BING AND HIS MOST SUCCESSFUL MOVIES

Long before box-office weekends were measured in superhero billions, success in Hollywood meant something a little different. It meant longevity, audience devotion, and the rare ability to make moviegoers feel at home the moment you appeared on screen. Few actors embodied that kind of success more completely than Bing Crosby—a relaxed, warm, velvet-voiced star whose films defined popular entertainment from the 1930s through the 1950s. Crosby didn’t just star in hits; he helped shape entire genres. From heartfelt dramas to sparkling musicals and riotous road comedies, his most successful movies reveal why he became one of the highest-grossing and most reliable stars in American film history.

Going My Way (1944): The Role That Defined Him

If one film cemented Bing Crosby’s legacy, it was Going My Way. Playing the easygoing, modern-minded Father Chuck O’Malley, Crosby delivered a performance that felt effortless but deeply affecting. The film struck a nerve with wartime audiences eager for comfort, humor, and hope.

Its success was staggering. Going My Way became the top-grossing movie of 1944 and went on to win seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Crosby. More than trophies, the film established Crosby as a symbol of calm wisdom and decency—an image that would follow him for the rest of his career.

The Bells of St. Mary’s (1945): Lightning Strikes Twice

Few sequels surpass their predecessors, but The Bells of St. Mary’s came remarkably close. Reuniting Crosby with his priestly character and pairing him with Ingrid Bergman, the film expanded the emotional stakes while maintaining warmth and humor.

Incredibly, it outperformed Going My Way at the box office, becoming the highest-grossing film of 1945. Audiences returned not just for the story, but for Crosby himself, whose presence had become a guarantee of quality and reassurance in uncertain times.

Holiday Inn (1942): A Song That Changed Movie History

Holiday Inn might have been successful even without Crosby—but it’s impossible to imagine the film without him. Playing a song-and-dance man who retreats to the countryside, Crosby delivered one of the most famous musical performances of all time: the original rendition of “White Christmas.”

The film was a major hit, but its cultural impact proved even more enduring. The song would go on to become the best-selling single in recorded music history, tying Crosby forever to the sound of the holidays—and helping make Holiday Inn a perennial favorite.

White Christmas (1954): Old Hollywood at Its Grandest

By the 1950s, Crosby was no longer just a star—he was an institution. White Christmas, filmed in dazzling Technicolor and VistaVision, paired him with Danny Kaye in a lavish musical celebration of friendship, romance, and nostalgia.

The result was a phenomenon. White Christmas became the highest-grossing film of 1954, and for many viewers, it came to embody the very idea of the classic Hollywood musical. Crosby’s relaxed charisma anchored the spectacle, proving that even in a changing industry, audiences still wanted him front and center.

The Road to… Movies: Comedy Gold with Bob Hope

No discussion of Crosby’s success is complete without the Road pictures, his long-running comedy partnership with Bob Hope. Films like Road to Morocco (1942) and Road to Utopia (1946) were gleefully self-aware, anarchic, and wildly popular.

Commercially, they were dependable hits. Creatively, they showed Crosby’s underrated comic timing and willingness to poke fun at his own screen persona. Together, Crosby and Hope formed one of Hollywood’s most profitable and beloved duos.

High Society (1956): A Graceful Finale

One of Crosby’s last major film successes, High Society allowed him to revisit familiar territory—a lighthearted musical remake—while sharing the screen with Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra, and Louis Armstrong. The film was a box-office success and served as a fitting late-career triumph.

By this point, Crosby had little left to prove. His success was no longer about dominance, but about refinement and legacy.

Bing Crosby’s most successful films weren’t just hits on release—they became cultural touchstones. They offered humor during war, music that endured across generations, and performances that felt natural in an industry built on glamour and excess.

Crosby’s genius wasn’t flash or intensity. It was ease. And in movie after movie, that ease translated into enormous success—both commercial and emotional. Long after the box-office receipts faded, his films kept playing on televisions, during holidays, and in the collective memory of Hollywood itself.

That, ultimately, may be the greatest measure of his success...

OSCAR FLASHBACK - 1944

World War II was still raging in May 1944. The allied invasion of Normandy — aka D-Day — was just around the corner on June 6th. Americans kept the home fires burning and escaped from the global conflict by going to the movies. Two of the biggest films of the year, Leo McCarey’s “Going My Way” and George Cukor’s “Gaslight,” recently celebrated their 80th anniversaries.

