BING ON FILM: HERE IS MY HEART

This time around I wanted to take a look now at a more obscure film. I think 1934’s Here Is My Heart fits the bill. I have a confession to make though. I have never watched the 1934 film. This makes for an exciting viewing experience seeing a “new” Bing film after all these years, but then again to do this article I needed to take very copious notes. Here is My Heart is based on the play La Grande-duchesse et le garcon d’etage by Alfred Savior. Translated the title is The Grand Duchess and The Steward. This 1934 Paramount film starred Bing, Kitty Carlisle, and Roland Young. Filmed in Hollywood at the end of August, it was completed in early November. The New York premiere was on December 21, 1934 and afterwards, Bing entertained at a Christmas basket party hosted by Joe E. Brown at the Beverly-Wilshire Hotel. Dick Powell and Al Jolson also perform before the audience of 800. The event was sponsored by the Rotary Club of Beverly Hills and was designed to provide Yule cheer for the needy of Beverly Hills.

The slight plot is about a happy go lucky millionaire (played by Bing), who has planned a sort of a bucket list once he made a million dollars. A million dollars in 1934 was a like a billion today. One of his silly things he wanted to accomplish was to catch a fish in the middle of the ocean. Other bucket list items included saving a damsel in distress, and also finding a second rare dueling pistol so he could donate them both to a naval academy. (Bing had already obtained one of the dueling pistols). The other pistol was in Monte Carlo, and owned by a Princess Alexandra (played by Kitty Carlisle). The Princess though had lost all her money, but Bing did not know that. To get closer to her, he pretended to be waiter. Bing was instantly attracted to the Princess. Bing also befriended a prince in Princess Alexandra’s entourage by the name of Prince Nicholas (played by Roland Young). Prince Nicholas told Bing that the Princess will only sell the gun to royalty. In order to keep up his charade and find out more info on the Princess, Bing bought the hotel. He saw all of the bills owed to the hotel and realized that the Princess and her entourage are completely broke. Bing had fallen in love with the Princess, and he snuck money into Prince Nicholas’s pocket to help them out. Nicholas, found the money, and he realized Bing is rich. The Prince offers to help Bing win over the Princess. Meanwhile, Prince Nicholas was arrested by the police for illegally selling cars. To obtain his release, the Princess agreed to sell the pistol, but it was discovered that her pistol was a fake and only worth a few hundred dollars. In the end Bing sells his pistol to obtain Prince Nicholas’ release. Princess Alexandra was initially upset at all the lies Bing had fabricated, but Bing convinced her they he is sincere and loves her. They kiss as they declare their love for each other. Bing’s bucket list was no complete!

Here Is My Heart was originally developed as a vehicle for Gary Cooper and Elissa Landi, but Cooper changed his mind after deciding that a love story about a duchess and a waiter wasn't for him and turned down the role. Bing worked well in the film even with the flimsy plot. This was his second movie with Kitty Carlisle. He starred with her earlier in the year in She Loves Me Lot. Bing and Kitty worked well together, and in later years Kitty also talked fondly about her times working with Bing. Roland Young stole the movie away in my opinion as a kind of a comic foil for Bing. This was the only movie that Roland made with Bing, and Young would have greater fame playing Cosmo Topper in 1937’s comedy Topper. William Frawley also appeared in the movie in a smaller role as Bing’s agent. William Frawley would go on to appear with Bing in numerous additional films like: Double Or Nothing (1937) and Going My Way (1944). Frawley and Crosby got along well because they shared a love of horse racing.

The critics liked the film, with The New York Times saying, "...the new Bing Crosby film at the Paramount is a witty, lyrical and debonair farce, and a first-rate addition to the holiday bounties... Mr. Crosby, who has already shown that his talents include a gift for light comedy, emerges this time as a celebrated songbird who, having made his way in the world, decides to take his million dollars and satisfy all the frustrated ambitions which he had brooded over as a boy. “Here Is My Heart” is a bright and funny entertainment, deftly produced and happily performed."

Variety praised it as well: "A setup for the Crosby fans and an excellent example of musical comedy picture making.”Here Is My Heart" should have an easy time of it most anywhere. Crosby is in fine voice, the songs he was handed are honies, and the story serves nicely as something to hang the singing and the songs on... To change the pace the director has him singing while doing anything but hanging from a chandelier. One well planned departure has Crosby in a duet with his own voice playing on a phonograph."

