runner-up there twice, losing to Don Massengale by one stroke in 1966 and losing to Tom Shaw by two shots in 1971.

In 1977, Crosby died doing what loved the most. He died while playing golf in Madrid, having just finished a round with Spanish pro Manuel Pinero. His wife, Kathryn, remarked, "What an appropriate way for a golfer who sang for a living to leave this earth." A year later he was inducted in the World Golf Hall of Fame for his contributions to the game.

So when you're planning the holiday viewing schedule and set aside a couple of hours to watch "White Christmas," don't forget the role that Bing Crosby played in bringing golf into your living room. As he croons in another wonderful song, it's another way you'll be "Counting Your Blessings" this time of year.


Stan Awtrey is a freelance columnist for PGATOUR.COM. His views do not necessarily reflect the views of the PGA TOUR.

SOURCE

Monday, December 12, 2011

BING CROSBY: THROUGH THE YEARS VOLUME 9

Great news for Bing fans, Sepia Records is issuing another great edition to their Bing Crosby series...


Title: Through The Years – Volume Nine (1955-1956)
Catalogue No.: SEPIA 1185
Barcode: 5055122111856
Release Date: January / February 2012

This Volume Nine of the ongoing Bing Crosby Through the Years series features 26 recordings made between 1955 - 1956 in chronological order. It includes cover versions Bing recorded of contemporary hits such as "Mona Lisa", "Memories Are Made Of This", "The Longest Walk" & "Moments To Remember". The CD also contains Bing's chart entry "Around The World”.

TRACKS:
1. CHRISTMAS IS A-COMIN'
2. THE FIRST SNOWFALL
3. THE POSSIBILITY’S THERE (with Peggy Lee)
4. THE NEXT TIME IT HAPPENS
5. SOMETHING IN COMMON
6. LOOK TO YOUR HEART
7. SUDDENLY THERE'S A VALLEY
8. MOMENTS TO REMEMBER
9. IS CHRISTMAS ONLY A TREE?
10. THE LONGEST WALK
11. JOHN BARLEYCORN
12. WHEN YOU’RE IN LOVE
13. APRIL SHOWERS
14. BLUES IN THE NIGHT
15. PRISONER OF LOVE
16. MEMORIES ARE MADE OF THIS
17. MY BLUE HEAVEN
18. PAPER DOLL
19. AIN’T MISBEHAVIN’
20. WHEN MY BABY SMILES AT ME
21. A LITTLE KISS EACH MORNING
22. THIS LOVE OF MINE
23. MONA LISA
24. THANKS FOR THE MEMORY
25. AROUND THE WORLD
26. I HEARD THE BELLS ON CHRISTMAS DAY


SOURCE

BING CROSBY CHRISTMAS TRIBUTE TOUR CANCELLED

In a June column I first told readers about a new stage tour coming to Chicagoland heralded as a new Christmas tribute to holiday crooner Bing Crosby, called "The Bing Crosby Christmas Spectacular: A Musical Recreation" featuring a cast of 40 performers and starring Peter Marshall as the host. Marshall, 85, was the host of the original "Hollywood Squares" game show from 1966 to 1981. Joining Marshall for the tour was the Nelson Riddle Orchestra, The Broadway Singers, The Holiday Choir and Ice Dancers, along with popular Crosby film clips and a splashy array of costumes created by Bob Mackie.

There were supposed to be two performances, 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Thursday at the Rialto Square Theatre in Joliet, with tickets ranging from $25 to $55.

As it turns out, Thursday's shows are canceled, as is this entire tour.

I'm told the producers for this new show had not secured all of the necessary permission to greenlight this show using the name and likeness of Bing Crosby.

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 Kathryn 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., manages the operations, including making all creative and business decisions about the interests, with lawyer Mark Brodka, the second husband of actress Mary Crosby, Bing's daughter, handling most matters.

Ron Ranke of Ron Ranke and Associates Ltd. of Barrington, Ill., began touting this new Christmas stage tour back in July sending out the following press statement: "In 2011, for the first time, a live Broadway styled production co-starring a cast of 40 performers will give audiences the opportunity to re-live those magical Crosby moments in a musical recreation. It's a return to the big holiday extravaganza experience so rarely seen on stage today. Bing's greatest Christmas hits come to life in an inspiring setting of themed holiday stage props to revisit the Crooner himself captured in an amazing collection of film-clip highlights of Bing and his friends Bob Hope, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, David Bowie, Frank Sinatra and Louis Armstrong."

The Palace Theatre in Waterbury, Conn., which had the show booked for Nov. 26, informed patrons: "Bing Crosby Christmas Spectacular tour that was slated to make a pre-holiday stop at the Palace Theater has canceled all 2011 tour dates due to an issue with the show's licensing agreement."

SOURCE

Friday, December 9, 2011

BING CROSBY SAVINGS BOND AD

Do they even still sell savings bond? Even though Bob Hope gets all the credit for his efforts during World War II, Bing did a lot for his country before and after the war...

Saturday, December 3, 2011

HOLIDAY MEMORIES OF BING

Holiday Memories
by Nancy Strakna

It’s that “most wonderful time of the year” again, and for me and many of us, the holidays wouldn’t be complete without the lights, the decorations, the presents, and (especially) the food! It’s a time of over-indulgence and celebrations with family and friends, but the abundance we enjoy today was not always so. During World War II, with the war effort in full swing, rationing severely limited many things we now take for granted. Although this created some hardship, it was a small sacrifice that most were honored to make if it helped keep their loved ones safe and sound. Still today, many of us are separated from our loved ones and may be struggling to make do with less.

Nothing evokes the feeling of Christmas like the music; the songs conjure up memories of Christmases past and how we celebrated with family and friends. Even now I find myself humming “White Christmas” by Bing Crosby. Recorded during World War II, the melancholy lyrics of “White Christmas” and “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” with their comforting images of home and yearning for family, touched the hearts of American civilians and soldiers alike.

Join us on Tuesday, December 6th at 7:00, as we welcome Mary Rasa to the Perryville Branch Library. In a period uniform, accompanied by holiday music of the era, she will be sharing images of Christmas during World War II, both at home and in military settings. She will describe the decorations and how food was prepared, and will explain shortages and rationing and how that affected daily life. The day after the program–December 7th–marks the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, which propelled the United States into the fray. Take a step back in time with us, to hear about Christmas memories from those days.


What are your favorite holiday traditions and memories?

SOURCE