Chapter 6
The Most Famous Man in the World, 1940–1945
As the forties got underway, Bing remained as the top
recording star and also as master of ceremonies of the very popular Kraft Music Hall on radio. The first Road film with Bob Hope and Dorothy
Lamour had been a great success and it was quickly followed by several more.
Also, Bing was developing well as an actor and satisfying popular demand for
pleasant entertaining films featuring an apparently “regular guy.”
Bing gave relatively few in-depth
interviews during these years, but one with Patty De Roulf (under the heading
“No Phonies for Bing”) in Motion Picture magazine in 1942 discussed a couple
of issues on which he revealed his true feelings, which were to become more
evident and pronounced as the years passed.
“Sometimes I’m afraid I’m a little mean to the
fans. I don’t want to be, but I can’t help it. I guess I’m still
self-conscious. I don’t like to be recognized when I’m out in public. While I
don’t mind signing a few autograph books, I get panicky if they start crowding
in on me, and worst of all, I can’t stand it if a fan starts getting gushy. If
I see that coming, I duck!”
Charity
shows are the hardest for Bing to do. He wants to give them, of course, but he
doesn’t find it so easy to get up and perform before a big audience. “Few
people,” Crosby states, “outside of the theatrical profession realize what a
tremendous task it is for an entertainer, accustomed only to a motion picture
set, a recording studio, or a small broadcasting studio, to get up on a stage
and face ten thousand sober faces staring at you from out of the darkness.” But
if it’s for charity, Bing will grit his teeth and do it.
He had no need to reproach himself as
regards his treatment of his fans, but the outbreak of war had led Bing to really
“grit his teeth” and throw himself into war bond tours, troop entertainments,
and armed forces broadcasts. His workload was excessive and as the decade progressed
it was said that his voice was being heard somewhere in the world every minute
of every day. He was virtually the “Voice of America” as he articulated the
feelings of Americans everywhere in his war-time broadcasts. Films such as Holiday Inn were huge commercial
triumphs and then Bing was tempted into playing a priest, Father O’Malley, in
the film Going My Way. The success of
that film was incredible, with Bing, to his surprise, receiving the Oscar as
the best actor of the year for 1944. He was nominated again for an Oscar (this
time unsuccessfully) when he reprised the role of Father O’Malley in The Bells of St. Mary’s in 1945. Meanwhile
his record sales reached unprecedented levels with hit following hit and the
song “White Christmas” reaching the top of the charts year after year.
If anyone had to select the year when
Bing reached the peak of his popularity, it would have to be 1944 because he
not only won the Oscar as best actor and was the top star at the cinema box
office, but he had no less than six number one records during the twelve
months. His Kraft Music Hall radio
show was also one of the top rated programs on the air. The extent of Bing’s
fame during this period cannot be understated and he was undoubtedly the
biggest name in show business, despite the competition from some of the “newer
fellas” such as Frank Sinatra. However, behind these magnificent achievements
lurked a more somber side to Bing’s life.
Bing came to war-torn Europe in 1944
and undertook a very demanding tour to entertain the armed forces. There were
signs that the heavy usage was having an adverse effect on his voice and there
seemed to be problems at home with Dixie being critically ill in hospital in
1945 following what might have been a drug overdose. It was alleged that Dixie
had a drinking problem and as a result of this, Bing had very seriously
considered divorce in 1940. He spent more and more time away from home without
Dixie, including an extended visit to New York in late 1945. His name was
linked with the actress Joan Caulfield and his health may have started to
deteriorate too as he had a spell in the hospital in September 1945.
Bing’s emerging problems with his
voice, his health, and surprisingly, his finances were going to get worse
before they got better.
A dollar in 1945 was equivalent to
$9.55 in the year 2000.
January 3, Wednesday.
Press reports indicate that Bing and Dixie have returned to
their Camarillo Street home after several days at El Mirador in Palm
Springs.
They were in a party at the desert resort with Mr. and Mrs. Dana
Fuller, Mr.
and Mrs. John Burke, Miss Judith Barrett and Lin Howard. Bing plays in
a qualifying round for the Los Angeles Open at Griffith Park but picks
up his ball and does not qualify.
January 4, Thursday.
(7:00–8:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall show is broadcast from NBC Studio B
in Hollywood. Guests include Joan Brodel, Lucy Monroe, and Humphrey Bogart.
The screen bad man,
Humphrey Bogart, will reform his tactics long enough to appear with Bing Crosby
on the Music Hall broadcast tonight. Two singers. Lucy Monroe, opera star; and
Joan Brodel, night club performer, will be the other guests on the program over
WMAQ at 9 o’clock. Bob Burns, the Music Maids, and John Scott Trotter's
orchestra complete the bill for the night’s divertisement. “Bogey,” as Bing
calls Humphrey, is a M. H. veteran. He’ll compete with Crosby in shooting big
words at the ever-receptive microphone.
(Belvidere Daily Republican, January 4, 1940)
January 6, Saturday.
(7:00–7:30 p.m.) On a linkup from Hollywood, Bing contributes the song “South
of the Border” and dialogue to Caravan -
a Bob Crosby NBC radio show - in New York starring Mildred Bailey.
Bob Crosby Orchestra with Mildred Bailey. Production attempted to
create a homey and intimate atmosphere by explaining that Mildred Bailey was a
childhood friend of the Crosby’s. The angle was furthered by dialogue from
brother Bing piped in from the coast. Bing socked over ‘South of the Border’.
(Variety, January 10, 1940)
During the weekend, Bing and Dixie
attend a party at Ken Murray’s new home at Santa Monica. The gathering is informal
and guests appear in slacks and sports clothing. After dinner prepared by Dave
Chasen and served at small tables on the lower floor of the home, the company
breaks up into several groups and plays Chinese checkers, backgammon, and
ping-pong. Other guests include Johnny Mack Brown, Jimmie Fidler, Tyrone Power,
Jon Hall, Frances Langford, Bob Hope, Shirley Ross, Eleanor Powell, Lew Ayres,
and Edgar Bergen.
January 11,
Thursday. (7:00–8:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Hilda Burke, Alan Hale and Maureen O’Hara.
Hilda Burke, soprano of
the Metropolitan Opera Company; Maureen O’Hara, English actress, and the man of
many supporting roles in the films, Alan Hale, make up the list of
personalities to be heard from by Bing on the Music Hall tonight….Maureen
O’Hara is currently being frightened on screens throughout the nation by
Charles Laughton as “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.” She’ll no doubt welcome the
comparative quiet of K. M. H. unless Bob Burns takes to shooting unfair
questions at her.
(Richmond Times-Dispatch, 11th January, 1940)
January 13,
Saturday. Bing and Dixie hold a celebration gala dinner party at the Cafe
LaMaze after the Binglin horse “Don Mike” wins the $10,000 San Pasqual Handicap at Santa Anita.
January 15, Monday.
Los Angeles radio station KMPC goes on the air full time with power increased
to 5000 watts daytime. The press release about this indicates that Bing has
been appointed to the KMPC board of directors and that his codirectors include
Paul Whiteman, Harold Lloyd, Freeman Gosden, and Charles Correll (the latter
two being “Amos ‘n’ Andy”). Meanwhile, Bing spends most of the day rehearsing
for the evening Lux Radio Theater broadcast. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) In a radio
version of Sing You Sinners for Lux
Radio Theater on CBS with Ralph Bellamy and Elizabeth Patterson. Louis Silvers
leads the orchestra.
Music will spread its wings over the Lux Radio Theater
tonight when Cecil B. DeMille produces and presents “Sing You Sinners” as
another dramatic triumph the like of which recently won him first place in a
nation-wide radio poll of editors to decide the best dramatic show on the air.
In order to assure its perfection as real entertainment, DeMille has engaged Bing
Crosby to return in his original starring role of Joe Beebe, which won him widespread
film acclaim.
Joining Crosby when the show goes on the air over WDAE-CBS
at 9 o’clock, will be Elizabeth Patterson, who played Crosby’s mother in the
picture; Ralph Bellamy in the role of older brother, David, and Jacqueline Wells
as the girl David wants to marry. The story by Claude Binyon is written around Joe
Beebe (Crosby) whose propensity for bartering reaps a reward similar to that of
the hero in “Jack and the Beanstalk” with a considerable dash of romance. Also,
appropriately in a vehicle starring Bing, there’s a race-horse; and songs play
a part in the fast-moving and hilarious plot - songs sung in a night club to provide
money for feeding the horse.
(The Tampa Times, January 15, 1940)
…An hour later,
WABC’s Radio Theatre resurrected one of Bing Crosby’s most successful films, “Sing
You Sinners.” It was as durable as ever, with Bing and his cast lending sparkle
to its lines.
(Sid Shalit, Daily News, January 16, 1940)
January 16, Tuesday. Bing is at the Philharmonic Auditorium for a concert by Lawence Tibbett.
January (undated). Bing and Dixie are at a cocktail party in the American Room of the Brown Derby hosted by Mr. & Mrs. Robert Young.
January 18,
Thursday. (7:00–8:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Dalies Frantz, Ida Lupino and Frank McHugh.
Bing Crosby turns the
key to his Music Hall over WMC at 9 tonight and welcomes one of the leading concert
pianists and two members of the film colony. The keyboard artist is Dalies
Frantz, making his first visit to the program in over a year, and the cinema performers
are Ida Lupino, English actress, and Frank McHugh, comedian. While Bing has
become widely known as a host through his greetings to a wide assortment of visitors,
each week, the famous Crosby vocal chords continue to predominate and rank the
crooner as a radio favorite.
(The Commercial Appeal, 18th January, 1940)
January 19, Friday. Bing's horse "Rita Osuna" and the Binglin horse "Preceptor ll" win at Santa Anita.
January 20,
Saturday. (8:00-9:00 pm. PST) Bing takes part in “The March of Dimes” program. This is radio’s contribution to the National
Foundation for Infantile Paralysis campaign. Eddie Cantor is again the host and
others appearing are Burns & Allen, Jack Benny, Rudy Vallee, Fanny Brice
and Mickey Rooney.
January 22, Monday.
The U.S. Treasury releases figures for the highest film salaries of 1938 and
Bing’s figure for that year is given as $260,000.
January 23,
Tuesday. A benefit golf match between the Lakeside team and the Ryder
Cup team at Lakeside for Finnish relief has to finish after 9 holes
because of the wet conditions. Bing plays with John Gallaudet and they
lose one-down to Byron Nelson and Vic Ghezzi. Later, Bing and Dixie are
thought to have been at the Victor Hugo for a farewell
dinner dance for various old silent film stars who were about to
undertake a
tour as “Hollywood Cavalcade of Stars.”
January 25,
Thursday. (7:00–8:00 p.m.) The Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Bing’s guests include Gloria Jean, Madeleine
Carroll, and Lon Chaney Jr.
That rising young
starlet, twelve-year-old Gloria Jean, will meet Bing Crosby for the first time
tonight on the Music Hall. Bing and Gloria will talk over
plans for the new picture they’re to make together called, “If I Had My Way.” Madeleine
Carroll and Lon Chancy, Jr., will also drop in on Bing, Bob Burns, the Music
Maids, and John Scott Trotter’s orchestra for the broadcast over WMAQ at 9
o'clock.
The glamorous Madeleine Carroll enjoys
nothing better than the informalities of M. H. She even outdoes Crosby’s “doubletalk”
on occasion.
When Bing tendered his invitation to Lon
Chaney, Jr., he found the son of the late master of cinema make-up was heading
for Hollywood from the east by train and therefore couldn’t sign the contract
until he arrived. Lon Jr. had just attended the “Of Mice and Men” preview in
which he played the part of the dim-witted Lennie.
(Belvidere Daily Republican, 25th January, 1940)
January 26–28, Friday–Sunday. Bing’s fourth pro–am
golf tournament takes place at Rancho Santa Fe and while this is underway, he
films Swing with Bing,
a two-reel
golfing item featuring the tournament. Half the field of 300 play on
the first day, the remainder on the Saturday with the low 70 competing
on the Sunday. On the first day, Bing has a 79 playing with Herman
Keiser and they have a best ball score of 71.The professional winner is Ed (Porky)
Oliver with a 36-hole card of 68-67—135. He is nine strokes under par for the
regulation 72 at Rancho Santa Fe. Oliver’s score is the lowest in the four-year
history of the Crosby tournament. It nets him $500 first money. A record field
of nearly 350 pros and amateurs competes, the weather is ideal, and the gallery
exceeds any previous tourney. The weekend finishes with Bing's barbecue at the Del Mar Turf Club. Amateurs playing include Ty Cobb, Fred Perry, Ellsworth Vines, Johnny Weissmuller, George Murphy, Oliver Hardy, Richard Arlen, Dick Gibson, Grantland Rice, John Dawson and Jimmy McLarnin.
Figuring
that trip to the hosp would be a quickie, no sooner did Bing Crosby land at St. Vincent’s than he called J. Walter
Thompson agency for his script of today’s Kraft show.
(Daily Variety, February 1, 1940)
February 1, Thursday. (7:00–8:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Gaspar Cassado, Randolph Scott and Jean Parker.
Bing Crosby will roll
out the well-worn reception carpet in the old Music Hall tonight to receive
Randolph Scott, Jean Parker, both of the films, and the noted cellist, Gaspar
Casado (sic)…Randolph Scott will slip into the language of the open spaces he
employed in the westerns that gave him his picture start, when he chats with
Bob Burns. Jean Parker, the ideal ingenue, may be persuaded to try a song with
King Croon Crosby. The cellist, Gaspar Casado, a Spaniard by birth, first
attained prominence in his field by being the only man to play the instrument
with a metal bow.
(Belvidere Daily Republican, 1st February, 1940)
February 8, Thursday. (7:00–8:00 p.m.) Another Kraft Music Hall show and Bing’s guests are Mischa Levitski, Ralph Bellamy, and Walt Disney.
Pinocchio’s papa, Walt
Disney; Ralph Bellamy, movie actor; and Mischa Levitsky, concert pianist, will
present their calling cards to Bing Crosby in the Kraft Music Hall, over WIBA
at 9 o’clock tonight.
(The Capital Times (Madison. Wisconsin),
8th February 1940)
February 9, Friday.
Records four songs in Hollywood with John Scott Trotter and his
Orchestra, including “Tumbling Tumbleweeds.” Later, Bing and Dixue go
to the premiere of the Walt Disney film "Pinochio" at the Holluywood
Pantages Theater.
February 11, Sunday. (1:00-1:30 p.m.) Bing guests on a KHJ radio program called “Nobody’s Children” which is presented by the Children's Protective Society of California and broadcast over the Mutual network. He sings "That Sly Old Gentleman".
![ifihadmyway[1]](Chapter_6_files/image008.jpg)
February 13–April 12. Films If I Had My Way with Gloria Jean, Charles Winninger, and El Brendel.
The director is David Butler with musical direction by Charles Previn. This is
another independent production in which Bing has a financial interest and the
film is released through Universal.
Gloria enjoyed working with Bing Crosby, who revealed
the secret of his casual performing style. “He always told me, ‘Don’t be too
serious about anything. Throw it away, you’ll have more fun. The minute you get
serious—and I find this with everything I’ve done in my life—it doesn’t work
that well.’ And he was casual. He was always smoking a pipe and putting it
down, or chewing gum before we’d sing, and he’d take it out of his mouth and
stick it on the microphone. That was casual!”
For all his laid-back demeanor, Crosby was fussy about
some things and would sometimes disagree with his director. “Bing could be
harsh when he wanted to. When it came to his performance, he liked all the
little freedoms he took with his singing. No one ever told him what to do
(about his) singing. He and Dave Butler
had fights. It got a little bad there at times, everybody was scurrying around.
Bing won most of the arguments. But they got along famously otherwise.”
(Scott and Jan MacGillivray, Gloria Jean: A Little Bit of Heaven, page 41)
“I’ll never forget the first
time Bing turned down one of my songs,” [Johnny] Burke says. “It happened when
he was making If I Had My Way at
Universal. The director felt the score needed another ballad, a typical ballad.
I took a ballad named ‘Only Forever’ over to the studio and played it for Bing,
the script writer, the director, the head of the studio, and several
others. When I finished, they all
looked at Bing. Someone asked him, ‘What do you think?’ ‘I don’t know,’ he
said, looking unhappy. ‘We don’t really need a song like that.’
‘That’s what I
thought,’ said the studio head. ‘Let’s forget it.’ I felt horrible. It was the
first time in four years Bing had turned down a song of ours. Then, on the way
out, Bing stopped me and, lowering his voice, said, ‘That song’s terrific, but
they don’t need it. Let’s save it for the next show.’ So it went into Rhythm on the River and was a big hit.”
(From an article in Modern Screen magazine, April, 1951)
February 15,
Thursday. (7:00–8:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Alice Ehlers, Frank Albertson and Marlene
Dietrich.
Bing Crosby will have
competition on his program over WBAP-WFAA and NBC at 9 p.m. when Marlene
Dietrich breaks into song. Frank Albertson will be another guest with the
regulars consisting of Bob Burns, the Music Maids and John Scott Trotter’s
orchestra. Miss Dietrich will engage in banter with Bing and Bob before a
session of warbling in her own style.
(Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 15th February,
1940)
…But not every
guest was precisely ecstatic about appearing on KMH. Mr. Carroll in his bright
and breezy autobiography speaks of some of them: Marlene Dietrich froze when he
attempted to instruct her in her part and when he added insult to injury by
announcing to her that a small but loud part of the public doubted she sang the
songs from the new picture she was plugging, “Destry Rides Again”, since her
delivery was so different from the accustomed super-sultry vocals, the lady
turned blue. Carroll, caught in the middle because the J. Walter Thompson
Agency held the advertising contract for her film studio, Universal Pictures,
as well as for Kraft Cheese, struggled disconsolately with the temperamental
German actress to get her to change her mind. She continued to pout until the
last hours before airtime. By then, having enough of it, he telephoned her
agent that they were going to get someone else to read her lines and he called
Joan Bennett, another popular star. In time’s nick, Marlene swept into the
studio as if nothing had happened, sang her hit song from “Destry”, “See What
the Boys in the Backroom Will Have”. She was the only guest star for the whole
sixty minutes, did other songs with Bing and - where possible - without him.
She was flawless.
(Vernon Wesley Taylor, Hail KMH!, The Crosby Voice, February 1985)
February 16, Friday.
Bing is given a life membership in the Professional Golfers Assocation
for the contributions he has made to golf both as a player and sponsor.
This is an honor seldom bestowed on an amateur player.
February 20,
Tuesday. The film Road to Singapore is
previewed at the Los Angeles Paramount. It has its New York premiere on
March 14 and its general release on March 22. The film goes on to real
success with rentals
of $1.6M from its initial release.
As a pair of rolling stones
in Road to Singapore, Bing Crosby and
Bob Hope contribute some of the most spontaneous clowning of the year and turn
what might have been just another South Sea musical into a very funny picture.
. . . With Crosby and Dorothy Lamour in the cast, the picture naturally has
songs but there is less emphasis on them than usual. Truth to tell, the songs
are not as good as usual, either. The pick of them is “Too Romantic,” composed
by James V. Monaco and Johnny Burke, and sung by Crosby.
Director Victor Schertzinger sensibly has given Crosby and Hope
much of a free rein to kid their way through the picture. You’ll get a lot of
laughs out of Road to Singapore.
Paramount ought to costar Crosby and Hope in more comedies along the same line.
(Los Angeles Evening Herald Express, March 15, 1940)
As Bing Crosby remarks in the course of it, never guessing
the phrase some day would be turned against him, the Paramount’s “Road to
Singapore” deserves at least an E for effort. And C for crooning, B for Bob
Hope, D for Dorothy Lamour and
Odd, in a way, the things Miss Lamour can do to a
comedy, the reason being—we suppose—that Miss Lamour is no comedienne. Probably
no one can be a comedienne, or a comedian, and wear a sarong, except Messrs.
Hope and Crosby, who prove they can do it, and Mae West, who could if she had
to. But here, in “Road to Singapore,” the comedy is going along swimmingly
until boys meet sarong. Mr. Crosby, the shipping tycoon’s son, and Mr. Hope,
his buddy, have been getting into cheerful scrapes, fighting gendarmes, evading
matrimony, landing monstrous rubber marlins, doing boisterous imitations of
Roxy ushers and Paramount newsreel men. And then they reach Kaigoon, just
‘cross from Bali, where Miss Lamour’s inevitable native girl is dancing in the
inevitable sarong in the inevitable cabaret. Deflation sets in immediately.
Having taken everything else lightly, Messrs. Hope and
Crosby take Miss Lamour seriously. She sings in the moonlight, she seems so
unconscious of her deshabille you just know her director and camera man were
not—not for a minute—and she speaks with the studied native-girlishness of
Tarzan’s mate: “She is ver-ree prit-tee, no?” By the time the great
renunciation scene has come around, when sad-eyed Mima sends Mr. Crosby back to
Judith Barrett and elects to keep house for Mr. Hope, the comedy has gone
aground. There’s nothing any one can do for it, although Mr. Hope manfully
fights on, jaw set and gag-lines flying; although Mr. Crosby stares wistfully
over the taffrail and croons his laryngeal best.
(Frank S. Nugent, New York Times, March 14, 1940)
Initial teaming of Bing
Crosby and Bob Hope in Road to Singapore provides foundation for continuous
round of good substantial comedy that will click up and down the line.
Paramount should carry the team through a series of pictures as Singapore will
prove a most profitable attraction in all runs, with good chances for holdovers
in many key spots.
Comedy is of rapid-fire order, swinging along at a zippy pace.
Contrast is provided in Crosby’s leisurely presentation of situations and
dialog, in comparison to the lightning-like thrusts and parries of Hope. Neat
blending of the two brands accentuates the comedy values for laugh purposes.
…Sprinkled liberally throughout the running, and deftly
spotted, are four songs and a choral theme number. ‘Too Romantic’ (Monaco -
Burke) is a sentimental tune sung by Crosby and Miss Lamour that has a good
chance to reach hit status.
(Variety, February 28, 1940)
February 22,
Thursday. (7:00–8:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Robert Viroval, Sabu, and Joan
Bennett.
Robert Viroval, in Hollywood
for a recital date, guested last Thursday (22nd) on the Bing Crosby show for Kraft
cheese. The young violinist who quickly became a box office smash in a single
New York concert appearance, after his arrival from Prague, last year,
demonstrated the mellow tone and sensitive touch that recital audiences have
praised. His two numbers were shrewdly selected for a radio ‘briefy’ of this
kind, although they were limited in interpretative scope.
Sabu, the young elephant driver from India who has appeared in
several pictures also guested on the program, giving the answers in a lively
interview about elephant driving as compared to horseback riding, his headband
as compared to a hat etc. Like the Viroval appearance it was skillfully
scripted to highlight the youngster and incidentally, continue the flavor that
makes the Crosby series one of the week’s standouts.
(Variety, February 28, 1940)
February 25, Sunday. (5:10–7:30 p.m.) Records three songs in Hollywood with John Scott Trotter and his Orchestra, including “Devil May Care” and "I'm Waiting for Ships That Never Come In".
BING CROSBY
(Decca)
I’m Waiting for
Ships That Never Come In-V. Cynthia-V.
Of all the wealth
of available material for Crosby's unique style these two numbers are probably
the poorest that could have been chosen. This disk can mean something only
because of Bing’s great popularity—and it will place a strain on that.
(Billboard, July 27, 1940)
February 29, Thursday. (7:00–8:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Vronsky and Babin, Patricia Morison, and Brian Donlevy. Elsewhere, Bing is awarded the U.S. Junior Chamber of Commerce Distinguished Service Key for the man under thirty-five years of age who contributed most to his community during 1939. The presentation takes place at a banquet at the University Club in Los Angeles but Bing is unable to attend in person.
Bing Crosby and Bob Burns, KFI at 7 pm, will
entertain Pat Morison, actress; Brian Donlevy, Irish-American actor and the
piano team of Vronsky & Babin. John Scott Trotter’s Orchestra will
play, ‘Eighteenth Century Drawing Room’ and Bing will sing, ‘Devil May Care’, ‘Camptown
Races’ and ‘Beautiful Dreamer’.
(Hollywood Citizen News, 29th February
1940)
March 1, Friday.
Bing and Dixie attend the Henry Armstrong versus Ceferino Garcia fight at
Gilmore Stadium in Los Angeles. Armstrong wins on points.
March 2, Saturday.
Bing and Dixie are at the Santa Anita track to watch the Binglin horses ‘Don Mike’ and
"Ra II" in the Santa Anita Handicap but they see the legendary horse ‘Seabiscuit’ win. At
night, Bing and Dixie attend the Santa Anita Handicap Ball in the Fiesta Room
of the Ambassador Hotel.
March 6, Wednesday. The Binglin Stable horse "Golden Chance" wins at Santa Anita.
March 7,
Thursday. (7:00–8:00 p.m.) The Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Bing’s guests include Howard Hill, Rudolph Ganz and Priscilla
Lane.
One of the loveliest of
the Lane sisters, Priscilla, joins the eminent pianist, Rudolf Ganz, and Howard
Hill, expert archer, in the guest panel of Bing Crosby’s show at 9 p.m….Miss
Lane is currently featured in “Four Wives” and Ganz is equally noted as a
conductor and has appeared with leading symphony orchestras throughout the
world.
(Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 7th March,
1940)
Bing Crosby’s Music
Hall show was better than it has been for weeks. Bob Burns got off a nifty when
he said: “Parents have a great influence on their children. When Bing’s
youngest was born, he looked up and apologized for coming in fourth.”
(Sidney Skolsky, Hollywood Citizen News, March 9, 1940)
March 9,
Saturday. Bing rehearses songs from If I Had My Way with John Scott Trotter
on piano at Universal Studios.
March 10, Sunday. Rehearses songs for the If I Had My Way soundtrack. (3:00–6:15 p.m.) Records two songs for the soundtrack with Charles Previn
conducting the orchestra.
March 14,
Thursday. (7:00–8:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Lotte Lehmann, John Erskine, and Pat
O’Brien.
Lottie Lehmann of the
Met and Bazooka Bob Burns – a combinations as contrasting as crepes suzette and
beer (make mine Bock) – is the tasty dish offered this week by Bing Crosby – 7 p.m.
on KPO. And along with it Bing plans on singing “In An Old Dutch Garden” and
the same program with Pat O’Brien, Hollywood’s best known Irishman, as gueststar
in honor of St. Patrick’s Day.
(The Press Democrat, 14th March, 1940)
Heretical observation—is it
not possible that too much of a good thing is as bad for the ears as it is for
the stomach? Specifically, the Kraft program is now so loaded with overdone
Bing Crosby vocabulary stuff that the whole program threatens to become the
same. The sentences are now as long as the twine on a make-believe gift box.
Simple, routine thoughts are dressed up as literary sunbursts. The program has
lost part of its sparkle and any respect it ever possessed for brevity. This
was so, even in the brogue-bandying routine (St. Patrick’s Day) among Crosby,
Pat O’Brien, and Bob Burns which was amusing half as long as it lasted. The
poem recitation by O’Brien was, similarly, allowed to run its wordy course.
Granting that the Kraft program has been a big success and that it has
contributed more than its mite to radio technique, the time may be approaching
for the introduction of a new idea. There are suggestions of self-enchantment
with the mere sound of polysyllabics.
(Variety, March 20, 1940)
March 15, Friday. Bing again rehearses songs from If I Had My Way with John Scott Trotter
on piano at Universal Studios.
March 17, Sunday.
(3:00–6:00 p.m.) Records three more
songs for the If I Had My Way soundtrack
with Charles Previn again conducting the orchestra.
March 18,
Monday.
Bing had been subpoenaed to appear in San Francisco on this day before
the
State Senate Committee investigating horse racing but he is not called
to testify and it is suggested that he could give his evidence
elsewhere.
March 21,
Thursday. (7:00–8:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music
Hall show on NBC. Guests include the Kraft Choral Society, Victor
Schertzinger, and Humphrey Bogart.
Bing Crosby’s guests on his “Music Hall”
variety program…will include Humphrey Bogart, screen star, and Victor
Schertzinger, movie director, who was the first film technician to write a
musical score into a screen production.
(The Evening News, (Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania), 21st March, 1940)
March 22, Friday. Recording session in Hollywood with John Scott Trotter, when four songs are recorded, including “Sierra Sue” and “Yours Is My Heart Alone”. “Sierra Sue” enters the charts on July 6, spending 14 weeks there including four weeks at No. 1. Meanwhile, Bing's friend Lindsay Howard elopes to Yuma with actress Judith Barrett where they get married.
…He sings a new American
lyric to the hardy standby of all male warblers—You Are My Heart’s Delight. The American lyric is titled Yours Is My Heart Alone, and although
the words sometimes fall a little oddly on the beats, Bing’s rendering of it is
superb. Embryo vocalists— note his phrasing; how he feels what he is singing;
how his interpretation is sympathetic and moving throughout. On the other side
is a quaint little ballad by Stephen (Swanee
River) Foster. It is called Beautiful
Dreamer and the words are sloppily Victorian, with plenty of “thee’s” and
“thou’s” floating about. But the tune, and the way that Bing puts it over, are
romantic enough to move the heart of a Hitler, and at the risk of being told
that I am crazy by some of you tough readers, I announce this as my favourite
recent vocal record.
(Melody Maker, August 17, 1940)
At that same session, Bing mined the
1916 elegy “Sierra Sue,” by one Joseph Buell Carey, and struck gold. No less
depressing than the Foster laments, “Sierra Sue” had the advantage of
obscurity. Evidently the only song Carey published, it had lain dormant for a quarter
century. Trotter provided a responsive orchestration, laying out in the first
bar of each eight-measure episode and enhancing the piece with a nicely rolling
lilt that belies the lyrics:
“Sierra Sue, I'm sad and lonely / The
rocks and rills are lonely too” and “The roses weep, their tears are falling / The
gentle doves no longer coo.”
Bing's stately midrange allows for dramatic low dips, perfectly turned
mordents, and modulations that underline the tune's shifting melody. The a
cappella measures work like a springing coil. “Sierra Sue” was Bing's first
number one hit in over a year, dominating sales in the summer and fall, and his luck persisted with consecutive number ones,
“Trade Winds” and “Only Forever.” Kapp was right again: forlorn emotion beats
no emotion at all.
(Gary Giddins, Swinging on a Star, page 48)
March (undated).
Bing and Dixie are seen at Perino’s Sky Room. John Kirby’s band plays songs
from Bing’s pictures.
March 28,
Thursday. (7:00–8:00 p.m.) Another Kraft
Music Hall show and Bing’s guests are Oscar Levant, Brenda Marshall, and
Errol Flynn.
Oscar Levant, whose smattering of ignorance has
made him a household term and has produced a book on the subject, will visit
Bing Crosby along with Errol Flynn and Brenda Marshall at 9 p.m. over WBAP-WFAA
and NBC. Flynn and Miss Marshall, fresh from the set of “The Sea Hawk,” will
converse with Crosby and Bob Burns. Levant will play “Prelude No.2.”
(Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 28th March, 1940)
April 1, Monday. A 10-minute Columbia short Screen Snapshots (Series 19, No. 6) is released showing where Hollywood stars relax and have fun. Bing is glimpsed briefly. The US Census takes place. The entry for 10500 Camarillo St., Toluca Lake, which is valued at $85,000, shows the following occupants.
Harry L. Crosby (head) age 35
Dixie L. Crosby (wife) 27
Gary E. Crosby (son) 6
Dennis M. Crosby (son) 5
Phillip L. Crosby (son) 5
Lindsay H. Crosby (son) 2
Frances Olson (nurse) 25 (Canada English)
Teddy Edwards (chauffeur) 36 (Texas)
Blanche Edwards (maid) 34 (Texas)
Wilma Miles (cook) 38 (Texas)
Bing
and Dixie's parents both live nearby in Toluca Lake. Harry L. Crosby
(age 62) and Catherine Crosby (also shown as 62) live at 4966 Arcola
Avenue. Mr. Crosby is described as Treasurer. Evan E. Wyatt (58) and
his wife Norma (sic - 57) are at 4543 Sancola Avenue with Minnie
Scarborugh (sic - 61, sister-in-law) and Estlle Akers (nurse - age 46).
April 2, Tuesday. Bing entertains the La Grande High School Band from Oregon at Universal and has to buy 97
ice cream sodas for them. He is photographed with them.
April 3, Wednesday.
Bing is part of the Lakeside team golfing against
Annandale at Lakeside. Lakeside win 14-7. Bing and his partner, Marshall Duffield, halve their game.
April 4, Thursday.
(7:00–8:00 p.m.) The Kraft Music Hall
show on NBC. Bing’s guests include Anne Jamison, Virginia Bruce and Donald Budge.
Donald Budge, the tennis player,
who turned “pro” when he ran out of competition in the amateur ranks,
will be on the other side of the microphone when Bing Crosby steps forward
for a battle of words in the Music Hall tonight. Other special guests for the
broadcast over WMAQ at 9 o’clock are Virginia Bruce, of the films, and Ann
Jameson, soprano… Since retiring from amateur matches, Don Budge has been
crossing tennis racquets with such veteran stalwarts of the courts as Bill Tilden,
Fred Perry, and Ellsworth Vines. He plans to get some pointers on golf from
Bing in return for giving the crooner a few tennis tips.
(Belvidere Daily
Republican, 4th April, 1940)
April 6,
Saturday. Bing golfs at Del Monte. Dixie is at Palm Springs.
April 10, Wednesday.
Bing is part of the Lakeside team who beat Midwick
at Lakeside 16-5.
April 11,
Thursday. (7:00–8:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show and the guests include Fingerle & Fields, Jeffrey Lynn and Lucille Ball.
A quartet of young stars will drop in at the
Kraft Music Hall tonight, over WIBA at 9 o’clock, when Bing Crosby calls roll
to open the hall. From the film colony, the program will draw Lucille Ball and
Jeffrey Lynn, and from the music world, Crosby has invited the piano team of
Fingerle and Fields.
(The Capital Times, (Madison, Wisconsin), 11th April, 1940)
April 12, Friday.
Records four songs from the film If I Had
My Way with John Scott Trotter and his Orchestra in Hollywood. “April
Played the Fiddle” enjoys seven weeks in the charts, peaking at No. 10. “Meet
the Sun Half Way” reaches the No. 15 mark during 4 weeks in the charts. Later, Bing throws a party for the cast of If I Had My Way.
I should say that Bing Crosby
has never made better records than these of “Meet the Sun Half Way,” “The
Pessimistic Character,” “I Haven’t Time to be a Millionaire,” and “April Played
the Fiddle” on Bruns. 03031/2.
(The Gramophone, October 1940)
April 13, Saturday.
Bing and Dave Butler attend a preview screening of If I Had My Way in Oakland.
April 15, Monday.
Starting at 3:15 p.m., Bing records “Mister Meadowlark” and “On Behalf of the
Visiting Firemen” with Johnny Mercer and the Victor Young Orchestra in
Hollywood. “Mister Meadowlark” charts briefly in the No. 18 position.