Actually, “Going My Way” had a special “Fighting Front” premiere on April 27th: 65 prints were shipped to battle fronts and shown “from Alaska to Italy, and from England to the jungles of Burma.” The sentimental comedy-drama-musical arrived in New York on May 3rd.

And it was just the uplifting film audiences needed. Bing Crosby starred as Father O’Malley, a laid-back young priest who arrives at a debt-ridden New York City church that is run by the older, set-in-his ways Father Fitzgibbon (Barry Fitzgerald). The elder priest initially isn’t happy with O’Malley’s newfangled ways, but soon he and the rest of the parish realize O’Malley is someone special.

Though not specifically a musical, Crosby does sing the title tune as well as “Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral,” “The Day After Tomorrow” and duets on “Ava Marie” with his co-star, Metropolitan Opera soprano Rise Stevens. The fun “Swinging on a Star” by Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke, which Crosby sings with Robert Mitchell Boy Choir, became a huge hit for Crosby. The ending was a real four-hankie weepie moment as O’Malley reunites Fitzgibbon with his elderly mother.

The New York Times’ Bosley Crother was besotted with “Going My Way” calling it a “tonic delight,” adding that Crosby “is giving the best show of his career” …” he has been beautifully presented by Mr. McCarey.” The top box office attraction of 1944, “Going My Way” turned Crosby into the No. 1 box office star and proved he was more than comedic actor playing “pat-a-cake” with Bob Hope in the popular “Road” films.

“Going My Way” had strong competition at the Academy Awards most notably from Billy Wilder’s crackling film noir “Double Indemnity,” which earned seven nominations. But “Going My Way” won by a knockout leaving “Double Indemnity” in the dust. “Going My Way” earned seven Oscars including best film, director, song, actor for Crosby and supporting actor for Fitzgerald. And for the first and only time in Oscar history, Fitzgerald was also nominated for best actor.

Crosby would be the first actor to earn an Oscar nomination for reprising a role. The following year, he returned to the Academy Awards’ race in the beloved sequel “The Bells of St. Mary’s,” which earned eight Oscar nominations winning for best recording. Ironically, Wilder’s dark “The Lost Weekend” was the big winner at the 1946 ceremony...

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SWINGING ON A STAR

SWINGING ON A STAR
By Charles Apple - THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW

Seventy-five years ago today, the movie “Going My Way” was released in theaters. The musical featured Spokane’s own Bing Crosby in a role that would win him an Academy Award and that featured him singing a song that would win an Oscar.


This would be Crosby's first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor and the only time he’d win an Oscar. He’d be nominated again the next year for “The Bells of St. Mary’s” and then one more time in 1954.

But Crosby, in fact, was well- acquainted with the Oscars. Even by 1944, Crosby had sung songs in movies that had been nominated five times for Academy Awards.

Crosby did a lot more than just star in movies and sing in musicals. He recorded 50 to 70 records a year during the 1940s. He pioneered the use of prerecorded radio shows on reel-to-reel magnetic tape — reportedly, so he could spend more time playing golf. In 1963, Crosby would receive the first Grammy Global Achievement Award.

Crosby gave benefit concerts to help sell war bonds and did special programs for the Armed Forces Radio Network. He traveled to France to entertain troops just months after the D-Day invasion.

And he took his golf seriously. He worked his way to a 2 handicap and played in both the British and U.S. Amateur Championships. He started a tournament in 1937 that has evolved into the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

Crosby was born in Tacoma but his family moved to Spokane when he was 3 years old. He attended Gonzaga University and would perform between films in Spokane’s Clemmer Theater — which is now named after Crosby.

Crosby died in 1977 after playing a round of golf at La Moraleja Golf Course near Madrid, Spain. He was 74...

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SPOTLIGHT ON: FRANK MCCUGH

Frank McHugh is another one of those characters, where you know his face but maybe not his name. I remember him most from his role as another priest alongside Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald in Going My Way (1944).

Born in Homestead, Pennsylvania on May 23, 1898, McHugh came from a theatrical family. At age ten, Frank McHugh began performing in his parent's stock company, side by side with his siblings Matt and Kitty. Another brother, Ed, became a stage manager and agent in New York.