Only three songs were featured in the film, which is a shame. Ralph Rainger and Leo Robin wrote “June In January” and “With Every Breath I Take” for the film. However for the third song, “Love Is Just Around The Corner” Leo Robin wrote the song with Lewis Gensler. I am not sure why Lewis Gensler was used for one song and not Ralph Rainger. Bing recorded all three songs for Decca, and all three were hits for him especially “June In January”.

 An interesting side note to the score of the movie, is I recently discovered a record of a song called “Here Is My Heart” on the Brunswick label featuring the Dorsey Brothers with Bob Crosby on vocal, recorded on November 17, 1934. The song was written by Ralph Rainger and Leo Robin, and the record states “dedicated to the film Here Is My Heart”. It is a cute song, and it would have been nice to have more than three songs in the film. It looks like Eddy Duchin & His Orchestra also recorded it on the Victor label on November 2, 1934. I much prefer the Dorsey Brothers version of this forgotten song. (By the way, Bing made a record of another song called “Here Is My Heart” for Brunswick in 1933 with the Dorsey Brothers, but it was a different song completely).

The cast worked well in the film, and the music was top notch. The plot is probably the weakest part of this movie, but in 1934 movie audiences were not going to the movies to see Bing Crosby in a production of “War & Peace”. People wanted to escape from the stress of the Great Depression, and that is what Bing’s early Paramount movies provided. Here Is My Heart was practically a “lost” Bing film until it was finally issued on DVD as part of Universal Home Videos Silver Screen Collection in 2014. The movie is also available on Blu Ray now. Even though I think Here Is My Heart is not one of Bing’s better movies of the 1930s, I am glad I finally sat down and watched the film from beginning to end. Bing is charming in the film, and the music is amazing!

MY RATING: 7 OUT OF 10

COMING SOON: CROSBY BY CROSBY

 Coming soon by Phil Crosby Jr (grandson of Bing)...

A SPECIAL REQUEST

 This blog has been in existance since 2010. Since that time, I have loved to share my love of  Bing Crosby. I often say I was born too late, but I love remembering the past era. To produce this blog takes a lot of time and money to do research, etc. At this point 13 years later, to help defray the cost of creating a continuing blog like this, I have to ask for some help.

Any donations will be glady accepted. You can venmo the funds to me. My venmo name is @David-Lobosco-2. To send the donation the classic Hollywood way, please send it to David Lobosco, 107 Wetzel Road, Glenshaw, PA 15116.

I appreciate your continued support through the years. Keep the comments and suggestions coming as we continue to remember the life and talent of Der Bingle...

BING'S SONGOGRAPHY: ABRAHAM

 In this new feature, we will take a look at a particular song that Bing Crosby recorded and get a list of all the times he performed it. It will be interesting looking at the vast amount of recording Bing did throughout his career...

ABRAHAM (Irving Berlin)

Nov. 1941-Feb. 1942 Film "Holiday Inn"

Martha Mears (dubbing for Marjorie Reynolds), Louise Beavers, Joan Arnold, Shelby Bacon, Orchestra directed by Robert Emmett Dolan

29 May 1942 Rec. DLA 3010-A

The Ken Darby Singers, John Scott Trotter and his Orchestra

26 Aug. 1942 Rad. Holiday Inn Radio Preview (broadcast date, previously transcribed)

             Betty Jane Rhodes, Bobby Dolan and his Orchestra

4 Nov. 1942 Rad.  “Mail Call” # 11

            Betty Jane Rhodes, AFRS Orchestra

11 Jan. 1943 Rad. Screen Guild Players' "Holiday Inn"

Dinah Shore, Chorus, Orchestra

11 Feb. 1943 Rad. “Kraft Music Hall”.

The Charioteers, the Music Maids, John Scott Trotter and his Orchestra

13 Feb. 1943 Rad. “Command Performance” # 52

The Music Maids & Phil and the Charioteers, unknown Orchestra

14 Dec. 1944 Rad. Med. “Kraft Music Hall”.

Charles Henderson and the Kraft Choir, John Scott Trotter and his Orchestra

See also: Medley from "Holiday Inn"

STORIES ABOUT BING: PEGGY LEE

 

Bing and Peggy Lee had a great working relationship. She appeared on Bing's show in the late 1940s, and when they were both at Decca in the 1950s they made som great records together. In Peggy's autobiography she remembered some great moments with Bing:

"For dinner he took me to one of San Francisco's great restaurants, during which I told him about my emotional experience with his movies, especially "Mississippi" when he sang "Down By The River". We then cruised all over that wonderful city until we found a pianist who could play the song in Bing's key, and he actually sang it to me at our table. Once again, all those years later, the tears rolled. A whole river of them....