April 17, Wednesday.
Bing is a member of the Lakeside team golfing against
Hillcrest at Hillcrest. Lakeside win 11-10 amd win the Group 1 title.
Bing has a 73 and he and his partner, John Duffield, win 3 up. Later
Bing and Dixie are at Gilmore Field to see the Hollywood Stars baseball
team lose 9-8 to the
San Diego Padres.
April 18,
Thursday. (7:00–8:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Janice Porter, Donald Crisp, and
Anna Neagle.
Anna Neagle, Donald Crisp and
Janice Porter guested Thursday night (18th) on the Kraft cheese program with Bing
Crosby and Bob Burns. Although the fact wasn’t brought out clearly, Miss
Neagle’s first stint was, apparently, from her forthcoming RKO picture Irene. Part of the sketch she spieled in
French, the rest in a thick brogue, winding up with a duet with Crosby—all but
the latter kind of inconclusive. Carrying the accent theme further, Crisp next
did a Jewish characterization, occasionally tossing in a couple of lines of his
natural Scottish burr. Miss Porter of the Chicago Opera, sang a couple of light
classic numbers, agreeably. In general, the program was up to its standard.
(Variety, April 24, 1940)
April 20/21, Saturday
/ Sunday.
Bing spends the weekend with Johnny Weissmuller and Humphrey
Bogart at Catalina Island attending the Bobby Jones golf tournament at
Catalina Country Club in Avalon. Bruce McCormick is the winner.
April 24,
Wednesday. Bing is part of the Lakeside Movie Colony golf team which loses 12-9 to
the Los Angeles Country Club team at Flintridge in the Wednesday division inter-club playoff.
April 25, Thursday. (7:00–8:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Carol MacFarlane, Spring Byington, and Basil Rathbone.
A young lady who
lived next door to Bing Crosby in Los Angeles while he was still singing
in a trio hasn’t been forgotten by the crooner. Carol MacFarland is her name
and she’ll make her radio singing debut at the invitation of Bing in the
Music Hall Thursday at 10 p. m. over WEAF. Basil Rathbone and Spring Byington will be the
other guests, with the regulars Bob Burns, the Music Maids and John Scott
Trotter’s orchestra.
(Lima News, April 25, 1940)
April 26, Friday.
The film If I Had My Way goes on general release and subsequently has its New
York premiere at the Rivoli Theater on May 5. Bing is annoyed by the proximity of its release to that of Road to Singapore (March 22).
There is one fiction frequently
foisted in musical films like “If I Had My Way,” now showing at the Rivoli,
which a certain familiarity with New York night life has always compelled us to
distrust. It is the off-hand assumption that all one has to do to make a
sensational success of a broken-down beanery is to splash it with a fresh coat
of paint, ring in a couple of old-time vaudeville acts and a band, spot the
star (or stars) of the picture in whatever their specialty is (usually singing)
and then put up the ropes.
Somehow, that seems too simple—too much like a musical comedy
trick. But maybe it could happen. Maybe, in fact, it would, provided the
old-time entertainers were Eddie Leonard singing “Ida” and Blanche Ring singing
“Rings on My Fingers,” and provided further that the proprietary stars were
Bing Crosby and 12-year-old Gloria Jean, singing nothing particularly exciting.
Such is the case, anyhow, in “If I Had My Way.” For such is the array of talent which Mr. Crosby a
crooning steel worker, and Miss Jean, his orphaned charge, assemble to appear
in the night spot they freakishly acquire when they come to New York in quest
of Miss Jean’s nearest of kin. . .But we still have the feeling that the whole
thing is open to doubt. . . And Mr. Crosby and little Miss Jean, who has gained
considerable poise since her last (and first) picture, “The Under-Pup” have
only middling material with which to work throughout. The sum total is but a
moderately amusing musical, more often flat than sharp—and this we say in spite
of the fellow sitting next to us who kept telling his girl-friend solemnly,
“This is very entertaining, indeed.”
(Bosley Crowther, New York Times, May 6, 1940)
Bing Crosby will likely want
to forget this cinematic adventure just as quickly as possible. Way below par
as compared with his releases for both Universal and Paramount during the past
two years, If I Had My Way will need
all of his draw strength to get it through the key runs for nominal grosses.
Crosby works hard all through assisted materially by little Gloria
Jean and El Brendel, but the trio cannot carry the burden of static direction
and a boresome story that never catches on. Neither can a finale, in which many
oldtime names of the legit and vaudeville appear briefly in a night club
sequence, generate more than a ho-hum audience attitude…
Crosby and Gloria Jean sing solo and duet in presenting four
new tunes by James V. Monaco and Johnny Burke—‘Meet the Sun Halfway,’ ‘I
Haven’t Time to Be a Millionaire,’ ‘Pessimistic Character,’ and ‘April Played
the Fiddle.’ All are typically Crosbyian and will get moderate radio attention.
He also reprises the oldie, ‘If I Had My Way,’ used as title number…
(Variety, May 1, 1940)
Fifteen-year-old Gloria Jean
was teamed with star Bing Crosby in a boring and fatuous musical called If I Had My Way. Most of the blame
rested with David Butler who dreamed up the story (with William Conselman and
James V. Kern, who scripted it), as well as directed and produced it. . . . The
stars, including little Miss Jean, did their best, but it wasn’t good enough.
May 2, Thursday.
(6:00–7:00 p.m.) Another Kraft Music Hall
show and Bing’s guests include Gene Towne, C. Graham Baker, Jose Iturbi and Annabella. The regulars continue
to be Ken Carpenter, Bob Burns, and the Music Maids with John Scott Trotter and
the Orchestra.
Gene Towne and Graham Baker,
the Hollywood scripting team and professional cut-ups, guested on the Kraft
program, last week, with Bing Crosby. As usual, on this series, there was no
attempt at a formal appearance in a sketch or an interview. The noted screwballers
tossed a few gags back and forth with Crosby and Bob Burns and then did more of
the same with Annabella when she joined the quip-fest. It wasn’t exactly punchy
but not bad, either. Jose Iturbi played a couple of pieces in sock fashion and
also contributed a few laugh lines.
(Variety, May 8, 1940)
May 4/5, Saturday/Sunday. Bing and Dixie are reported to be at Arrowhead Springs with Mr. and Mrs. Lindsay Howard.
May 6–July. Films
Rhythm on the River (the original
title was Ghost Music) with Mary
Martin, Basil Rathbone, Wingy Manone, and Oscar Levant. Harry Barris also has a
small part. The director is Victor Schertzinger and the musical director is
Victor Young with orchestrations done by John Scott Trotter.
Making movies with Bing
almost made Hollywood worthwhile. He is the most relaxed, comfortable,
comforting man. No matter what happens he can ad-lib, cover up, carry on. He
can even sing with gum in his mouth, he just parks it over on one side. While
we were making films we also sang together on the Kraft Music Hall on radio. I’ve seen him a hundred times drop his
entire script in midshow and go right on singing. He’d just lean over, grope
around with his hand to find the script, pick it up, and find his place
instantly. He never missed a note.
(Mary Martin, My Heart Belongs)
In 1940, when
Bing made Rhythm on the River, he
prevailed upon Wingy Manone, a New Orleans trumpet player of his acquaintance,
to play several jazz numbers in the picture. Wingy, who idolizes Bing,
presented a problem when it was discovered that he couldn’t read the elaborate
orchestration. For two and a half hours, Wingy tried to pick it up by ear, and
when it was finally suggested to Bing that maybe another musician should play
the part, he replied. “No, he’s a real musician. It would break his heart”.
Finally, lunch time came and, as the last musician filed out, he looked back and
saw Bing behind some scenery working with Wingy. “Now, try this break,” Bing
was saying, and proceeded to sing it. When the band came back from lunch, Wingy
had the number down pat, with a few tricky riffs thrown in.
(From an article in Modern Screen magazine, April, 1951)
“Rhythm On the River was a screenplay, or rather a screen story (treatment) that I
wrote in Berlin before I came to America. Was a good story, and I sold it, but
they used just one detail. And that was it. The full story was of a man in New
York who was kind of a Cole Porter. He did the words and the music; he was the
number one man in the country. We see now, through the backstairs, there comes
a young man and he brings the music. He is the ghostwriter of the music. Then
we see a girl, who comes later, without knowing the man. She brings him the
lyrics. In other words, the Cole Porter character has got two people who are
ghostwriting for him, because he’s suffering from writer’s block. The boy and
the girl meet and find that they’re working on the same man’s songs. But now,
now that they know each other, they’re going to stay together and make a name
for themselves” “Goodbye, Mr. Porter.” And now the two get married, and she’s
pregnant, and they cannot get a job – because they’re good ghostwriters, they
keep their mouths shut about what they did previously. And now nothing, no
matter what they write. They cannot sell anything. They sound too much like Cole Porter!” Now
the third act was – which they did not use – about a great writer, an Irving
Berlin type, who comes up to see them. Destitute, the two of them, husband and
wife, lyrics and music. And Berlin just takes his coat off and sits down, and
he becomes the ghostwriter for the two. That was the story. They made Rhythm
on the River out of it.”
(Billy Wilder, speaking to Cameron Crowe, Conversations
with Wilder)
May 9, Thursday.
(6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall
show on NBC. Guests include Kay Francis and William Boyd.
Bing Crosby and Bob Burns will usher Kay Francis, William Boyd and the
Coolidge String Quartet into the precincts of their program heard at 8 p.m. on
WBAP-WFAA and NBC… The Music Maids and John Scott Trotter’s “effervescent
eighteen” also appear on the broadcast
(Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 9th May, 1940)
May 14, Tuesday.
Irving Berlin signs a contract with Paramount to write the songs for a film to
be called Holiday Inn.
May 16, Thursday.
(6:00–7:00 p.m.) The Kraft Music Hall
show is broadcast. Bing’s guests include Dave Butler, Jarmila Novotná, and Brian Aherne.
Ever loyal to the graduates of the Music Hall, Bing Crosby has invited
“the most beautiful opera star in the world,” Jarmila Novotna, to make her second
appearance on his program during its broadcast to be heard over WSB at 9
o’clock tonight. Miss Novotna made her debut in the hall before she made her
operatic debut last fall at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. Brian
Aherne, of the stage and screen, and David Butler, who directed Bing’s new
picture, “If I Had My Way,” will complete the guest roster for the broadcast.
(The Atlanta Constitution, 16th May, 1940)
May 17, Friday. Publicity about the building of the Del Mar race track is seen.
HOLLYWOOD,
May 17. – Bing Crosby. film and radio crooner, answered charges made in
Washington that the WPA was “taken for a ride” when it built the Del Mar race
track, operated by Crosby, by saying he and not the government was “taken in.”
“The
charges of the house investigators and the comment of WPA Administrator F. C.
Harrington are utterly ridiculous and silly,” Crosby said.
Officials
of the 22nd agricultural district of San Diego county came to Crosby several
years ago, he said, and explained that San Diego county, with the aid of WPA
funds, was going to build a fair grounds at Del Mar.
They
said the fair grounds would contain a horse racing plant and offered to lease
it to Crosby for 10 years for $100,000. He was to operate the track when the
fair grounds were not being used for the San Diego county fair.
Crosby
said he organized a company and sold stock. Three months before the track was
scheduled to open, the plant had not been completed and WPA funds were exhausted.
“In
order to protect the stockholders, I spent $400,000 of my own money to complete
the plant,” Crosby said. “The state is paying me back from the pari-mutuel
take.
“The
whole thing has been a headache to me from the start,” Crosby said. “I may
never get all my money out of the thing and if anyone was ‘taken in’ it was me,
not the government.”
(United Press)
May (undated). Bing and Larry Crosby drop into the Hollywood Tropics to hear Andy Iona sing
his latest composition “A Million Moons over Hawaii.” Bing is said to be
planning to sing the song himself but does not eventually do so.
May 23, Thursday.
(6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall
show on NBC. Guests include Gloria Jean, Frank McHugh, and Robert Preston. Bing
and Dixie are said to have gone on to “The Pirate’s Den” for a dinner dance
sponsored by the Hollywood Guild.
Bing Crosby is bringing his favorite leading
lady, little 12-year Gloria Jean, to the Music Hall for a visit tonight when
Robert Preston and Frank McHugh will also be guests. Currently on exhibit
throughout the country is Bing Crosby’s newest motion picture, “If I Had My
Way,” in which he is co-starred with Gloria Jean. Gloria will sing a song or
two from the picture as well as chat with her “Uncle Bing.”
Robert Preston and Frank McHugh are a
contrasting pair on the screen but all that changes before the microphone.
Preston plays menaces with McHugh cast for his laugh-getting abilities. They’ll
both be in there “pitching” for laughs tonight.
(The Belvidere Daily Republican, 23rd May, 1940)
May 24, Friday. The gala opening of “The Pirate’s Den,” a night club at La Brea, near Beverly Hills takes place. Bing has invested $1000 in it together with thirteen other stars including Rudy Vallee, Bob Hope, Fred MacMurray, and Errol Flynn. Many Hollywood stars attend but Bing fails to turn up.
May 30, Thursday.
(6:00–7:00 p.m.) Another Kraft Music Hall
show and Bing’s guests are Elisabeth Rethberg, Chester Morris, and Edna Best.
Opera and Movie Performers to Appear With Bing Crosby
TRIPLE star entertainment is promised the radio audience tonight as the
highlight of The Music Hall program on WSUN at 9 o’clock when carefree Bing
Crosby corrals Elizabeth Rethberg, the Metropolitan soprano, Edna Best and
Chester Morris, of the Hollywood sound stages, as his guests of the evening.
Morris has made many visits to the program before, in fact, to the K. M. H.
gang he is known as “Mysterious Morris” because of his great interest, in the
art of magic. Miss Rethberg, as everyone knows, is an habitué of the
Metropolitan Opera House during the regular season, but for this time she will
join in one of Crosby’s famous chats and contribute two numbers to the program.
Besides the guests to be present for the Memorial Day outing on the Crosby
picnic, the regular cast composed of Bob Burns, The Music Maids and John Scott
Trotter and his orchestra will be on hand to add to the entertainment.
(The Tampa Times, 30th May, 1940)
Mountainous Maestro Has Ambition
Hollywood,
Calif. —John Scott Trotter, Bing Crosby’s two ton musical director, has as many
ideas as pounds, which explains why his arrangements for the “Music Hall” have
attracted such wide attention among dance fans. But among these ideas, he has
none which might take him and his band out across the country on tour.
“Unless I have to,”
he says, “I’ll make no tours—one nighters or long engagements with my
orchestra. In the first place, it’s the
most disorganized organized band in the country. Altogether, we’re together
only about seven hours a week—about one day’s work for the average dance band.
And we play together on just one program—for 60 minutes. The other six hours
are spent in rehearsals.
“You see, most
of the men in my band are star solo men who free lance in Hollywood, doubling
on radio programs and movie sets. It gives me the cream of the musical crop,
but if I left Hollywood and went on tour, not a one would want to travel with
me. They earn too much staying right here and jobbing around.”
Trotter, whose
struggle to lose weight has brought him down from 280 to 239 pounds, credits
Hal Kemp for giving his background in arranging. “I worked with style music so
long while I was with Kemp that I still carry the idea of trying
to give my orchestration style and still not make it Mickey Mouse music. When I
work on arranging a number I merely try to express myself in music. And I’m
tickled to death so many people can understand what I’m saying and like what
they hear.
The mountainous
maestro believes that the day of screaming solos by “take-off” swing bands is
ended but that rhythm and melody as expressed in swing always will stay.
“People have
become more discriminating,” he says, “They know the difference between bands
and arrangements played by those bands. They may not be able to put their ideas
into words but still they know what they want. As a result we all have to work
harder than ever to attract attention.”
Trotter is
looking forward to a future in which he’ll be recognized as a composer of
American classics. “I know it’s silly to say I want to write the ‘great
American music,’” he says, “but that hackneyed term fits exactly what I want to
do. Of course I wouldn’t be so foolish as to say that I hope to be the American
Brahms or the Yankee Chopin, because only time—and the people 50 years in the
future—would be able to decide that, but I sincerely hope to be able to
give music something lasting.”
He has an
unusual method of getting his work done. After a Thursday broadcast Trotter
gathers pencils and score sheets and travels to Palm Springs or one of the
beaches—depending on the season—and works while be plays. Because of this
system he doesn’t bother with a regular vacation but gets his lifts from
musicale ruts from week to week. “It’s the only way I could keep my
arrangements from getting stale and lifeless.”
(Edgar A. Thompson, Riding the Airwaves, The Journal, Milwaukee, May 31, 1940)
June 3, Monday. Bing captains a team of Lakeside caddies in
an 8-7 victory over a similar Bel-Air group at Bel-Air.
June (undated). Bing and Dixie are seen at the Hollywood ballpark
rooting for the Hollywood Stars with Ray Milland and his wife.
June 4, Tuesday. The evacuation of over 300,000 troops
of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk in France is completed.
June 6, Thursday. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall
show on NBC. Guests include John Payne and Suzanne Fisher.
The well-known soprano of opera fame, Suzanne Fisher, and John Payne,
one of the up and coming leading men of the films, have promised Bing Crosby to
hand him their calling cards for a Music Hall visit tonight. The leading and
only exponent of the bazooka, Robin Burns, the Music Maids, Ken Carpenter, and
John Scott Trotter's orchestra fill the bill for the airing over WMAQ at 8 o’clock.
Bing Crosby is ever on the alert to introduce young Hollywood talent on
his program. He has presented John Payne on a previous occasion thus making
this a return appearance by “popular request.” John married one of Bing’s
favorite M. H. graduates, lovely Anne Shirley.
Ken Carpenter, the master bell ringer, is readying several surprises for
the graduation ceremonies in M. H. Last week Carpenter irked Professor Crosby
by saying he had only learned three things in M. H. and then proceeded to give
out with the three station-break chimes.
(Belvidere Daily Republican, 6th
June, 1940)
June 7, Friday. Bing and Dixie are
thought to have attended the Andrews Sisters opening at Casa Manana.
June 8, Saturday. Bing is thought to have reserved a box
at a big Corrientes military ball put on at the Los Angeles Breakfast Club
during the evening but whether he actually attended is not known.
June
13,
Thursday. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include
Marcel Hubert, Wendy Barrie, and Ralph Bellamy.
Marcel Hubert, French cellist of note, a
guest of Bing Crosby at 6 over KFI, will play his Montagnana cello of 1727
often called “Le Roi Soleil” because of its tonal quality and the sunburst
markings on its sides. Hubert is said to have been the youngest cellist to win
the First Prize at the Paris Conservatoire. Ralph Bellamy will be a second
visitor to the Town Hall. “Playmates,” “Devil May Care,” “When You Look in Her Eyes”
and “Make Believe Island” will be sung by Crosby. Scenarists had given Ken Carpenter
a different name for his part of radio announcer in Rhythm on the River but
John Scott Trotter, an orchestra leader in the picture as
well as on Music Hall, made a long film take in which he called Carpenter by
his real name. Instead of doing the takes over again,
the director changed the announcer’s name to “Ken Carpenter.” The Music Maids could become a five-piece band. At least
three are pianists, two play the saxophone, one the cello, two the violin, and
one the drums.
(Zuma Palmer, Hollywood Citizen News, June 13, 1940)
June 17, Monday. Bing plays in the qualifying
round of the Southern California Amateur Championship at Wilshire Country Club and has a 79.
June 18, Tuesday. Bing plays in the second qualifying
round of the Southern California Amateur Championship at Lakeside and has a 72 for a total of 151.
June 20,
Thursday. Bing loses to Jim McMunn, one down, in the first round of the Southern California Amateur Championship at Lakeside (6:00–7:00 p.m.) The Kraft
Music Hall broadcast on NBC. Bing’s guests include Garson Kanin, Kirsten
Flagstad, and Roland Young.
Kirsten Flagstad, one of
the world’s outstanding singers, will be one of Crosby’s three guests at 6 over
KFI. Madame Flagstad will sing two arias. Garson Kanin,
27 year-old RKO director and Roland Young, comedian will be Crosby’s other
visitors. The Music Hall will change its broadcast time on July 4th
to 5pm.
(Hollywood Citizen News, 20th June 1940)
June 23, Sunday.
The Merry Macs open at Victor Hugo’s and Bing is there with Dixie and a large
party. Bing introduces the vocal group from the stage saying that he thinks
that “they’re the greatest singing organization of their kind.”
June 25, Tuesday. Bing plays in the qualifying round of the Los Angeles City Golf Championship on the Harding Park course at Griffith Park and has a 73. He has a 72 in the second qualifying round and makes it through to the match play with a total of 145.
June 26, Wednesday. Plays
at Griffith Park in the Los Angeles City Golf Championship and wins
both of his games 2 and 1. In the evening, Bing and Dixie attend a
benefit for the League of Crippled Children at the Hollywood ball park.
June 27, Thursday. Bing is knocked out of the Los Angeles City Golf Championship by Dave McAvoy, losing 3 and 2. The Kraft Music Hall show does not take place due to the Republican Convention being broadcast instead.
Bing Crosby played to the
smallest audience in the history of the Kraft Music Hall last Thursday.
Convention speeches and balloting kept the NBC crooner, Bob Burns and the rest
of the gang off the air, so instead of having the usual audience of millions,
they played to a studio audience of 340.
(San Fernando Valley Times, July 4, 1940)
June 29, Saturday. The Binglin horse "Etolia II" wins the Vanity Handicap at Hollywood Park.
June 30,
Sunday.
The Treasury Department publishes the list of the highest paid
Americans and Bing is in fifth place earning $410,000. Louis B, Mayer
of MGM is top with $688,000.Teeing off at 1:00 p.m., Bing, Dick Arlen and Smiley Quick, Southern California amateur champion, play
against professionals, Olin Dutra and Ralph Guldahl at Lakeside in a Red Cross
benefit contest. The match is tied with a best ball score of 65. Bing has a 73.
Maurie Luxford referees the match.
July 1,
Monday.
Makes three more records with Dick McIntyre and his Harmony Hawaiians,
including “Trade Winds.” This song enters the charts on September 7 and
tops
the hit parade for four weeks during a 17-week stay. Later, Bing is at
Hollywood Park to act as an honorary steward for a race in a Red Cross
benefit day,
July 3,
Wednesday. Records four songs from the film
Rhythm on the River (including “Only Forever”) with the John Scott Trotter
Orchestra. Two of the songs are rejected. “Only Forever” enters the charts on
September 28 and stays there for 20 weeks with nine weeks in the No. 1 spot.
July 4, Thursday.
(5:00–6:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall
show on NBC. Guests include Geraldine Fitzgerald, Johnny Mercer, Nigel Bruce, and John Garfield.
Bing
Crosby will celebrate the new time of his "Music Hall” program by
presenting a number of stars to his audience when he switches to a 7 o’clock
broadcast over KTBS tonight. Formerly the Music Hall was heard at 8 o’clock.
The outstanding guests will include such notables of the stage and screen as
John Garfield, Geraldine Fitzgerald and song-writer Johnny Mercer. The Music
Maids and John Scott Trotter’s orchestra will also be on hand for the
broadcast. Johnny Mercer, one of Bing’s oldest friends, will introduce a new
number which he has written titled “Meadow Lark.” Mercer will perform it in
duet with Crosby.
(The Shreveport Times, 4th July, 1940)
July 5, Friday. (7:30-8:00 p.m.) Sings three songs on a special NBC-GE broadcast to Admiral Byrd’s Antarctic expedition and receives a check for $16.50, the union minimum.
July 6, Saturday.
The Binglin horse "Don Juan II" wins at Hollywood Park. Bing records “The Ballad for Americans” with Victor Young and his Orchestra and the
Ken Darby Singers. The song is issued on a special Decca 78 rpm album.
Bing did not approach the
project lightly. He studied the work before the session, and his concentration
in the studio was painstaking; everything had to be right. In contrast to his usual
speed (five tunes in two hours, rarely more than two takes), he devoted an hour
to each of the four segments. If the reviews were not overtly political,
political righteousness fueled the cheers of latecomers to the world of popular
music. “Bing Crosby came of age, musically speaking, in his last week’s album, Ballad
for Americans,” wrote New York Post critic Michael Levin. ‘This is
the finest recorded performance Bing had done to date and shows that in the
last few years he has gone beyond binging and has really learned how to sing.”
When he finished patronizing Bing, Levin chanced a risky comparison with Paul
Robeson’s Victor set that undoubtedly gladdened the hearts of Kapp’s team: “For
all of Robeson’s magnificent voice, we prefer the Crosby version. The recording
is better, the orchestration is better, and the chorus is better trained.”
(Gary Giddins, Bing Crosby, A Pocketful of Dreams, The
Early Years, 1903-1940, page 554)
July 7, Monday. Larry Crosby is sued for divorce by his wife, Elaine, on the grounds of cruelty.
July 9, Tuesday. Variety announces that Bing's regular songwriters Johnny Burke and Jimmy Monaco have split as a song-writing partnership. Burke will be working with Jimmy Van Heusen from now on.
July 10,
Wednesday. Bing records four songs with John Scott Trotter and his Orchestra
including the two songs from the film
Rhythm on the River which had been rejected the previous week. “That’s for
Me” spends seven weeks in the charts, peaking at No. 9. Another song from the
session—“Can’t Get Indiana off My Mind”— reaches the No. 8 spot during its 7
weeks in the charts.
July 11, Thursday. (5:00–6:00 p.m.) The Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Bing’s guests include Carol MacFarlane, Virginia Bruce, Lynne Overman, and Eddie Albert.
Virginia Bruce, Lynne Overmann, Carol MacFarlane and Eddie
Albert will be Bing Crosby’s guests at 5 over KFI. They were scheduled for two weeks
ago but the show gave way to the Republican Convention. Miss Bruce will sing “Button
Up Your Overcoat” with Crosby and Albert will accompany himself on the guitar
in “Wee
Cooper
of Fife,” a 15th century Scotch ballad. Overmann will relate some stories and then will offer “Till
the Clouds Roll By.” From Miss MacFarlane, Crosby’s protege, you will hear “You”
from The Great Ziegfeld and “You’re Lonely and I’m Lonely” from Louisiana Purchase. The
Music Maids sing five songs in the forthcoming RKO picture, Too Many Girls and every two weeks for the past two years they have supplied the background vocals for a “Merrie
Melodies” cartoon.
(Zuma Palmer, Hollywood Citizen
News, July 11, 1940)
July 18,
Thursday. (5:00–6:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Oscar Levant, Lou Holtz, Olivia de
Havilland, and Alan Hale. After the show, a number of Bing’s friends, including
Oscar Levant, Lennie Hayton, the Merry Macs, Jerry Colonna, Bob Hope, who
played the trombone, and Manny Klein, hold a jam session at Bing’s home. Bing
plays the recording he has made of “Ballad for Americans” which is soon to be
released.
Bing Crosby and Oscar Levant will continue their discussion of Debussy
and his music where they left off a few weeks ago, when Levant makes his second
guest appearance on the Kraft Music Hall, tonight over WIBA at 7 o’clock. Other
guests include Olivia de Havilland, Alan Hale and Lou Holtz. As a concession to
Crosby, Levant will play Debussy’s “Garden in Granada,” as one of his piano
solos.
(The Capital Times, [Madison, Wisconsin], 18th July, 1940)
July 20,
Saturday. Further recording date in Hollywood. Bing sings five songs with the
Paradise Island Trio, including “Where the Blue of the Night.” Bing’s theme
song touches the charts at No. 27 in November and another song—“Paradise Isle”—
charts briefly in July 1941 in the No. 23 spot.
July 22, Monday.
The Paramount newsreel issued today includes footage of Bing and Mary Martin at
Del Mar.
July 23, Tuesday.
Bing records “Do You Ever Think of Me” and “You Made Me Love You” with the
Merry Macs in Hollywood. Victor Young directs the instrumental accompaniment.
“You Made Me Love You” charts briefly at No. 25.
July 25,
Thursday. (5:00–6:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Mildred Dilling, Shirley Ross, Allen Jenkins, and
Raymond Massey.
Raymond Massey, noted Canadian actor and star of the recent historical
play by Robert Emmet Sherwood, “Abe Lincoln in Illinois,” will be the principal
guest on Bing Crosby’s Kraft Music Hall program tonight. Massey will appear,
not in character, but as himself, something it is doubtful that if he has done
on the radio before. The actor is not the only one on the list. There is also
Shirley Ross from the movies, and Allen Jenkins, the dry comedian from the same
source. Bing Crosby is still carrying the load himself as Bob Burns will not be
back until the middle of next month.
(The Gazette, [Montreal], 25th July, 1940)
July 27,
Saturday. Records four songs (including “Please”) with John Scott Trotter and
his Orchestra. This updated version of “Please” briefly enters the charts at
No. 24.
August 1, Thursday. (5:00–6:00 p.m.) Bing hosts the Kraft Music Hall show with guests Muriel Angelus, Lou Holtz, The Kidoodlers, and Pat O’Brien.
Bing Crosby’s
Music Hall, KFI at 5, will be visited by Muriel Angelus, seen in Safari and The Great McGinty, Pat
O’Brien, Lou Holtz and the Kidoodlers. The latter go in for novelty vocal and instrumental
music. Crosby will sing two tunes from Rhythm on the River, his picture
which is completed but which has not yet been previewed. They are "That’s for Me" and "When the Moon Comes
Over Madison Square." His memory song will be "When I Lost You."
Before the members of the Music Maids began singing together, each had been in
unmusical work. Bobbie Canvin clerked in a
five-and-ten-cent store; Denny Wilson modeled dresses in a Paris shop; Alice Ludes
ran an elevator; Dotty Messmer was a telephone operator, and Jinny Erwin made
and sold cup-cakes.
(Zuma Palmer, Hollywood Citizen News, August 1, 1940)
August 5, Monday. Larry Crosby and his wife Elaine are divorced. Bing and Pat O'Brien entertain the press at a dinner at Del Mar prior to the opening of the season.
August 6, Tuesday.
Bing and Pat O'Brien take part in a nightball game at Finney Field and
help the Rancho Santa Fe team win 4-2 against the Travelers of
Escondido.
August 7, Wednesday.
(10:00 a.m.) Bing is present to welcome the first customer as the Del Mar season commences and runs through September 2. After two disappointing seasons, the Del Mar track enjoys a better
year with the daily handle rising to an average of $192,075.
August 8, Thursday. (5:00–6:00 p.m.) Bing’s last Kraft Music Hall show until November 14. Charles Laughton, Lillian Cornell, Jose Iturbi and Amparo Iturbi are the guests.
Bob
Burns
will return to the Music Hall at 5 over KFI. Crosby’s guests will be
Charles Laughton, who certainly knows how to read Lincoln’s Gettysburg
Address; Lillian Cornell singing actress in Buck Benny
Rides Again; Jose Iturbi,
pianist and conductor,
and his sister Amparo, a pianist. “Fools Rush In,” “Only Forever,” “Legend of
Old California,” and “Mary Is a Grand Old Name” will be sung by Crosby. During
the station breaks, announcers in cities are varying their usual station
identifications. A Houston, Texas, station announcer said “This is KPRC, the Houston chapter of
Rappa Tappa Gong.” A Los Angeles announcer went poetical
and declared, “The Station I
identify is Los Angeles,
KFI.” Bing Crosby has announced that he will
stop broadcasting if the National Broadcasters-ASC battle should end in the
taking of his right to sing ASCAP songs. (NOTE: It was later revealed that it was Larry Crosby who had made that statement.)
(Zuma Palmer, Hollywood Citizen News, August 8, 1940)
August 10, Saturday.
(5:15-5:30 p.m.) Bing is interviewed on the Sports Searchlight
program about his plans for the Del Mar track prior to the running of
the San Diego Handicap.
August 13, Tuesday. Bing's horse "Rita Osuna" wins at Del Mar.
August 14, Wednesday.
Variety carries an article about the ASCAP row. ASCAP has tried to double its license fees and radio
broadcasters have formed a boycott of it and founded a competing royalty agency, Broadcast Music Incorporated (
BING CROSBY
GIVES VIEWS ON
Radio will have
to get along without Bing Crosby unless he is permitted to sing tunes turned
out by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. That is the
decision announced by the warbler in the war between ASCAP and the National
Association of Broadcasters.
Crosby is
serving notice that his new contract with the J. Walter Thompson agency, which
handles the Kraft Music Hall air programs, will be renewed in December only
with an inserted clause allowing his withdrawal if or when ASCAP songs are no
longer available for his broadcast.
Pointing out
that neither himself nor his fellow air songsters are taking sides in the
ASCAP-
Larry Crosby,
the star’s brother and personal business manager, explained that neither side
in the controversy has had any consideration for the name singers on the air.
He said:
“There are
1,109 authors, writing ASCAP numbers, and their works are being made available
through 137 publishers. Bing and other singers need this flow of songs. Bing,
himself, eats up around five tunes a week and the only place he can get them is
through ASCAP.”
(Variety, August 14, 1940)
August 16,
Friday. During the morning, Bing golfs with a
friend, Dr. George W. Foelschow, a well-known
Southern California sportsman and race track veterinarian of San Diego, who,
sadly, collapses on the Rancho Santa Fe golf links and dies in Bing’s arms. Later, Bing
rehearses for a radio show to emanate from Del Mar in the evening. The
Motion Picture Handicap is run during the afternoon. Later, a press
preview of the film Rhythm on the River takes
place on the racetrack at Del Mar. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) A live radio show on the
Blue Network of NBC comes from the Del Mar Turf Club with many guest stars
including Mary Martin, Pat O’Brien, and Lillian Cornell. Bing and Mary Martin
feature the songs from the film and are accompanied by John Scott Trotter and
his Orchestra.
August 21, Wednesday. Bing's horse "Midge" wins the Huntingdon Beach purse at Del Mar.
August 23,
Friday. The New York premiere of the film
Rhythm on the River at the Paramount Theater.
It’s a very funny thing about
this picture business—or this musical picture business, we should say. One producer may come along with a supercolossal
whopper, all dressed up in fancy pants and boasting a high-class score and
folks will find themselves sitting watch on a dull and pretentious fizzle. And
then along will come Paramount, say, with an entry such as “Rhythm on the
River.” which opened at the Paramount yesterday—an after-you sort of entry
which gives the odd impression of having been casually shot “off the cuff”—and,
behold, it turns out to be one of the most like-able musical pictures of the
season.
. . . What’s there to it? Well, there’s Bing, whose frank and
guileless indifference, whose apparent dexterity with ad libs is, in this case,
beautiful to behold. There is Miss Martin, who is ever so comfortable to look
at and who sells a very nice song. There is also Oscar Levant, slumming from
“Information, Please,” who makes up in bashless impudence what he lacks in
looks, charm, poise and ability to act. There are Mr. Rathbone, Charley
Grapewin and Wingy Manone, who plays a hot trumpet, and there are several
tuneful numbers, especially “Rhythm on the River” and “Ain’t It a Shame about
Mame.” Add them all up and they total a progressively ingratiating picture—one
that just slowly creeps up and sort of makes itself at home. It’s a funny
business, all right.