By age 17, McHugh was resident juvenile with the Marguerite Bryant stock company. Extensive vaudeville experience followed, and in 1925 McHugh made his first Broadway appearance in The Fall Guy; three years later, he made his movie debut in a Vitaphone short. Hired by Warner Bros. for the small role of a motorcycle driver in 1930's The Dawn Patrol, McHugh appeared in nearly 70 Warners films over the next decade. He was often cast as the hero's best pal or as drunken comedy relief; his peculiar trademark was a lightly braying laugh. Highlight performances during his Warners tenure included Jimmy Cagney's pessimistic choreographer in Footlight Parade (1933), "rude mechanical" Quince in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935), an erstwhile poet and horserace handicapper in Three Men on a Horse (1936) and a friendly pickpocket in One Way Passage (1932) — a role he'd repeat word-for-word in Till We Meet Again, 1940 remake of Passage. One of the biggest movies he was in was Roaring Twenties (1939) with Jimmy Cagney.

He appeared in over 150 films and television productions and worked with almost every star at Warner Bros. By the 1950s, his film career had begun to decline, as evinced by his smaller role in Career (1959). From 1964 to 1965, he played the role of Willie Walters, a live-in handyman on ABC's sitcom, The Bing Crosby Show. Reportedly Bing insisted he be cast alongside him. His last television appearance was as Charlie Wingate in the episode "The Fix-It Man" on CBS's Lancer western series. McHugh played a handyman in that role too.

McHugh was married to Dorothy Spencer. He had three children and two grandchildren.

Frank McHugh's last film role was in the Elvis Presley film Easy Come, Easy Go(1967). He basically left Hollywood for the next decade. He died on September 11, 1981...largely forgotten for the great supporting roles he starred in...

GOING MY WAY: A 1944 REVIEW

Here is an original review of the 1944 Bing Crosby classic Going My Way. This was written by Kate Cameron and published in The Daily News on May 3, 1944...


Paramount may have made a more appealing, more tenderly human and amusing picture than “Going My Way,” during its many years of film-making, but if so, I have missed it.

The production that had its first showing at Paramount Theatre last evening is a heart-warming delightful entertainment. It has to do with the beguiling way of a young priest with an aging pastor, when the former is assigned by his bishop to supersede the old man in discharging the affairs of St. Dominicks church and in keeping the parish from becoming atrophied, as it was in danger of becoming under the feeble guidance of Father Fitzgibbon.

It is a simple tale, simply told by director, authors and cast. Leo McCarey, who produced the picture for Paramount, directed it and wrote the original story, kept a firm but gentle hand on his cast. Not once during the more than two hours of running time did a single player step out of character, nor were the lines or action permitted to cross the invisible boundary line of good taste.

You can’t tell a story about a priest very well without touching on his religion, so the church takes its place in the controversy between young Father O’Malley and spiritual aspects of the picture are blended so naturally with the temporal affairs on the screen that the audience is hardly aware that it is listening to a most persuasive sermon on charity, which is the theme of the narrative.

Bing Crosby departs from his usual screen impersonation in the role of Father Chuck O’Malley. He sings, of course, as a Bing Crosby picture would be a waste without a song or two from the crooner. But surprises the audience by turning in a fine characterization.

His is an impressive performance that might well earn him an Academy Award next year, if it weren’t for the fact that he is competing with Barry Fitzgerald, whose performance of Father Fitzgibbon is a really brilliant delineation of a slightly senile old man.

Rise Stevens, in the role of a Metropolitan Opera star who had been a schoolmate of Father O’Malley and his friend, Father O’Dowd, is lovely to look at and a delight to the ear when she sings an aria from “Carmen” and two new numbers entitled “Day After Tomorrow” and “Going My Way.”

Bing also sings the latter songs and in addition croons “Would You Like to Swing on a Star,” to the accompaniment of a chorus of fine young male voices.

Jean Heather and James Brown, two promising young players, give the picture its touch of romance. Frank McHugh is fine as Father O’Dowd and Gene Lockhart, Eily Malyon and Stanley Clemens help to make “Going My Way” one of the film delights of this or any other year...

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THE REAL FATHER O'MALLEY

100th Anniversary Concert to Feature the Music of Father Joseph P. Connor, Inspiration for Classic Film "Going My Way"

 

By Cynthia Cumming

 

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WEST ORANGE, NJ - What do American Bandstand, the Oscar-winning film "Going My Way," and former New Jersey Governor Brendan T. Byrne have in common? The answer is a 100th Anniversary concert celebrating the life and music of Father Joseph P. Connor, beloved parochial vicar and American music composer at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in West Orange on September 14.