Bing was also so protective of me. Once he found me standing rigid outside the studio at NBC and asked what he could do to help me. He was so sensitive to my early days of nerves and self-consciousness. This was just before air time on one of Bing's many Kraft programs. I managed to say something like: "When you introduce me, would you please not leave me out there on the stage alone? Would you stand where I can see your feet?" He agreed and always sort of casually leaned on a speaker or piano to give me the support and time I needed to learn about being at ease onstage.

You have to love a man like that. He offered everything-money, cars, his own blood, and even volunteered to personally babysit with our little daughter, Nicki, while David was so sick in the hospital.

The last time I saw Bing, we were both doing a benefit performance. It was beautiful, if brief. He called to me, "Hello, baby! So good to see you."

BING'S DISCOGRAPHY: JULY 27, 1940

It is just amazing how many records Bing Crosby made. It is amazing to me because Bing was more than just a recording star. He made movies and radio shows - which take up a lot of time. Here is what Bing was recording for Decca on July 27, 1940...

Date: 7/27/40
Location: Los Angeles, Calif
Label: DECCA (US)

Bing Crosby (voc), John Scott Trotter and his Orchestra (orc)
a. DLA2072-A Legend Of Old California (Johnny Mercer, Harry Warren) - 3:03

HALLMARK (UK) CD306722 — BING SINGS COUNTRY (1997)

b. DLA2073-A Please (Leo Robin, Ralph Rainger) - 3:02
HMV (UK) CD5389522 — ALL TIME GREATS: BING CROSBY - Disc 2 (2019)
MARKS & SPENCER (UK) CDMS 4811 — BING CROSBY - THE COLLECTION (1999)
MCA (UK) CDDMCTV 3 — BING CROSBY - 20 GOLDEN GREATS (1990)
READER'S DIGEST CDRDCD 921 — THE VERY BEST OF BING CROSBY (CD1 - It's Easy to Remember) (1995)
READER'S DIGEST CDRB7-029-3 — BING CROSBY - HIS GREATEST HITS AND FINEST PERFORMANCES (disc 3) (1997)

c. DLA2074-A You Are The One (Carroll Carroll, John Scott Trotter) - 2:45
AVID (UK) CDAMSC 633 — BING CROSBY - YOU AND THE NIGHT AND THE MUSIC (1998)

d. DLA2075-A Prairieland Lullaby (Frank Loesser, Victor Young) - 3:05
HALLMARK (UK) CD306722 — BING SINGS COUNTRY (1997)
JASMINE (UK) CDJASMCD 3557 — BING CROSBY - COWBOY COUNTRY CROSBY STYLE (2003)

THE ROAD TO RIO: A 1948 REVIEW

Here is a review of the latest Road trip at the time - The Road To Rio. This was published in the NY Times on February 19, 1948...

With Bing Crosby and Bob Hope on the tramp again in "Road to Rio," recklessly scattering jokes and rescuing perennial girl friend Dorothy Lamour from dangerous hypnotic trances, there's fun to be had at the Paramount. Maybe this is not the funniest picture ever made; maybe it is not even quite as rewarding as some of those earlier journeys, but there are patches in this crazy quilt that are as good and, perhaps, even better than anything the boys have done before. 

They are traversing more of a rollercoaster highway than usual this time and so there are some tedious uphill pulls when the huffing and puffing is excessive and the results negligible. However, when they reach the top "Road to Rio" is irresistible.Hope reluctantly doing a highwire bicycle act and wrecking a carnival in the process, or being unceremoniously hung up as a side of ham in a ship's refrigerator, or blowing musical bubbles out of a trumpet in a Rio de Janeiro night club may sound silly in cold print, but it's the kind of stuff that gets laughs on the screen. 

And, naturally, Crosby, the smoothest straight man in the business today, is in there all the time getting situations started and feeding jokes to his pal when he doesn't actually steal the play by adding a snapper to a snapper.This mad caper is climaxed by a wild round of excitement at an ultra-lavish wedding party, when the boys bravely move in to rescue the dazed Miss Lamour from being duped into marriage by swindlers posing as friends. If this synopsis sounds sketchy, it's only because the story doesn't matter anyway. For the script merely serves as a means for getting a pair of impecunious musicians driven out of one state after another by irate husbands and boy friends until they are cornered, forced to stowaway on a Rio bound steamer and meet up with a beautiful senorita and her problems. All that matters really is that "Road to Rio" is fairly well loaded with laughs...