(Bosley Crowther, New York Times, August 29, 1940)
Some may tab this as the best
picture Crosby has appeared in for several years. It’s certainly one of his toppers
. . . Bing Crosby continues his policy of splitting co-starring credits and
performance importance with others in the cast. . .Crosby tackles his acting
assignment with the nonchalance that has proven effective in past releases and
on the air. He also provides much of the musical portion of the film in singing
tunes in solo and with Miss Martin…
Total of seven songs are presented by Crosby and Miss Martin,
any one of which has potentialities for swinging into the hit class. Although
‘Only Forever’ gets strong plugging in the picture, there’s a good chance that
the title tune, ‘Rhythm on the River,’ sung by Crosby will catch strongest pop
favor…
(Variety, August 21, 1940)
In the same informal mood as Road to Singapore though not quite so
effective, Bing Crosby’s new picture, Rhythm
on the River comes to the Paramount Theater this week to bring laughs, a
pleasant romance and some No. 1 tunes to make movie audiences forget their
troubles.
(Los Angeles Evening Herald Express, August 22, 1940)
August 24, Saturday. Bing is at Del Mar for the running of the Del Mar handicap.
August 27, Tuesday. Bing plays in the 36-hole sectional qualifying round for the U.S. Amateur Open
Golf Championship at the Bel-Air Country Club but comes in sixth with 77-75-152. Only the
first four are to qualify and it seems that Bing has missed out. However, two
of the qualifiers drop out and he is able to proceed to the next qualifying
round to be held at Winged Foot, New York in September. He cancels a planned trip to South America,
September (undated). Bing and Dixie (plus young son Lindsay) travel East where Bing is to compete in the final qualifying round for the U.S. Amateur Open Golf Championship at Winged Foot Golf Club, Mamaroneck, Westchester County, New York.
September 3, Tuesday. Bing practices at Winged Foot.
September 4,
Wednesday. The film short Swing with Bing
is released.
This is a very cute little
short which will be of interest to golf fans because of the glimpses of some of
the game’s biggest names in action, and to picture fans because of the tuneful
warbling and merry antics of Bing Crosby as he is without benefit of grease
paint and a script. There is little effort put forth to tell a story. Arthur Q.
Bryan, of the radio, playing a comedy role, a dub golfer, helps carry the
audience through the maze of big names, assisted by clever narration by Roger
Keene. The whole picture has the charm and informality of a day on the greens
with good friends. . . . An original song, “The Little White Pill on the Little
Green Hill,” by John Burke and James Monaco, as rendered twice by Bing in the
picture, should become very popular. It’s a natural Crosby number with lots of
swing. The short was made at Crosby’s Rancho Santa Fe course with the
cooperation of The Professional Golfers Association of America.
(Film Daily, April 3, 1940)
For “Swing
with Bing,” intended as a golf promotion and approved by the PGA, actors Andy Devine,
Bing’s fishing chum, and Mary Treen delivered cringe-inducing comic narration; Bing’s
dad and his brothers Larry and Ted took bows. Bing had no lines, but he executed
the entrechat he had developed in his days with Mack Sennett and recorded a new,
soon forgotten Burke/Monaco song, “The Little White Pill on the Little Green Hill,”
lip-synching, with descriptive hand gestures that are the best part of a frivolous
project. The only lasting significance of the venture is that during the prerecord,
Bing was accompanied by a young pianist named Buddy Cole who would play a major
role in his postwar radio work.
September (undated). The Battle of Britain takes place in the
skies over southern England.
September 6, Friday. Playing on the West course at Winged Foot, Bing has a 72, equalling par.
September 7, Saturday. Bing practices at Winged Foot Golf
Club and is followed by a small crowd.
September 8,
Sunday. Has a practice round at Winged Foot with Bud Ward, Craig Wood, and Bob
Coffey. A large gallery of spectators follows them around the course.
September 9, Monday.
(Starting at 9:52 a.m.) Playing in front of large crowds, Bing shoots an eighty-three in the
opening qualifying round of the National Amateur Golf Championship.
Dixie goes to watch the tennis at Forest Hills instead of watching the
golf.
Virtually all of the 150
morning “rail birds” who had gathered around the first tee tromped off down the
fairway in pursuit of Bing Crosby. The California crooner hooked his first tee
shot, but just missed serious trouble when the ball ricocheted off the top of a
trap. He was playing with Billy Bob Coffey of Fort Worth, Texas, and Pat Mucci
of West Orange, N. J. Asked if he was nervous at starting in his first national
championship, Bing said: “Naw, I’m just goin’ along for the buggy ride.” .…
Crosby, whose gallery was growing constantly, faced the fourth mental hazard of
having to stop each time between green and tee to autograph programs,
scoreboards and old Panama hats.
(Associated Press, September 9, 1940)
September
10, Tuesday. Teeing off at 12:54 p;m., Bing has a seventy-seven in the second qualifying round of the
National Amateur Golf Championship. He misses qualifying for the actual
tournament by five strokes. (7:15-7:45 p.m.) During the evening, Bing is interviewed on NBC by
John B. Kennedy and Lawson Little about his performance and admits to taking
four putts on one hole.
Tuesday, Sept. 10, 1940: Bing
plays in a golf tournament in Brooklyn, NY. Day started out rainy. Bing was
found seated at a table with Fred Waring. Bing autographed a copy of BINGANG for a fan. He shot a 77 in the
match, better than he did on Monday. He was dressed in a light colored hat,
green sweater with a blue and yellow sweater beneath, brown trousers, brown
shoes and blue socks.
(BINGANG, 1941)
News that Crosby was at
Winged Foot created a sensation. His fans, mostly women, swarmed all over the
course, straining to catch sight of him. The crowd grew so large and so unruly
the club called in New York State troopers to protect him and his partners.
Crosby shot 83 in the first
round. The next day even larger and even more unmanageable crowds turned out.
Trying to help the golfers move through the gallery, marshals grabbed the long
bamboo poles normally used to sweep early morning dew from greens to create a
box around them.
Crosby played better, but
late in the day it became obvious that he wouldn’t qualify. On the last hole, a
415-yard par 4 then, Crosby played a good drive, but as he walked towards his
ball the crowd broke through the cordon and swarmed around him. It took the
troopers fifteen minutes to clear the fairway so they could finish. Crosby made
7 on the eighteenth and shot 77 for the round. He missed qualifying by five
strokes.
(Golf Anecdotes: From the Links of Scotland to Tiger Woods by Robert
T. Sommers, page 147)
September 11, Wednesday. Bing golfs at the Apawamis club in Rye, New York.
September 14,
Saturday. Bing’s recording of “Sierra Sue” is at number one in the charts for the
next four weeks.
September 15, Sunday. At the Philadelphia Country Club, Bing golfs with Ed Dudley (the home professional) against Jim Thomson and Horton Smith to raise funds for the British War Relief Society. Bing and Ed Dudley lose two down. The 5,000 spectators help raise $2,500 for the cause. Bing has an eighty-one and leaves immediately after the golf as he has an 8:00 p.m. appointment in New York.
…Crosby
turned in an 81, while Dudley shot a 68, Smith a 73 and Thomson 74. But Bing’s
higher score made no difference to the spectators who interrupted his every
shot with requests for autographs, enjoyed his constant flow of chatter and
heard him yodel at the first tee.
(The Tribune, September 15, 1940)
September 16,
Monday. Bing partners Toney Penna
(the pro from Dayton, Ohio) in the pro-am of the Long Island
September 23,
Monday. Goes to the opening of the fall racing season at Belmont Park,
Elmont, New York with his friends Raymond Guest and Chris Dunphy.
September 27, Friday. Is seen in the 21 Club on West 52nd St., New York.
September 29,
Sunday. At the Belmont Country Club in Boston, Bing golfs in a charity match for the committee for placement of
refugee children in Belmont homes. He
plays with Toney Penna against Harold (Jug) McSpaden and Fred J. Wright in
front of a crowd of 5,000. The match ends in a draw and Bing has a seventy-seven. That night he dines at the
Ritz-Carlton before catching a train for West Virginia.
Sept. 29, 1940 (a beautiful
sunny day): a sun-tanned Bing played in a charity golf match for the benefit of
refugee children at Belmont Country Club in Massachusetts. Playing with him was
Toney Penna. They were paired against Harold “Jug” McSpaden & Fred Wright.
There was a gallery of around 5000 people. Bing was asked to sing, but
gallantly refused, saying “You will pardon me, but I am on vacation, let’s play
golf.” Bing was dressed in a green cashmere sweater, light doeskin trousers,
brown sports hat adorned with a feathered band, a navy blue sport shirt with a
light blue collar, black & orange socks and brown spiked golf shoes. Every
time Bing took a swing with his club, he would fling his ever-present pipe down
onto the green from his mouth. After Toney scored a few points, Bing ran over
to him, flung his arms around Toney’s neck and kissed him. Later, he laid down
on the green and exchanged repartee with Toney while he shot.
(BINGANG, 1941)
October 1, Tuesday. Bing is guest of honor at a dinner at the home of Mr. and
Mrs. Raymond Guest on the Clarke County Estate, near White Post, Virginia. He
joins in the spirituals sung at the party. Bing stays at the Guests' home for
several nights.
October 2, Wednesday.
Bing visits Court Manor, near Woodstock, Virginia. This is the famous
stud farm of the late Willis Sharpe Kilmer and Bing is interested in
several horses which are to be sold by auction on October 30. He is
besieged by autograph seekers when he stops at a restaurant in New
Market.
October 5, Saturday.
Bing golfs at the Greenbrier Hotel, White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.
October 6, Sunday.
After playing eight practice holes with Toney Penna, Roy Pickford and Fred
Corcoran,
Bing takes part in a Red Cross Exhibition Match teeing off at 1:30 p.m.
at Columbia Country Club in Washington DC. Bing and Toney Penna are
beaten one
down by Roland MacKenzie and Fred McLeod. After the golf, Bing attends a
cocktail party given by Roland MacKenzie before leaving for Cincinnati and the
World Series.
They came to watch Bing Crosby
the crooner but stayed to watch Bing Crosby the golfer in the Red Cross
exhibition match yesterday at Columbia Country Club, witnessed by a somewhat
disappointing crowd of less than 2000.
...Crosby, known for his rather gaudy sports attire, was rather
conventionally dressed yesterday, in a blue shirt, green sweater, tan slacks
and brown shoes. His gray hat was trimmed with a blue band that matched his
shirt. His only unorthodox procedure was smoking his pipe while hitting a shot,
something that’s hard on the concentration. However, with autograph seekers
hounding him all afternoon, there was little room for concentration.
Bing surprised the crowd with his golf shots...With his
tailor-made swing, Crosby hit the ball like lots of good amateurs, and left the
impression that he would be tough in local tournaments if he stayed around.
(The Washington Post, October 7, 1940)
October 7, Monday.
Bing attends one of the World Series games between the Cincinnati Reds and the
Detroit Tigers at Crosley Field, Cincinnati. The Reds win 4-0 and go on to win the Series 4-3.
October 12,
Saturday. During the morning, Bing meets Charles Francis Adams, controller of the
Boston Bees financial operations, and a chain store magnate, at the home of Elmer Ward, a prominent
Boston businessman. Ward was to be associated with Bing in a deal to buy the
Bees. A price is agreed, but later it is reported that the transaction is not
allowed to proceed by the Baseball Commissioner because of Bing’s connections
with horse racing although the office of the Baseball Commissioner subsequently
denies any knowledge of the matter.
October 13,
Sunday. (10:30-11:00 p.m.) President Roosevelt launches the annual Community Mobilization
for Human
Needs campaign. At some stage earlier in the year, Bing transcribes a
15-minute program in support with John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra.
October 14, Monday.
Meets Thomas H. McInnerney, the head of Kraft-Phenix, to discuss
changes to the Kraft Music Hall show format. Boards a train for Los
Angeles to escort a shipment of horses he has bought in South America
to the west coast.
October 19,
Saturday. Bing’s recording of “Only Forever” is at number one in the charts
where it remains for ten weeks. (7:00-7:15 p.m.) Bing's appeal on behalf of the Community Chest is broadcast in Nebraska,
October 22, Tuesday.
Bing sends a telegram to Mayor Arthur B. Langlie of Seattle, who is the
Republican candidate for Governor, giving his support.
October 26, Saturday. Forms the Crosby Research Foundation, Inc. This is set up by Bing and his brother Larry at 170 East California Street in Pasadena to test, develop, and market inventions. It becomes a clearing house for inventors.
October 30,
Wednesday. Variety carries an article
about the Kraft Music Hall.
Gabbiest Show On Air (Kraft) Due To Have More Music, Less
Verbiage
Less gab and more music,
along with other changes, have been decreed for Kraft Music Hall. Change in
formula is understood to have been made in anticipation of Bing Crosby’s return
to the show Nov. 21. Crooner quoted from New York sources as saying he is
pretty well fed up with long speeches and wants more music in the program.
Although the latest option pickup is hanging fire pending Crosby’s signature on
the insertion of war clauses in the contract, it is said all differences have
been composed following talks with Danny Danker, Coast head of the Thompson
agency. Crosby’s option contract with Kraft still has five years to go.
Connie Boswell joins the
Kraft program Nov. 14, putting a topflight feminine radio singer into the
program along with the male star, Bing Crosby.
This further emphasizes the changes due in the program.
… In the trade Kraft has been
pegged the gabbiest show on the air, with Carroll Carroll turning out an
average of 15,000 words for each program. Also contributing to the show’s
revamp is the spotting opposite Major Bowes’ amateurs and the attendant falling
off in the listener survey. On the last C. A. B. the major was leading Kraft by
nine points. It is pointed out that the show always dips during Crosby’s layoff
and that Major Bowes will have a fight on his hands when King Croon gets back.
(Variety, October 30, 1940)
November 2, Saturday.
Bing and Dixie are in Palm Springs for the opening of The Dunes, marking the start of the
Palm Springs season.
November 4, Monday. (9:00-10:00 p.m.) Bing speaks briefly in a radio broadcast starting at midnight (EST) in which Wendell Willkie makes his final appeal to the nation in his Presidential campaign. Willkie broadcasts from the Ritz Theatre in New York and Bing is beamed in from Hollywood. The Associated Press quotes Bing as saying, “I personally am against the third term and plenty of other people out here (in California) are too - Clark Gable, Frank & Ralph Morgan, Otto Kruger, Lionel Barrymore, Edward Arnold, Jimmy Stewart.” Others taking part in the broadcast in support of Willkie are Thomas Dewey, Robert Taft, Joe Louis and Mary Pickford. Bing wagers $1000 on Willkie with a New York bookie. The Philadelphia Record newspaper later criticizes Bing in its editorial for supporting Willkie after “having enriched himself under Roosevelt.” Bing subsequently writes to the newspaper defending his stance.
Bing Crosby, in Radio Talks, Urges Election of Willkie
Bing
Crosby last night made three radio appearances speaking in behalf of Wendell
Willkie over N.B.C. and Mutual networks coast-to-coast and locally.
“There
are some who will tell you that we need Mr. Roosevelt because he has had
experience—that we simply can’t let him leave the job.” Crosby said, “I grant
you he has had experience—plenty of it—and I submit that a man who can’t learn
from experience is not the man you can entrust the destiny of the nation for 12
years.”
“Mr.
Roosevelt went to Harvard and I went to a small college, Gonzaga. But we both
studied Aristotle, and I remember what Aristotle said about experience. He said
that a good flute player learns to play the flute well by experience and that a
bad flute player learns—by experience—to play badly.
“I’m
voting for Wendell Willkie. And so, by the way, are a great many other
Hollywood people in spite of all rumors to the contrary. Here is a partial list
of people I know in the industry who are voting for Wendell Willkie.” Crosby
said, and then read off a list of 84 of the most prominent personages in
Hollywood.
(Los Angeles Times, November 6, 1940)
November 4–December. Bing, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour
film Road to Zanzibar at Paramount.
The director is Victor Schertzinger with Victor Young acting as music director.
On the Paramount lot at the same time as the ‘Road’ crew, Tommy Dorsey and his
orchestra are filming “Las Vegas Nights”,
so Bing persuades them to accompany him on his opening song “You Lucky People, You”. “And I played piano for Bing
as far back as 1940 on the Road to
Morocco (sic) soundtrack. That’s when Dorsey’s band was on the West Coast,
and we played at the Palladium in Hollywood. Bing wanted Tommy’s band to be on
the main title track of the picture, which had Victor Young’s orchestra, so it
was really quite a scene. This was an immense studio with a big symphony
orchestra, Victor Young’s, and the Tommy Dorsey band, and man there were some
sounds going on. Anyway, Bing dug my playing. He picked up on it right away; I
guess it reminded him of whatever piano playing he liked to hear. So I got to
know him real well around that time.”
(Joe Bushkin, as quoted in
the book, Talking Jazz, p216)
Nobody
thought, however, that the first Road picture would develop into a series. It
became a series when a writer named Sy Bartlett brought in a story about two
fellows who were trekking through the Madagascar jungles. The catch was that a
movie named Stanley and Livingstone had just been released and it was so
similar to Bartlett’s that it ruined it. Bartlett’s story was a highly dramatic
one, and Don Hartman took it, gagged it up, and named it The Road to
Zanzibar.
Bing is the greatest singer of popular songs who ever lived. Ask anybody. But not everyone knows how shrewd he is when it comes to the entertainment business. He instantly recognized the value of the Road pictures as a way of getting a spontaneous, ad-libby type of humour. There were doubters in the studio who shook their heads and said, “Well ... I don’t know.” But Bing was an important star. They listened to him. He was right.
Every Road picture has made large juicy chunks of
money.
(Bob Hope,
writing in This Is On Me, page 121)
November 5, Tuesday. Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt is reelected as president of the
United States again.
Bing Crosby,
who made an air bid for Willkie votes Monday night, yesterday was reported to
have reduced the radio set in his Paramount dressing room to kindling wood
(Daily Variety, November 6, 1940)
November (undated). Bing has a 76 in the qualifier for the Lakeside club championship.
November (undated). Larry Crosby throws a real “clambake” and Bing and Dixie attend.
November 14,
Thursday. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing returns to the Kraft Music Hall show and appears weekly until February
6, 1941. The audience share for the season is 18.6 which places the show in
eleventh position. The Jack Benny show is in first place in the Hooper ratings
with 36.2. The guests on the opening show are William Frawley, Joel McCrea, and
Wingy Manone. Connie Boswell becomes the resident female singer with the other
regulars being Bob Burns, the Music Maids, announcer Ken Carpenter, and John
Scott Trotter and his Orchestra. Ed Helwick joins Carroll Carroll to work on the scripts.
Preceded by the usual
half-truth, half-publicity reports that the show was going to be “different,”
Bing Crosby returned last week to the Kraft Music Hall, restoring it to the
slickness which in times past, if not in the last months, has been exemplary.
More music and more singing there may have been but it would
take a stop-watch to tell the difference as between music and dialogue, so far
as an ear that has not heard the show for a long time was concerned. Instead of
stressing that the show was “different,” it might be truer to describe it as
“better.” It gave every evidence of being thoughtfully put together
entertainment, wherein a master stylist of song was visited by sundry
personalities and all of them talked like Carroll Carroll—Connie Boswell talked
that way, Wingy Manone talked that way, Bill Frawley was thoroughly Carrollesque.
There were “bits” and “fade-ins” and “gags” and Bob Burns
losing his place in the script. So maybe Bing Crosby did sing a bit more (he
should) and Connie Boswell was added to the program for the series (she’s good)
and the press department made the most of it (they would) but actually, the
Kraft formula was little changed in basic components.
The show may have been pretty gabby last year and those
responsible may be well advised to guard against this. The Carroll patter is
often sharply witty, usually colorful, Americana that H. L. Mencken should
incorporate in his classic works on American “slanguage” but anything so
brittle and inventive carries risks, as in fast handball—if you hit and miss
you can break your wrist. A dull stretch of polysyllabic drive would be bad
even in a mid-morning “sustainer.” However, this “getaway” broadcast was a
model of finesse in script, performance and directorial tempo—it was strictly
wonderful—the authority of the star, the embellishments implicit in Miss Boswell’s
presence, the adroit bringing in and exploitation of several guest personages,
all spelled big time radio.
Especially
worth of recognition and commendation were the easygoing bridges from “bit” to
“bit,” the effortless introductions of people and ideas, the skillful
manipulation of the familiar quick glance values, as between Crosby and Burns,
for example, the feathered bird of light persiflage in this nimble game of
kilocycle badminton never once hit the boards. Praise was double merited in
this case because it is well-known that the full hour variety show is radio’s
toughest production assignment and only a hardy few can still stand the pace.
This program is the unfoldment, the build, the accumulative values of the
steady remembrance of the fact that, “easy does it” puts a premium on talent.
No aeroplanes, no diamond rings, no thousand dollar banknotes, not even a free
sample of Philadelphia Cream Cheese were given away. Let all who love
entertainment and deplore “dish night” uncover, in reverence, virtuosity in the
realm of song and spoof.
(Variety, November 20, 1940)
November 21,
Thursday. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Jacques Fray & Mario Braggiotti, Ogden Nash, Robert Young, and the
Brewer Kids.
No less than seven visitors will gather around Bing Crosby and the
Kraft Music Hall microphones for tonight’s broadcast at 10:00 p.m. over NBC and
CBM. The program will have a festive air of Thanksgiving, many listeners in the
states having celebrated the holiday on this day. The guests will include
Robert Young of the films, Fray and Braggiotti of the two pianos, Ogden Nash
the poet of unhampered line and the three Brewer kids, Betty, Sonny and Ileene.
(The Gazette (Montreal), 21st November, 1940)
November 28, Thursday. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) The Kraft Music Hall broadcast and Bing’s guests include Minerva Pious, Charles Boyer and Tommy Dorsey. Bing and Connie Boswell introduce the Sy Oliver song "Yes Indeed".
Charles Boyer, Tommy Dorsey, and radio
comedienne. Minerva Pious, make up the guest panel in Bing Crosby’s Music Hall
for tonight's get-together. Also on hand for Thanksgiving Number 2 will be Bob
Burns, Connie Boswell, the Music Maids, and John Scott Trotter’s orchestra.
New to the proceedings in M. H. is Charles
Boyer who has never faced Bing Crosby across the WMAQ microphone that will
carry his verbal foray at 8- o’clock. Minerva Pious, who is an old friend of
Fred Allen’s, will also be making her debut on the program. She’s on the coast
currently to work in the movies. When the Music Hall first presented Bing
Crosby as a regular, Jimmy Dorsey’s orchestra was featured. Now Jimmy’s
well-known brother, Tommy, will trot out before Trotter’s band for a workout on
his famous trombone.
(Belvidere Daily Republican, 28th November, 1940)
Tommy and Jimmy were two of my very best friends in the music business. Tommy, mercurial, explosive, loaded with talent and an unforgettable personality. You always knew when Tommy was around. He took a position on every issue, and you knew where he stood. You had to like him, and you had to respect him. Not only for his immense talent, but for his uncompromising integrity. Tommy was pretty frank, all right.
(Bing, writing the foreword to Tommy and Jimmy: The Dorsey Years)
Bing Crosby called
Tommy for a guest appearance on the Kraft Music Hall. Tommy appeared in a bit
with Minerva Pious, who played Mrs. Nussbaum on the Fred Allen Show. In the
bit, Tommy used Mrs. Nussbaum’s New Yorkese dialect. At one point, Tommy
expressed disdain for Min, who was playing the part of a swing fan. She snapped
at him, “Don’t gimme dat; if it wasn’t for jitterbugs like me, you’d still be
playing a horn in some jug band.” When Bing brought Tommy on as guest star, he
showed he had not forgotten an earlier time on the Kraft Music Hall. He introduced
Tommy as “brother of Jimmy.”
(Herb
Sanford, writing in Tommy and Jimmy: The Dorsey Years)
November 30,
Saturday. The number one record is Bing’s recording of “Trade Winds.”
(3:00-5:00 p.m.) Bing's home is opened to members and friends of the
Young Ladies Institute for a benefit tea and entertainment.
Proceeds go to orphanages, hospitals and needy persons at Christmas.
Bing is thought to be in San Francisco.
December 3,
Tuesday. (7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.) Recording session with John Scott Trotter
and his Orchestra, when four songs are committed to wax, including “It’s Always
You.” Two cowboy songs—“Along the Santa Fe Trail” and “Lone Star Trail” —are
recorded too and the former reaches the No. 4 spot in the Billboard charts.
December 5,
Thursday. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Errol Flynn, Benny Rubin, and Cliff
Nazarro.
The dashing man of pictures, Errol Flynn; comedian Benny Rubin; and
“double-talk” authority Cliff Nazarro will help Bing Crosby carry on without
his man, Bob Burns, in the Music Hall tonight. Burns is currently in New York
with his wife for a two weeks’ vacation during which they’ll put the cares of
radio aside tor a little show-seeing…Errol Flynn has a habit of bringing up his
sea-going adventures in conversation with Bing. According to a recent news
dispatch, the actor plans to turn over his yacht to the navy for patrol duty.
Benny Rubin hasn’t visited the Hall in too long but one of the more frequent
callers is Cliff Nazarro who is an expert at befuddling people with his
slashing attacks on the English language.
(Belvidere Daily Republican, 5th December, 1940)
December 7/8, Saturday / Sunday. Playing in the first round of the Lakeside Golf Club championship over the weekend, Bing defeats Huntley Gordon 4 and 2.
December 9,
Monday. (5:00 p.m. to 7:20 p.m.) Records with Victor Young and his Orchestra,
including Bing’s first Irish songs “Did Your Mother Come from Ireland” and
“Where the River Shannon Flows.” The former song charts briefly at No. 22.
December 11,
Wednesday. Variety carries an item
about Bing’s backing of presidential candidate Wendell Willkie.
Bing Crosby, in a letter to
the Philly Record last week, answered an attack in a pre-election editorial in
the daily taking him to task for his endorsement of Wendell Willkie “while
being enriched under the Roosevelt administration”.
Wrote Crosby: “It would seem that
all the differences of opinion concerning the two presidential candidates were
pretty conclusively settled on Nov. 5. I feel if 26,000,000 voters esteem Mr.
Roosevelt as the man for the job, it’s surely good enough for me.
“I do think, though, that whether
the two Roosevelt administrations played an important part in the remarkably
good fortune which has attended my career seems trivial in consideration of the
traditional issues that were involved.”
The crooner then went into a
defense of the use of WPA money on his Santa Anita (sic) racing plant which the
Record said “raised an unhappy odor in Congress”.
(Variety, December 11, 1940)
December 12,
Thursday. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests advertised to take part include Richard
Bonelli, Lynne Overman, Charles LaVere and Preston Sturges. It is thought that
Preston Sturges may have pulled out at the last moment.
Connie Boswell and the Music Maids will keep the Music Hall from
becoming a “stag” affair tonight for Bing Crosby has invited a male quartet of
guests around. They are movie director Preston Sturges, opera star Richard
Bonelli, Lynne Overman, and musician Charles Lavere…Those Crosby-Boswell duets
have become such a popular feature of the show, the pair will do “Down
Argentine Way” together this week. On his own, Bing will croon “You’ve Got Me
This Way,” “Do You Know Why,” “I’d Know You Anywhere,” “Song of Old Hawaii,”
and “I Know That You Know.” Connie does “Two Dreams Met” and “Somewhere” and
the Trotter orchestra is to be featured in its special arrangement of
Rachminoff’s “Prelude in G Minor.” Preston Sturges will confide in Bing and the
Music Hall audience some of the secrets that have made him an overnight success
as a movie writer and director. He’s the man responsible for “The Great
McGinty” and “Christmas in July.” Richard Bonelli will compare his baritone
with the Crosby “groanin’” and Lynne Overman will make cracks about anyone on
hand at the moment.
(Belvidere Daily Republican, 12th December, 1940)
December 13,
Friday. Bing records “Tea for Two” and “Yes Indeed” with Connie Boswell
supported by Bob Crosby’s Bob Cats. At the end of the session, a special
Christmas greeting to the Decca staff in New York is recorded.
Bing Crosby-Connie
Boswell ‘Tea for Two’-‘Yes Indeed’ (Decca 3689). Crosby and Miss Boswell duo to solid returns on these, pairing
on “Yes Indeed” making it stand out strong. It’s a sort of a spiritual that
packs a punch. ‘Tea’ is also neat, but it doesn’t rate with companion piece.
(Variety, April 23, 1941)
December 15, Sunday.
Golfs in the annual Southland Scotch mixed foursomes tournament with Babe Didrikson
Zaharias at Rancho Country Club. They have a 76 and tie for second place.
December 16,
Monday. Another recording date in Hollywood with Bob Crosby and his Orchestra,
including the songs “San Antonio Rose” and “It Makes No Difference Now”. The
former song spends 11 weeks in the Billboard
charts and peaks at No. 7, whilst the latter tune charts briefly at No. 23.
Crosby interpreted “New San
Antonio Rose” exactly as Wills had done in his recording. There was not one
sound on Crosby’s 78 to suggest that he thought the song was country or
hillbilly. His arrangement was no different from any other popular song he was
recording at the time. Crosby – like Wills – performed ‘New San Antonio Rose’
for what it was, pop music.
Crosby was always grateful to Wills for this song but Wills was
even more appreciative of Crosby. Bob Wills believed that Crosby’s recording of
“New San Antonio Rose” was the turning point in his own career. Whether Wills
over-emphasized the importance of the Crosby recording and under-emphasized his
own is debatable. One thing is certain, both Wills and Crosby profited from the
song.
(San Antonio Rose – The Life & Music of Bob Wills)
I almost failed to recognise
Bing Crosby in ‘It Makes No Difference Now’, only the slight throb served to distinguish
him from any one of a hundred crooners. ‘I’m Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes’
was more characteristic but poor material. (Brunswick 03456).
(The Gramophone, August, 1943)
December (undated). Bing signs a fresh contract with Paramount which is thought to require him
to make nine films in three years at $175,000 per film. Also, he signs a
contract with Decca for five years at $60,000 per annum plus a percentage.
December 19,
Thursday. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include The Kraft Choral Society, Allen Jenkins and Donald Crisp.
Christmas is being celebrated in the Music Hall tonight when Bing
Crosby will present the Kraft Choral Society from Chicago with Donald Crisp and
Allen Jenkins as his Hollywood guests. This will be in the nature of a double
celebration for Robin Burns will return to the hall following a New York
vacation…The choral society is to sing “When the Sun Has Sunk to Rest” and “In
a Monastery Garden.” This huge chorus is made up entirely of
employees of the Kraft Cheese corporation and they perform on the program twice
annually - once during the Easter season and once near Christmas day…Donald
Crisp and Allen Jenkins chat with Bing and Bob Burns on their Christmas plans.
Burns just had to get back to Hollywood to play Santa Claus for the younger
members of the family.
(Belvidere Daily Republican, 19th December, 1940)
December 20, Friday. Bing takes part in a Christmas party for twelve hundred colored children at Ascot Avenue Elementary School together with other artists including the King Cole Trio, Dorothy Dandridge, and Frankie Darro.
However, before
1940 was through, Nat King Cole received validation from two even higher authorities
than Bob Hope, one of whom coincidentally was Bing Crosby, who had just
launched a lifelong sub-career as Hope’s sparring partner with The Road to Singapore. Even as the Radio
Room gig continued, the Trio took the night off to play at a party for a local
school, the African American Ascot Elementary School, where he had shared the
spotlight with several old friends: Mantan Moreland and Dorothy Dandridge, as
well as Crosby himself. A lifelong political conservative and unswerving
Republican, Crosby was nonetheless decades ahead of his time in his lifelong
support of black causes and black artists. The Trio seems to have accompanied
Crosby on several songs, and one attendee, described the Crosby-Cole performance
as “just the greatest thing that ever happened around here.”
(Will Friedwald, Straighten Up and Fly Right: The Life and Music of Nat King Cole, page 73)
(5:45 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.) Makes records of songs from the film Road to Zanzibar with John Scott
Trotter and his Orchestra. Also records “A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley
Square”.
Bing Crosby ‘You
Lucky People’ - ‘It’s Always You’ (Decca 3636)
Crosby’s in a lifting, rhythmic mood on the first
side, a hot melody from his ‘Zanzibar’ film. It’s lively and helped by John Scott
Trotter background. Reverse is a ballad and a weaker tune. On another pair
(Decca 3637) Crosby does “You’re Dangerous,’ a sock ballad, and ‘Birds of a
Feather,’ another rhythm tune. Both good.
(Variety,
March 26, 1941)
Every time this column hears
“A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square” it thinks of Bing Crosby, even when he
isn’t singing it. We heard him record it.
Larry Crosby picked us up
over there on Melrose and led us through a labyrinth of passages into one of
several little rooms which adjoined a big room. In the big room, where Decca
has made hundreds of recordings for years, were Bing and an orchestra. In the
little rooms a small knot of nervous men puffed on cigars and fidgeted with
gadgets and waxes.
Everybody except Bing was in
shirtsleeves. We could see him through the pane of glass separating the big
room from ours. He wore a blue sweater with white stripes, tan trousers and the
inevitable jaunty hat. I was reminded of the calypso singer who sang:
“He has a queer ec-cen-tric-ee-tee
Takes off his hat ver-ee
in-frequent-lee
But the crooning prod-dee-gee
Is Bing Cros-bee.”
Prodigy or no, he didn’t look
like a man worth $16,000,000 as someone told us he must be. But then, what is a
man worth $16,000,000 supposed to look like?
Jack Kapp, head of Decca, was
in charge of operations. Bing had just finished recording three numbers from
“The Road to Zanzibar” and this nightingale thing was to be No. 4. We stood in
the monitor room with the man who was doing the waxing. At a given signal he
dropped a weight attached to a rope and the rope began to unwind the turntable.
This method is old-fashioned but is supposed to insure an even pickup. The
record was a hunk of wax inches thick.
And, through the window, we
saw John Scott Trotter, the conductor, raise his baton and the 15 shirtsleeved
men their instruments. Trotter wore earphones. He listened as the men played
and Bing sang.
Bing squared off at the mike
with elaborate unconcern and started. No gestures, just the voice, which came
to us from a loudspeaker in the room where we stood. Once its owner glanced at
us and we saw that his face was without expression of any kind.
When it was over Kapp came in
and said “Three minutes and 10 seconds.” Nothing about the millions of girls
being made glad all over for three minutes and 10 seconds; just the cold
statistic itself.
On the way back through the
labyrinth we asked Mrs. S. what she thought was the secret of Bing’s
fascination for those girls. “Let me put it like this,” said Mrs. S. “You know when
you sip a drink and begin to feel kind of a-a-a-a-a-ah? Well, that’s it.”