The Les Elgart Orchestra, a 40s Big Band best-known for "Bandstand Boogie," the American Bandstand theme song, will perform many of Father Connor's compositions. Connor was the inspiration for Father O'Malley in "Going My Way," the classic film that earned Bing Crosby a best actor nod in 1944. The event chair is Gov. Brendan T. Byrne, who was a youth at Our Lady of Lourdes while Father Connor served there.

Father O'Connor composed popular and religious music during the twenties, thirties and forties. His best-known contemporary work is When I take my Sugar to Tea, which is regularly performed by the Les Elgart Orchestra. Other songs include By a Waterfall, You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me, The Golden Dawn, Lilies of Lorraine, The Far Green Hills of Home, Little Black Dog, I Shall Return, Love Sends a Little Gift of Roses, Miracle of the Bells and Honeymoon Lane. Father O'Connor wrote several movie scores including Footlights on Parade and 42nd Street.

“His history is truly amazing,” said Our Lady of Lourdes Pastor, Father James Ferry. “He was composing during the great swing era, and this year—our 100th anniversary-- is the right time to tell his unique story, celebrate his contributions to the parishes he served, and touch more people through his music.”

He is credited with 180 songs of his own; 330 in collaboration with composers like Sammy Fain and Irving Kahal, and his works were recorded by superstars like Frank Sinatra. His friends included Ed Sullivan, Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, and Jack Dempsey. He also worked closely with Oscar Hammerstein.Father Connor frequently used pseudonyms for his works, including Pierre Norman and John OpenshawIn.

Just like Father Chuck O'Malley in "Going My Way," Father Connor used his royalties for parish and the poor, and spearheaded the construction of Our Lady of Lourdes School. Sadly, after a short illness, Father Connor passed away in 1952 at the age of 54.

The Les Elgart Orchestra will perform Father Connor's music in a concert on Sept. 14 at Our Lady of Lourdes, One Eagle Rock Avenue, beginning at 2:15 pm. General admission is $50.00. On November 9, a 100th Anniversary Mass will be held and a Gala Celebration will take place at the Hanover Manor. More information on those events will be provided in the near future.

 

For more information on the event, visit the Our Lady of Lourdes website at http://www.lourdeswestorange.org/.

 

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THE FIVE BEST BING CROSBY MOVIES

Bing had so many facets to his career. He started out as a band singer with such bands as Paul Whiteman and Gus Arnheim. Then he moved on a recording contract first with Brunswick, and then a long term contract with Decca Records. In the early 1930s radio was the king, so Bing would conquer and dominate that genre for the next 30 years. Finally, Bing became full blown Hollywood movie star. He first starred in a string of Mack Sennett shorts, and then he moved to Paramount Studios where he would remain one of their biggest actors for the next twenty five years. To celebrate his remarkable life and what would be his 110th birthday, I wanted to spotlight my five favorite Bing Crosby films...

5. GOING MY WAY (1944)
The film Going My Way marked the high point of Bing's movie career. In the film Bing played Father Chuck O'Malley, and in the beginning he had some reservations playing a Catholic priest. However, the role won Bing an Academy Award, and it proved that Bing was not just a movie crooner. His take on Father O'Malley made priests seem more human and approachable. The chemistry that Bing had with his co-star Barry Fitzgerald also helped. The movie is full of everything from laughter to tears, and in the foreground is Bing's great role in the timeless film.

4. HIGH SOCIETY (1956)
Bing's first major rival to his status as head crooner was the boy from Hoboken Frank Sinatra. Sinatra rose to super stardom when he left the Tommy Dorsey band in 1943, and he wanted to follow in Crosby's footsteps and become a movie star. In the 1940s there was a fake rivalry that was stirred up between Crosby and Sinatra, but they both admired each other greatly. It would not be until 1956 that they would join forces for a movie. The MGM musical High Society is often considered Bing's last great movie, and it definitely was his last great musical. Bing starred as a lazy songwriter CK Dexter Haven, and Sinatra was a magazine photographer. Thrown in the mix was the beautiful Grace Kelly and the jazz genius Louis Armstrong. Do I need to list any more examples why this is one of Bing's best movies?!