AUDIO ASPIRIN: AT MY TIME OF LIFE

AT MY TIME OF LIFE

At My Time of Life is a 1976 vinyl album recorded by Bing  for United Artists, mostly at Chappells Studios in London in February 1975. He was accompanied by Pete Moore and his Orchestra.

The songs from the album were included on a 3-CD set called Bing Crosby – The Complete United Artists Sessions issued by EMI Records (7243 59808 2 4) in 1997. This included several previously unreleased alternate takes and studio chat.

In January 1974, Crosby was seriously ill and after two weeks of tests, he underwent three and a half hours of major surgery. Two-fifths of his left lung and an abscess the size of a small orange were removed. The tumor was a rare fungus called nocardia. There were concerns initially that he would not be able to sing again and his recuperation took many months. Record producer, Ken Barnes, later heard that Bing was thinking of recording again and he quickly presented his credentials and eventually met Crosby on September 9, 1974 at the singer’s home. Arrangements were soon made for two albums to be made in London. Bing flew to London on February 18, 1975 and that afternoon visited the Chappells recording studio. He was shown the vocal booth where he would be singing but said that he did not want to work in that way. He wanted to be with the band and said, “I didn’t come seven thousand miles to sing to a pane of glass.” This worried sound engineer John Timperley who was concerned about separation problems because of the large orchestra which was to be used. Crosby was adamant however and, in the event, he successfully overcame the problems of recording in front of a full orchestra.

Over a period of eight days, Crosby, in six sessions, recorded twenty five tracks. Eleven of the tracks were issued on an LP called That's What Life Is All About. Thirteen, with the addition of the title song to be recorded in 1976, were issued on this album and the final recording was included with eleven others made in 1976 and issued on an LP called Beautiful Memories.

The UK magazine The Gramophone reviewed the album saying: "The arrival for review of “At My Time of Life” by Bing Crosby coincided with his outstanding triumph at the London Palladium heading a bill shared by members of his family and Rosemary Clooney…Crosby brings his special brand of affable authority to all fourteen numbers, aided and embellished by Pete Moore’s arrangements and orchestrations which incorporate some deft modern touches without jeopardizing the essential nostalgia of much of this material. The sympathetic and totally aware production work of Ken Barnes also asserts itself in a practical but unobtrusive fashion, and this album is a genuine piece of popular music history of inestimable value...

SOURCE

VIDEO: BING CROSBY - THE HOLLYWOOD YEARS episode 29

VIDEO: BING CROSBY - THE HOLLYWOOD YEARS episode 28

VIDEO: BING CROSBY - THE HOLLYWOOD YEARS episode 27

VIDEO: BING CROSBY - THE HOLLYWOOD YEARS episode 26

A LETTER FROM BING: NOVEMBER 11, 1975

 Here is a letter that Bing wrote late in life. Throughout his career he made time to not only reach out to other Hollywood celebrities but to his fans as well. This letter Bing wrote late in his life on November 11, 1975...

BING ON FILM: MR. MUSIC - PART TWO

The cast of Mr. Music was excellent. Bing Crosby and Charles Coburn had good chemistry together, and a decade earlier they had appeared together as father and son in 1940’s Road to Singapore. Character actor Tom Ewell was underused in this film. He played the role of Bing’s stressed-out butler and caddy Cupcake. I would say that the one item that was getting tough to believe at this point of Bing’s life that a young girl like Nancy Olson would fall in love with such a much more mature man as Bing Crosby. They worked well together, and he appeared later with Nancy in the made for television musical High Tor in 1956. Maybe it is just me, but by 1950 I feel that Bing was too old to be wooing college girls in his movies. In his next movies he would be wooing Jane Wyman, which to me was much more believable. Mr. Music, for the minor Paramount musical it was, boasted a great cast of special guests like Peggy Lee, Dorothy Kirsten, The Merry Macs, Marge and Gower Champion, and last but not least Groucho Marx. Bing and Groucho were long time friends, and they sang a version of “Life Is So Peculiar”. One of the funniest lines in the film was said by Groucho Marx, and I wonder if he ad-libbed it, but he was appearing in Bing’s new play at the college to try to raise awareness for a new producer, and Groucho says “I’m here to investigate the student body. I hope I don’t lose my faculties.” For some reason, I always laughed at that, even as a young teenager watching this movie and not fully knowing the humor that was Groucho Marx!