“You, too!” I said
(Philip K. Scheuer, Los Angeles Times, January 19, 1941)
Jack Kapp’s
closest friend, probably, is Bing Crosby. Years ago, when Crosby was recording
for Brunswick, Bing got his kicks whistling and boo-boo-booing when he
recorded. Late in 1933, after proving his loyalty to the Brunswick firm, but at
the same time, showing his impatience with that organization’s methods, Kapp
resigned and organized his own record company. The day he organized Decca, Bing
Crosby and Guy Lombardo left Brunswick and joined him. Within a few weeks Ted
Lewis, Ethel Waters, the Dorsey Brothers, the Mills Brothers, the Casa Lama
band and several other hot attractions also were signed up with the baby Decca
company.
To charges that
Kapp had “raided” his rivals, Jack answered that he was paying less money than
the rival concerns and that the artists had followed him “simply purely” out of
loyalty, and faith in his new firm. One of the first things Kapp did, with Bing
Crosby, was argue the good-natured “Groaner” into forsaking the whistling and
corny boo-boo-booing. He also persuaded Bing that it would be smart to make a
series, “of old standards, things 1ike “Home on the Range,” “I Love You Truly”
and “Silent Night.” Those 1934 Crosby discs are still selling day in and day
out. In 1939 Bing’s discs alone counted for 2,000,000 of Decca’s sales. And
Crosby, by dropping his jazzy whistling and boo-booing, has held his tremendous
following down through the years. Every year since he started for Decca, Bing’s
records have shown an increase in sales. Bing credits Jack Kapp with putting
him on the right road and pulling him out of what might have been a
“flash-in-the-pan career.”
(Dave Dexter, Jr., writing in Downbeat, 1941)
December 23,
Monday. Bing, supported by Bob Crosby’s Bob Cats and the Merry Macs, records
“Dolores” and “Pale Moon” in Hollywood. “Dolores” enters the Billboard charts
on April 5, 1941 peaking at No. 2 during a 15-week stay.
…The titles are “Dolores,”
from the film “The Gay City,” and Stephen Foster’s well-known, characteristic
piece “Camptown Races”. (Brunswick 03190). To add to the attractions, the
studio has supported Bing in the latter number with a vocal group, The King’s
Men. In “Dolores,” they have given him the backing, not only of another vocal
combination, the famous Merry Mac’s Quartet, but also of the even more famous
Bob Crosby’s Bob Cats. In such a “commercial” number as “Dolores” especially as
treated by Mr. C., the Bob Cats are quite wasted. Even Eddie Miller’s tenor
solo, to which the label draws attention, is no more than a few musicianly bars
of straight melody. But the choirs do mean something. In both what they do and
the way they do it, they add a new character to the records which is a very
definite asset. In fact, all round, I recommend these two sides as among the
most pleasing Crosby offerings we have had.
(Melody Maker, August 16, 1941)
On the other side, he is ably
supported by Bob Crosby and the Merry Macs in the best vocal version of
“Dolores” I have heard so far (Brunswick 03190).
(The Gramophone, September, 1941)
December 26,
Thursday. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Jose Iturbi, Thomas Mitchell, and
the Ken Darby Singers. Dispensation is given by NBC to
include ‘Ballad for Americans’ on the show despite a
ban against all American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers (ASCAP) music
which became effective December 22.
A great American—”Ballad
for Americans”—will be sung for the first time by Bing Crosby over the air as a
special feature of the Music Hall tonight. Bing’s guests for the broadcast over
WMAQ at 8 o'clock are Thomas Mitchell, screen actor, and Jose Iturbi, the well-known
pianist and conductor. “Ballads for Americans,” whose theme is patriotic was written
by Earl Robinson and John La Touche. It is probably the longest composition
ever sung in the Music Hall with a running time of about 12 minutes…Thomas Mitchell
will be interviewed by Bing, Bob Burns will compete with Jose Iturbi on the
piano (Burns has openly challenged Iturbi to a duet), the Music Maids will “give
out” with background harmony, and John Scott Trotter's orchestra will furnish
the music for the full-hour of entertainment.
(Belvidere Daily Republican, 26th December,
1940)
The best show of the week was
the Bing Crosby program this week. First, there was Bing and Connie Boswell
singing “Tea for Two” and it was really something. Then there was Bing Crosby
doing “Ballad for Americans” which is enough to make any program. Finally, and
this was a surprise, Bob Burns did a routine that I thought was good and I
don’t go for Burns. He did a monologue on Christmas and among other things,
said, “I’m giving Bing a pair of two-way binoculars. He can watch his horse and
the winner at the same time.”
(Sidney Skolsky, Hollywood Citizen News, December 28,
1940)
December 27, Friday.
Bing is said to have attended the unveiling of a memorial plaque for Mabel
Normand at Republic Studios with Mack Sennett and many other stars. Later Bing
and Dixie are reported to be at a party at Ciro’s with Jack Benny, Bob Hope,
Hedy Lamarr, Judy Garland, Eleanor Powell, Dorothy Lamour, Ann Sothern, Linda
Darnell, Tony Martin, Mickey Rooney, James Stewart, Jackie Cooper, Dan Dailey
and Lana Turner amongst others.
December 28, Saturday. Bing is at Santa Anita for the opening of the racing season.
December 30, Monday. Records four songs with Victor Young and his Orchestra including "When Day Is Done" and "Chapel in the Valley". Later, playing in the fourth round of the Lakeside Golf Club championship, Bing defeats Pete Watts, the defending champion, on the 19th. hole.
Bing Crosby (Decca
3614)
Chapel in the
Valley—V. When Day Is Done—V
If
Crosby were to sing the scales, it would still make better listening than most
of the vocal disks released all lumped together. But when Bing has a really
fine song to sing, it makes compelling listening of a standard that very few records
can ever approximate. Of late Crosby has been lending his voice to a good many
numbers of varying degrees of quality (mostly low), but in the second side of this
latest release he meets up with a song that matches his ability in the extent
of his melodic and lyrical merit. It’s the familiar Buddy DeSylva-Robert Katscher
ballad of a number of years ago—the same song that became one of the outstanding
items in Paul Whiteman’s erstwhile repertoire and that established Henry Busse
for his standout trumpet solo on Whiteman’s original recording of the number—and
in Crosby’s individual style it now becomes a vocal classic.
Bing
sings it straight, and it’s the absence of any tricks of scoring—either vocal
or instrumental—that gives it its stature, because the excellence of music and
lyrics is such that embellishments are unnecessary. Done with the simplicity of
Crosby’s memorable recording of And the
Angels Sing, with Victor Young’s fine sensitive instrumental backing a
further reminder of that disk, it should be a natural for music machines, and
one of Crosby’s best-selling platters among the legion of his admirers. A great song plus Bing Crosby to sing it is
probably the best guarantee of fool-proof disk listening extant today.
The
ditty on the reverse doesn’t belong in the same league as Day Is Done. It’s to the added credit of the Crosby style-that-can-do-no-wrong
that the inanities of tune and wordage here are covered over as well as they
are.
(Daniel Richman, Billboard, March 8, 1941)
Bing’s royalties on records in 1940
are $77,000 and he is placed seventh in the annual U.S.A. film box office stars
list for 1940. Mickey Rooney is first.
Bing has had seventeen songs that
became chart hits in 1940 and he wins the Movie-Radio
Guide Star of Stars award for best male singer of popular songs for the
year. He goes on to win the same award each year for the next three years. Also
Down Beat magazine names Bing and
Helen O’Connell as the top vocalists of 1940.
January 1, Wednesday. Bing attends the 1941 Rose Bowl college football bowl
game at
the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. The undefeated and second-ranked Stanford
Indians of the Pacific Coast Conference defeat the #7 Nebraska
Cornhuskers of the Big Six Conference, 21–13. A dispute by the National
Broadcasters’ Association with ASCAP over royalties is underway. (In 1940, when ASCAP tried to double its license fees again, radio
broadcasters formed a boycott of ASCAP and founded a competing royalty agency, Broadcast Music Incorporated (
January 2,
Thursday. (11:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his Kraft show in NBC Studio B.
(6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall
show on NBC. Guests include Frank McHugh, James Hilton, and Tommy
Harmon. The
latter is Michigan’s all-American halfback and press reports indicate
that he
is to go into a radio and screen career under Bing’s sponsorship. Later
in the week, Harmon is photographed with Bing and golfer Horton
Smith watching play at the Los Angeles Open at Riviera Country Club.
An author of note, an All-American football player, and a comedian make
up the varied guest list Bing Crosby has invited around to the “old Music Hall”
tonight to celebrate the advent of the New Year. They are, in order, James
Hilton, Tom Harmon, and Frank McHugh who’ll appear on the broadcast over WMAQ
at 8 o'clock…Tommy Harmon, Michigan All-American backfield ace will make use of
his radio talents with which he hopes to gainsay employment following
graduation this June. James Hilton, who is responsible for the successful
novel, “Lost Horizon,” will give Bing Crosby a few lessons in the use of the
English dialect. An old hand at M. H. antics is Frank McHugh. This movie
comedian who has helped many a picture at the box office, will aid Bing Crosby
in the laugh-giving department.
(Belvidere Daily Republican, 2nd January, 1941)
January 5, Sunday. Together with Tom Harmon and Marshall Duffield, Bing watches Sam Snead's play at the Los Angeles Open at the Riviera Country Club. Snead has a disappointing 75.
January 6, Monday.
Bing is beaten on the last green by Roger Kelly in the semi-final of the Lakeside
Golf Club championships. Bing had defeated defending champion Pete Watts and
was heavily favored.
January 8, Wednesday. Golfs with Jimmy Demaret at Lakeside.
January 9,
Thursday. (11:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his Kraft show in NBC Studio B.
(6:00–7:00 p.m.) The Kraft Music Hall
show. Bing’s guests include James Stephenson and Roland Young.
Bing Crosby
goes into public domain for the second week for selection of numbers he’ll sing
Thursday night. They are ‘Rancho Grande,’ ‘Song of the Islands,’ ‘Ballin’ the
Jack,’ ‘Love Turns Winter to Spring’ and ‘Beautiful Dreamer.’ Connie Boswell
sings ‘Home on the Range,’ ‘Frenesi’ and ‘Perfidia'.
(Daily Variety, January 6, 1941)
Movie actors Roland Young and James Stephenson join Bing Crosby in
everything, but song when the meeting of the Music Hall “takes up”
tonight…James Stephenson is the young actor who got his long-awaited break in
“The Letter” with Bette Davis. His movie studio is predicting stardom for him
within the next year. This will be his first experience of facing Bing Crosby
and Bob Burns across a live microphone. Roland Young, an old hand in M. H.
matters, will doubtless give young Stephenson a few pointers on the ritual.
January 16,
Thursday. (11:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his Kraft show in NBC Studio
B.(6:00–7:00 p.m.) Another Kraft Music
Hall broadcast and Bing’s guests are Benny Rubin, Walter Pidgeon, and Duke
Ellington.
Walter Pidgeon, Duke Ellington and Benny Rubin are guests of Bing
Crosby on the Music Hall, WCAF, at 9. Walter intends to give Bob Burns a few
lessons in “Pidgeon” English.
(Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 16th January 1941)
January 19, Sunday. (Starting at 1:30 p.m.) Bing and Bob Hope team up against Babe Didrikson and Patty Berg for a four ball better-ball golf exhibition prior to the Frank Condon Memorial Tournament at the San Gabriel Country Club. The men lose 5 and 4. It is estimated that crowd reaches 3000.
I
remember one match where I teamed up with Patty Berg against Bing and Bob at the San Gabriel Country Club. Patty
and I beat them, although nobody out there was too much concerned about the
score. I smacked one about 280 yards off the first tee. Bob Hope dropped to the
ground and began beating on it with his hands, pretending to cry and wail. Bing
put on an act of consoling Bob, then Bing took his drive. It was a good bit
shorter than mine. So, Bob started consoling Bing. On one of the holes, my
second shot bounced into a bunch of people standing near the green. The ball
hit a woman’s hand. They tell me it knocked a diamond out of the ring on her
finger. Anyway, it bounced right back on the green as nice as anything, and
rolled up to the pin to give me an easy birdie three. Bob Hope turned to the
gallery. “Now do you see what we’re up against?” he said. At the halfway point
the announcer began reciting, “Scores for the first nine holes. Miss Berg,
thirty-seven. Mrs. Zaharias, thirty-five. Mr. Crosby, thirty-eight. Mr. Hope –”
Before he could get any farther Bob burst out singing, “I Dream of Jeannie with
the Light Brown Hair.”
(This Life I’ve Led: My
Autobiography by
Babe Didrikson Zaharias as told to Harry Paxton)
Crosby, Hope Clown Way To Golf Fame On Gags
Los Angeles (AP) – There is no truth to the
report that Babe Didrikson Zaharias and
Patty Berg defeated Bing Crosby and Bob Hope 18 up in a golf match
Sunday. It was only 5 up. Or maybe 7. No one seems to know for certain. Yes, these long-swatting girls played from scratch and
gave the likeable, anything-for-a laugh pair from Hollywood a thorough going
over, but the match goes down as worth a guffaw a stroke – strokes, it might be
added, were plentiful.
The foursome, featured in a day at the San Gabriel
county club staged in memory of the late fiction writer and golf enthusiast,
Frank Condon, started off with a following of 1,000. The number mounted with
Hope’s score. More gags than shots rolled off his clubs. The Babe drove off on the first tee 280 yards down the
middle. Hope collapsed on the ground and wailed. Crosby offered consolation and
then drove. Hope gave him consolation. That started the fun.
On the sixth, believe it or not, the Babe; second
carried into the crowd around the green. The ball hit a woman’s hand; knocked a
diamond out of its ring setting. It fell into the lady’s hand-and the ball
bounced back for an easy putt and a birdie three.
“Now you can see,” said Hope, turning to the gallery, “what
we are up against.”
At the turn, kilted Scotty Chisolm, perennial
announcer at golf meets, proclaimed: "Scores for the first nine holes: Miss Berg, 37; Mrs.
Zaharias, 35; Bing Crosby, 38; Bob Hope, –.”
“I Dream of Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair,” the
loud tones of Hope drowned out the score. Crosby holed a five-foot curving putt
on No. 10, and promptly went into a spirited two step with Hope. Or perhaps it
was something the Russian ballet left lying around on the last visit to town.
Hope came back and sank his putt. Distance: Eight
inches. The gallery cheered.
“It’s nothing,” he assured them.
Four holes later he putted from eight feet. It was
short. He putted once more. Again it was short.
“This is still same man putting,” he advised.
Mrs. Zaharias lined up a 25 foot putt.
“I’ll give you $40 to 40 cents you can’t do it,” offered
Crosby.
“Say, I can get longer odds than that on your horses,”
Babe fired back.
Hours later, they reached the 18th. There must have
been 3,000 watching by this time. All grew quiet as Crosby looked over a
putt and addressed the ball. Suddenly a small voice squeaked “Hi, Bing”.
“Hi partner,” Crosby called back, and then, looking
up, saw a youngster, about a foot and half high waving. He walked over with
great ceremony, shook hands with the boy – and then missed the putt.
The match finally ended:
“Scores for this foursome,” bellowed the announcer. “Mrs.
Zaharias, 72; Miss Berg, 74; Bing Crosby, 76; Bob Hope, – “
“I Dream of Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair.”
The tones of Hope, joined with Crosby’s in a piercing
duet, blotted out the score.
(Associated Press, January 20, 1941)
January 20, Monday. Bing arranges for several of the golfers entered in his Pro-Am to have a practice round at Lakeside. Playing with Byron Nelson, Bing breaks 70 for the first time with a 69. He had promised his caddy Newt Bassler a new suit of clothes if he ever broke 70 and he duly has to deliver.
January 21,
Tuesday. Correspondence of this date from Todd Johnson of Johnson and Johnson
to Bing commences as follows:
Jack O’Melveny informed me this
morning that you had adjusted your domestic affairs so that you no longer
contemplate a separation and property settlement with Dixie.
(As reproduced in BINGANG, December 2000)
Bing had apparently asked Dixie for a
divorce because of her drinking and Dixie and Kitty Lang had been to Sun
Valley, Idaho, to establish residency. The letter from Todd Johnson sets out
the adverse effects a separation would have had on Bing’s financial situation.
He estimates Bing’s 1940 net income at $526,000 and taxes would be $377,000 as
against $433,000 if there had been a divorce. The letter also states that Bing
only has cash in the bank of $167,000 with a tax
bill due of $377,000! Bing
decides to help Dixie through her problems.
January 23,
Thursday. (11:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his Kraft show in NBC Studio B.
(6:00–7:00 p.m.) The Kraft Music Hall
show is broadcast by NBC. Bing’s guests include Jimmy Demaret, James Hilton and Edward Everett
Horton.
One of those things Connie Boswell never talk about is her ability at
song-writing, but she’s done more than a little in her time. In fact, she’s
written special lyrics for “Frenesi” and will sing the song duet-fashion with
Bing Crosby in the Music Hall over WSB at 8 o’clock tonight. Bingston, as
Connie calls him, has invited quite a diversified line-up of talent around to
the Hall this week. James Hilton, the eminent author; Edward Everett Horton,
comedian of complete confusion; and that able golfer Jimmy Demaret will take up
various matters with Bing.
(The Atlanta Constitution, 23rd January, 1941)
January 24–26, Friday–Sunday.
The Bing Crosby Pro-Am Golf Tournament at Rancho Santa Fe is won
by Sam Snead for the third time. Bing misses the first day as he is
delayed by heavy rain in Los Angeles. Ed Oliver partners Bing in the
pro-am commencing on
January 25 and they have a better ball score of 64 in the first round
putting them in joint second place. In the second round, Bing plays the first
nine in 37 and is 3 over for the back nine through the 17th but does
not putt out the final hole. Amongst the amateurs playing are Johnny Weissmuller, George Murphy, Forrest Tucker, Charles Boyer, Johnny Burke, Grantland Rice, Jimmy McLarnin, Zeppo Marx, Dick Gibson, Edgar Kennedy, Maurie Luxford and John Dawson. In addition, Babe Zaharias plays with her husband George while Patty Berg plays with Mrs. Opal Hill.
Bing sponsors the tournament with the gross proceeds being split
between the Junior League of San Diego and the League for
Crippled Children in Los Angeles. Admission is $1.
For the fifth annual tournament in 1941, Crosby enlarged the
field to 320 golfers, 160 teams, for what became a three-day tournament. Half
the field played on Friday and half on Saturday. The low 10 teams on each day
qualified for the final round on Sunday, as did the low professionals and
several top pros that were guaranteed both rounds. Another change was that
three professional women played—Babe Zaharias, Patty Berg and Opal Hill.
Playing from the men’s tees, they posted three of the four highest scores in
their first round and missed the professional cut.
Significantly, Crosby made his 1941 tournament a charity event.
All ticket sales, both advance and at the gate, were donated to charity—split
that year between the Los Angeles League for Crippled Children and San Diego’s
Junior League. The charity take exceeded the $3,000 purse split by the pros.
January 30, Thursday.
(11:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m., 4:00–6:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his Kraft show in NBC
Studio B. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Leo Diamond, Ogden Nash, and Virginia
Bruce. (8:15–9:15 p.m.) Bing is thought to have joined in a nationwide
all-network radio hookup to celebrate President Roosevelt’s birthday.
A beautiful girl, a poet in the popular vein, and an accomplished
harmonica player will come face to face with Bing Crosby in the ever-popular
Music Hall tonight. In order, they add up to Virginia Bruce, Ogden Nash, and
Leo Diamond who’ll bob up during the proceedings over WMAQ at 8 o’clock…Under
the pinpricking attack from Robin Burns, who is addressed as “Junior” by
Crosby, Ogden Nash created a little piece of poetry especially for M. H. the
last time he was on the program. If Bob will stay on his side of the fence,
Ogden has promised never to do it again. But, of course, Bob won't. Virginia
Bruce has been on the program many times before but this will be the initial
time out for Leo Diamond. Leo is a veteran harmonica player who graduated from
the Borah Minnevitch company.
(Belvedere Daily-Republican, 30th January, 1941)
Despite
pleas of his ASCAP friends, Bing
Crosby is said to be ready to
sing
(Variety, February 5, 1941)
February 1, Saturday. Voted most popular male singer in a New York World-Telegram poll of radio editors.
February 6,
Thursday. (11:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m., 4:00–6:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his Kraft show
in NBC Studio B. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing hosts the Kraft Music Hall with guests Paul Robeson and Lew Ayres.
When Bing Crosby
unzips the entertainment in the Music Hall tonight he'll have with him as special
guests Lew Ayres, of the cinema lots, and Paul Robeson, noted Negro singer. Bob
Burns, Connie Boswell, the Music Maids, and John Scott Trotter's orchestra will
all be there for the broadcast over WMAQ at 8 o'clock. Crosby has once more pulled
down top honors as the best male popular singer in the annual N. Y. World-Telegram
poll of radio editors throughout the United States and Canada. For this signal honor,
Bing doffs his ever-present chapeau to all the editors taking part in the vote-casting.
Lew Ayres is the young man who jumped to movie stardom after posing for
collar-ads. He forms a great contrast with Bingston who has never been known to
wear a collar to work in the old Hall. Bing says his well-known “out-board”
shirts are more comfortable but promises not to argue the point with Ayres.
(Belvedere Daily-Republican, February 6,
1941)
On Jan. 2, 1943, an article examining the role of the “Negro” in show business revealed that black
performers were being represented with more dignity, their employment
opportunities had increased, and their race was being portrayed more
sympathetically in films, over radio, and on stage than in previous years. However,
radio continued to perpetuate a longstanding policy that no black performer
could be introduced on any commercial network show with the appellation of Mr.,
Mrs., or Miss preceding his or her name. That rule applied even to performers
of Marian Anderson’s stature. There was,
however, some evidence that the rule was beginning to break down, for example,
when Bing Crosby introduced Paul Robeson as “Mr.” on his program.
(Phyllis Stark, Billboard, A History of Radio Broadcasting November 1, 1994)
February 8, Friday. Bing leaves on the Union Pacific with his son Gary for Sun Valley where they are to join the rest of the family.
February 9, Saturday, Bing and Gary arrive at Sun Valley for a ten-day holiday.
February 11, Tuesday. Jimmie Fidler's column in the Los Angeles Times states: "That rumored rift in the Bing Crosby-Dixie Lee marriage caused coast-to-coast excitement, but it is not true."
February 13, Thursday. Bing's horse "El Osuna" wins at Santa Anita. It's Bing's first win of the season. Misses the Kraft Music Hall show as he is on a short vacation at the Sun Valley Inn, Idaho, with his family.
Real
reason for Bing Crosby’s absence from the air last week was his desire to join
his family in Sun Valley and thereby squelch those persistent, but untrue, rift
rumors.
(Jimmie
Fidler in Hollywood, as seen in the Los
Angeles Times, February 18, 1941)
February 20,
Thursday. Bing's horse "Osunita" wins at Santa Anita (11:00 a.m.–2:30 p.m., 4:00–6:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his Kraft show
in NBC Studio B. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing returns to the Kraft Music Hall with guests Sabu, George Raft, and Vicente Gomez.
Fresh from a week at Sun Valley with his family
Bing Crosby returns to the Music Hall tonight when he will face a welcoming
committee consisting of George Raft, Sabu, the “Elephant Boy,” and guitarist
Vicente Gomez…With such a pair of horse fanciers as Crosby and George Raft on
hand it’s hard to predict just where the script will wind up. Perhaps both will
prefer to keep mum on their doings at the dust ovals. Sabu has familiarized
himself with the English language pretty well since leaving his native India
but there’s no doubt that certain of the Crosby verbiage will puzzle the
youngster who’s just made a hit in “The Thief of Bagdad.”
(Belvedere Daily-Republican, 20th February, 1941)
February 23,
Sunday (4:30–5:00 p.m.) Takes part in the Gulf Screen Guild radio production of
Altar Bound with Bob Hope, Betty
Grable, Hans Conried and Howard Duff on CBS. Frank Tours leads the Oscar Bradley orchestra.
Mirth and Melody will be combined through the talents of
Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Betty Grable on the Columbia network “Screen Guild
Theatre” broadcast over KWKH at 6:30 tonight, when that stellar trio stars in
an original musical-comedy, “Altar Bound.”
The adage “two’s company, three’s a crowd,” gets a thorough
working-over in this gay story of a honeymoon trip to South America on which the
bride shares her suite with two total strangers as a result of a mistake in identity
when Crosby and Hope, as two down-and-out-ers are hired to break up a wedding and
kidnap the bride.
All goes well with the scheme except for the fact that
they pick on the wrong wedding party. The groom, a wealthy South American, stalks
off in high dudgeon and promptly flies home to the peace and quiet of Buenos Aires.
Crosby and Hope accompany the bride-to-be,
Betty Grable, on a junket to South America in an effort to patch things up.
With their usual tact and aplomb, Bing and Bob manage to
add even more confusion to the proceedings.
Roger Pryor will serve as master-of-ceremonies and director
for the program, with musical backgrounds for Crosby’s songs provided by Oscar Bradley’s
“Screen Guild Theatre” orchestra.
(The Shreveport Times, February 23, 1941)
Last week Bob Hope and Bing
Crosby did a turn on radio for the Screen Guild. Their vehicle was a farce
called “Altar Bound” by M. M. Musselman and Kenneth Earle and told of two well
meaning pals aboard a boat to South America. Their plan upon landing is to
rescue a friend from marriage. The sketch proved a smash hit. So much so that
the stars are anxious to have Paramount base a picture on the plot. With Hope
scheduled for three films and Crosby down for the same, the intended movie
can’t go into action for some months.
(Harry Mines, Los Angeles Daily News, March 1, 1941)
February 25, Tuesday. Bing arranges to appear in a benefit
performance for Greek War Relief at the Shrine Auditorium, and while he is
present backstage, he cannot be given a spot in the early part of the show and
he leaves without singing.
February 27,
Thursday. (10:30 a.m.–2:00 p.m., 4:00–6:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his Kraft show
in NBC Studio B. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing hosts another Kraft Music Hall show. The guests include The Ink Spots, Andy Secrest and Fay Bainter.
Fay Bainter and the Four Ink Spots will make it a
point to drop in on Bing Crosby’s Music Hall this evening. Bing is due to focus
the spotlight on another of John Scott Trotter’s musicians, Andy Secrest, the
trumpeter, who’ll be featured in a new tune he’s written for the occasion.
(The Republican Courier,
February 27, 1941)
Later,
Bing’s song “Only Forever” loses to “When You Wish Upon a Star” from Pinocchio as best film song of 1940 in the
annual Academy Awards show held at the Biltmore Bowl.
March 1, Saturday.
Bing and Dixie are at the Santa Anita racetrack with 47,000 others to see 90 to 1 long
shot ‘Bay View’ win the Santa Anita Handicap in very wet conditions. Bing's
presence is captured by newsreels as is that of Clark Gable and Carole Lombard.
March 5, Wednesday.
Bing is at Santa Anita racetrack again.
March 6, Thursday. (11:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m., 4:00–6:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his Kraft show in NBC Studio B. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Thurston Knudson & Augie Goupil, Lionel Barrymore and Eddie Bracken.
The wisdom of maturity, as
personified in Lionel Barrymore, and the brashness of youth, as exemplified by
comedian Eddie Bracken, will be important ingredients of the culture course presented
in the Music Hall by Bing Crosby from 6 to 7 o’clock this evening over KMJ.
An added fillip to the
broadcast will be the artistry of Augie Goople, who is credited with the
ability to make drums speak and swing out with rhythm unfamiliar to the jungle
inventors of the tom tom.
Bracken, one of the outstanding
young comedians, is a newcomer to the Crosby programs, but has been a guest on
several of the programs of Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy.
(The Fresno Bee,
March 6, 1941)
Those Barrymore ‘boys’
appeared on two consecutive NBC programs, last Thursday night (6th), with
Lionel topping John and everyone else on either of the two
shows. Lionel guested for Bing Crosby on the Kraft Music
Hall and John was with the Rudy Vallee troupe. Lionel was
in what is known as ‘rare form’. Called the hardest working member
of the Barrymore clan, he said that work was just a nasty habit with him -
Ethel was the talented one and as for John - Well, John was the greatest Hamlet
of his generation. He played it in Shakespeare’s home town and the
critics abroad said John was the greatest Hamlet they’d ever seen, after that,
quipped Lionel, there was nothing more left for John to do and he’s been doing
it ever since. The guester then took a poke at Bob Burns,
saying that portraying a character was OK but when it came to being a
character, Burns was overdoing it. Talking about his famous Doctor
Kildare characterisation, in films, someone said Barrymore was so
perfect, ‘I don’t think of you as an actor’. Barrymore retorted, ‘Neither do
I’- Reading of homespun philosophical poem, ‘Doctor’s Elegy’ was a
lulu. Further interchanges between Barrymore and Burns, again gave
the radio comic the worst of it. ‘There’s something about my songs
that stick’, said Burns. ‘You can speak more plainly than that’,
Barrymore countered. Reminiscing further about John, Lionel also
recalled the time that a newspaper critic called the younger brother, ‘a
celebrated actor’ and John has been ‘celebrating’ ever since.
(“Variety” 12th March 1941)
With a sly wink at the lads in the control room Bing
Crosby slipped in an ad lib crack at Broadcast Music on last week’s Kraft program,
that had the NBC’ites squirming. Replying to Bob Burns’ remark that all things
are soon forgotten, even the songs he sings, Crosby let go with “Of course they
will; they’re BMI.” Ted Hediger, NBC production contact on the show, gave Bing
a double take, but it was too late to do anything about it. Long devoutly
antagonistic against BMI tunes, the crooner this week repeats one of its
numbers, ‘Friendly Tavern’.
(Variety,
March 12, 1941)
March 8,
Saturday. Bing and Dixie attend the Diamond Horseshoe Ball
at the Mocambo having been at Santa Anita racetrack in the afternoon.
March 10, Monday.
Bing’s film Road to Zanzibar is
previewed at the Paramount Studio for the press.
Paramount, which made a lot
of money with Road to Singapore,
ought to double the take with Road to
Zanzibar, for the new film is just about twice as good as the old one. Crosby
and Hope were never better in their comedy interchanges.
(James Francis Crow, Hollywood Citizen News March 11, 1941)
‘Zanzibar’ is Paramount’s
second coupling of Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour following their
successful teaming in ‘Road to Singapore’. Although picture has sufficient
comedy situations and dialog between its male stars to get over with general
audiences in regular runs, it lacks the compactness and spontaneity of its
predecessor. But with the starring trio of Crosby, Hope and Miss Lamour,
there’s plenty of marquee lighting to catch profitable biz generally.
The story
framework is pretty flimsy foundation for hanging the series of comedy and
thrill situations concocted for the pair. It’s a fluffy and inconsequential
tale, with Crosby-Hope combo, through their individual and collective efforts,
doing valiant work to keep up interest.
Pair are
stranded in South Africa, with Crosby the creator of freak sideshow acts for
Hope to perform. With his saved passage money back to the States, Crosby buys a
diamond mine, which is quickly sold by Hope for profit. Then pair start out on
strange Safari with Lamour and Una Merkel, pair of Brooklyn entertainers,
pursuing a millionaire hunter…
Comedy episodes
generally lack sparkle and tempo of ‘Singapore’, and musical numbers are also
below par for a Crosby picture. Bing sings two, ‘It’s Always You’ the best
candidate…
(Variety, March 12, 1941)
March 12, Wednesday.
Variety announces that in January, “Decca sold 446,700 copies of Bing Crosby recordings, a new high for all time, not only for Crosby but any disk artist. While
figures for February are not available as yet, the same total or more seems
likely, which can give the singer a sale of 5,000,000 records for the year as
against a 3,500,000 sales last year.”
March 13,
Thursday. (11:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m., 4:00–6:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his Kraft show
in NBC Studio B. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Jackie Cooper and Lou Novikoff. A fee of $250 is paid to Novikoff.
Fields and Fingerle, one
of America’s most popular piano teams, will represent the world of music on the
guest list of the KMJ-NBC Music Hall opening at 6 o’clock this evening, when
Jackie Cooper of the movies and Lou Novikoff of diamond fame also will have
places on the guest list. Cooper, who is an amateur drummer and orchestra
leader when he is not working before the movie cameras, will sit in with John
Scott Trotter’s Orchestra to pick up a few tips for future use, and Novikoff
will attempt to stop the fast ones hurled in his direction by Bing Crosby and
Bob Burns.
(The Fresno Bee,
March 13, 1941)
Softly through the Ozark
night, floats the strains of the bazooka, wafted by the favorite son
of Arkansas, Bob Burns. In Hollywood, it sounds like an over-heated
steam-pipe, according to the local 47th American Federation of
Musicians. The bazooka is ‘out’ as a musical instrument but its virtuoso
is admitted to the Union for $52.50 as a pianist or guitar-strummer but not as
‘a bazookist’. The Union problem started in New York, where
Jim Petrillo stuck up his nose at the bazooka which came from
Arkansas and didn’t sound like music in Flatbush where there are no mountains
and no strains except the howls of the proletarians, rooting against the
‘Giants’. The president of the local Union acted as intermediary
between the Plumbers and Steamfitters and the Musicians. Technically,
Bob Burns is a musician but his bazooka is something that won’t be recognized except
when the Plumbers and Steamfitters hold their annual picnic and don’t care.
(“Variety” 19th March 1941)
March 18,
Tuesday. (7:00–7:30 p.m.) Guests on Bob Hope’s radio show on NBC. Jerry Colonna and the Skinnay Ennis orchestra also take part.
Bing Crosby will mix it with Bob Hope and company tonight
in the endless search for Yehoodi when he visits at 9, through WIBA and WMAQ.
Also, in between the ad-libbing there’ll be some exploitation and propagandizing
of their new film comedy.
(The Wisconsin
State Journal, March 18, 1941)
March 19, Wednesday. Bing and Dixie attend the charity film premiere of That Hamilton Woman at the Four Star Theatre.
March 20,
Thursday. (11:00 a.m.–2:30 p.m., 4:00–6:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his Kraft show
in NBC Studio B. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) The Kraft
Music Hall broadcast on NBC. Bing’s guests are Cliff Nazarro, Edward
Arnold, and J. Carrol Naish.
Edward Arnold, portly actor of the screen, and Cliff Nazarro,
double-talking comedian, will be the special guests of Bing Crosby at the Kraft
Music Hall tonight…Crosby is to sing a number called You Ain’t Kidding as his
duet with Miss Boswell. This is the number written by Nathan Scott, the
Hollywood NBC pageboy who guides tours through the Kraft Music Hall precincts,
and Ed Helwick, one of the writing assistants on the show.
(The Gazette (Montreal), 20th March, 1941)
March 24,
Sunday. Bing and Cam Puget defeat Harry and Newt Bassler 2up at the
Hillview course in San Jose. Newt Bassler is the new pro at Hillview. A
crowd of 1500 watch the proceedings. In the evening. Bing stops at the
Hotel Cominos in Salinas for dinner.
March 27, Thursday. Bing misses the Kraft Music Hall show. Don Ameche acts as host. Elsewhere, Bing golfs with Johnny Dawson at Pebble Beach in the qualifying round of the H. Chandler Egan team matches and they post an 85.
March 29, Saturday.