3. HOLIDAY INN (1942)
I hope whatever genius decided to pair up Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, and Irving Berlin songs got a bonus at Paramount, because it made a wonderful film. Of course, the film introduced the timeless Christmas classic "White Christmas" to the world, and it helped to secure Bing's place as Father Christmas, but also made audiences forget about the horror of a world war that we just entered. Bing sang wonderful songs like "White Christmas", "Easter Parade", "Be Careful, It's My Heart", and "Song Of Freedom" while Fred Astaire danced the quickest tapping ever put on film with his number "Say It With Firecrackers". The black face "Abraham" number may seem dated and some cable channels even delete the number now, but it is a wonderful number that shows that in 1942 the world was much more different than it is now 70 years later. A supporting cast of Marjorie Reynolds, Virginia Dale, and Walter Abel help to make this movie one of my all-time favorite holiday films - even though most of the film does not take place at Christmas!

2. BLUE SKIES (1946)
The movie Blue Skies was unique because it reunited Bing, Fred Astaire, and Irving Berlin on film. During the making of the film, Astaire also announced that it would be his last film he made. He wanted to retire from Hollywood. As we know that was not to happen. When Gene Kelly broke his ankle during rehearsals for another Irving Berlin film Easter Parade in 1948, Astaire was lured back to movie making and never stopped. Fred was not even supposed to be in Blue Skies as it was. Dancer Paul Draper was originally cast as Bing's co-star, but Bing had not chemistry with Draper, and he had him removed from the film. There is also a rumor that Paul Draper disliked the leading lady Joan Caulfield, but Bing was having a relationship with her at the time and was very protective of the novice actress Caulfield. Whatever the reason, I am glad that Fred Astaire signed on.

Again the movie featured a slew of great numbers, and this time they were all filmed in glorious technicolor. Bing had the opportunity to croon such great songs as "Blue Skies", "All By Myself", "You Keep Coming Back Like A Song" and "I've Got My Captain Working For Me Now", while Astaire had career toppers with terrific numbers like "Puttin On The Ritz" and "Heat Wave". The film like Holiday Inn is about two guys and a girl. Most of the film is spent with them fighting over the girl, but in the end happiness prevails. Many consider the plot of Blue Skies corny by today's standards, but years later the film can always bring a smile to my face or a tear to my eye.

1. THE COUNTRY GIRL (1954)
By the 1950s the music scene was changing, and Bing tried branching out to more dramatic roles. Like Going My Way a decade earlier, The Country Girl was Bing's role of a lifetime. He played a drunker washed up singer so convincingly that some bios of Bing in recent years erroneously say that he was an alcoholic. For some of the scenes that required Bing to look tired and completely hung over, he had his sons walk with him all night and keep him up so he would have a believable haggard look for the scene the next morning. At first the film was going to have no music, but Bing insisted that a few songs would be in the film so he would not alienate his regular movie fans. The one song that has always stuck with me is "The Search Is Through. Written by Harold Arlen and Ira Gershwin, the song is used throughout the film to not only show his downfall but also to show his rise from the bottom. It is one of Bing's most underrated recordings in my humble opinion.

The cast is not huge in The Country Girl, but rounding out the film was Grace Kelly and William Holden. Kelly played Bing's long suffering wife, and it would win her an Academy Award. William Holden played a director that was giving Bing his last chance resurrect his career and his life. I don't want to give away the plot, but I have not been able to watch the film since having children. However, it remains my favorite Bing Crosby film. It is a great movie to demonstrate Bing's fine voice as well as his underrated acting ability. It is a prime example of why Bing should always be fondly remembered as one of our greatest entertainers...

BING'S GOT MAD SKILLZ

Here is an interesting review of Bing's movie Going My Way (1944)...

A church, a broken window, some piano playing, singing, and two priests not getting along so much. That about explains the 1944 Best Picture winner Going My Way, starring Bing Crosby, and it was JUST AS EXCITING AS IT SOUNDS!!!!

Crosby plays Father Charles “Chuck” O’Malley, a young up-and-comer (if priests can even be referred to as “up-and-comers”) heading to a new congregation for his new post. Father Fitzgibbon (Barry Fitzgerald), the old school Elder Priest or something, disagrees with O’Malley’s ways, which really just includes real, grounded friendships, playing golf, and teaching children how to sing (The horror!). Fitzgibbon’s disapproval doesn’t really make any sense, but neither does religion sometimes. OH SNAP! A scandalous blog I lead, I know. Other characters float in and out, like a girl who ran away from home, some kids O’Malley teaches to sing, and a few others, but they don’t really matter too much because there isn’t really much of a plot and the film’s pieces rarely connect the puzzle. The movie was well-paced though, (which as you know by now is so crucial to me when I’m watching older, black and white films), and enjoyable enough.