What baffles me about the movie were the songs that were written by Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke. They were catchy and enjoyable, and Bing was in near perfect voice when sang them, but none of the songs became big hits. Two songs written in for the movie, Bing never recorded. There was a title song “Mr. Music” that was only sung by a chorus and a song called “Wasn’t I There”, which Bing only sung a few lines of that he never recorded. Bing did record six of the songs for Decca Records and there were issued on a 78rpm titled ”Songs from Mr. Music”. My personal favorite song from the film was “Accidents Will Happen”. Bing sings this alone and again with Dorothy Kirsten. He also recorded two versions of this song. One version was a more of a slow solo ballad. The other recording was a duet between Bing and Kirsten that was truly dramatic and enjoyable. The song “Life Is So Peculiar” was probably the most successful song from the film, and Louis Armstrong recorded a nice version of it. Again, I think all the songs in the film were good, and they deserve to be remembered more than they are.

I enjoyed the film but the reviews at the time were a mixed bag:

Bosley Crowther of The New York Times in his review of December 21, 1950 wrote: "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 ... 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."

Variety concluded: "Despite a contrived story, the ingredients are sufficiently well mixed to make Mr. Music a box office winner”

I remember this movie fondly from my youth. My dad had it recorded on an old VHS tape, and before I had the recordings in my collection, I literally stuck a microphone to the television speaker and recorded the songs to my little portable cassette player. It is amazing how far my collection has come, but it would be fun to have those old cassettes tapes again. Not only did those amateur recordings I made include the soundtrack from the film, but probably my late father yelling or coughing in the background! Back to the film, Mr. Music is not Bing’s best film by any stretch of the imagination, but I really wish this film was released on DVD or Blu-Ray. There is a certain charm about the film. Even though Bing himself did not like the title of the film, because he thought it was too pretentious, Bing was Mr. Music for decades, and he continues to be for millions of fans everywhere...

MY RATING: 10 out of 10

BING ON FILM: MR. MUSIC - PART ONE

I always get excited to watch a Bing Crosby movie, whether I have seen the film one or one hundred times! I was especially excited to watch the underrated musical, Mr. Music. Based on the play Accent on Youth written by Samson Raphaelson, the story was actually made into a movie three times. It was filmed in 1935 by Paramount with Hebert Marshall in the title role. Then after the Mr. Music version, it was also filmed again by Paramount in 1959. This time the film was called But Not for Me and starred Clark Gable. The filming of the Bing Crosby version took place from June to August in 1950 in Hollywood. The New York premiere would be at the Paramount Theatre on December 20, 1950. Directed by character actor Richard Haydn, Haydn also appeared as an eccentric millionaire in the film. Film audiences will know him best as the manager of the Von Trapp Family in 1965’s The Sound of Music. The choreography in Mr. Music was done by the great Gower Champion, who also appeared with his then wife Marge Champion in the movie.

The plot is not much, but Bing Crosby plays Paul Merrick, a once successful songwriter, who now prefers to waste time at the horse track and golf course instead of working and writing new songs. At the beginning of the movie, Bing is nearly broke, and he travels back to his old college with his long-suffering producer (Charles Coburn). Instead of working on their new play, Bing wants to go to the college to see them put on a production of an old show of his. Getting off the train at the station, Bing thinks the college crowd is there to see him, but they are there to greet the college hero (played by a young Robert Stack). Bing is greeted by a young lady that works for the alumni office (Nancy Olsen). She is prim and proper, and very structured. Nancy has Bing’s schedule down to the minute while he is there at the college. 

Charles Coburn gets a bright idea to hire the young Nancy to watch over Bing and make he writes his next play. She takes her job quite serious, and she interrupts Bing during everything that he constantly does besides working like horse racing, golfing, and his gold digger girlfriend. The last straw happens when Bing is golfing. He makes a bet with golfer he is playing with. If he wins the match, then he will disappear and never write the songs for the show. So, Nancy shines her pocket mirror in Bing’s way when he is putting, and Bing loses the bet. Bing gets enraged and fires Nancy. Nancy fights back and tells Bing that he just isn’t lazy he is afraid to continue writing, because Bing is afraid of failure and not matching his past successes. This makes Bing think and deep down he knows she is right. Charles Coburn talks him into giving her another chance, and Nancy inspires Bing to write his first song he had written in years. 

Realizing that he can still write, Bing starts writing the new songs one after one. He is so engrossed in writing that he does not realize that Nancy is starting to fall in love with him. Nancy and her Aunt Amy also have moved into the guest room at Bing’s house to keep a closer eye on him. Bing is falling for Nancy, but his ex-girlfriend (Ruth Hussy) keeps showing up, so Nancy starts dating the all-American college hero Robert Stack to make Bing jealous. A snag in the show happens when Charles Coburn runs out of money for Bing’s show, however Aunt Amy’s boyfriend (played by Richard Haydn) agrees to be another producer of the show. In the end, Bing gets the girl, returns to fame with a successful show, and everyone lives happily ever after...