Bing and Johnny Dawson are knocked out of the H. Chandler Egan
tournament by Dick Gibson and Pete Watts, losing 3 and 2.
April 3, Thursday. (10:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m., 4:00–6:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his Kraft show in NBC Studio B. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Rudolph Ganz, Roland Young, and Russ Morgan. Bob Burns, Ken Carpenter, Connie Boswell, and the Music Maids continue as regulars with John Scott Trotter and his Orchestra furnishing the musical support.
Bing Crosby will come up with these - Roland Young, Russ Morgan and
Rudolph Ganz - when he calls his Music Hall broadcast to order on WFLA at 9
o’clock this evening. This versatile trio of guests will represent the acting
art, music and more music. Young, noted for his urbane humor and delightful
comedy roles, will engage Bing in conversation; Morgan, who is one of the
best-known trombonists of modern dance orchestras, will demonstrate his talent
for dispensing popular rhythms and Ganz will sit on the opposite side of the
musical fence as he upholds serious music.
(The Tampa Times, 3rd April, 1941)
After much grimacing and reluctance, pro-ASCAP Bing
Crosby finally yielded and has since sung BMI.
(Variety, April 9, 1941)
April 4, Friday. Bing and Dixie are thought to
have attended the Jack Teagarden opening at Casa Manana.
April 5,
Saturday. Bing and Dixie attend a party at Ken Murray’s home. Ken wishes to
introduce his new girl friend, Kay Harris. Others attending are the Bob Hopes,
Lew Ayres, Frances Langford, Jon Hall, Edgar Bergen and Carol Landis.
April–June. Films
Birth of the Blues with Mary Martin,
Brian Donlevy, and Jack Teagarden. Harry Barris also has a small part. The movie
has a budget of $857,283. The director is Victor Schertzinger with musical
supervision and direction by Robert Emmett Dolan. Dolan is subsequently
nominated for an Oscar for “Best Scoring of a Musical Picture” but he loses out
to Frank Churchill and Oliver Wallace for Dumbo.
April 7, Monday.
Bing appears on the cover of Time
magazine together with a 1700 word article about him in the magazine entitled "The Groaner".
April 9,
Wednesday. The film Road to Zanzibar
has its New York premiere at the Paramount and is a bigger hit than the first Road film.
Pity the poor motion picture which ever
again sets forth on a perilous (?) African safari, now that Bing Crosby and Bob
Hope have traversed the course! For the cheerful report this morning is that
the Messrs. Crosby and Hope, with an able left-handed assist from a denatured
Dorothy Lamour, have thoroughly ruined the Dark Continent for any future
cinematic pursuits. Never again will be hear those jungle drums throbbing
menacingly but what we envision Bing and Bob beating a gleeful tattoo upon
them. And never again will we behold a file of natives snaking solemnly through
the trees without seeing in our mind’s eye the gangling Crosby-Hope expedition
as it ambles in and along the Paramount’s “Road to Zanzibar,” which arrived at
that house yesterday. Yessir, the heart of darkest Africa has been pierced by a
couple of wags.
Or perhaps we should really say it is
pierced by a steady barrage of gags, for the quantity and quality of these
account for the principal joy in this footloose film. Maybe Director Victor
Schertzinger had a map of sorts when he started out, but the travelers on the
“Road to Zanzibar” make little use of it. Taking as a mere point of departure
the assumption that Bing and Bob are a couple of carnival performers cast
adrift in a land far from home, they and the picture seem to follow the line of
least resistance and most fun. Somewhere along the way they pick up Una Merkel
and Miss Lamour, also a couple of shysters whose “pitch” is selling Miss Lamour
as a slave. And together the four set out on a tour of the hinterland, running
afoul of romance and trouble, which are indistinguishable. The limitations of
time rather than ingenuity finally call a halt.
And all along things happen with the most
casual and refreshing spontaneity. Miss Lamour and Bing go boat-riding on a
jungle pond. They laughingly remark how motion pictures put an orchestra in the
middle of the woods when occasion calls for a song. An orchestra forthwith
plays, and Bing goes into his act. Or again, when a group of painted cannibals
begin debating the gastronomic potentialities of Bing and Bob, the chattered
dialogue is translated by amusing subtitles. And both of the boys are ever
ready with a fast quip to keep the farce going.
Needless to say, Mr. Crosby and Mr. Hope
are most, if not all, of the show—with a slight edge in favor of the latter, in
case any one wants to know. Miss Lamour, who is passingly amusing in her
frequent attempts to be, assists in the complications and sings a couple of
songs. And Miss Merkel and Eric Blore do well in minor roles. Farce of this sort
very seldom comes off with complete effect, but this time it does, and we
promise that there’s fun on the “Road to Zanzibar.” This time, as Mr. Hope puts
it in one of his pungent phrases, they’re cooking with gas.
(Bosley Crowther, New York Times, April 10, 1941)
April 10,
Thursday. (11:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m., 4:00–6:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his Kraft show
in NBC Studio B. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include The Kraft Choral Society, John O’Hara and Bob Hope.
Bing Crosby’s Music Hall…will feature the first
yearly visit of the Choral Society, the highly trained chorus of employees who
appear in the Music Hall twice annually – once at Easter and once at Christmas.
The group will sing “Sanctus” from “St. Cecilia” and “God’s Son in Triumph Rose
Today.” Also on this special Easter program will be Bob Hope, who insists that
the reason Bing needs a full hour for his program is so that he can use longer
words than anyone else, and John O’Hara, author of the book behind George Abbot’s
current Broadway play, “Pal Joey.”
(The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky), 10th April, 1941)
April 16, Wednesday.
Bing plays on the Lakeside Golf Club team which loses 18-3 to Bel-Air
at Bel-Air. He and his partner, Paul Reynolds, halve their match.
April 17,
Thursday. (10:00 a.m.–2:30 p.m., 4:00–6:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his Kraft show
in NBC Studio B. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Another Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC and Bing’s guests are Jack Teagarden, Rosemary Lane,
and Brian Aherne.
Jack Teagarden, band leader and expert trombonist; Rosemary Lane and
Brian Aherne of the films, form a healthy lineup of talent for any radio show.
Add to them the regulars of the “Music Hall” Bing Crosby, Bob Burns, Connie
Boswell, the Music Maids and John Scott Trotter's orchestra—and you have what
looks like a “bang-up” entertainment for the full hour show that’s heard over
NBC-KTBS tonight at 8 o’clock. Bing Crosby and Jack Teagarden’s friendship for
each other dates back to the days “the groaner” was a member of the Rhythm Boys
with Paul Whiteman’s famous band. Teagarden was then the ace trombonist of the
outfit, Now Jack has a band of his own and Crosby hasn’t done so badly himself
either.
(The Times (Shreveport, Louisiana), 17th April, 1941)
April 18,
Friday.
(7:30–8:00 p.m.) Bing guests on “Alec Templeton Time” on the NBC Red
wavelength. The show is sponsored by Alka-Seltzer. (8:30 p.m.)
Bing and Dixie are at the opening of the Ice-Capades show at the
Pan-Pacific Auditorium.
Bing Crosby
dropped in on the Alec Templeton show (WEAF 7:30) last evening and contributed
two numbers—Two Hearts That Pass in the Night” and “Ida.” Alec, alone, is swell. But with Bing, he is something
super special.
(Ben Gross, Daily News, April 19, 1941)
April 24, Thursday. (11:30 a.m.–2:00 p.m., 3:30–6:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his Kraft show in NBC Studio B. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Jan Struther, Frank Jenks, Virginia Bruce and Don Ameche.
Bing Crosby will come out of his corner in the Music Hall tonight to
take up a few matters of interest with Movie-Men Robert Young and Frank Jenks
and novelist Jan Struthers…Young is one of the most versatile and continuously
occupied of Hollywood’s stars. His last two pictures were “Western Union” and
“The Trial of Mary Dugan.” Jenks, who plays a number of instruments in addition
to acting, appeared last year in “His Girl Friday.” Jan Struthers is the author
of the current best-selling novel “Mrs. Miniver.”
(Belvidere Daily Republican, 24th April, 1941) (NOTE: Looks like
Robert Young was replaced by Don Ameche).
May 1, Thursday. (11:00 a.m.–1:30 p.m., 2:30–5:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his Kraft show in NBC Studio B. (5:00–6:00 p.m.) Bing hosts the Kraft Music Hall broadcast and his guests include Pat O’Brien and Josephine Tuminia.
Two of the most distinguished graduates of Bing Crosby’s Music Hall
come back to call at 8 p.m. Thursday over WAVE. They are Pat O’Brien of the films
and Josephine Tuminia of the Metropolitan Opera Company…This makes the tenth
time Josephine Tuminia has sung on Bing’s program. Many things of importance
have happened since her last visit including her successful debut at the
Metropolitan.
(The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky), 1st May, 1941)
May 2, Friday.
Bing records for the Birth of the Blues
soundtrack with Perry Botkin. This may have been for the 'Melancholy
Baby' scene. Decca Records buys the name of Brunswick Radio
Corporation and all masters made
before November 17, 1931, from Warner Brothers Pictures. This gives
Decca
control of Bing’s early records for the Brunswick label.
May 3, Saturday. Attends the Hollywood Guild’s “Red,
White and Blue Party” in the Fiesta Room of the Ambassador Hotel and sings "Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland".
The film colony has many
glorious parties to its credit, but with the Hollywood Guild’s “Red, White and
Blue Burlycue” at the Ambassador Hotel, it hit a new high in royal reveling, both
as regards the program and stellar attendance. In fact, the slightly
modernized, old-time burlesque show may be truly categorized as “the greatest
show on earth.”
For instead of the usual
synthetic benefit bill, during which the m.c. does all the work and a few
artists come on in time-worn acts, this all-star opus was not only colossal in
scope, but was also ingeniously planned and actually rehearsed!... Immediately
following the overture, $1,000,000 worth of peanut butchers, including George
Burns, Jack Benny, Mecca Graham, Henry Fonda, Frank McHugh, Johnny Burke, Lynne
Overman, George Meeker, Dewey Robinson and Ward Bond, raised their
ear-shattering voices to sell their wares with short-change methods that would
have put the slickest carnival slicker to shame—all in Charity’s sweet name, of
course.
... Bing Crosby was billed
with, “EXTRA!! THE GROANER SHOWS UP!” And looking very handsome, gave a beautiful
rendition to “Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland,” with stereopticon slides that had
practically nothing to do with the subject.
(Ella Wickersham, Los Angeles Examiner, May 6, 1941)
May 7, Wednesday.
Gary Crosby (aged 7) writes to his father from the Camarillo Street address.
Dear Daddy,
Thank you for the nice
Mexican hat and shoes. How are you feeling. On Thursday I went to boys club and
caught six big trout. We each took turns sleeping with mother. On Sunday
Grandpa took us to the show and took us on the merry-go-round Tuesday. We each
got paid for all the ‘a’s we got on our report card. We are having a lot of fun
and we hope you are having fun too. I hope you have a nice trip. I am being
fair and will try to do better.
With love,
Gary
It
would appear that Bing was not at
home at the time although that day he plays in the Lakeside team which defeats
Virginia 15-6 at Cheviot Hills. He and Jimmy McLarnin win their match,
Bing has a 78.
May 8, Thursday.
(11:00 a.m.–1:30 p.m., 2:30–5:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his Kraft show in NBC
Studio B. (5:00–6:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Alec Templeton, William Frawley, and
Walter Pidgeon.
Alec Templeton repays Bing Crosby for the visit to the pianist's
program by playing in the Music Hall tonight when Walter Pidgeon has also
mentioned dropping in on “the groaner.”…Bob Burns has always interested
Templeton as a rare American type rapidly disappearing. In fact, Alec looked
into Burns’s tricked-up piano when he dropped around to visit Bing at M. H.
rehearsal recently and dashed off a little number he called “Back in Arkansas.”
It was the Templeton version of Robin’s theme-song, “The Arkansas Traveler.” He
may do it on the program. Speaking of Burns, he’s made quite a hit recently
with the letters from his relatives back home. Bing always leads into this part
of the program with a series of ad-libs.
May 15, Thursday.
(11:00 a.m.–1:30 p.m., 2:30–5:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his Kraft show in NBC Studio
B. (5:00–6:00 p.m.) The Kraft Music Hall
show is broadcast. Bing’s guests include Jerry Lester and Priscilla Lane.
Connie
Boswell will step out of her usual role of songstress in the Music Hall tonight
long enough to play “Dark Eyes” on her cello. This is the night Bing Crosby is
having Priscilla Lane, of the Lane brigade; and Jerry Lester comedian, around
to help with the entertainment…Though some may be surprised that Connie is
adept at playing the cello, those with a long memory will recall her talents.
In fact, the famed trio which dissolved when Martha and Vet Boswell got
married, was an instrumental group when the first radio break came along. Up
and coming among the younger radio comedians is Jerry Lester. Lately, he's been
doing special broadcasts from the army camps of the country.
(Belvidere Daily Republican, 15th May, 1941) (Note: Connie Boswell's cello performance was postponed)
…He came out wearing henna
slacks (he insisted they were henna!) topped by a loose-fitting blouse of blue
and beige stripes, with flowers scattered over the whole. Either he IS
color-blind, or he has a supreme sense of showmanship; for it was the Bing we’d
come to expect, from the way they rib him about his clothes. During the program
you have to take your choice—watch the performers, or watch Bing. He’s in
action from the moment he arrives on the stage ‘til he leaves. Don’t get me
wrong—he doesn’t “hog” the whole show—it’s just that he gets a huge kick out of
everything and acts up to it. He has a tremendous amount of personality and you
just love watching him—he pantomimes all the time! That first week Priscilla
Lane and Jerry Lester were on with him, so Bing was the whole show for me. At
the close of the program they announced that the next Thursday would see Kay
Kyser, Humphrey Bogart, and a naval hero at KMH. I nearly cried to think I’d
miss it…
(Helen Stevens, writing in
BINGANG magazine in 1941)
May 22, Thursday.
(11:00 a.m.–1:30 p.m., 2:30–5:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his Kraft show in NBC
Studio B. (5:00–6:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show and his guests are Kay Kyser, Humphrey Bogart and Lieut. W. W. Lowrey.
One
of the oddest coincidences that has ever occurred in signing guests to appear
on the Music Hall, brings Lieut. W. W. Lowrey, who with Aviation Chief
Machinist’s Mate, J. R. McCants, performed the most spectacular mid-air rescue
in naval history, to the Bing Crosby program Thursday May 22. Lowrey, who was
suggested by naval officials as a typical test pilot to go on the air with Bing
Crosby, took part in a feat without parallel on Thursday, May 15. Lowrey piloted
the plane that rescued Lieut. Walter S. Osipoff who was dangling by his
parachute from a transport plane for over 30 minutes. The rescue took place
high over the Pacific ocean after Osipoff’s parachute got caught in the plane
from which he leaped. The
producer of the Crosby show chatted with Lowrey on Tuesday, May 13, about his proposed
June 5 appearance. After the exciting episode happened on the following
Thursday, the date of Lieut. Lowrey’s appearance was moved forward.
Other
guests on the program…will be Kay Kyser, band leader; and Humphrey Bogart, of
the films…And, according to the latest word from Hollywood, Connie Boswell’s
blistered fingers have healed enough to permit her to go through with her cello
solo of “The Swan” by Saint Saens,
(Belvidere Daily Republican, 22nd May,
1941) (Note: Connie Boswell's cello performance was again postponed)
…This week Bing wore solid
color slacks and shirt, but his antics were in direct contrast to his sober
(for him) raiment. Need I say that with that array of stars the station nearly
exploded? Humphrey Bogart was awed at the idea of meeting the naval hero, and
Kay Kyser and John Scott Trotter have the same alma mater— all of which gave
the program a personal touch. Highlight of the evening was when everyone on the
stage except the orchestra congaed to a little number John Scott and Kay had
tossed off, called I think, “Carolina Conga”. At any rate, it was a tricky
number and the whole show just broke up at that point.
Bing wanders ‘round the stage when he’s not at the mike, and
tosses his script to the floor, page by page, as he finishes with it. After the
program there is a mad scramble by the audience to retrieve these pages and
perhaps have them autographed. Bing always manages to disappear before anyone
can nail him down, however.
(Helen Stevens, writing in
BINGANG magazine in 1941)
May 23, Friday.
Attends the races at Hollywood Park. (6:30–9:45 p.m.) Makes his first recordings of the year, including “Be Honest
with Me” and “Brahms Lullaby.” John Scott Trotter and his Orchestra furnish the
musical accompaniment. Both songs hit the charts fleetingly, “Be Honest with
Me” at No. 19 and “Brahms Lullaby” at No. 20. Another song “You and I” reaches
the No. 5 position and spends 12 weeks in the hit parade. A dispute by the
National Broadcasters’ Association with ASCAP over royalties, which began on
January 1, has removed the incentive for recording as radio networks are not
licensed to play ASCAP material.
By 1940, however, ASCAP had
become a Hollywood-dominated conglomerate. The best music was going into films,
which was where the best songwriters were anxious to put it. It was still the
songs from the movies that were played on the radio. But there were changes in
the wind. The gigantic rise in box office receipts that had come with the
Depression and seemed to be established as the norm for all time, had halted,
and there were signs that they might be slackening off and moving into a
downward trend that would never recover. Radio, on the other hand, was
attracting wider audiences than ever—and in America the staple diet of those
audiences was popular music. ASCAP decided that its members were losing out.
The only way to check the drift in their profits would be to demand a doubling
of the licensing fee.
But it was not as easy as the Tin Pan Alley-Hollywood music men
imagined. When ASCAP announced it was going to hold back on a new license for
1941, the radio networks simply announced the formation of their own
organization—
After the meeting, he bumped into his young friend who was
still trying to rescue Very Warm for May.
‘You, Cummings,’ he said. ‘What do you think of this ASCAP thing?’
‘Oh,’ Cummings replied. ‘Mr.
Kern, I don’t think you can win.’
‘Why not?’ asked Jerry. ‘How long do you think people will be
able to listen to “Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair”?’
It seemed a reasonable question because ‘Jeanie’ and the other
Stephen Foster ballads seemed to be played on the radio more than any other old
songs. But Cummings predicted correctly—
(Jerome Kern, A Biography, pages 151/152)
May (undated). Bing and Dixie together with many other stars attend the opening of the street cafe at Grace Hayes Lodge.
May 24, Saturday. Starting at 2 p.m., the Immaculate Heart Mothers' Club holds a benefit garden party at Bing's home.
May 25, Sunday.
The final of the Southern California Inter-Club Championship takes
place at San Gabriel. Oakmont beat Lakeside 12 and a half to 8 and a
half. Bing and Jimmy McLarnin playing for Lakeside win their match 2
and 1.
May 26, Monday.
Records two songs from the film Birth of
the Blues with Mary Martin and Jack Teagarden and his Orchestra. “The
Waiter and the Porter and the Upstairs Maid” charts briefly at No. 23.
May 27, Tuesday. Bing's horse "Okool Maluna" wins at Hollywood Park.
May 29, Thursday.
(10:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m., 2:30–5:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his Kraft show in NBC
Studio B. (5:00–6:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Frank McHugh, James Hilton, and Duke
Ellington.
A novelist of note, a band leader, and a comedian should manage to keep
Bing Crosby hopping through another Music Hall divertissement tonight. In
order, they are James Hilton, Duke Ellington and Frank McHugh who’ll be heard
over WMAQ at 7 o'clock on the hour-show that regularly features Bob Burns,
Connie Boswell, Ken Carpenter, the Music Maids, and John Scott Trotter’s band.
As a special feature of the entertainment, Duke Ellington will play two new
tunes written by his son for the first time publicly. The band leader, who is
an excellent pianist, has a son who takes after him for the Duke has written
many a hit song. Now writing for the movies is novelist James Hilton whose
latest best-seller in the book-stalls is “Random Harvest.” He’s been in M. H.
before as has Frank McHugh who always comes back for more.
(Belvidere Daily Republican, 29th May, 1941)
June 5, Thursday. (10:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m., 2:30–5:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his Kraft show in NBC Studio B. (5:00–6:00 p.m.) Another Kraft Music Hall broadcast and Bing’s guests are Jerry Lester and William Boyd. Connie Boswell finally makes her debut on the cello.
Comedian Jerry Lester and Bill “Hopalong Cassidy” Boyd interrupt Bing’s
alliterative flow temporarily.
(Evening Star, June 5, 1941)
Connie Boswell topped
her singing and talking assignments on Kraft Music Hall with a cello solo of a
classical number. Bing Crosby went to some lengths, fore and aft,
in emphasizing that the cellist was Miss Boswell. After
playing the selection, skilfully, Miss Boswell modestly expressed her hope
that top flight cellists throughout the country would overlook her bit or words
to that effect.
(“Variety” 11th June 1941)
June 9,
Monday. Starting at 9:51 a.m., Bing plays in the first qualifying round
of the Southern California amateur golf championship at Annandale Golf
Club.
June 10, Tuesday. Mary Rose Miller (Bing’s sister who has divorced Albert Peterson
and married William Miller) gives birth to a son, William. Bing plays in the second qualifying
round of the Southern California amateur golf championship at Oakmont.
With two rounds of 76, he qualifies for the match play section of the
championship.
June 12,
Thursday. Golfs at the Oakmont Country Club in Glendale in the Southern
California Amateur Championship and loses 4 and 3 to Ray Hanes. (2:30–5:00
p.m.) Rehearses for his Kraft show in NBC Studio B. (5:00–6:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Guests
include Ethel Waters, Donald Crisp, and Chester Morris.
Bing Crosby will play host to a singularly versatile trio of guests in
the Music Hall tonight at 7 o'clock over WMAQ. The welcome mat will be spread
for Donald Crisp and Chester Morris, movie actors, and Ethel Waters, star of
“Cabin in the Sky,” each of whom has achieved prominence in a field other than
that in which he is now established. Chester Morris was successful on the stage
and in vaudeville until 1928 when he entered the movies. Since then he has been
in an impressive list of productions. Ethel Waters was a well-known blues
singer until her work in “Mamba’s Daughters” disclosed her talent for dramatic
acting. Donald Crisp, a Londoner by birth, was both an opera singer and movie
director before devoting himself wholly to acting in pictures.
(Belvidere Daily
Republican, 12th June, 1941)
Saw the Bing
Crosby program the other night. The Groaner was dressed
very formally - he was wearing an orange and green lumber-jacket.
(Milton Berle - “Variety” 16th April 1941)
June 14,
Saturday. (6:30–8:45 p.m.) Recording date in Hollywood with John Scott Trotter
and his Orchestra when four songs are recorded, including “Clementine.” This
song charts briefly in the No. 20 spot, whilst “’Til Reveille” reaches the No.
6 position during an 11 week spell in the Billboard
lists.
Bing Crosby has dollied up
the ancient melody “Clementine” with the help of John Scott Trotter. He adds
some different and humorous lyrics and produces a record which surely will be
one of the big favorites of the year.
(The Daily Iowan, November 25, 1941)
June 16,
Monday.
(9:00–11:45 a.m.) Records five songs with John Scott Trotter and his
Orchestra,
including “I Wonder What’s Become of Sally?” and two songs by Stephen
Foster. Meanwhile at Lakeside, the Bing Crosby Golf Tournament for
Women commences and continues until June.19.
BING CROSBY (Decca 18531) I Wonder What’s Become of Sally — W; V. Darling, Je Vous Aime Beaucoup
— FT; V. CROSBY goes way back in the song folios for one of the best
sentimental girl songs of the century in bringing up Milton Ager and Jack
Yellen’s classic that concerns itself with the whereabouts of Sally. And Crosby
makes that age-old question a lively issue all over again. Still set in the
waltz frame, but taking all the liberties with the tempo, Crosby dips into his
sentimental song mood for the singing. Takes the chorus from the starting
windings. John Scott
Trotter’s accompanying orchestra has the soft strings and brasses bringing up
the second stanza, with Crosby taking it over again for the last half to
complete the side. Plattermate is Anna Sosenko’s standard song classic that
uses the Francois terms of endearment to such lyrical advantage. Unfortunately,
the public temper at this time is hardly in the mood to accept such a French
chanson, unless Hildegarde is out in front singing her manager’s song. Crosby
is a bit out of character in singing this type of love song. While in good
voice as ever, the warmth and understanding are lacking. With Victor Young
wielding the wand over the supporting orchestra, Crosby takes full liberty with
the tempo in singing the verse to start the side, taking the chorus at a
moderately slow tempo. The strings start the second stanza, with Crosby taking
over for the last half to complete the side. Combination of Bing Crosby’s grand
singing with the sentiment expressed in the ever popular “I Wonder What’s
Become of Sally” is a natural to start a fresh flow of nickels into the coin
boxes.
(Billboard,
February 20, 1943)
June 18, Wednesday. Press reports indicate
that Bing and many other stars have been to see Cabin in the Sky at the Philharmonic Auditorium in Los Angeles. The
show stars Ethel Waters, Katherine Dunham, Dooley Wilson and Rex Ingram.
June 19, Thursday. (10:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m., 3:00–5:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his Kraft show in NBC Studio B. (5:00–6:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Jimmy O’Brien, Gail Patrick, and Bert Lahr.
Bert Lahr, returning to Hollywood after two years on the stage, will
drop in at the Music Hall to visit Bing Crosby and company this evening. Gail
Patrick of the movies, and a young singer, Jimmy O’Brien, also will be heard
during the KMH session. Lahr, who portrayed the Cowardly Lion in the Wizard of
Oz, deserted Hollywood for the stage and was featured in DuBarry Was a Lady on
Broadway and on the road. Miss Patrick will be drafted into a sketch with
Crosby and Bob Burns, and O’Brien will be guest vocalist on the program.
(The Sacramento Bee, 19th June, 1941)
When Bing Crosby
heard Jimmy O’Brien sing at a Hollywood café, he asked him to be one of his
guests on the Music Hall program from KFI at 5. Jimmy, a young Irish tenor,
will appear today along with Bert Lahr and Gail Patrick. Crosby put the royalties
from one of his recent recordings, “Adeste Fidelis,” into an automobile which
he gave to his North Hollywood parish, St. Charles, to raffle off at a bazaar.
The winner was James Fabian of Los Angeles.
(Zuma Palmer, Hollywood Citizen News, June 19, 1941)
June 22, Sunday. Plays with Betty Jameson against Bud Ward and Betty Jean Rucker at Spokane Country Club in a mixed foursome. Bing's team loses 1-down with Bing having a 73.
June 23, Monday. Teeing off at 2 p.m., Bing plays in the qualifying round of the Pacific North West Amateur Golf Tournament at Spokane Country Club and has a five over par 77. A gallery of 800 watches the play.
June 24, Tuesday. (1:30 p.m.) Bing plays in the second qualifying round of the Pacific North West Amateur Golf Tournament at Spokane Country Club and has another 77 for a total of 154. He easily qualifies to play in the Pacific North West Amateur Golf Tournament match play the following day. (6:00-8:00 p.m.) Attends a party at the Ted Crosby home.
June 25, Wednesday, Teeing off at 1:10 pm. in the first round proper of the Championship flight, Bing is defeated by Marshall Hammond, Spokane municipal champion, three and two.
June 26, Thursday. Starting at 9:06 a.m., plays Dr. Mac O'Brien in the First Flight and wins 3 and 2. In the afternoon, Bing loses to A. L. Kenney 2 and 1. He says he is relieved as he has to leave that night by train for a board meeting of the Western Amateur Golf Association in Denver. Don Ameche deputizes for him on the Kraft Music Hall .
June 28,
Saturday. Bing is in Colorado Springs and plays 20 holes at the
Broadmoor course with Ed Dudley in a foursome with two local golfers.
Crosby and Dudley win.
June 29, Sunday. Plays in an exhibition match at Broadmoor with Chick Evans, Ed Dudey and Denny Shute.
July 1, Tuesday. Bing plays in the first qualifying round of the Western Amateur Golf Championship on the Broadmoor course in Colorado Springs and has a 76. However he then has to return to Hollywood for his Kraft show.
July 2, Wednesday. Variety announces that Bing has changed music publishers.
Bing Crosby has switched his music publishing
affiliation from Santly-Joy-Select, Inc., to Edwin H. Morris, head of Mercer
& Morris. There will be a separate corporation set up to cover this new
alliance. Larry Crosby, the member of the Crosby family who was associated with
S-J-S as a v.p. will now hold stock in Morris' corporation. F. C. (Corky) O’Keefe,
who brought Bing and Mori is together for the deal, will also have a stock
interest.
Through the Morris-Crosby tieup the new publishing corporation
will be entitled not only to the score of any independent picture made by Crosby
but to a share of the score of films turned out by Paramount in which Crosby is
one of the stars.
The new catalog will have for its starter a tune by Al
Dubin and Dave Franklin, ‘The Anniversary Waltz,’ which Crosby will record for
Decca.
With the exit of Larry Crosby at Santly-Joy-Select,
house has acquired the services of another member of the Crosby family,
Everett, the agent. Everett Crosby, it was explained, will hold the stock in that
firm formerly allocated to Larry and represent S-J-S in the matter of obtaining
scores for the firm from Hollywood studios.
Morris on his return from Hollywood last Thursday (26)
admitted there had been some discussion between him and Johnny Mercer about a
dissolution of their partnership, but, he added, the question of whether Mercer
would prefer to stick with the firm or sell his interest is still up in the
air. Mercer at their last meeting, Morris stated, had indicated that he would
put the matter in the hands of his New York counsel, Arthur Fishbein, for consideration.
(Variety, July 2, 1941)
July 3, Thursday.
(10:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m., 2:30–5:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his Kraft show in NBC
Studio B. (5:00–6:00 p.m.) The Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Bing’s guests include Marcel Grandjany, Capt. Robert L. Denig and Raymond Massey. This is the
last show for Bob Burns after five years as a regular as he leaves to head his
own show for Campbell’s Soup. Later, Bing and Dixie are understood to have
attended the opening night for Harry Owens and his Royal Hawaiian Orchestra at
the Miramar Hotel.
Win, lose or draw in the golf tournament which kept him away from the
Music Hall last week, it’s a safe bet Bing Crosby will undergo rough treatment
from his partner in entertainment, Robin Burns, when he returns to the program
tonight. Actor Raymond Massey, harpist Marcel Grandjany, and Captain Robert L.
Denig, a graduate of the U.S. Marine Corps tank school, will be the special
guests…A versatile citizen indeed, Raymond Massey invariably reveals a lighter
side of his personality in his appearances with Bing Crosby. In addition to
quipping with the quippers, Massey plans to recite a serious work during the
festivities.
(Belvidere Daily Republican, 3rd July, 1941)
July 4, Friday.
Sings at Ken Murray’s wedding to Cleatus Caldwell (an 18-year-old model).at Lew Ayres’ home.
One time when we were playing
golf, he said he had heard I was getting married. In the typical off-hand
Crosby style, he asked “Who you got singing at the wedding?”
I said, kidding, “You, Bing,
if you’ll come.”
“I’ll be there.”
Sure enough, he showed up on
July 4, 1941, at the home of Lew Ayres for my marriage to Miss Cleatus
Caldwell. Edgar Bergen was best man and Bing sang “I Love You Truly” through a
window, accompanied by Lew Ayres on the organ. To my knowledge, this was the
first and only time Bing ever sang at a wedding. Unfortunately, the union was
dissolved a few years later.
(Ken Murray, writing in his
book, Life on a Pogo Stick)
July 5, Saturday.
(6:00–9:45 p.m.) Bing records five songs with John Scott Trotter and his
Orchestra, including “Danny Boy”, “Dear Little Boy of Mine” and “Oh! How I Miss
You Tonight”. At the end of the session, Bing records “Where the Turf Meets the
Surf” for use at the Del Mar racetrack.
Bing Crosby (Decca 4152)
Oh! How I Miss You Tonight - Dear Little Boy of Mine
For this item Bing Crosby has found two oldies that not only drip with sentiment but take on an added meaning in Crosby’s interpretation. He takes the Benny Davis-Joe Burke song on the A side in slow waltz tempo. The lush fiddling provided by John Scott Trotter’s accompanying orchestra strings a beautiful background. Crosby sings a chorus, lets the orchestra play another half and then sings it out. For Ernest R. Ball classic on the B side, Crosby provides identical treatment, singing both choruses. The Boy of Mine lyrics sound even more timely today, referring to the boy going off to war. Crosby tugs at the heartstrings for both songs. It’s sure-fire for both sides. With the name of Bing Crosby to attract attention, neither side can miss for music-box play. Moreover, both songs have lived on thru the years, with added meaning in this year of war.
(Billboard, February 21, 1942)
July 6, Sunday.
Bing and Bob Hope participate in a benefit golf match at the Potrero Country Club, Los Angeles. Bob’s
doctor had ordered him to bed because of a bad case of sunburn but he ignores
the advice and has to retire after 9 holes.
July 7, Monday. President Roosevelt informs Congress that U.S. forces have landed
in Iceland to prevent it being occupied by the Germans.
July 8,
Tuesday.
Bing's horse "Okoole Maluna" wins at Hollywood Park. (6:30–10:15 p.m.)
Bing records four songs with Victor Young and his Orchestra
including “You Are My Sunshine.” This song charts briefly in the No. 19
spot as
does another tune, “The Anniversary Waltz”, which hits the No. 24 mark.
If you fancy Bing Crosby as a
cowboy singing hillbillies to the accompaniment of a strumming guitar, you’ll
enjoy “You Are My Sunshine.” On turning this disc over, we find “Day Dreaming”
which to my mind was, frankly, disappointing. Perhaps I expected too much even
from Bing, but it seems that he somehow misses the spirit of the song in this.
(Brunswick 03300)
(The Gramophone, May 1942)
July 9,
Wednesday. (5:00–6:00 p.m.) Bing, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour appear on Millions for Defense, a weekly war bond
variety hour on CBS sponsored by the Treasury Department. Lowell Thomas (m.c.),
Dorothy Maynor, and Paul Muni complete the lineup.
More big names of
radio, Hollywood and Broadway came to the mike last night to boost the sale of
defense bonds (WABC-9 to 10). Walter Huston, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Dorothy Lamour,
Dorothy Maynor, Barry Wood, Ray Block’s Choir, and Al Goodman’s Orchestra, with
Lowell Thomas as the emcee, provided the entertainment. Some of the patriotic
shows are high in noble intent but low in entertainment. Not this one. In fact,
“The Treasury Hour — Millions for Defense” as this period is titled, registers
as about the best of all the Summer variety periods.
(Ben Gross, Daily News, July 10, 1941)
July 10,
Thursday. The Binglin horse "Don Juan II" wins the $2500 Accarak
Handicap at Hollywood Park. (10:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m., 2:30–5:00 p.m.) Bing
rehearses for his Kraft show
in NBC Studio B. (5:00–6:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Wingy Manone and Rita Hayworth.
Jerry Lester comes in as the replacement for Bob Burns.