Fun Fact: This movie won a helluva lot of Academy Awards (7!) and was the first and only time an actor was nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor. Fitzgerald lost to Crosby for Actor, but then snagged the Best Supporting trophy.

But before I start sounding like a Negative Nick about Going My Way, we should all hail the mighty Crosby – whose trademark bass-baritone made him a star on screen, in the recording industry, and on radio (he has three stars on the Walk of Fame to prove it). Some of these old-timer films simply exist as a vehicle for a super-mighty-talented guy to show off his super-mighty-talented talent, and Bing Crosby is “a dreamboat,” as one of my Facebook friends leisurely commented one day. The guy has mad skillz and no one can argue with that. Listening to the movie’s songs make it worthy of a watch, but negative points for yanno, the stuff I said above. The relationship between O’Malley and Fitzgibbon does progress nicely though, and by film’s end it’s kind of nice. Said the worst description of a movie ever.

To conclude with this conclusion, Going My Way is to Bingy as An American in Paris is to Gene Kelly: The movie was just OK for me, but the talented singing man keeps it out of C-territory.

Grade: B-

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GOING MY WAY CO-STAR DIES

Rise Stevens, the New York City- born mezzo-soprano who reigned at the Metropolitan Opera in the 1940s and 1950s and injected sensuality and dramatic fire into her signature role in “Carmen,” has died. She was 99.

She died yesterday at her home in Manhattan, the New York Times reported, citing her son, Nicolas Surovy.

Celebrated for her glamorous looks as well as her lush singing, Stevens delayed her debut at the Met to polish her skills in Europe, then dabbled in movies during her 23-year Met career. Lloyds of London insured her voice for $1 million in 1945.

Her specialties included playing male characters written to be performed by women, such as the title role in Christoph Willibald Gluck’s “Orfeo ed Euridice.” She held “a near- monopoly” at the Met on the role of Octavian, the count who is a princess’s young lover in Richard Strauss’s “Der Rosenkavalier,” music critic Roland Gelatt wrote in 1959.

Still, it was the title role in Georges Bizet’s “Carmen,” the seductive and free-spirited female Gypsy, that defined Stevens’s career. She performed the role 124 times at the Met, including 10 for broadcast, according to Opera News Online.

“So far as America was concerned, during the 15 years following 1945, Rise Stevens and Carmen were virtually synonymous,” Clyde T. McCants wrote in “American Opera Singers and Their Recordings” (2004). “Stevens was Carmen in the opera house, on the concert stage, on recordings, on radio.”

Rise Steenberg was born on June 11, 1913, in New York City, the first child of Christian Steenberg, an advertising salesman, and the former Sadie Mechanic. Starting at 10, she sang on a children’s hour on New York radio station WJZ.

At 15, she changed high schools to enroll in a music program at Newtown High School in Elmhurst, New York. She changed her last name to Stevens about the time she graduated, according to John Pennino’s 2005 biography, “Rise Stevens: A Life in Music.”

While in Prague, Stevens met the Hungarian actor Walter Surovy, and they married in 1938. Surovy died in 2001. Their son, Nicolas, became an actor.

Stevens signed with the Met for the 1938-1939 season, which opened with a performance of “Rosenkavalier” in Philadelphia. The audience welcomed Stevens “with ovation after ovation for her spirited performance,” the New York Times reported.

Her Met debut in New York came in December 1938, in the title role of Thomas’s “Mignon.” In his review for the Times, Olin Downes called Stevens “a new debutante of unquestionable gifts, both vocal and dramatic,” whose voice “has unusual range, well-adjusted registers, and there are colors in it.”

She was among the opera stars recruited by movie mogul Louis Mayer, co-founder of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. She debuted in the musical comedy “The Chocolate Soldier” (1941) with Nelson Eddy and also appeared with Bing Crosby in “Going My Way” (1944), which won seven Academy Awards, including best picture. She appeared often on television, including the “Ed Sullivan Show.” Stevens declined to commit exclusively to a career in Hollywood and returned to the Met between her movie roles...