TO BE CONTINUED...

AUDIO ASPIRIN: IF

Happy birthday Bing!

BING AND A GOODYEAR RAINCOAT

 Here is an interesting advertisement for a rain coat made by Goodyear. I never knew this existed! Bing Crosby cold sell ice to an eskimo!

NEW CD: BING CROSBY - GENERAL ELECTRIC TIME

Looks like another great CD from Sepia!

This 2-CD set contains a wonderful selection of Bing Crosby songs from the two General Electric seasons of 1952-54 as he displays his versatility with 57 tracks ranging from Great American Songbook standards, to hits of the day and to some of the crooner's old film songs. Guest artists include Peggy Lee, Helen O'Connell, Dinah Shore, Toni Arden etc. who perform with Crosby...

CD1:
1. Open Up Your Heart
2. Auf Wiederseh'n, Sweetheart
3. Just For You
4. Zing A Little Zong
5. Walkin' My Baby Back Home
6. You Belong To Me
7. Feet Up! (Pat Him On The Po-Po)
8. Takes Two To Tango
9. Wish You Were Here
10.Just You, Just Me
11. To See You Is To Love You
12. Heart And Soul
13. Because You're Mine
14. Why Don't You Believe Me?
15. You Don't Know What Lonesome Is
16. Till I Waltz Again With You
17. That's A Plenty
18. June In January
19. Bye Bye Blues
20. Mister Tap Toe
21. Trying
22. One Little Candle
23. Here Ends The Rainbow
24. Wild Horses
25. April In Portugal
26. Salomee (With Her Seven Veils)
27. My Devotion
28. Summertime


CD2:
1. Down By The Riverside
2. It's Easy To Remember
3. They All Laughed
4. 'S Wonderful
5. Pa-Paya Mama
6. They Can't Take That Away From Me
7. My Love, My Love
8. It's All Right With Me
9. You Are Too Beautiful
10. That's Amore
11. If There Is Someone Lovelier Than You
12. Love Is Just Around The Corner
13. The Jones Boy
14. That's What A Rainy Day Is For
15. Tell Me Why
16. I Still Suits Me
17. Somebody Bad Stole De Wedding Bell
18. (Oh! Baby Mine) I Get So Lonely
19. Rosalie
20. Answer Me, My Love
21. Dear Hearts And Gentle People
22. A Dime And A Dollar
23. There's A Small Hotel
24. From The Vine Came The Grape
25. You Took Advantage Of Me
26. Wanted
27. Oh! Tell Me Why
28. So In Love
29. With Every Breath I Take

SOURCE

BING'S DISCOGRAPHY: APRIL 8, 1950

Here's some nice records that Bing recorded on April 8, 1950. Hard to believe these records are 73 years old! It was the dawn of a new decade, but Bing's voice sounded great, and he got to work with Sy Oliver and Bob Haggart on these records...

Date: 4/8/50

Location: New York, NY.
Label: DECCA (US)

Bing Crosby (voc), The Aristokats (vgr), Sy Oliver Orchestra (orc)

1. W76115-A I Didn't Slip, I Wasn't Pushed, I Fell(Eddie Pola, George Wyle) - 3:07
MCA (UK) CDMCLD19360 — BING CROSBY - MEMORIES (1997)
2. W76116-A So Tall A Tree(Helen Teddy Hall) - 2:35

Bing Crosby (voc), Bob Haggart and his Orchestra (orc)

3. W76113-A The Dixieland Band(Johnny Mercer, Bernie Hanighen) - 2:36

4. W76114-A Jamboree Jones(Johnny Mercer) - 3:02

Both titles had been recorded before, on 14 February 1950, but had been rejected.

SPOTLIGHT ON MARJORIE REYNOLDS

Marjorie Reybolds starred in one of the most beloved movies of the 1940s Holiday Inn. However, she was not only overshadowed by co-star Bing Crosby's singing but she was in the background due to the introduction of the most popular song ever written "White Christmas". Bright, vivacious Marjorie Reynolds (née Marjorie Goodspeed) was born in Idaho on August 12, 1917 to a doctor and homemaker, and raised in Los Angeles.