Working right through the Fourth of July weekend, Bing Crosby has come
up with a surprising list of guests for his Music Hall tonight, including Rita Hayworth,
trumpeter Wingy Manone, and Jerry Lester. Miss Hayworth, it will be remembered,
practically caused Tyrone Power to forsake home life in “Blood and Sand,” but,
of course, it was only movie pretending. As difficult as it is at time for the
homefolks in M. H. (i.e. Bob Burns, Connie Boswell, Ken Carpenter, the Music
Maids, and the Trotter band) to understand fully the talk of Crosby that
borders on double-talk, there’s a man who comes around occasionally who makes
the crooner’s diatribes sound simple in comparison. He is Wingy Manone, the hot
trumpeter, who talks in plain, straight, and only jive. Even Bing, himself,
pauses to reconsider some of the words that issue forth from Wingy’s mouth.
(Belvidere Daily Republican, 10th July, 1941)
With time on his hands
after completing his Paramount picture and the race track at Del Mar not
opening until the first of next month, Bing Crosby decides to stay on Kraft
Music Hall beyond his original summer exit, last week. He now drops
off July 31st for his quarterly loafing spell and through the season, takes
five weeks off at his discretion as per contract. Jerry Lester has
been put under a term contract by J. Walter Thompson and becomes a regular on
Kraft, filling the slot vacated by Bob Burns who heads his own show for
Campbell’s Soup.
(“Variety” 16th July 1941)
July 14,
Monday.
Bing and Lin Howard watch the Binglin horse "Don Juan II" work out
during the morning and decide to enter him for the Gold Cup on July
19. (7:00–10:00 p.m.) Another recording session with Victor Young
and his Orchestra
at which four songs, including “Ol’ Man River” and “Day Dreaming” are
waxed.
July 17,
Thursday. (10:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m., 2:30–5:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his Kraft show
in NBC Studio B. (5:00–6:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Warner Baxter, Maureen O’Sullivan,
and Vronsky and Babin.
Bing Crosby has invited Jester Jerry Lester
to make a quick return trip to the Music Hall tonight when over and above the
regular company, such performers as Warner Baxter, Maureen O’Sullivan, and the
piano team of Vronsky and Babin will be on hand. Said regular company now
consists of Connie Boswell, the Music Maids, John Scott Trotter’s orchestra
with Jerry Lester shaping up as a regular weekly starter on the full-hour that’s
heard over WMAQ at 7 o'clock.
There’s no denying that Jerry Lester grooved
well into the pattern of the Hall last week. He was omnipresent, ducking into
the guest interviews at just the right moment and even joining Bing on a song
number. As a matter of fact, Lester has been signed to appear on the next three
M. H. airings and will be heard on fifteen out of the twenty-two programs to be
aired between July 31 and the end of the year of 1941.
(Belvidere Daily Republican, 17th July, 1941)
July 19,
Saturday. (5:30 p.m.) Bing joins NBC’s Clinton Twiss on a radio broadcast to
describe the scene as the Hollywood Gold Cup is run at Hollywood Park. The Binglin horse "Don Juan II" is unplaced.
July 24,
Thursday. (10:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m., 2:30–5:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his Kraft show
in NBC Studio B. (5:00–6:00 p.m.) The Kraft
Music Hall broadcast. Bing’s guests include Florence George, boxer Billy
Conn (who has recently fought Joe Louis), and John Garfield.
Billy Conn, the man who put up such a great fight against Joe Louis in the
recent heavyweight championship classic, will face a much tougher job tonight.
This is the night he’ll be in there trading punch-lines with Bing Crosby on the
Music Hall…Bing’s sister-in-law, Florence George, is the singing guest…Known as
a pretty glib youngster with the chatter, Billy Conn will be pitted against
radio’s virtual ad-lib champ Crosby. Jerry Lester, who has been functioning
smoothly in the show’s comedy spot, will also pitch into the fray with Conn –
if the going gets tough for Kid Crosby.
(Belvidere Daily Republican, 24th July, 1941)
July 25, Friday. Bing is at Del Mar to see his horses arrive for the forthcoming race meeting.
July 27, Sunday. Bing's horse "Blackie" wins the classic Polla de Poltrancas in Palermo. Buenos Aires, Argentina.
July 30,
Wednesday. Bing records four songs with Woody Herman and his Orchestra in
Hollywood, including “I Ain’t Got Nobody.” Muriel Lane shares the vocals on two
of the tracks and one of them—“The Whistler’s Mother-in-Law”—enjoys some
success reaching the No. 9 mark during its 14 weeks in the Billboard Best-Sellers list.
Bing Crosby has made the best
version among the few available recordings of “Whistler’s Mother-in-Law”.
Helped by Woody Herman’s Woodchoppers and Muriel Lane, it’s a contagious sort
of novelty song.
(The Daily Iowan, November 25, 1941)
July 31,
Thursday. (10:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m., 2:30–5:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his Kraft show
in NBC Studio B. (5:00–6:00 p.m.) Bing’s last Kraft Music Hall show of the season and Mary Martin makes her first
appearance as guest and she is joined by Frank Leahy. Don Ameche takes over the show for the next few weeks.
Bing Crosby’s last appearance in the Music
Hall before his summer vacation will take place when he’ll entertain Frank
Leahy, Notre Dame university’s head coach and director of athletics; Don
Ameche, Notre Dame’s most ardent fan, and lovely Mary Martin of the
films…Doctor Crosby will leave for his Del Mar track’s racing season
immediately after the full hour of fun. The doctor will turn over the reins of
M. H. to his confrere, Don Ameche, who’ll be the host until Bing returns in the
fall.
Don Ameche was the one who suggested Frank
Leahy as a great bet for a guest spot in the Hall. Leahy is well-known for his
ability to take a joke at face value and will give as well take during the
informal festivities.
(Belvidere Daily Republican, 31st July, 1941)
August 1, Friday.
The Del Mar racing season starts and continues until September 1. This proves
to be the track’s most successful year to date with the average daily handle
rising to $245,393.
August 2,
Saturday.
(12:45-1:00p.m.) In a radio show on NBC from Del Mar where he leads
a quiz with the
winner having a song performed specially by Bing. (5:15-5:30 p.m.)
Later, Bing broadcasts the Long Beach Handicap over a Coast hookup.
August 9, Saturday.
(12:45-1:00p.m.) Bing again broadcasts a quiz and interviews from Del Mar.
August 12, Tuesday. Bing has a winner at Del Mar when his horse "La Zonga" wins the featured sixth race.
August 16, Saturday. (12:45-1:00p.m.) Bing
again broadcasts a quiz and interviews from Del Mar. The Binglin horse
"Golden Chance" wins the first race and his horse "La Zonga" wins the
sixth race.
August 23,
Saturday. (12:45-1:00p.m.) Bing attends the racing at Del Mar and broadcasts a quiz and interviews from Del Mar.
August 28, Thursday. Bing leaves by train for New York.
August 29,
Friday. (Midnight) Sails from the
Canal Street dock in New York on the Moore McCormack liner S. S. Argentina en
route to South America.
September 3,
Wednesday. The S. S. Argentina docks at Barbados for a brief stay.
September 7,
Sunday. Dixie writes to Bing as follows:
Bing Darling,
As usual this is about the third
letter I’ve attempted and torn up but this one goes regardless.
We had a very gay weekend what with David [Butler] and his clowning. We
went to the track party. Pat [O’Brien] put on the show as if he were
broadcasting to the S. S. Argentina. Everyone really missed you. Sunday nite
they started playing your records. That was the last straw. I don’t know why
but I miss you more this time than I ever have before. When I wake up at nite
and realize how far away you are my heart goes right to my toes. You better have
a good time ‘cause this is the last time you go without me even if I have to
walk around golf courses from morning ‘til nite.
The
house looks so pretty. I know you will love it. The bedroom isn’t finished yet
so Bess and I are living down in the guest room as I still don’t feel settled.
Irma
took the children yesterday and I fired Miss Waters (the old witch). She said
she was leaving anyway. I have Georgie (the girl who has been with Bill’s
family all her life) taking care of the children until I can find someone. They
all went to Pat Ross’s for luncheon today and a picture show this afternoon so
they’re being entertained royally.
I
went to the baseball game last nite with David Elsie, Johnny and Bess
[Burke] and then we went to see Phil Silvers for a little while. Tonite they and Judy
and Lin [Howard] are all coming for dinner. Les called and asked if he could come so
I’ll be nice to Judy if it kills me. They went down to the ranch yesterday. You
probably already know that Preceptor did nothing. La Zonga ran second.
Monday
You
see what happens - Marge and Charles came in right in the middle of my letter.
Got all of yours this morning and was I happy. It just makes me more lonesome
for you.
I’m
glad you’re getting a nice rest. I didn’t realize you weren’t feeling well -
you never let anyone know, you brat. I’ll write more often to make up for not
having this at Rio.
I
love you Darling with all my heart.
Dixie
September 10, Wednesday. Bing arrives on the S. S. Argentina in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where he visits the Copacabana and meets Ethel Smith, the organist with whom he later records. He watches Grande Otelo’s show and later dances the samba. The microphone is placed on his table and in response to many requests he improvises songs with Carlos Machado’s orchestra. He is invited to come back to Rio on his return trip to entertain for charity and plans are later put in place.
September 12, Friday.
The S. S. Argentina puts in at Santos, Brazil with Bing
still on board. He disembarks and visits Sao Paulo.
September 15, Monday.
Montevideo in Uruguay is the next port of call for the S. S. Argentina. Bing
writes to Dixie.
September 16,
Tuesday. In the early afternoon, Bing arrives at Buenos Aires in Argentina on
the S. S. Argentina. Buys a part interest in a horse farm while in the country.
Sometime during his stay, goes to the Cafe de Los Inmortales whilst in Buenos
Aires. Also he visits a cattle ranch at Corrientes (about 600 miles inland)
which he is said to own jointly with three others.
September 18,
Thursday. Is scheduled to attend the local premiere of Road to Zanzibar at the Opera, Buenos Aires, but apparently does
not do so.
September 21,
Sunday. (3:30 p.m.) Sees the horse “Blackie” from his Binglin stock farm in
Argentina win the Premio Selecction race at Palermo, Buenos Aires.
September 23,
Tuesday. Dixie receives a letter from Bing and writes a reply.
Angel, just received your
letter from Montevideo. Those clippings have me thrown - guess I will call
Ramon.
The ‘awfulest’ things are
happening to me. I have to go to the Pamona fair with Corrine and Jack and Lee
and Lucy Batson tonite. I think I run around with too young a crowd don’t you.
I’m supposed to play tennis with Don Budge and his wife this afternoon but will
have to call it off to get my hair and nails done for the old folks. Nothing
like making character. I also had an invite to Judy & Lin’s tonight - some
popular.
Now I’m really mad. Bob just
came down with a note that is so much better than mine. But I love you more
than anyone else does anyhow.
Always,
Dixie
September 25, Thursday. Dixie writes to Bing again.
Thursday
Sweetheart‒
Your letters were so wonderful. I
wish I could be like you (gee you’re lucky) and write long letters.
It was so funny ‒ I called Carroll
Carroll to give him your phone number and Bo said he was talking to you. It
makes it seem you’re so near. If I could only give you one kiss I’d let you go
back again.
I went to the Ice Follies with Alice
and Hugh last nite. They were very good.
Don’t
laugh when you get Gary’s letter
‒ I had nothing to do with his line “Don’t fall in love.” He said he
told you
that to save you a “bump on the noggin” and to save my arm from using
the
rolling pin. You don’t suppose he’s been reading Jiggs and Maggie do
you. Gee they’re
funny kids‒they seem so much closer to me than ever before. Maybe I
take them for granted when you’re here and when you’re gone they
remind me of you.
Having read this one I’d like to tear
it up but you said even hello and good‒bye helped so here goes.
I love you ‒ I love you ‒ I love you ‒
so there‒
Dixie
September 28,
Sunday. Bing telephones Dixie but the phone connection is poor. Dixie writes to
Bing again.
Angel -
You
wanted a note at Rio so here it is. I can’t begin to tell you what’s in my
heart but I will when you get home. I
was so glad you didn’t laugh at me when I told you about the wedding ring. I
don’t care if you ever wear it as long as you carry it around. It was the only
thing I could think of that you didn’t have and besides I’m feeling very
sentimental these days. I just received the most gorgeous flowers from Julie
[Taurog] and an invitation from Mercer to go to Ciro’s which I refused. I’ve decided
it’s no fun having an anniversary without you.
I’m
sorry our connection was so bad this morning but I love you with all my heart
and you must know it
Dixie
October 2,
Thursday. (9:00–9:30 p.m.) Broadcasts from Buenos Aires for Radio El Mundo.
Speaks in Spanish on the show. Bing’s fee goes to a children’s charity.
Buenos Aires.
One shot of Bing Crosby over
Radio El Mundo on the Red, White and Blue network here, with singer’s fee going
to the Patronato Nacional de Infantcia children’s charity drew much favorable
comment as goodwill builder. Crosby down to vacash and look at horses refrained
entirely from personal appearances, refused to attend the opening of Road to Zanzibar and fought all official
greeting. Sponsor was Kraft Argentina. J. W. Thompson local office handled
arrangements for one-time broadcast. Script cleverly handled with singer
piecing out enough Spanish to play straight man to film star, Nini Marshall and
others. Eduardo Armani orchestra gave out jive which Crosby rated a best
“yanqui” beat. Fee not disclosed. Agency say while high for here, like peanuts
in US.
(Variety, October 15, 1941)
October 3,
Friday. (11:00 p.m.) Bing sails on the America Republics liner “S. S. Brazil.”
The ship is scheduled to take sixteen days to get to New York sailing via
Santos, Rio de Janeiro, and Trinidad.
October 7,
Tuesday. The "S. S. Brazil" reaches Santos in Brazil and Bing
disembarks. He is flown to Rio de Janeiro and visits the Brazilian
Jockey Club. Later, at the Cassino da
Urca, he sings six songs for the British and Brazilian Red Cross and the
show is
broadcast by Radio Mayrink Veiga with Globo Agency support. Bing has
been
invited by first lady Darci Vargas and during the event he also auctions a collection of his records to benefit the Red Cross. Overnight he stays at the Copacabana Palace Hotel.
The owner of the Casino, with
the help of the Brazilian first lady (Mrs. Getulio Vargas), asked him to go to
Rio by car and perform there one night for some kind of social benefit. Bing
came, drank, gambled, and “somewhat drunk” sang ‘It’s Easy to Remember’,
‘Please’ and ‘Pennies from Heaven’.
The
nite we went to the Urca, Bing Crosby was making a charity appearance for the British
Red Cross. Jock Whitney and Paramount Pictures through Ted Pierpoint, had
suggested to the Bing-o that it would be in the interests of the good neighbor
policy for him to sing some songs at the Urca, and Bing complied. He was presented
as the second number of the floor show, following a huge dancing number, and he
was a sensation. The Brazilians love singing, and Crosby was right down their
ally. In addition, he was informal and humorous, and the net effect was
tremendously successful. One fotographer, crowding up close to the floor to get
a snapshot of Bing, exploded his flashlight in the middle of a high note.
Crosby, without losing the rhythm of his tune, remarked in an aside: “Come
right in,” and the crowd roared its pleasure at the American’s acceptance of
the intrusion. As a result of Crosby’s appearance here, his picture “Road to
Zanzibar,” has picked 60% in its current engagement. Brazilians are grateful.
(Ed Sullivan, writing in the Daily News (New York), 26th October, 1941)
October 8, Wednesday. In the afternoon, Bing rejoins the "S. S. Brazil" which has now reached Rio de Janeiro.
October 15,
Wednesday. Press comment states that “Dixie Crosby’s flight to New York to meet
Bing should finally squelch the separation rumors.”
October 20,
Monday. Arrives back in New York from South America aboard the liner S.S.
Brazil. Dixie is there to greet him. Says that during his trip he did two shows on the ship for the crew.
The passenger list includes a large party of Deputies from the Argentine
National Congress. Bing and Dixie go on to the Cafe Rouge at the Pennsylvania Hotel to see the Glenn Miller band perform.
October 21, Tuesday.
(8:00–9:00 p.m.) Takes part in The
Treasury Hour on station WJZ on the NBC Blue Network in New York. Secretary
of the Navy, Frank Knox, is the speaker and entertainment is provided by Bing,
Charles Boyer, Carmen Miranda and the US Navy Band. Noel Coward is cut into the
program from London.
After
faltering the past few weeks, it’s a pleasure to report the Treasury Hour is
solidly in the groove again (WJZ-8 to 9), Featuring Noel Coward, introduced from
London by Robert Montgomery, now a United States naval attaché there, Carmen Miranda
and Bing Crosby, among others, the hour, dedicated to Navy Day, was tuneful,
quick-tempoed and alertly paced.
(Daily News, (New York), October 22,
1941)
October 24, Friday.
In New York, Bing makes records of two songs he had never heard before
(“Shepherd Serenade” and “Do You Care?”) with Harry Sosnik and his Orchestra.
Enters the studio at 9:00 a.m. and leaves at 9:45 a.m. “Shepherd Serenade”
reaches the No. 4 spot in the Billboard
list and spends nine weeks in the charts.
At
9 o’clock on a recent morning a taxicab pulled up in front of a Manhattan
office building and out of it stepped a brisk, cheerful fellow with a pipe
clamped in his teeth. His name was Bing Crosby.
He
entered an elevator and went to the Decca recording studios where a couple of
officials and a dozen musicians were waiting. They handed him some sheets of
music and he retired to a corner.
Mr.
Crosby sat there a while, looking over the words and music. The songs were “Do You Care?” and “Shepherd’s
Serenade”. He had never heard either of them because he had been away in
South America. He sat and hummed and waggled his head around a little, then
walked over to the musicians and announced himself ready.
The
band played and Bing sang through one number, and then the other. There
followed two and a half minutes or technical discussion, after which he
announced: “Okay, my lads! Let’s roll. I gotta golf date.”
Again
they played and again he sang, and this time the record was cut. It was 9:45 by
the clock when Mr. Crosby walked out of the place to keep his engagement with a
mashie.
This
was an astounding performance. Ordinarily it takes all day and sometimes two
days to cut a record, even after the singer has done some rehearsing at home.
But Bingston doesn’t work that way. Everything in life comes as easy to him as
that 45-minute session at Decca.
Record
sales, boxoffice statistics and radio surveys indicate that a great many people
like Bing Crosby. Nevertheless, I consider myself to be in the running for the
title of No. 1 Bing Crosby fan.
While
he was in New York this time I made an effort to see him. He sent word that he
had quit giving interviews. He said he had been interviewed blue in the face
and that the business had reached its saturation point.
Normally
a newspaper man will get hopping mad at a celebrity, particularly a celebrity
in the entertainment world, who refuses to be interviewed. I didn’t get a bit
mad at Crosby. That’s how much I like him.
He
does everything so smoothly, so effortlessly.
And he is a superb comedian. He
has been known to stand before a microphone singing a tender ballad that stirs
the emotions of untold million, while he sings it he nonchalantly goes
about the business of picking his teeth.
The
movie people require him to wear a toupee to cover a baldness which doesn’t
worry him personally at all. Sometimes he wears the toupee to his broadcasts
and standing at the mike before the studio audience singing a song that has the
females of a nation on the edge of their chairs, he’ll casually reach up, lift
the forward part of the toupee, scratch under it, and then pat it back into
place.
I
don’t know about you, but I like that sort of daffiness.
(H. Allen Smith, The Totem Pole, United Features Syndicate, November 6, 1941)
Bing Crosby. ‘Do
You Care’ – ‘Humpty Dumpty Heart’ (Decca 4064)
Crosby’s tasteful,
beautifully shaded and sentimental interpretation of first, a solid ballad,
ought to push it to top sales brackets. Good accomp, too. Reverse, from Kay
Kyser’s ‘Playmates’ film, also pleases, but won’t figure. Woody Herman’s band
is backing, and it’s good.
(Variety, December 10, 1941)
October 26, Sunday. Victor Schertzinger, who had directed several of Bing’s
films, dies from a heart attack at the age of 53.
October 27, Monday.
During the evening, Bing is received by the Duke and Duchess of Windsor who are
visiting New York.
October 29, Wednesday. The dispute by the
National Broadcasters’ Association with ASCAP ends when ASCAP agrees to much
lower fees.
October 30,
Thursday. Bing and Dixie arrive at Pasadena on the Santa Fe Super Chief and are
met by their four children. (11:00 a.m.–1:30 p.m., 3:30–6:00 p.m.) Rehearses
for his Kraft show in NBC Studio B in Hollywood. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing returns
to the Kraft Music Hall and appears weekly until February
5, 1942. The guests on the opening show are Rise Stevens, William Frawley, and
Warner Baxter. Audience share for the season is 21.1, which puts the show in
twelfth place in the Hooper ratings. Edgar Bergen is top with 35.2. Ken
Carpenter, the Music Maids, Jerry Lester, and Connie Boswell continue as
regulars with John Scott Trotter and the Orchestra furnishing musical support. It was the first time
that Bing had been free to sing his original theme song. ‘Blue of the Night,”
since December 28, 1940 because of the ASCAP dispute.
A gala welcome is in preparation for Bing Crosby who returns to the
Music Hall to take up the reins again with the airing of tonight at 8 o’clock
over WMAQ. Bing has been on vacation for three months, spending part of his
time in South America where he examined promising looking horses for his Del
Mar track and stables and acted as unofficial good-will ambassador. His guests
on home-coming night will be William Frawley, veteran character actor of stage,
vaudeville, and screen; Metropolitan Opera soprano Rise Stevens, who will star
in a forthcoming picture, and Warner Baxter, veteran Hollywood leading man and
an old friend of Bing’s.
(Belvidere Daily Republican, 30th October, 1941)
Bing Crosby, returning to the
Kraft Music Hall program on NBC Red WEAF, last Thursday night (30th), immediately
spotlighted a flaw in the show’s present set-up—that is, there isn’t enough use
of Crosby. One of the greatest pop singers of this era, he sang too
infrequently on the stanza—particularly as ASCAP tunes have just returned to
the networks. He set the kilocycles pulsating with such ballads as, “The
Sweetheart of Sigma Chi” but the dearth of his vocalizing was especially,
disappointing. Otherwise, the show was, unmistakably, improved by his return.
The continuity was uneven, however, particularly regarding some labored puns
and gags, as well as that threadbare by-play about the half-hour chain-break,
signal chime. John Scott Trotter’s orchestral contribution was lush and varied.
(Variety, November 5, 1941)
October 31, Friday.
Bing’s film Birth of the Blues
has
its premiere in Memphis, Tennessee which upsets the mayor of New
Orleans. Bing and Dixie are thought to have attended the Jack O'
Lantern ball at the Cocoanut Grove.
November 1, Saturday. (12:00 to 3:00 p.m., 4:30 to 6:00 p.m.) Rehearses at Paramount Studios for his evening radio broadcast. (6:00 to 6:30 p.m.) Appears in a sponsored broadcast Silver Anniversary of the Blues on the Mutual Broadcasting System originating from the Don Lee Studios to promote his film Birth of the Blues. Johnny Mercer, Betty Jane Rhodes, Rochester and Buddy DeSylva also take part. Music is provided by John Scott Trotter and The Frying Pan Eight.
Bing
Crosby, Rochester and other stars gave a flying start to their latest picture, “The
Birth of the Blues,” (WOR 9). A nostalgic divertissement, with Bing’s singing
of “Melancholy Baby” and John Scott Trotter’s indigo music as the highlights.
(Daily News, (New York), November 2,
1941)
November (undated). Sings the title song of the newsreel short Angels of Mercy to honor the American Red Cross. The newsreel is released on December 5.
November 6, Thursday. (11:00 a.m.–1:30 p.m., 3:30–6:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his Kraft show in NBC Studio B. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Brian Donlevy, Salvatore Baccaloni, and Michele Morgan.
Bing Crosby has invited his old friend, Brian Donlevy – who stars with
Bing and Mary Martin in Paramount’s “Birth of the Blues” – to join him in the
festivities of the Music Hall tonight along with French Film Actress Michele
Morgan and basso-buffo Salvatore Baccaloni of the Metropolitan Opera company.
(The Shreveport Times, 6th November, 1941)
November 7, Friday. Birth of the Blues is
released nationwide but not in New York City which has to wait until December 9.
‘Birth of the Blues’ is Bing
Crosby’s best filmusical to date. It’ll sing plenty of black ink at the b.
o… Cofeatured in the band that
ultimately proves his point are Jack Teagarden—the Jackson T., who not only
slips his slide-horn but handles lines like a legit—plus Harry Barris (of the
original Rhythm Boys: Al Rinker, now a CBS producer, was the third in the
actual combo). . . . Carolyn Lee [is] a
cute kidlet who, for once, may make good the show biz hope for ‘another Shirley
Temple.’ . . . Crosby bings personally
with solo vocals, ensemble clowning and kidding-on-the-square crooning, the
most legit being ‘Melancholy Baby’ (with Carolyn Lee): ‘By the Light of the
Silvery Moon’ in a tiptop illustrated song slide routine in one of those early
picture-houses: and thematically does ‘Birth of the Blues’ as the credits
unreel. . . The detail is as faithful as Lindy’s, excepting
of course those 1941 arrangements in early 1900 background…
(Variety, September 3, 1941)
Birth of the Blues is entertainment plus and it affords Crosby a nice
change of pace from the goofy comedies he made with Bob Hope and Dorothy
Lamour.
(Los Angeles Evening Herald Express, November 7, 1941)
November 13,
Thursday. (11:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m., 3:30–6:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his Kraft show
in NBC Studio B. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) The Kraft
Music Hall broadcast. Bing’s guests include The Milt Herth Trio, Ruth Hussey and Joe DiMaggio.
When Bing Crosby ambles into the ‘ole Music Hall tonight, he will bring
with him, as his special guests, charming film actress Ruth Hussey, “Slugger”
Joe di Maggio and the Milt Herth Trio…The Milt Herth Trio consists of the
unusual combination of swing organ, piano and drums. Milt Herth is at the
console of the swing organ. The outfit will be seen and heard in forthcoming
juke box films. Ruth Hussey most recently has been in “Our Wife” and “Married
Bachelor” and gave a particularly outstanding performance before that in
“Philadelphia Story.” “Slugger” di Maggio established the all-time record,
during the recent baseball season, for consecutive game hits.
(The Shreveport Times, 13th November, 1941)
November (undated). Bing and Dixie are seen dining at the Cafe Biarritz.
November 15, Saturday. (8:15–11:00 p.m.) NBC celebrates its fifteenth anniversary with a long show called “NBC’s Fifteenth Anniversary Free for All.” Bing guests from Hollywood and sings “Shepherd Serenade” accompanied by Gordon Jenkins and His Orchestra. Many other stars contribute from various locations around the country.
NBC climaxed a week’s celebration of its 15th anniversary with a show last Saturday night (15) which ran four
minutes short of three hours. Apparently NBC figured that the way that it could make the anniversary occasion momentous to listeners was to trot out
practically every artist heard regularly on the Red and Blue networks. The
performance, which started at 11:15 p.m., had one edge over the occasion of NBC’s
celebration of its 10th anniversary. The marathon complexion prevailed, but it was a marathon of
entertainment instead of a marathon of brass-hat oratory. The speeches this
time were sort of slipped in between the acts, and the added virtue was their
briefness.
(Variety, November 19, 1941)
November 18–February 1942. Films Holiday Inn
with Fred Astaire, Marjorie Reynolds, and Virginia Dale. Harry Barris has a
small part. The film’s budget is $3.2 million. The director is Mark Sandrich
and Robert Emmett Dolan is the musical director. All of the songs have been
written by Irving Berlin. Bob Crosby’s Orchestra provides some of the musical
accompaniment and Joseph J. Lilley handles the vocal arrangements. Bing sings
the perennial “White Christmas” for the first time.
Holiday Inn was one of the biggest musical setups of those times and it
proved a top grossing picture. (Well, natch, with the great Crosby in it.) I
had a lot of numbers and several interesting dance bits with “Cros.” He
surprised me. Having heard that he didn’t like to rehearse much, I was amazed
when he showed up in practice clothes to rehearse our first song and dance,
“I’ll Capture Her Heart.”
Mark Sandrich wanted two comparatively unknown girls to work
opposite Cros and me. We were fortunate in getting Marjorie Reynolds and
Virginia Dale.
(Fred Astaire, writing in his
book Steps in Time, page 249)
Berlin returned to Hollywood for the making of Holiday Inn. At this stage in his career, he had amassed sufficient clout to assemble the creative team he wanted. He recruited Mark Sandrich, who knew better than any other director how to stage Berlin’s songs for the camera; Bing Crosby, to play the charmingly befuddled innkeeper; and Fred Astaire (this time without Ginger Rogers), as Crosby’s rival in love.
Driven by his ever-present desire for control, Berlin had won the right to approve every note recorded for the film’s score, but that responsibility entailed his prolonged presence on the West Coast. The music director for Holiday Inn, the man whose orchestrations were contractually obligated to please Berlin, was Walter Scharf. Like the songwriter’s other musical collaborators, Scharf was impressed by the amount of energy and anxiety Irving expended during the final stages of preparation, especially for “White Christmas.” “It was as if he were going to have a baby when he was working on that song,” Scharf remembered. “I never saw a man so wrapped up in himself. It was all a tremendously traumatic experience for him.” The phone would ring, Irving didn’t hear it. The sun would rise and set, and Irving didn’t notice time passing. Nor did he break for meals, preferring to sustain himself on chewing gum and cigarettes.
Berlin
then went over the song with Crosby. “Of course, he’s not the one to throw his arms about and get excited,”
Berlin said later. “When he read the song he just took his pipe out of his
mouth and said to me: ‘You don’t have to worry about this one, Irving.’”
The morning Crosby was scheduled to sing “White
Christmas” before the camera, Sandrich and Scharf, aware that their composer
had exhausted himself, advised him to get some rest. No need to be on the set
until the cameras were ready to roll, they told him. Irving agreed, but he
couldn’t make himself stay away. “Irving,” Scharf said, “don’t bother to stick
around. We won’t be ready for quite some time.”
“I won’t get in the way,” he promised.
The playback started, and Crosby began to produce the
silvery tones for which he was famed. As Crosby sang, Scharf happened to notice
that one or two of the flats in the background seemed a little out of place. He
stole around the back of the set to investigate, and who should he find,
crouching low, trying to conceal himself, but Irving Berlin, unable to let go
of his creation—his precious song.
“I’m sorry,” he said to Scharf, who realized he had
no choice but to yield to Berlin’s desire to involve himself with every aspect
of the film, from writing the songs to sitting in on the story conferences to
discussing choreography with Astaire.
(As Thousands Cheer: The Life Story of Irving
Berlin, pages 388-9)
By the 1940s, Berlin had
enough power in Hollywood to dictate the cast and crew he wanted around Crosby
and he intended to have the best. He asked Paramount to get Fred Astaire and
Mary Martin.
To direct, he insisted on
Mark Sandrich, the alcoholic extrovert who staged the immensely popular
Astaire-Ginger Rogers dance numbers for RKO. Musical director would be Robert
Emmett Dolan, foremost in his field, and costumes would be by Edith Claire
Posener who, as Edith Head, was the leader in hers. The sets, critical to the
mood Berlin envisioned, would be by Hans Drier, a creative genius who had
worked on some panoramic DeMille epics and with Crosby and Martin on “Rhythm on
the River.”
Martin’s pregnancy prevented
her from accepting the role, which might have changed her fortunes in
Hollywood, and Paramount dickered with Columbia over possible loan out of Rita
Hayworth before deciding Astaire and Crosby were sufficient star power.
Several little known
actresses, including Dale Evans who would go on to fame as the wife and co-star
of Roy Rogers, were tested before a $250 per week contract player named
Marjorie Reynolds, whose experience had been largely in second-rate Westerns,
was chosen. Reynolds was a slim, lovely blonde born Marjorie Goodspeed in Idaho
and rushed into films by an ambitious mother. She was no Mary Martin and her
songs had to be dubbed in by another singer, Martha Mears, but she did well
with Astaire in the grueling dance numbers which he would not rehearse with her
until she had spent weeks learning the routines from stand-in partners.
Astaire spent so much time
and physical energy developing his dance numbers that his weight dropped from
140 to 126 pounds. By the conclusion of shooting, he was literally emaciated.
“I could spit through him,” Crosby said.
The finished film accurately
represents Berlin, Astaire and Crosby at the zenith of their powers and is, at
least arguably, precisely what Berlin intended it to be.
November 19,
Wednesday. Bing is one of several golf tournament sponsors appointed to a
November 20, Thursday. (11:00 a.m.–1:30 p.m., 3:30–6:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his Kraft show in NBC Studio B. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include The Hall Johnson Choir and Donald Crisp.
Raymond Massey and Jinx Falkenburg, scheduled to be Bing Crosby’s
guests tonight, have cancelled. Bing has substituted Donald Crisp, the Hall
Johnson Choir and dug up “that surprise feminine guest” again.
(The Pittsburgh Press, 20th November, 1941)
November 27,
Thursday. During the day, Miss Spokane
presents Bing with a book signed by many of the residents of Spokane entitled
“Thanks Bing”. (11:00 a.m.–1:30 p.m., 3:30–6:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his Kraft
show in NBC Studio B. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Another Kraft Music Hall broadcast and Bing’s guests are Hank Bauer, Wendy Barrie,
Humphrey Bogart, and Wingy Manone.
Humphrey Bogart, Wendy Barrie
and Wingy Manone guested on Thursday night (27th) at the Kraft Music Hall. They
all seemed to have fun but most of the entertainment remained in the studio.
Bogart first teamed with Bing Crosby and Jerry Lester in a rather labored
comedy skit and then Miss Barrie and Ken Carpenter joined them for another
sketch that had them all giggling but failed to project laughs across the
ozone. Manone played one sizzling trumpet “bit” but became badly tangled,
trying to read lines. John Scott Trotter’s Orchestra supplied excellent musical
accompaniment and of course, Crosby’s vocals were “sock” though too infrequent.
(Variety, December 3, 1941)
December 4, Thursday.
(11:00 a.m.–1:30 p.m., 3:30–6:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his Kraft show in NBC
Studio B. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Carole Landis and Walter Huston.
Victor Borge
joins the show as a regular.
Walter Huston, star of vaudeville, stage, and screen, whose checkered
career has led him from bit parts in a road show, to managing a power plant,
and on to become one of the dramatic greats, will join the confreres of the “Music
Hall” when it goes on the air over NBC-KTBS tonight at 8 o’clock. Also invited
to join Bing Crosby’s exuberant group is Carole Landis, young blonde movie
star, whose curves and curls have garnered a mountain of fan mail and who
currently has been appearing in “Moon over Miami”. As an added attraction, Bing
has announced a surprise guest.
(The Shreveport Times, December 4, 1941)
One Wednesday
Cal Kuhl got a call from Rudy Vallee, who was doing a show for Sealtest on
which he was costarred with, of all people, John Barrymore. It was an
embarrassing half hour, Barrymore’s swan song, in which he capitalized on his
drunkenness. Rudy called to ask Cal to come over and see a comedian who was
going to do a warm-up for his show.