GOING MY WAY: THE SERIES ON DVD

In this charming television series remake of the Oscar winning 1944 film "Going My Way" starring Bing Crosby, dancer and actor Gene Kelly (American in Paris) takes on Crosby's role of Father O'Malley, a Catholic priest sent to St. Dominick's, a poor parish in New York City. There he teams up with Father Fitzgibbon (Leo G. Carroll), the elderly pastor of St. Dom's, and his housekeeper Mrs. Featherstone (Nydia Westerman) As luck would have it, Father O'Malley's boyhood friend Tom, played by none other than Dick York ( Bewitched ), runs a secular youth center in the neighborhood.

The guest cast of Going My Way was impressive. Among the many stars who appeared were Anne Francis and George Kennedy (A Man for Mary), Eddy Bracken and Harry Morgan (Like My Own Brother), Jack Warden (Not Good Enough for My Sister), Kevin McCarthy (Ask Me No Questions), Beverly Garland (A Saint for Mama), and James Whitmore (Tell Me When You Get to Heaven), just to name a few.

Fifty year after its first broadcast in 1962, Going My Way's light touch and big-hearted themes make it great entertainment for the whole family with great acting and stories that touch the soul with warmth, humor and drama, as life's inescapable situations unfold, and are resolved in surprising ways.

Timeless Media Group is releasing an 8-DVD collection of Going My Way - The Complete Series, with all 30 episodes of the 1962 program that was the ABC network's spin-off/remake of the 1944 theatrical classic. Running more than 1500 minutes, this show will be presented in the original black-and-white full screen video, with English mono audio. It will be available at general retail on December 6th, and you can pre-order it from Amazon.com right away. Cost is $49.98 SRP, and here's the just-finalized package art, straight from the studio:

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BING MARATHON ON TCM

It's going to be a day early, but TCM is honoring Bing on his 108th birthday with a marathon of his movies, and well as a short Bing did in 1957. It is going to be a terrfic day of Bing tomorrow...

MAY 2:
8:25 AM JIMMY FUND - BING CROSBY (1957)
Bing Crosby urges the audience to donate to the Jimmy Fund to end childhood cancer.

8:30 AM Going Hollywood (1933)
A girl poses as a French maid to catch a singing star.

10:00 AM Road to Singapore (1940)
A runaway tycoon and his sailor buddy try to con their way through the

11:30 AM Road to Zanzibar (1941)
A lady con artist scams two out-of-work entertainers into financing a safari.

1:15 PM Road to Morocco (1942)
Two castaways get mixed up in an Arabian nightmare when they're caught between a bandit chief and a beautiful princess.

2:45 PM Going My Way (1944)
A young priest revitalizes a failing parish and brings new life to the elder priest.

5:00 PM Blue Skies (1946)
Vaudeville partners spend years vying for the same beautiful woman.

SWINGING ON A STAR

To serious Bing Crosby fans, I think "Swinging on A Star" is the most widely issued Bing recording - next to "White Christmas". In the old days of collecting Crosby CDs, it would appear on almost every issue. For a few rare Bing recordings, the collector would have to endure "Swinging On A Star" again. However, listening to this song again, I find it is a pretty good song. It was definitely a song that captured music lover's attention in 1944. Here is a little history on this song: "Swinging on a Star" was composed by Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke. It was sung by Bing Crosby in the 1944 film Going My Way, winning an Academy Award for best song. Song writer Jimmy Van Heusen was at Crosby’s house one evening for dinner, and to discuss a song for the movie Going My Way. During the meal one of the children began complaining about how he didn’t want to go to school the next day. The singer turned to his son and said to him, “If you don’t go to school, you might grow up to be a mule. Do you wanna do that?” Van Heusen thought this clever rebuke would make a good song for the movie. He pictured Bing, who played a priest, talking to a group of children acting much the same way as his own child had acted that night. Van Heusen took the idea to his partner lyricist Johnny Burke, who approved. They wrote the song. The first recording of Swinging on a Star took place in Los Angeles on February 7, 1944, released by Decca Records. The Williams Brothers quartet, including legendary crooner Andy Williams, sang backup vocals to Crosby. The song was recorded by countless other singers such as Frank Sinatra, Burl Ives, and Tony Bennett - but Bing's version is the best...

1944 OSCAR WINNERS

Here is a very interesting montage of the Oscar winners for 1944...of course Bing Crosby is featured. Some great movies, including GOING MY WAY came out in 1944...