Making her film debut at age 6, she "retired" after only a few years in favor of a normal education. She returned in the mid-30s, as a teenager this time, and began the typical assembly-line route of extra and bit roles for various mega studios, this time billed as Marjorie Moore. Her first speaking role was in Columbia Studio's programmer Murder in Greenwich Village (1937), this time billed as Marjorie Reynolds (her first husband's last name), a moniker she kept for the duration of her career.

The blonde (originally brunette) actress then went through a rather non-challenging prairie flower phase opposite Hollywood's top western stars such as Tex Ritter, Buck Jones, Roy Rogers and Tim Holt. It all paid off, however, when she won the top female role opposite Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire in the seasonal film classic Holiday Inn (1942), a role originally designed for Mary Martin. It remains Marjorie's most popular and cherished role on film, but it did not help her make a permanent transition into 'A' quality fare.I had the opportunity to interview Marjorie's daughter shortly after her mother's death, and she remembers her mother saying Bing was sometimes cold to herm because he had wanted Mary Martin for the role. However, she said Bing was professional. Despite what Bing might have thought of Marjorie in Holiday Inn, he thought there was enough chemistry to choose her as his leading lady again in 1943's Dixie, which was another hit for Bing.

Marjorie continued as a dependable "B" co-lead in such films as Up in Mabel's Room (1944), Meet Me on Broadway (1946), and Heaven Only Knows (1947), with an exciting movie offer such as Fritz Lang's Ministry of Fear (1944) coming her way on a rare occasion.

Along with maturity and a new entertainment medium (television) in the 50s came a return to her natural hair color. As William Bendix's patient, resourceful brunette wife on the comedy TV series The Life of Riley (1953), Marjorie became a semi-household name. Her career took a steep decline following its demise five years later and she was only sporadically seen in films, commercials and TV guest spots after that.

Married twice, her first husband was Jack Reynolds, who was an Assistant Casting Director for Samuel Goldwyn. They had one daughter, Linda, before divorcing in 1952 after 16 years. Linda was named after her mother's character from Holiday Inn. Second husband, film editor John Whitney, worked for a time in the 40s as an actor. They were married for 32 years until his death in 1985.

Long retired, Marjorie made her last movie appearance in 1962's The Silent Witness. However, she did continue to have sporadic television roles until 1978.  Marjorie died  on February 1, 1997 of congestive heart failure after collapsing while walking her dog. Though she didn't fully live up to her potential as a serious, formidable actress, her gentle charm and obvious beauty certainly spruced up the 60+ films in which she appeared...

PHOTOS OF THE DAY: BING ON A BIKE

 Bing was more athletic than he appeared, and he enjoyed exercise including riding a bike. Here are some great pictures capturing those moments...

with Bob Hope

with his four sons

with Nicole Maurey, Claude Dauphin, and Maria Mauban

A LETTER FROM BING: SEPTEMBER 16, 1965

 I love taking a look at some of the letters that Bing wrote through the years. This one is from 1965, where Bing talks about football. I know Bing was a baseball fan, but I love reading his thoughts on football too. It's a very interesting letter...

REMEMBERING STELLA STEVENS (1938-2023)

Actress Stella Stevens (1938-2023) recently passed away. She appeared with Bing in 1959's Say One For Me. RIP Stella Stevens...

STORIES ABOUT BING: MITZI GAYNOR

Legendary star Mitzi Gaynor remembers her time with Bing...

"I adored Bing Crosby. My first movie at Paramount when I signed a contract with them was Anything Goes with my old friend Donald O'Connor and Bing. It was Bing's last movie at Paramount, so we joked that it was my first movie and his last movie. 

The movie music industry was changing in 1956. Anyways, Bing new I was an avid bike rider, so on my first day on the set he gifted me a beautiful English bike to get around the lot on. He included a name plate for the bike which was a joke about me working at the 20th Century Fox salt mines. Bing had a great sense of humor, and the time I had filming Anything Goes ranks up there as some of my fondest memories. This is mostly due to Bing Crosby!" - Mitzi Gaynor

BING'S DISCOGRAPHY: January 18, 1942

On this day, January 18th, some 81 years ago - Bing was in the Decca studio with the great Woody Herman & His Orchestra...