Cal tried to
back out of this little courtesy chore, but Rudy said, “You’ve just got to see
this man. You’ll want to book him with Bing.”
“If he’s that
great why don’t you book him?”
“We don’t use
guests.”
“If he’s that
great, make an exception.”
“Please come.”
“Okay.” Cal
hung up and reported the full conversation to me. “Comedy’s your business,” he
finished. “You go.”
“You got
invited.”
“I’ve got a
cocktail party.”
“Be late.”
We boxed around
and finally made a decent compromise. We both went. If Rudy had ever
been right in his whole life he was right about this guy. For about half an
hour the man kept the audience, assembled to see a broadcast, in such a state
of laughter it was quite obvious that nothing the show could do would top him.
All the man did
was read a little story. But to make it clear, he included all the punctuation
marks, to each of which he had assigned a sound. It was, to my knowledge, the
first time Victor Borge, the Great Dane, had ever done his famous punctuation
routine in public in America.
We immediately
booked Borge for our next show. Victor was scheduled to go on after the station
break. That meant there’d be a song by Bing, the Victor Borge spot, a
commercial, a song by Bing, another guest spot, a song by Bing, a commercial,
theme, sign-off.
I shortened the
other guest shot because I knew Victor needed time. We took a chorus out of one
of Bing’s songs. Victor agreed that he could do the spot in twelve minutes.
That is, we
thought he agreed. He spoke almost no English and only understood, if anything,
what he chose to. Bing’s intro said he’d seen Victor Borge warming up an
audience for Rudy Vallee and anybody who’s good enough to warm up a Vallee
audience has got to be good enough to heat up an audience in the old Kraft
Music Hall.
Victor came on
and repeated the punctuation routine and got the same earthquakelike reaction.
After twelve minutes he was still going. We lost a commercial. He kept right on
going. We lost a Crosby song. Then we lost a guest spot and another Crosby song
and another commercial and the closing theme and we went off the air with
people howling and applauding Borge. A telephone call came from Reber in New
York telling us to sign the guy for as long as possible.
The problem
then became not only one of communication but one of creation. Victor did not
know enough about radio or the United States to write new pieces of material
with any great speed or success. So Ed Rice, who was working with me on other
things, was assigned to Borge and did a baseball routine for his second
appearance. It was based on Victor’s newness in America, his limited knowledge
of our language, his need to understand our national game, his attendance at
one and what he saw. It was a magnificent piece of material and Victor scored
very strongly with it in spite of the fact that he certainly didn’t understand
one-tenth of what he was saying. This was because, as I soon found out, it was
impossible for Victor not to be funny.
(Carroll Carroll, My Life With…)
“At the time, I didn’t speak
much English. I had my genes from Denmark translated into the English language
which was quite strange to me. I was actually reading script in a language I didn’t
understand. Of course, I hoped it was translated correctly, but had no way of
proving it except for reaction from the audience. As far as Bing’s attitude was
concerned, I didn’t speak much with him because I couldn’t understand English.
That didn’t change even when I began to speak it because Bing’s attitude was
always the same. One of kindness and friendliness, whether he spoke to me in an
understandable or misunderstandable language. When we came to rehearsals, he
just sat at the table with those involved. There was always laughter from one
week to the other. I was there for fifty-four weeks and can’t ever remember
having difference of opinions at those meetings. Actually the agency of Kaywood
& Thompson got me on the “Bing Crosby Show.” I was supposed to be on the
Rudy Vallée Show. They used me as a warm-up to test my ability to make the
audience laugh. But there was no room for me on the Rudy Vallée program. It was
a family situation affair with John Barrymore and whoever else was on and there
was no room for anybody to do at least a five or eight minute spot, so the
agency put me on the “Bing Crosby Show” which was a week later, because it was
a variety program. From then on, the rest is, at least for me, history. . . .
But that was my beginning in the United States and so to that I owe everything
to Bing Crosby.”
(Victor Borge, speaking in an
exclusive interview with Gord Atkinson, subsequently broadcast in Gord Atkinson’s The Crosby Years,
www.whenfm.com)
December 5,
Friday. The Hearst Metrotone newsreel short Angels
of Mercy which honors the American Red Cross is released by Paramount,
Par has a
terrifically appealing item on the Red Cross roll call drive, with Bing Crosby
singing ‘Angels of Mercy,’ by Irving Berlin, both getting screen credits. Tune
is doubly effective as offered with succinct scenes of organization’s work.
(Variety, December 10, 1941)
December 7, Sunday. Japanese planes attack Pearl Harbor.
December 10, Wednesday.
Bing’s film Birth of the Blues
premieres in New York.
The College of Musical Knowledge may not grant the
historical accuracy of Paramount’s “Birth of the Blues,” which started its
Christmas-hopping early at the Paramount Theatre yesterday. But the learned and
literal students of this or any other school will have to concede, at least,
that here is a film straight down the groove--a blend of jump-and-jive music
that should make the ‘hep cats’ howl with some sweet bits of romantic chaunting
that should tickle the ‘ickies,’ too. The Paramount has got a nice picture to
greet the holidays.
Apparently the purpose of the story,
without saying it in so many words, is to pay a belated tribute to the Original
Dixieland Jazz Band to that quintet of raffish musicians who first brought
“darky music” up-river from the South. If so, the tribute is just adequate and
not a great deal more, for the tale which Is told in this instance is really no
story at all; it is just a random fable about a footloose clarinet player in
New Orleans who assembles an assortment of primitive jive-artists, including a
hot horn-blower and a lady who sings and then rambles around a bit while love
casually intrudes. On the basis of story alone, “Birth of the Blues” rates a
less-than-passing grade.
But as a series of illustrated jam sessions and nifty
presentations of songs and jokes it is as pleasant an hour-and-a-half killer as
the musically inclined could wish. Not only does feckless Bing Crosby play the
clarinetist in his best unpremeditated vein, but he also has Mary Martin, Brian
Donlevy, Eddie (Rochester) Anderson and Jack Teagarden with his orchestra to
abet him. And although they give the impression of improvising, more or less,
as they go, Director Victor Schertzinger has given to their sauntering a very
smooth, easy-going pace.
.
. . For sweet and fancy singing that makes your muscles
twitch, there is Mr. Crosby and Miss Martin doing truly delightful
things with
“Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie” and a new number, “The Waiter, the
Porter
and the Upstairs Maid.” And for dipping deep on the low chords, you
can’t ask
for anything more than Mr. Crosby’s ‘Melancholy Baby’ and those
mournful ‘St. Louis Blues,’ sung by one Ruby Elzy, with the Teagarden
band moaning behind.
Obviously, this little picture is not the ultimate saga of
early jazz. But it begins to perceive the possibilities. As the “cats” say, it
takes more than it leaves.
(Bosley Crowther, New York Times, December 11, 1941)
December 11, Thursday.
(11:00 a.m.–1:30 p.m., 3:30–6:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his Kraft show in NBC
Studio B. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. The guests are Veronica Lake, Robert Coote, and
Paul Robeson. The start of the broadcast is delayed due to war bulletins.
The girl with the most talked about head of hair in the nation –
Veronica Lake by name – and often called the sweetheart of the navy air corps
puts in a guest appearance on the “Music Hall” over NBC-KTBS tonight at 8
o’clock. Slated to appear with Miss Lake is Paul Robeson, great Negro baritone,
and Robert Coote of the Royal Canadian Air Force, an old favorite at the hall.
(The Shreveport Times, 11th December, 1941)
December 14, Sunday. Plays with Babe Didrickson Zaharias at Potrero Golf
Club in the third annual Scotch mixed open organised by the Inglewood
Chamber of Commerce. They tie for third gross with a 77 in front of a crowd numbering about 1000.
December 18,
Thursday. (11:00 a.m.–1:30 p.m., 3:30–6:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his Kraft show
in NBC Studio B. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Another Kraft
Music Hall broadcast and Bing’s guests include The Kraft Choral Club and
George Murphy.
On the Bing Crosby program at 8 o’clock tonight over WAVE, a choral
society composed of eighty voices will sing. An unusual fact about the society
is that its members are all employees of the firm which sponsors the radio
program. Twice a year, the group sings on the firm’s broadcasts – at Christmas
and at Easter. Tonight they will sing “Mary’s Lullaby” and “The Angel’s Song.”
George Murphy, song and dance man of the movies and a veteran of Music Hall
proceedings, will put in an appearance, and Victor Borge, Danish-born comedian,
will begin a series of regular visits to the show. He made quite an impression
on the Music Hall’s last two sessions.
(The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky), 18th December, 1941)
December 21, Sunday. Bing and his four sons visit Defense House in Pershing Square, Los Angeles to buy Defense Bonds and stamps.
Bing Crosby
and his sons were a sensation selling war bonds at Defense House in Pershing
Square.
Boys
and more boys, all sons of Bing Crosby, visited Defense House at Pershing Square
yesterday to make their initial purchase of Defense Savings Stamps and Bonds.
Crosby bought a large Defense Bond, while the children
discarded their piggy banks in favor of the new glass Defense Stamp banks.
Friendly rivalry among the brothers to see who could fill
his bank first in order to break it open to buy more stamps cleaned Bing of all his small change.
Crosby, who has much of his money invested in various business
enterprises including a racing stable, indicated that a large percentage of his
future earnings will be invested in Defense Bonds.
(The Los Angeles Times, December 22,
1941)
December 24,
Wednesday. (3:00–7:00 p.m.) Rehearsal of the Kraft Music Hall show for the following day. Bing may not have
taken part.
December 25,
Thursday. (2:00–6:00 p.m.) Further rehearsals of the Kraft Music Hall. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) The actual Kraft Music Hall broadcast from the NBC “B” studio. Frank McHugh
and Fay Bainter are the guests. Bing sings “White Christmas” on the Kraft show
before its release in the film Holiday
Inn.
This is Connie Boswell’s last appearance on the show. The program goes
off the air with 20 seconds of “Silent Night” to go. The Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation does not allow the show to be aired in Canada
because of its ban on commercial broadcasts on Christmas Day leading to
many protests.
Bing Sings Yule Carols
Tonight
For the sixth consecutive year Bing Crosby will sing “Adeste
Fidelis” and “Silent Night” on Kraft Music Hall’s Christmas program tonight at
9 o’clock over WSB. As a Yuletide novelty he will sing for the first time on
the air “White Christmas” from his new film, “Holiday Inn.”
The guest panel will be composed by Fay Bainter, celebrated
character actress of stage and screen, and tubby zany Frank McHugh, an old
friend of Bingston. Danish comedian Victor Borge, who became one of the regulars
with last week’s K. M. H. proceedings, will play and sing “The Bells Are Ringing
for Christmas,” an old Danish folk song. Bing and his colleagues in the Hall
will regretfully say farewell to songstress Connie Boswell, who leaves the show
to fulfil a series of personal appearances in the east. Her sultry voiced
singing has been one of the pleasantest features of K. M. H. for more than a year.
(The Atlanta Constitution, December 25,
1941)
With radio plugging for two
of the tunes from Paramount’s Holiday Inn
already inaugurated it appears likely that the recording companies will follow
suit. Bing Crosby featured White
Christmas, one of the many Irving Berlin compositions he sings in the film,
on his radio show December 25 and will present another Let’s Start the New Year Right on his next air show. Look for Decca
releases of these and probably other Crosby vocals.
(Billboard, January 3, 1942)
December 30,
Tuesday. The Paramount newsreel issued today includes footage of Bing’s sons
buying Defense Bonds.
December 31,
Wednesday. Bing sees in the New Year at a party at Jack Benny’s home in Roxbury
Drive in Beverly Hills.
During the year, Bing has had nineteen
songs that became chart hits.
January 1,
Thursday. (9:30 a.m.) Bing is scheduled to golf with Jimmy Demaret,
Bud Oakley, and Jimmie Fidler
in a benefit for the war chest of the Salvation Army at the Lakeside
Club but it is not clear whether they actually played in view of the
heavy rain.
(3:30–6:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his evening Kraft broadcast in NBC
Studio B.
(6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall
show on NBC. Guests include Wingy Manone and Dusolina Giannini. Mary Martin takes over from Connie
Boswell as resident female vocalist. Connie later says that she “was fired
because they wanted Mary Martin.” In March, she announces that she will
henceforth be known as Connee.
Victor Borge and Mary Martin,
newcomers to the Kraft Music Hall show, already mesh well with Bing Crosby,
Jerry Lester and John Trotter. Presumably, the team play will become even
smoother with more broadcasts. Debuting on the series, last week (1st), Miss
Martin paired admirably with Crosby in several dialogue comedy “bits” but
wasn’t too becomingly presented in her musical numbers. For instance, her vocal
of Irving Berlin’s, “Tomorrow Is a Lovely Day” [sic] failed to take advantage
of one of the best tunes of the past couple of seasons. It was given only a single
chorus and that too slow for Miss Martin’s style of singing or for the song’s
best effect. In a single, lengthy comedy spot, Borge had clicked with some
highly original, colorful material. It consisted of his explanation and
demonstration of his audible punctuation.
(Variety, January 7, 1942)
Kraft show has undergone some
fairly extensive talent changes: Mary Martin has replaced Connie Boswell, who
left for a tour of personal appearances; in addition, comedy side has been
hypoed by the addition of Victor Borge, Danish comic. It is a tribute to Bing
Crosby, program’s highlight, that the Music Hall seems to survive all talent
changes—these changes simply pointing up the fact that the show is completely
dependent on Crosby.
Debut of Mary
Martin was not particularly auspicious. She engaged in comedy sketches and
warbled a few tunes. Delivered fairly well—but she is no Connie Boswell and is
not likely to fill the gap. Miss Martin did her warbling both solo and in duo
with Crosby, her best tune being the oldie Ta-Ra-Ra
Boom De-Ay. Even this was somewhat spoiled by an over-elaborate
arrangement, part of the tune being done in conga rhythm.
Borge, a regular
after a couple of auspicious guest shots, presents a style of comedy new to
American listeners. It’s rather intellectual, a bit on the screwball side, and
definitely worthwhile. Borge has been in the country only 10 months, still
speaks with an accent, but is very easily understood. His best bit on
Thursday’s show was his delivery of “phonetic pronunciation,” a hot rendition
preceded by a pseudo-scholastic explanation.
Rest of the show
was par—which is good. Crosby in usual good voice and manner, John Scott
Trotter superbly handles the musical direction, and Jerry Lester okay with the
gags. Guests were Wingy Manone, who has been a frequent visitor on Kraft
lately, and Dusolina Giannini, opera star. They gave out with their diverse
talents, Miss Giannini warbling beautifully and Wingy blowing his horn. Best
use of the guests, however, was a sketch allegedly tracing the life of Manone.
Crosby was narrator for this piece, with Manone chiming in with jive talk. A
very clever script.
(Paul Ackerman, The Billboard, January 10, 1942)
I Was
Fired, So Why All The Bunk? Asks Miss Boswell
Connie Boswell’s
frankness in newspaper interviews during her current theatre tour has
disconcerted the advertising executives of the Kraft Cheese Company. When
interviewed on her various stands, Miss Boswell has tagged as ‘silly’,
announcements put out by the account that she was on leave of absence from its
Bing Crosby programme. ‘I don’t know’, she has retorted, ‘why they put out such
stuff. To put it plainly, I was fired. They wanted Mary Martin in
my place, so they hired her.’
(Variety,
18th March 1942)
January 5, Monday.
Bing and Bob Hope lunch at Paramount with Jimmy Demaret and Fred Corcoran.
Later, Bing holds a party for his
golfing friends.
Bing Gives Stag
Fete for Golfing Pals
Since many of his golf
enthusiastic friends will probably have to abandon their favorite sport in
deference to national defense, Bing Crosby decided that one big get together
would be very much in order. Hence the crooner’s stag dinner party at the “It”
Café, where he entertained for Bob Hope, Fred Corcoran, Tommy Penny, Jimmy
Demaret, “Jug” McSpaden, Jimmy Hines, Barney Clark, Jack Burke, Joe Turnessa,
Jim Turnessa, Jack Clark and Pat Cici. Tall tales of the golf links and
wisecracks naturally high spotted the dinner dialogue. At the request of
several servicemen who were present, Bing raised his celebrated voice in song,
dedicating his tunes to Lieutenant Commander Gillett’s winsome daughter, Mary
Donna, who was sharing a ringside table with agent Joe Hyatt.
(Los Angeles Examiner, January 11, 1942)
January 8, Thursday. (3:30–6:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his evening Kraft broadcast in NBC Studio B. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) The Kraft Music Hall broadcast. Bing’s guests include Cesar Romero.
Proceedings at the “Music Hall” will take on a definite military flavor
with the appearance of Major John S. Winch of the United States Marine corps as
one of Bing Crosby's guests when the program is aired over NBC-KTBS tonight at
8 o'clock. Major Winch will introduce a solemn note into the general levity
with a short discussion on what to do when and if various and sundry bombs
start raining down. Also due for a hearty welcome is Cesar Romero, tall, dark
leading man of many a Hollywood production currently appearing in “Weekend in
Havana.” Starting the New Year with a slightly changed cast of regulars,
Maestro Crosby will be aided and abetted by sharp-tongued Jerry Lester, and the
new comic sensation from Denmark, Victor Borge. The latter plans to put his
talents to work with some personal impressions of the manufacture of steel.
Bing's musical aids will be songstress Mary Martin, John Scott Trotter and his
band, and the Music Maids and Hal. Ken Carpenter will do the announcing as
usual.
(The Shreveport Times, 8th January, 1942)
January 11,
Sunday. Bing and Dixie are at St. Ambrose Church, Fairfax Avenue, Hollywood,
for the christening of Johnny Burke’s twins, Rory and Regan. Bing acts as
godfather to Rory while David Butler is godfather to Regan. Others in
attendance are Bob and Dolores Hope, Pat and Eloise O’Brien, Dr. Arnold
Stevens, Sammy Cahn, Jack Mass, Barney Dean, John Scott Trotter, Phil Silvers,
and Skitch Henderson.
January 15, Thursday. (2:30–6:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his evening Kraft broadcast in NBC Studio B. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Robert Young.
For the second
week in a row the “Music Hall” entertains the military as it hits the ether
tonight at 9 o’clock over WSB. Bing Crosby and his cohorts will welcome an antiaircraft
officer from the harbour defences at Fort McArthur. Also slated to appear on
the program is an old friend, Robert Young, who is currently starring in the
film “H.M. Pulham, Esq.” Continuing the procedure of delving into the serious
for a moment or two, Bing plans to ask the Army officer to tell what he can
about air raid precautions. Due to Army regulations, however, the officer’s
name is to be withheld till program time.
(The Atlanta Constitution, 15th January,
1942)
January 16, Friday. The film actress Carole Lombard (33) is killed in a plane crash in the mountains 35 miles west of Las Vegas.
January 18,
Sunday. Bing records three songs with Woody Herman and his Woodchoppers in
Hollywood, including “Deep in the Heart of Texas.” This song reaches the No. 3
spot in the charts, spending a total of nine weeks in the Billboard Best-Seller lists. (3:00–3:30 p.m.) Bing appears in the
Silver Theater production of “Weekend in Havana” on CBS. The director is Conrad Nagel and the program is
sponsored by the International Silver Company.
Bing Crosby actor, singer and turfman, has the lead in
a radio adaptation of the recent motion picture success, “Weekend in Havana,”
on the “Silver Theatre” broadcast over CBS-KWKH at 5 o’clock this afternoon.
Crosby appears as a wage slave in the employ of a
steamship firm. One of the company’s cruise ships fails to complete a Caribbean
holiday jaunt and when the beefs of the disappointed passengers attain a
mournful crescendo Crosby is dispatched southward to adjust matters.
With a lone exception, all the passengers sign a
waiver. The single conscientious objector
- how did you guess it was a pretty girl? – insists on a trip to Havana.
Crosby takes her there by plane, plans an exciting stay for her and even arranges
a tropical romance with the aid of a gigolo and a reasonably small amount of
cash,
There are repercussions when the adamant passenger and
the gigolo’s girl friend tangle,
It wouldn’t be cricket to give away the finish – but put
your money on a happy ending.
(The Shreveport Times, January 18, 1942)
Bing Crosby (Decca 4162)
“Deep in the Heart of Texas” -
“Let’s All Meet at My House”
Like a prairie
fire, the clap-hands ritual for the Texas tune has made it catch on with a
blaze. Now that Bing Crosby has added his vocal stamp, it looms even bigger on
the waxes. However, Bing does not monopolize the side; he limits himself to two
short choruses at the beginning and end. Bridging the vocals is some exciting
jamming by Woody Herman and His Woodchoppers, with the biggest kicks rolling
out of the trumpet’s hot bell. For the flipover Bing takes out a gang song by
Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke. Basically, however, it’s a dull song, and
even giving a chorus to Woody Herman and Muriel Lane doesn’t make it any
brighter. Full Herman band supports, pacing it at a moderate tempo after Crosby
takes an ad lib verse at the edge. There are big phono possibilities in “Deep
in the Heart of Texas.” The clap-hands ditty has already begun to catch on, and
Crosby’s entry is a cinch to corner much of the play.
(Billboard,
February 28, 1942)
Bing Crosby (Decca 18316)
I’m Thinking Tonight of My
Blue Eyes—FT; V.
With the hillbilly classics
clicking in circles usually reserved for the Tin Pan Alley outpourings, Pistol Packin’ Mama being the most
recent case in point, a major effort is being made to sell the general public
on the popular appeal qualities of A. P. Carter’s I’m Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes. Originally released last year, with
recordings made then by popular artists as well as by such Western stars as
Jimmie Davis and Denver Darling, the Decca label has recently reissued an early
Bing Crosby interpretation of the song. Instead of the outdoor setting, Crosby
has Woody Herman and his Woodchoppers, a small jam band, to provide the
rhythmic background in heavy swing style. A sentimental song of blighted love,
Crosby gives sympathetic vocal treatment to the lyrics. Save for a single band interlude, Crosby
carries the entire side to sing of the gal who broke his heart and left him.
Side is set in a bright and lively tempo which should widen its appeal for the
youngsters as well, not forgetting that Woody Herman’s rhythmic urge gives it
an attractive modern setting.
(Billboard, August 7, 1943)
January 19,
Monday. Bing records four songs with Dick McIntyre and his Harmony Hawaiians.
“Sing Me a Song of the Islands” charts briefly in the No. 22 spot.
Sing Me a Song of the Islands—Remember Hawaii
Not since Crosby gave out
with Sweet Leilani has he waxed so
sentimental over the Pacific paradise. The A side is the title song of the Song of the Islands movie, while the
flipover stems from the Pearl Harbor incident without departing from the
tradition of steel guitars and soft moonlight. To heighten the songs, Crosby is
accompanied by Dick Mclntire and His Hawaiians, both instrumentally and
vocally. Crosby sings them both in a soft and dreamy fashion, taking each in a
slow tempo. Hawaii has a deep
nostalgic note, Meredith Willson fashioning the tune as a counter-melody to the
traditional theme of the Hawaiian guitar. Harry (Sweet Leilani) Owens and Mack Gordon provide a melody that is
equally soothing for the picture song. Crosby, of course, is equally potent in making
both sides stand out. While neither side packs the appeal of “Sweet Leilani”,
both stack up high. “Song of the Islands” has the advantage of its picture
identification, but with Crosby in top form for both sides, music machine
operators will play safe by offering both sides for the play.
(Billboard, March 7, 1942)
January 22, Thursday. (3:30–6:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his evening Kraft broadcast in NBC Studio B. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Major Thomas S. Power and Lucille Ball.
The wise-cracking film
actress Lucille Ball, will be back in the Music Hall tonight at 7 o’clock. She
will indulge in a bit of verbal sparring with Bing Crosby and his pals. Continuing
the policy of the last few weeks of inviting an officer in the defence forces
to explain the branch in which he serves, Bing will present Major Thomas Power,
assistant director of training for the West Coast Air Corps Training Centre.
(Calgary Herald, 22nd January, 1942)
January 24,
Saturday. Records four songs with John Scott Trotter and his Orchestra. “Miss
You” peaks at No. 9 in the charts during its 8 week stay. (8:15–9:15 p.m.) Bing
guests with many other stars in a radio show “Hollywood March of Dimes of the
Air,” which is broadcast on all networks coast-to-coast. Bing sings ‘Song of
Freedom’. (The “March of Dimes” campaign was originated by Eddie Cantor who
told people that if they would send ten cents to the President, it would help
find a cure for polio).
January 25, Sunday.
(12:30 p.m.) Bing, Bob Hope, George Raft, Bill Frawley, and Ray Milland play in
a Red Cross benefit softball game at the Paramount Cubs field, Pico and
Overland Boulevards, against the Arlington girls All-Stars. The result is a 8-8 tie. Later, Bing and his
sons entertain troops at Mines Field, Inglewood.
Before an enthusiastic
soldier audience, Lindsay Crosby, 3-year-old son of film star Bing Crosby made
his public debut as a crooner last Sunday and got just as much applause as his famous
dad. The little boy, youngest of the Crosby tribe, stepped out unabashed upon
the platform of an Inglewood auditorium and went straight into the words of
“Popeye, the Sailor Man”. When he finished, the soldiers practically brought
down the house, with applause and Lindsay, usually called ‘Lin’, had to respond
with two encores. Prior to that, the Army boys had been entertained by Crosby
senior and song writers Johnny Burke and Jimmy Van Heusen for almost two hours.
The Paramount star sang all the numbers from his new picture, Holiday Inn, and then continued on almost to exhaust his
repertoire. Another of Crosby’s sons, Gary, was a proud onlooker, but he left
the singing to his dad and to his younger brother.
(Harrison Carroll, Los Angeles Evening Herald Express,
January 27, 1942)
January 26,
Monday. (8:00–10:30 a.m.) Bing records four songs with Victor Young and his
Orchestra, including “The Lamplighter’s Serenade.” This song charts briefly at
the No. 23 mark.
Mandy Is Two (Brunswick 03312)
Treating it with the simple
tunefulness for which it calls, Bing makes a most fascinating little job of the
song. And the disc is none the less desirable for being coupled with Mr. C’s
version of the slow, sentimental “Miss You,” another American success, which is
also doing quite nicely here.
(Melody Maker, May 30, 1942)
BING CROSBY (Decca 4249)
Lamplighter’s Serenade — FT;
V. Mandy Is Two — FT;
These Crosby sides bring
plenty of vocal enjoyment. Lamplighters
Serenade (4349) is sung as a slow ballad but in rollicking fashion that
adds to its brightness. Victor Young conducts. Flipover, Mandy Is Two is one of the better kiddie songs of current vintage,
and Bing’s singing may bring it the boost it needs for the recognition it
deserves. John Scott Trotter matches the song mood instrumentally. Bing Crosby
is always a good bet for phono operators, and these sides afford much material
for the boxes. “Lamplighter’s Serenade” is climbing in song favor and Crosby’s
record rates as a favored disk. If “Mandy Is Two” takes hold with the public,
Crosby’s record will go far.
(Billboard, March 28, 1942)
BING CROSBY (Decca 18391)
When the White Azaleas Start
Blooming — FT; V. Nobody’s Darlin’ But Mine — W; V.
Donning vocal spurs and saddle,
Bing gets into a Gene Autry groove for these two sides and again proves as
potent with the ditties of the tall-grass country as with the June-Moon
melodies. Songs are hillbilly all the way and so is his singing. And while
popular appeal is of necessity limited, fact remains that such American folk
songs are finding increasing favor. With Crosby emphasizing such song
characters, and with the public already weaned on “You Are My Sunshine” and
“Deep in the Heart of Texas,” these cowboy yodeling classics may yet come into
their own. “White Azaleas,” by Bob Miller, is a cowboy sweetheart song with the
romantic setting in the wide open spaces. Set in the slow ballad tempo, Crosby
sings the opening stanza. Solo trombone, sliding sweetly, starts a second chorus,
fading at the half-way mark in favor of Bing to sing it out. Even more steeped
in the style of some whistle-stop grange hall is Jimmie Davis’s “Nobody’s
Darlin’,” with a patter of love and devotion even to death. In the fast waltz
tempo, Crosby sings the verse and chorus from scratch, continuing the verse and
chorus to complete the story to complete the side. Sandwiched in between are
two delightful musical interludes. First, there is a hot trumpet chorus in the
three-quarter time, and then to set the stage for Crosby’s return, the piano
and guitar beat out another chorus in Western style.
For the hill
districts, both disks are dynamite. And in the big cities, where they like
songs with sentiment, Bing is bound to corral a flock of coins with “When the White
Azaleas Start Blooming.”
(Billboard, July 4, 1942)
January 27, Tuesday.
(7:00–9:15 p.m.) Bing records “Blues in the Night,” “Moonlight Cocktail,” and
“I Don’t Want to Walk Without You” with John Scott Trotter and his Orchestra.
The latter song enjoys hit parade success reaching the No. 9 spot.
BING CROSBY (Decca 4183)
Miss You — FT; V. Blues in
the Night — FT; V.
Here is a strong pairing for
Crosby, sure to gain attention. The Miss
You revival is tailor-made for the Crosby pipes, slow, melodious and
properly schmaltzy. Almost the whole side is Crosby, taking plenty of time to
sell the words and selling them perfectly, with, expert aid from John Scott
Trotter’s violins. Only instrumental break is a few bars of fine trombone,
after which Bing comes back to wind up the second chorus. A real winner.
Crosby’s entry in the Blues in the Night
sweepstakes is important because it is Crosby. The parts handled by him are
characteristically fine, but portions are weakened by switching the vocalizing
to the Music Maids.
“Miss You” is on its way to
hit status on the boxes. The Crosby side will hasten its rise. Hard to figure
how it can miss.
(Billboard, March 21, 1942)
Coming back to popular ballads,
two more new ones which have been hits in America—and this time there is some
real justification for it—are “Moonlight Cocktail” and Hoagy (“Star Dust”)
Carmichael’s latest effort, “Skylark”. Bing Crosby does these respectively on
Brunswick 03321 and 03326, coupled respectively with the already well-known “I
Don’t Want to Walk Without You, Baby” and
“Humpty-Dumpty Heart”. All four sides are good examples of the greatest crooner
since the voice of Adam first knocked Eve horizontal.
(Melody Maker, July 4, 1942)
January 28, Wednesday.
Bing golfs at Lakeside and has a 73. A number of the professionals due to play
in Bing’s tournament at Rancho Santa Fe, including Sam Snead and Jimmy Demaret,
also play at Lakeside.
January 29,
Thursday. (3:30–6:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his evening Kraft broadcast in NBC
Studio B. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) In response to a request from General MacArthur in
behalf of his soldiers, Bing sends the Kraft
Music Hall radio show by shortwave to the American forces besieged in the
Philippines at Corregidor. He dedicates “The Caissons Go Rolling Along” to the
Philippine defenders. Bing’s guests include Sam Snead, Igor Gorin, and
Madeleine Carroll.
Bing Crosby got
a telegram from the office of the Coordinator of Information (Colonel William J.
Donovan): “General MacArthur and Brig. Gen. Akin over private circuit have
wired us specifically asking for you to broadcast to the men in the Philippines
at Bataan Peninsula”—by short wave—“embracing, if possible, in the script that
you hope the boys gallantly fighting are listening. . . . You might, if the
policy O.K., the sponsor and agency permit, dedicate one of your songs to the
soldiers.”
So last Thursday
at 9 p.m. the crooner with the deceptively loafing air and unsinkable savvy put
on the first request show for the U.S. Front. He walked through it as usual,
easing around the Hollywood studio in a blue slack suit, looking, without his
movie toupee, like a rapid-fire kewpie. For MacArthur’s artillerymen he sang
‘Those Caissons Go Rolling Along’—and added “those 155s keep dishing it out.”
“Here in the
Kraft Music Hall” said Bing, a little short of breath, “we consider ourselves
honored to be able to get through to you men in the Philippines with a few
tunes, a few wheezes and maybe the general feeling of what’s going on here in
the States.” Madeleine Carroll contributed the sweet (but on Bataan, rather
unavailing) information that she was reserving all her dates for service men.
The Crosby find
of the season, Danish Comedian Victor Borge, produced some delayed-action gags
at the piano. Bing got back in the big American groove with a smoky rendering
of ‘Blues in the Night’ (“From Natchez to Mobile, from Memphis to St. Joe,
wherever the four winds blow, etc.”). It was a pretty good hour and it worked up
to “I Pledge Allegiance to the Flag” sung by Igor Gorin. Transcribed, the whole
thing went over on KGEI’s short wave next morning early. Most homelike part of
the program for MacArthur’s men were the Kraft commercials, which the sponsors
left unchanged. Sample:
“These are days
when good nutrition takes on a new importance. It’s downright patriotic to know
your vitamin alphabet . . . and to see that your three meals . . . are well
balanced. America must be strong —Americans must be strong!”
(Time magazine, February 9, 1942)
January 30–February 1,
Friday–Sunday. Holds his last golf tournament at Rancho Santa Fe and
about
250 pros and amateurs take part supervised for the first time by the
Professional Golfers' Association. It is now known as the
National Pro-Amateur Championship. Bing films
Don’t Hook Now (a thirty-two-minute short on golf) during the tournament. In
this, he is seen singing “Tomorrow’s My Lucky Day” and many of the top golfers
are also featured. At 3:45 p.m. on the first day, Bing, Bob Hope, Sam Snead and
Ben Hogan take part in a broadcast interview over station
February 2, Monday. Films a guest spot in My Favorite Blonde with Bob Hope at Paramount.
[Bing
Crosby and Bob Hope] were playing golf one Sunday. Bing mentioned he was free the next afternoon. Bob Hope
mentioned that he had to be on hand at the studio for a big scene, involving
extras for “My Favorite Blonde.” Result: Crosby,
in a Puckish mood, showed up among the extras.
(Variety, February 11, 1942)
February 5,
Thursday. (3:30–6:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his evening Kraft broadcast in NBC
Studio B. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Wingy Manone and John Garfield. He
then goes off on a tour to raise funds for the American Red Cross and Mickey
Rooney deputizes for him on the Kraft show.
John Garfield of the movies, Lieut. Harold B. Roberts of the U. S.
marine commission and Wingy Manone will be guests of Bing Crosby on the Music
Hall program.
(The Austin American, 5th February, 1942)
February 6,
Friday. Bing arrives in Phoenix, Arizona with his son Gary. Starting at 1:40 p.m., he takes part
in the first round of the Western Open Golf Championship at the Phoenix Country
Club where he tears his trousers during play. Playing with Jimmy Demaret and Ed
Dudley, Bing has an eighty-three. Bob Hope is supposed to play with them but is
absent ill with tonsillitis. Bing and Gary stay at the Camelback Inn, Scottsdale.
February 7,
Saturday. (Starting at 10:50 a.m.) Bing plays in the
second round of the championship and this time Bob Hope is able to play with
Bing, Demaret, and Dudley.