Date: 1/18/42
Location: Los Angeles, Calif
Label: DECCA (US)

Bing Crosby (voc), Woody Herman and his Woodchoppers (orc)

a. DLA2827-A I Want My Mama(Vicente Paiva, Al Stillman, Jararaca) - 2:22
EMI -AXIS (Australia) CDCDAX 701594 — BING SWINGS IT (1990)
FLAPPER (UK) CDPASTCD 7027 — BING CROSBY - THE GREAT YEARS (1993)

b. DLA2828-A Deep In The Heart Of Texas(Don Swander, June Hershey) - 2:39
ASV - LIVING ERA (UK) (ASV) CDCD AJA 5160 — BING CROSBY - I'M AN OLD COWHAND (1995)
AVID (UK) CDAMBX 147 (AMSC 826) — BING CROSBY A MUSICAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY Disc 2 (2005)

c. DLA2829-A I'm Thinking Tonight Of My Blue Eyes(Alvin Pleasant Carter) - 3:11
RAJON CDCDR0046 — THE GREAT BING CROSBY VOLUME 2 (disc 2) (2003)

All titles on:
JONZO (UK) CDJZCD-32 — THE CHRONOLOGICAL BING CROSBY VOLUME 32 (2003)

FISHING WITH BING

Fishing for smiles with Bing Crosby

By Jim Abrams


My dad passed away when I was 13 years old, and one of the many lingering voids that encircled me included the loss of my fishing mentor. I was really just learning the outdoor ropes and was left to find my own way. I was involved in Scouts and that helped, and a couple of my friends' dads tried to make an effort to include me in activities, but most of them were more adept at tossing a baseball than a Jitterbug or Hula-Popper. It wasn’t the same.

Baseball and football were certainly fun, and most of the girls I knew were beginning to draw some interest, but these weren’t enough — part of me was missing. Then I met Bing Crosby.

It was a Sunday afternoon and we had just gotten home from church. I flipped on the TV and was waiting for it to warm up, hand poised over the dial ready to flip through the four or five channels that came in clear enough to be viewed. An announcer began booming before the picture cleared: “Welcome to the American Sportsman. Today, we will be fly fishing for Atlantic salmon with Bing Crosby.” I plopped onto the floor with one of the sofa pillows.

I don’t really remember all the details of that broadcast, but I do recall being mesmerized by the scenery and the seemingly endless, graceful motion of the rod. I’d never heard of fly fishing before, and what Bing was doing seemed like magic.


Bing Crosby looked like he had just left church himself, complete with a tie and dapper felt fedora. He sported some kind of chest-high boots and was waiving a rod that must have been 10 feet long. The line was thick and traveled in long, looping arcs that he repeated until he allowed it to float gently to the water. After following its drift down the current, he would gracefully pull back, tugging the line with a swift gentleness back into its aerial ballet. Back and forth, back and forth — until once again, allowing it to settle on the water’s surface.

His jaw was clenched down on a briar pipe, just as I’d seen my father do a thousand times — an invisible drift of a cherry blend tobacco wafted through a lost memory. Bing wasn’t performing for the camera. This wasn’t some old movie — he was having the time of his life. He was truly happy.

Suddenly, he lifted the rod high and with a sudden jerk, which I knew meant that a fish had been fooled into striking his lure. After an aquatic tug-of-war, he landed one of the Atlantic salmon the announcer had promised. Pulling the briar from his lips, he broke into a smiling chorus of what sounded like an Irish brogue that only Bing could pull off. This was no act; this was pure enjoyment of an experience.

I didn’t understand the rod, the reel, what fly fishing was, or its techniques. I really had no idea what Bing was doing. I only knew that I wanted to try this kind of fishing. I wanted to be that happy again.

It was February, but I still picked up a glass 7-weight rod and a Daiwa automatic reel at a local sporting goods dealer — even though I had no idea what I was buying or how to use them. I stopped at the local library and checked out every book on the shelf concerning fly fishing, as if I was readying to write my next term paper. My first casts with that rod were made across our snow-swept yard. I’m certain that the neighbors thought I’d finally fallen off Grandma’s rocker and hit my head.

Bing and I never met, and he never knew what he had done for one lost kid. He gave me back a piece of something I thought was lost forever. He taught me that smiles sometimes take effort, but that they’re still inside just waiting for the opportunity to burst. He taught me that joy can be remembered and recaptured, and dreams can be netted from sunken hides. He showed me that joy can be found while standing alone on an uncrowded stream.

Today, so many of the shows about hunting and fishing concentrate too much upon the catch, the kill or the trophy. It has to be the biggest, the most, or at least the coolest video. They turn something natural into a competition. That just isn’t how most sportsmen operate — at least, I hope not.

I wish that Bing’s kind of show still played on a Sunday afternoon — I know that there are a lot of kids that need it. You don’t need to be the best or own the best — you just need to get out and search for what makes you happy. Amazingly, it can be something as simple as a quiet trip along a stream...

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