February 8, Sunday. (Starting at 10:20 a.m.) The final round of the championship. Bing plays with Sam
Snead, Bob Goldwater, and Robert Walker.
February 9, Monday. Plays 27 holes of golf at the Phoenix Country Club. At a Phoenix night club, Bing is appointed as Honorary
Director of the World’s Championship Rodeo Committee by the Junior Chamber of
Commerce.
February 10, Tuesday. ‘Chattanooga Choo Choo’ by the Glenn Miller Orchestra has become
the first million selling record for 15 years and to commemorate this, Glenn
Miller is presented with the first ever gold record on his CBS radio program by
RCA Victor.
February 11, Wednesday.
Bing and Bob Hope are in Dallas, Texas where they take part in a golf
exhibition at the Brook Hollow Club with other celebrities (including Johnny
Weissmuller) and thirteen professional golfers to raise funds for the American
Red Cross. Starting at 2:00 p.m., a crowd of 7,000 watches Bing (who shoots a
seventy-four) and Howard Creel beat Jimmy Demaret and Mrs. Merryl Israel two
and one. It is said that the crowd “was so unruly it was a miracle Crosby,
Hope, and Weissmuller weren’t hurt.” Bing and Bob entertain the crowd after the
golf and Bing sings “Home on the Range” and “Deep in the Heart of Texas.” Bing
and Bob go on to a club called the Log Cabin which is owned by their friend,
Jack Pepper, where they both entertain. Hope and Weissmuller then fly to
Houston while Bing elects to travel there by train.
February 12,
Thursday. Bing arrives in Houston by train during the early morning and checks
in at the Rice Hotel. At 1:30 p.m. Bing, Bob Hope, and Johnny Weissmuller play
in a golf match at the Brae Burn Country Club in Houston, Texas, before a crowd
of 10,000 and raise $2,250 for the
February 13, Friday. Bing and Bob Hope play in a foursome with Byron Nelson and
Jimmy Demaret at the Willow Springs course in San Antonio, Texas, to raise
funds for the American Red Cross. Bing has a seventy-seven. The Texas Open is
also taking place at the course and the match attracts a crowd of 8,000.
February 14, Saturday. Plays with Byron Nelson and
Jimmy Demaret again as they compete in the Texas Open at Willow Springs. Bing has an 83 for a 160 total.
February 16,
Monday. Leaves San Antonio at 9:30 a.m. to drive to Corpus Christi where he, together with Johnny Weissmuller, Ed
Dudley and Jimmy Demaret, register for
conscription
to the armed forces under the Selective Service Act at the USO building.
The event is captured by press photographers. In the afternoon,
Bing plays in an exhibition match with Johnny Weissmuller, Ed
Dudley, Jimmy Demaret and Sam Schneider at Corpus Christi Golf and
Country Club. The match is a benefit for the Professional Golfers
Association War Relief Fund and it is estimated that there are 1500
spectators. Bing leaves by train at 7:30 p.m.
A consensus of biographers
holds he was turned down by Henry L. Stimson, an influential figure in American
politics. He had served in the cabinets of Presidents Taft, Theodore Roosevelt
and Herbert Hoover and, in 1940, FDR asked him to come out of retirement to be
Secretary of War. A formidable figure, Stimson was the classic “old
curmudgeon,” a hard-line lawyer who later would influence President Truman to
use the atomic bomb. He was 75 and unimpressed by celebrities. Stimson
apparently advised The Singer his enlistment would be chaotic and there were
ways in which he might better serve. He suggested propaganda broadcasts to the
Germans among whom Crosby enjoyed prewar popularity.
This version originally came
from Cork O’Keefe who claimed he got it first hand from Crosby. According to
O’Keefe, Crosby told him Stimson had been brusque to the point of warning if he
tried to enlist, in any branch of service, Stimson would see he was found
unfit. O’Keefe said Crosby had come to Washington excited about meeting with
Stimson and expecting he would be given an assignment, perhaps a commission.
However unassuming he appeared to be—and generally was—he was also accustomed
to getting his way. The treatment at Stimson’s hands profoundly affected him.
O’Keefe quoted Stimson saying
to Crosby: “Do you realize what a problem this would be for us?”
Crosby did not.
He saw others who would be
called “super stars” today queuing up without trouble. Clark Gable, Tyrone
Power, Robert Taylor, James Stewart, Glenn Ford all went into service and he
could not accept the fact FDR considered him alone too big to handle.
Arthur Marx, one of Bob
Hope’s biographers, believes commissions, as second lieutenants, were approved
by the Navy for Hope and Crosby before Stimson, acting on orders from FDR,
quashed them. If this did occur it is understandable from Roosevelt’s point of
view. Hope and Crosby entering the Navy together would have been tumultuous and
might even have seemed to make light of what were frightening times. FDR wisely
forestalled “The Road To Tokyo.”
The rejection meant little to
Hope but altered Crosby forever.
“The whole war thing and his
non-participation troubled him deeply,” wrote Michael Brooks. Dave Dexter, Jr.,
who had been a record reviewer and became a producer at Capitol Records,
described the change in Crosby as “shocking.”
Why it should have meant so
much is embedded in the tenor of the times and the principles of patriotism
that governed his generation. For all its horror, he recognized the war as the
Olympian occurrence of his lifetime, a grim parade but one he did not wish to
pass him by. His brother, Bob, believed he was never able to convince himself
entertaining troops was an adequate substitution. “He had always been a
participant, not a spectator in the game of life,” Bob Crosby said.
(Troubadour, page 270)
February 18,
Wednesday. Bing has returned to Phoenix, Arizona, and plays a practice round of
golf at the Phoenix Country Club, returning a 76. He again stays at the Camelback Inn.
February 19,
Thursday. Starting at 1:30 p.m., Bing plays in a qualifying round for the
Phoenix Country Club’s Invitational Match Play Tournament with Johnny Dawson,
Bob Goldwater, and Dr. Payne Palmer.
The thirteenth annual
invitation tournament of the Phoenix Golf and Country Club, now underway, finds
a pair of Lakeside golfers in the forefront of the firing. While Bob Goldwater
of Phoenix, set the pace with a sparkling 71, the worthy Bing Crosby, of
Lakeside, tied Chet Goldberg Jr. for second place with a 72...And then, believe
it or not, we find Lakeside’s Johnny Dawson posting a 74....This, of course,
being in the first day’s qualifying play. The surprising feature of the report
is that Dawson, who topped an all star field of professionals to win individual
honors in Bing Crosby’s tournament at Rancho Santa Fe—trailed Bing, himself, by
two strokes, in the Phoenix affair. At that, a tournament round of 72 is fine
golf for Senor Crosby.
(Darsie L. Darsie, writing in
the Los Angeles Evening Herald Express,
February 21, 1942)
Meanwhile, Mickey Rooney hosts the Kraft Music
Hall show.
Rooney’s air shot was characterized by his usual enthusiasm and ebullience, but despite his undoubted name value much of his film appeal is lost over the ether. Fact is that Crosby, in addition to his top singing chores, has managed to give KMH an informal charm that is beyond the capabilities of most emcees. Rooney cannot hope to equal this performance. As for Rooney’s warbling—well, the J. Walter Thompson agency did a very good thing by booking baritone Igor Gorin as one of the guests.
(Billboard, February 21, 1942)
February 21, Saturday. In a match beginning at 1:15 p.m., Bing beats local golfer Keith Downs two and one in the first round of the match play event.
February 22,
Sunday. The invitational tournament continues. In the morning, Bing beats Johnny
Dawson one up on the twentieth green. In the semi-final, Bing loses to Tom
Lambie at the twenty-first hole. Lambie goes on to win the tournament. Bing
catches the last train back to Hollywood.
February 23, Monday. Reports to Paramount Studios to rehearse the songs for Road to Morocco. He is accompanied on the piano by Charlie LaVere.
February 24, Tuesday.
(9:00 a.m.–12:15 p.m.) Records songs for his forthcoming film Road to Morocco at Paramount Studios.
Elsewhere in New York City, the Voice of
America has its first broadcast.
February 26, Thursday. (3:00–6:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his evening Kraft broadcast in NBC Studio B. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing returns to the Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. The guests are Hank Luisetti, Paul Robeson and Allen Jenkins.
The big news about the “Music Hall” airing over NBC-KTBS tonight at 8
o’clock is that Bing Crosby will resume his emcee duties after an absence from
two shows. While he was away, Bingston was participating in a series of golf
tourneys for the benefit of the Red Cross. On hand to welcome Bing back will be
Paul Robeson, Film Actor Alan Jenkins (sic) and Hank Luisetti, one of the
greatest basketball stars of all time.
(The Shreveport
Times, 26th February, 1942)
Returning
to KMH, Bing welcomed back Paul Robeson, and instead of vanishing during
Robeson's numbers, he stood off to the side, arms crossed, and listened intently
as the bass baritone sang “Balm in Gilead” and “It Ain’t Necessarily So.” Bing
followed him to the microphone with “Miss You.” That month he told the magazine
Music and Rhythm that Robeson “thrills
me right to my boots every time I hear him sing; he handles his voice as though
he were playing a mighty organ.”
(Gary Giddins, Swinging on a Star, Page 183)
February 27–April 30. Films Road to Morocco with Bob Hope
and Dorothy Lamour. Anthony Quinn has a featured role. The director is David
Butler with musical direction by Victor Young.
The public knows that there’s
going to be a lot of clowning in a Road
picture, that nothing is premeditated, that anything can happen. And everything
does happen. Even the animals in a Road
picture get into a nutsy mood. In one scene in The Road to Morocco we were working with a camel. As I walked up to
the camel’s head, he turned and spat in my eye.
Dave Butler, the director, said, “Print that. We’ll leave it
in.” So it was in the finished film. There may have been those who thought that
spitting sequence was faked. It wasn’t.
(Bob Hope, Have Tux, Will Travel, page 141)
February 28, Saturday. Plays in the Lakeside Wednesday team as they defeat the Sunday team 16 to 8. Bing and his partner Guy Hanson win their match with Bing having a 74.
March 1, Sunday. Bing, Bob Hope and Babe Ruth take part in a fund-raising golf match at the Sacramento Municipal Golf Course for the American Red Cross. Hope and Babe Ruth beat Crosby and California Gov. Culbert L. Olson 1 up. Bing and Bob Hope also put on shows for the enlisted men at Mather and McClelland Fields, just out of Sacramento.
We
were taking the train -
it was The Lark, a very famous and elegant train in those days, from
Glendale
up the Coast. Babe’s wife came to the station with him and took us
aside. She told us Babe hadn't been feeling well, that he went to bed
early and we shouldn’t expect him to engage in any social activity. We
said, fine,
we’d look out for him.
That
night we drifted into
the club car and soon Babe had a bottle of bourbon and some cigars. At
midnight
we went to bed and Babe was still there. At one, I got up to check and
Babe was still there. At seven, he knocked on the door and wanted to
know the day's schedule. His head hadn't hit the pillow. We got to
Sacramento, had
breakfast with the governor and then played a round of golf. Babe had
never
changed clothes.
(Bing Crosby, in an interview with Joe Gergen of Newsday)
March 5,
Thursday. (11:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m., 3:30–6:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his evening
Kraft broadcast in NBC Studio B. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Cornelius Warmerdam, Jack Teagarden and
Donald Crisp.
“The Waiter, the Porter and the Upstairs Maid.” Bing Crosby, Jack
Teagarden and Mary Martin get together in that catchy tune; other guests are
Donald Crisp, who won the Academy Award for his performance in “How Green Was
My Valley,” and Cornelius Warmerdam, California school teacher and ex-Fresno
College star who is only man ever to pole vault more than 15 feet.
(The Birmingham News, 5th March, 1942)
March 8, Sunday.
(7:30–8:00 p.m.) Takes part in the Gulf Screen Guild version of Too Many Husbands with Bob Hope and Hedy
Lamarr on CBS. Bing and Bob plug their film Road
to Morocco. Oscar Bradley leads the orchestra and Roger Pryor is the mc.
Three
of the most popular stars of the screen and of the radio – Bing Crosby, Bob
Hope and Hedy Lamarr – were gathered by
the Screen Guild to the mike last night (WABC-7:30). They appeared in an
adaptation of the comedy film, “Too Many Husbands.” The boys and the gal had a
good time and so did many listeners. With both Bing and Bob on hand, the gags
flew thicker than rumors in wartime. Hedy, abandoning for the once her smoldering
characterizations, came forth a bit on the brittle side.
(Ben
Gross, Daily News [New York], March
9, 1942)
March 12, Thursday. The U.S. withdraws from the Philippines. General
MacArthur says “I shall return.” (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing hosts the Kraft Music Hall broadcast and his
guests are Mary I. Barber, Wingy Manone and Pat O’Brien.
Miss
Mary I. Barber, whom Titusville still claims as its own, although she has not resided
here for many years, talked over a nation-wide hook-up last night about her
work as food consultant in the Quartermaster Corps of the Army… She had a
particular message for American mothers telling them that their sons were the
best fed soldiers in the world… Miss Barber received an impressive introduction,
Bing Crosby, the master of ceremonies saying she is “one of
the few women in the world not in the Army but of the Army” and that she is “the
only woman in history who ever filled the empty stomach the army moves on.”
(Titusville
Herald (P.A.), March 13, 1942)
March 13, Friday.
(7:45 p.m. to 9:45 p.m.) Bing makes two records with Mary Martin in Hollywood,
“Lily of Laguna” and “Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie.” John Scott Trotter and
his Orchestra provide the accompaniment.
March 14, Saturday. Bing and Dixie dine at the
Biarritz Restaurant.
March 16, Monday.
(5:00–8:00 p.m.) Recording in Hollywood with John Scott Trotter and his
Orchestra.
BING CROSBY (Decca 18354)
Just Plain Lonesome — FT; V.
Got the Moon in My Pocket — FT; V.
It was not so long ago that
Bing Crosby had a major hit when he sang about “a pocket full of dreams.”
Smacking of the same song flavor Bing now has a “dream up my sleeve” and the
Moon in My Pocket, Written by Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke from the score
of My Favorite Spy, this rhythmic and
lilting ditty has everything it takes to duplicate the success of his earlier
click. Taking it in a lively tempo and singing it in the same gay and carefree
spirit, Crosby gives out for the opening and closing choruses, with John Scott
Trotter’s crew cutting up the middle refrain. Companion piece is also from the
same picture score. And as the title indicates, it’s a “lonesome” song with the
sad and melancholy theme carried to the extreme. Whether the public will take
to a tear-provoking tune in these times when songs are hardly needed to
emphasize a state of sadness is a matter of conjecture. In any event, it’s an
excellent sob song and Crosby is an old hand in cutting it out. With only to
guitar accompaniments—shades of the late Eddie Lang —Crosby sings the verse in free
style. Band joins in on the chorus with the tempo set at a slow beat. Music
makers pick it up again at the last half of another chorus and bow out in favor
of Crosby for the finish line. The combination of the song and Crosby for the
chanting makes “Got the Moon in My Pocket” a natural for the phones for
literally mint sales with the side.
(Billboard, June 6, 1942)
BING CROSBY (Decca 18360)
Mary’s a Grand Old Name — FT;
V. The Waltz of Memory — W; V.
Bing Crosby is particularly
effective for freshening up the favorites of yesterday. And that’s what he does
for the Mary song. It’s the old George M. Cohan classic, and since it is
featured in the much-talked-about Yankee
Doodle Dandy picture Crosby’s disking is a most timely tune. In the vocal
style of a typical song-and-dance man of old, the tempo moderately paced,
Crosby sings the first chorus, whistles a second, fades in favor of John Scott
Trotter’s accompanying orchestra cutting a third and returns for a fourth
chorus to finish it out. Crosby takes on romantic glow for the slow waltz on
the Memory side. It’s a pretty melody by John Burger, with appropriate lyrics
by Pierre Norman. Impression it will make on the public will depend largely on
plugging, the song being far from a “natural.” Crosby takes the chorus right
from the edge. The soft strings and woodwinds start a second refrain, and
Crosby returns at the halfway mark.
In view of the
fact that the song is being featured in Jimmy Cagney’s Yankee Doodle Dandy flicker, music box operators have a made-to-order
sale-catcher in “Mary’s a Grand Old Name.”
(Billboard, June 13, 1942)
March 18,
Wednesday. Bob Hope’s film My Favorite
Blonde is released. Madeleine Carroll is Bob’s costar and Bing makes a
cameo appearance in a Hope film for the first time.
[The producer and director]
permitted themselves still another conceit when Bing Crosby is seen idling at a
picnic bus station. Crosby directs the lammister Hope and Miss Carroll towards
the picnic grounds. As Hope gives Crosby one of those takes, he muses, “No, it
can’t be.” That’s all, and it’s one of the best laughs in a progressively funny
film.
(Variety, March 18, 1942)
March 19,
Thursday. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Lester V. Berry, Allen Jenkins and Nigel Bruce.
Bing Crosby’s guests at 6
over
(Zuma Palmer, Hollywood Citizen News,
March 19, 1942)
March 24,
Tuesday. Robert E. Ray is arrested in the offices of music publishers Shapiro,
Bernstein, & Co. in New York. He is attempting to impersonate Everett
Crosby and he is charged with forgery having opened a bank account in the name
of H. L. Crosby Inc.
March 25, Wednesday.
Bob Crosby’s wife, June, files a divorce action against him. They later
reunite.
March 26,
Thursday. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) The Kraft
Music Hall
broadcast. Bing’s guests include John E. 'Deems' Reardon (National
League umpire), Jack Mayhew (saxophonist), The Ink Spots and Robert
Preston.
Bing Crosby will play host to Robert Preston, screen actor who is
winning acclaim for his performance in Reap the Wild Wind, during the
Music Hall program tonight.
(The Sacramento Bee, March 26, 1942)
March 28, Saturday.
(6:00–6:45 p.m.) Bing appears on the Lucky Strike “Your Hit Parade”
radio program following heavy demand from servicemen.
Under protest, Kraft gives him special dispensation. Joan Edwards also
appears on the show. Bing is patched into the program from Hollywood
and sings three songs: "How About You"; "Blues in the Night" and "Rose
O'Day". The show is re-broadcast at 9 p.m. Pacific.
April 1, Wednesday. Dixie undergoes an appendectomy at Cedars of Lebanon hospital Variety gives an update re Bing's recording of "Silent Night."
Another
Bing Crosby philanthropy came to light last week when it was revealed that all
royalties from the sale of the Decca's double-decker, ‘Silent Night’ and ‘Adeste
Fideles,’ are used to finance a unit playing the camps. Platter sale, which
gets brisk around Christmas, reached 315,000 last year, and the $8,132 accruing
to Crosby in royalty payments went into the fund. When time from pictures and
radio permits, Crosby joins the entertainers and emcees the show. When he’s not
available, brother Larry takes over. Last year Crosby donated royalties from
the disks to the St. Charles church in North Hollywood to help construct the
parochial school.
(Variety, April 1, 1942)
April 2,
Thursday. June Crosby drops her divorce action against Bob Crosby. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Walter Huston, Claude Thornhill, and
the Kraft Choral Club.
The annual Easter appearance of the Kraft Choral Society will be a
highlight of the Music Hall program at 6 o’clock this evening when Bing Crosby
will have Claude Thornhill, orchestra leader, and Walter Pidgeon of the films
as his studio guests. The chorus will be heard during a cutin from Chicago.
(The Fresno Bee, 2nd April, 1942) (NOTE: Walter Pidgeon was replaced
by Walter Huston)
April 9,
Thursday. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Another Kraft
Music Hall broadcast hosted by Bing. Guests include Major John L. DeWitt, Walter Pidgeon and June
Havoc.
Walter Pidgeon, who was forced to give up his guest spot on the Kraft
Music Hall because of studio activities, has promised to be present this week
with Bing Crosby and the gang on the program heard at 9 p.m. over Station WMBG.
Other guests will be June Havoc, screen star, and Major John L. DeWitt Jr., of
the Fifth Armored Division, United States Army.
(Richmond Times-Dispatch, 9th April, 1942)
April 11,
Saturday. (2:00 p.m.) Dixie opens the family home at 10500 Camarillo Street to
the public for a “bundle tea” in aid of the AWVS. Admission is by a bundle of
clothing and 50 cents.
April 12, Sunday.
(Starting
at 1:30 p.m.) Bing and Bob Hope play in an
American Red Cross Benefit at the Visalia Country Club against Johnny
Weissmuller and Johnny Dawson. A crowd of 2000 persons watches the golf
and afterwards the party moves on to Sequoia Field and Visalia Bomber
Base, where Hope emcees a show. Bing sings several songs and eight-year
old Gary Crosby sings a song also.
April 16, Thursday.
(6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall
show on NBC. Guests include Spike Jones and his City Slickers, Sabu, and Ronald
Reagan.
Two movie actors and a star harmonica player share and share alike the
guest-star spot on the “Music Hall” with Bing Crosby tonight at 8 o’clock over
KTBS. They are Ronald Reagan, who will be a member of Uncle Sam’s fighting
forces three days later; Sabu, erstwhile “Elephant Boy” whose recent celluloid
venture is “Jungle Boy,” (sic) and Larry Adler, harmonica player extra
special.
(The Shreveport Times, 16th April, 1942)
April 18, Saturday. American B-25s make a lightning raid on Tokyo for the first
time.
April 21, Tuesday. Bing's horse "Momentito" wins at the Keeneland track in Kentucky.
April 23,
Thursday. (6:00–6:45 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Victor Borge, Mary Martin, Jerry Lester, Ken
Carpenter, and the Music Maids remain as regulars. The program is abbreviated
to 45 minutes due to a war-related speech on the network.
With Captain Floyd J. Sweet of the Air Force Training Detachment for
Gliders, Condor Field, 29 Palms, Calif., as guest, Bing Crosby and his Music
Hall cohorts will fly, high wide and handsome during their broadcast at 9
tonight.
(The Bristol News Bulletin (Tennessee), 23rd April, 1942)
April 26, Sunday. Bing and Bob Hope play in a golf
benefit at La Cumbre Country Club, Santa Barbara. The funds raised go to the
AWVS. The Hollywood Victory Caravan, a
variety show with many top Hollywood stars, starts out on a tour of the
country as the special train leaves Los Angeles for Washington DC.
April 30, Thursday. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) The Kraft Music Hall broadcast on NBC. Bing’s guests include Larry Adler, Gene Tunney, and Susan Hayward. More than twenty Hollywood stars are invited to the White House by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to launch the Hollywood Victory Caravan and later the first show takes place at Loew's Capitol Theatre in Washington.
Lieut. Commander Gene Tunney of the navy, harmonica virtuoso, Larry
Adler and film actress, Joan Leslie will drop in on Bing Crosby and his pals
for a session of the “Music Hall” over KTBS tonight at 8 o’clock…Joan Leslie,
who co-stars with James Cagney in the forthcoming film, “Yankee Doodle Dandy,”
will be featured in a hill-billy skit with Crosby.
(The Shreveport Times, 30th April, 1942)
May 1, Friday (night). Bing leaves by train to join the Hollywood Victory Caravan.
May 4, Monday. Arrives in Chicago and checks in at the Hotel Ambassador. He joins
the Hollywood Victory Caravan in Chicago for the last seven shows of
the tour. Mark Sandrich is the producer of the show and the orchestra
is led by
Alfred Newman. The list of stars in the show is breathtaking: Desi
Arnaz, Joan
Bennett, Joan Blondell, Charles Boyer, James Cagney, Claudette Colbert,
Jerry
Colonna, Olivia De Havilland, Cary Grant, Charlotte Greenwood, Bob
Hope,
Frances Langford, Laurel and Hardy, Bert Lahr, Groucho Marx, Frank
McHugh, Ray
Middleton, Merle Oberon, Pat O’Brien, Eleanor Powell, Rise Stevens plus
various
starlets. Special music and lyrics are written for the show by Jerome
Kern,
Johnny Mercer, Frank Loesser, and Arthur Schwartz.
May 6, Wednesday.
(Starting at 2 p.m.) First match (of five) in Bing and Bob Hope’s
...The doings were terminated
at the ninth because Crosby and Hope, buffeted right and left by the gallery,
had to leave for last night’s appearances on the Caravan of Stars show in the
stadium. Bing and Bob arrived at their respective hotels in reasonably good
condition, managing by a small miracle to retain most of their garments and a
full complement of golf clubs. . . Whether Crosby and Hope could have gone
another nine holes is questionable. The gallery crowded them at every step,
seeking autographs or at least a walking proximity to the two stars. . . The
only relief given the two was the presence in the gallery of two other
Hollywood lights - Jimmy Cagney and Jerry Colonna, who absorbed their share of
the autograph charge.
(Chicago Daily Tribune, May 7, 1942)
(8:30 p.m.) Bing and Bob later take part in the Hollywood Victory Caravan show at the Chicago Stadium before a crowd of 19,823 and $87,761 is taken. The various stars sell kisses at the end of the show until a figure of $90,000 is achieved.
The show proceeded
as usual, with an orchestra of forty. This night had the addition of Bing Crosby.
With his songs added the show ran over 4 hours, finishing thirty-five minutes past
midnight.
Cary Grant and Bob Hope shared the masters of
ceremonies position. When introduced to the audience they always did a bit of “patter”
together. Typical of the style of humor, Hope told Grant that getting around
during wartime was rough. “I've got seniority on by priority, but I have to wait
until I get the authority of the majority to get the authority of the Authorities”
he said, which during the time of rationing boards brought down the house.
When Hope and Crosby were on the stage together, beside their normal “barbs”, they did a routine of two Chicago politicians trying to pick each other's pockets. At one point Hope was so flustered with the ad-libbing, he looked into the audience and said, “Talk amongst yourselves for a bit. I'll remember my lines!”
(I. Joseph Hyatt, Hollywood Victory Caravan, page 170)
Bob Hope was doing his stuff
and he said, “Well, I know you’re waiting to hear the Groaner”—and the place
went crazy. Bing walked out to a reception for which the adjective,
“triumphant” is inadequate. He stood there in that very humble charming way of
his, wearing a brass-buttoned blue coat, rust trousers, brown and white shoes,
and a light green shirt that seemed to verify the legend that he’s color blind.
After the explosion died down, Bing said, “Whadda yez wanna hear?” and they
blew up again. Finally he said, “Ya wanna leave it to me?” and they exploded
again, until the walls of the stadium nearly buckled. Finally he said, “Hit me
Al” and our orchestra leader, Al Newman started his boys off on “Blues in the
Night.” They had only played the first two bars when the audience went into
rapturous applause once again. Bing finished that song, and never in my life
have I heard anything like it. I got the traditional goose pimples just
standing there, listening. He did another, same thing. And if ever I wanted a
demonstration of how it felt to live that old vaudeville phrase “What an act to
follow” this was it. . . .
But I’ve almost forgotten the point of this story, which is
that when Bing came offstage, the perspiration on him was an absolute
revelation to me. Here he had been to all appearances perfectly loose and relaxed,
but not at all. He was giving everything he had in every note he sang, and the
apparent effortlessness was a part of his very hard work.
(James Cagney, writing in his book, Cagney)
In
1942 Sandrich was given the job of organizing and directing the Victory Caravan,
an impressive aggregation of Hollywood stars which toured the country giving
performances for the war effort. Crosby joined the show in Chicago where it was
booked for one night at the huge Olympic Auditorium before a capacity crowd of
22,000.
Up
to that time Bing had never appeared in person before a large audience.
When
he arrived in Chicago that morning Sandrich asked him how many numbers he had
prepared. Bing said three.
“You’re
crazy,” said Sandrich, “they’ll demand more than that. Better give them at
least five songs.”
Bing
was dubious. “I think you’re wrong,” he said. “They won’t go for that many.”
Sandrich finally persuaded him to rehearse two more numbers.
“When
he went on the stage before that mob,” Sandrich recalls, “he was scared stiff.
He got a big hand, though, and that quieted him down. He sang his three numbers
and they clamored for more, so he sang the other two. When he finished they
wouldn’t let him off. They kept yelling for more and finally Al Newman, the
musical director, walked over to the piano and sat down. Bing shrugged his shoulders
and grinned. With Al accompanying him, he sang three more songs before they
would let him go.”
(Photoplay, August, 1944)
The stars who stayed at the Hotel Jefferson were Joan Bennett, Olivia de Havilland, Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Rise Stevens, Eleanor Powell, Charlotte Greenwood, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Charles Boyer, Bert Lahr, Groucho Marx, and Frank McHugh.
Bob Hope and Bing Crosby finally made it to the Meadow Brook Country Club. The
game started at
2:30 in the afternoon due to autograph requests before Crosby and Hope reached their vehicle. The requests did not stop when they arrived
at the course. An announcement
had to be made
over the loudspeakers that no more signatures would be given. Since the Caravan
show was
scheduled for 8:30 that evening, play had to start
to get the stars back in time
to prepare. The crowd was filled with 2000 spectators, all happy to pay the $1
admission fee.
When
they reached the first tee, Crosby joined with Bob Morse (trick shot artist) and
Hope paired with Johnny Manion (Meadow Brook's club pro). It was hard to keep
the onlookers away from the tee and off the fairway, until Crosby topped his
first shot and the ball bounced into the crowd. After this, the spectators showed
considerably more respect. Hope tried to pitch across a creek and under some tree
branches at hole 3. The ball hit a small five year old girl. She stated that she
was not hurt, but persons around her could see a lump on her head.
Hope was extremely annoyed at the people in the crowd and suggested they cease play. Crosby spoke to the crowd, pointing out the danger of injury if a ball hits a person. The crowd stayed back on hole 4, but by hole 5 they fringed the fairway again. The game had to finally be called, after 12 holes, due to the uncontrollable crowd and the time it took to play each hole. The game still counted on the Hope-Crosby bet, however, and Crosby was now ahead by 2 games.
(I. Joseph Hyatt, Hollywood Victory Caravan, page 178)
Vaudeville came back last
night at Municipal Auditorium, when Hollywood’s Victory Caravan presented an evening
entertainment for the benefit of the Army and Navy relief funds and the delight
of 12,369 St. Louisans who paid $41,040 to attend. It was a glorified version
of vaudeville, with more than 20 top-raking Hollywood stars in the leading
roles but there was nothing missing except the acrobatic turn. It began to
look, along about midnight, as though vaudeville was reluctant to go away
again, but the performance came to an end after more than three hours without
an intermission in a rousing flag-waving skit in which Jimmy Cagney recalled a
George M. Cohan performance.
. . . Hope’s old sidekick of the movies, the dulcet-voiced
California turf man, Bing Crosby, appeared resplendent in a double-breasted
blue coat with brass buttons, topping off some startling slacks which might
have been cut from the same bolt as the crimson backdrop of the stage. He and
Hope convulsed the audience with their skits on the meetings of rival business
men and two politicians who, when they met, got all tangled up rifling each others’
pockets.
(St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 8, 1942)
May 8, Friday.
The caravan travels to St. Paul and arrives at the Union Station at 5:00 p.m.
where civic dignitaries, 175 drum majors and majorettes, plus a large crowd
greet them on the station concourse. The stars then entrain for nearby
Minneapolis. Bing and Bob Hope attend a party at the Radisson Hotel that night.
From Chicago we went by train
to St. Paul, where Wally Mund, the professional at Midland Hills and a national
officer in the
At nine o’clock the next morning Bing called me. He said, “What
are you doing?” I replied, “What do you mean what am I doing?” Bing said he was
on the first tee at Midland, and ten thousand people were waiting for us to
play. I told him I’d get there as fast as I could.
I jumped into a cab and hurried over to Midland, which is
located between Minneapolis and St. Paul. They had a guy waiting there for me
with a pair of shoes and a sweater. . . . My head was still ringing, but I shot
thirty-five on the front nine.
(Bob Hope, writing in Confessions of a Hooker, pages 135–36)
May 9, Saturday.
(Starting at 10:00 a.m.) Golfs with
Bob Hope, Wally Mund, and Harry Cooper at Midland Hills Country Club, St. Paul,
to raise money for the Army and Navy Relief Funds.
The spectators number slightly more than 2000 and about $1000 is raised for the funds. Hope wins this time
one up. The match is restricted to twelve holes because of the need to
take part
in a matinee show at 2:30 p.m. for the Victory Caravan at the
Auditorium, St.
Paul. A crowd of 10,000 watches the afternoon performance in the
Auditorium which runs for just under its three and a half hour
performance time.
Bing Crosby, who has traveled
so many roads with Bob Hope to Zanzibar, to Singapore and other odd points, was
in at the close with him. The audience took Crosby to its heart as a favorite
prince no matter what he did. I have great admiration for his style in singing
a song like “Blues in the Night.” He has invented a way of doing this sort of
thing that has perfect timing, neatness of touch, theatrical distinction. He
has a pleasant urchin way of doing impudent imitations. He looks so innocent,
so sleepy and is positively replete with guile.
(James Gray, writing in the St. Paul Pioneer Press, May 10, 1942)
The troupe goes on to give an evening
performance in the Minneapolis Auditorium starting at 8:30 p.m.
Stars paraded for more than three hours before
delighted spectators, displaying a wealth of beauty, talent and special
abilities. The whole thing was kept on an informal basis, with Bob Hope,
Cary Grant, Bing Crosby and others tossing in frequent ad-libs.
The show took the curse off a lot of previous
celebrity personal appearances. Each of the stars showing did something, and
Bob Hope’s dexterity as master of ceremonies was taxed to keep things from
being tied up by encores.
The show was smoothly staged and ably directed, and
constituted a field day for admirers of film talent.
The program went something like this: The chorus of
eight starlets opened with a number introducing Hope. Desi Arnaz got a heavy
hand with two songs on the Latin order. Groucho Marx and Olivia De
Havilland kicked some nonsense around in a domestic skit. Cary Grant
appeared in a skit and thereafter spelled Hope at mastering ceremonies.
Joan Blondell did a threatened strip-tease number. Laurel
and Hardy went through a skit having to do with Laurel’s driver’s license. Charlotte
Greenwood sang a ditty called “Shall I Be an Old Man’s Darling or a Young
Man’s Slave,” and did one of her famed eccentric dance numbers. Claudette
Colbert appeared in a kidding match with Hope.
Frances Langford sang a brace of numbers. Arnaz, De
Havilland, Frances Gifford and Charles
Boyer appeared in a dramatic
sketch, and Boyer, who became an American citizen in February, injected a hefty
patriotic punch with a brief talk. Ray
Middleton sang two numbers, one
written especially for the show. Frank
McHugh and Fay McKenzie acted in a bedroom farce, with Stan
Laurel coming in for the blackout.
Pat O’Brien did
a bit from his “Knute
Rockne” role.
Joan Bennett appeared for her kidding match with Hope. Bert Lahr and Cary Grant appeared in a hilarious
income tax sketch, which had Grant laughing so hard he missed lines.
O’Brien spelled Hope and Grant at MC’ing, to introduce Rise Stevens, the Metropolitan singer.
Blondell, De Havilland and Bennett went through a sketch
having to do with ladies’ war work. Jerry Colonna gagged with Hope, sang and
played the trombone. Merle Oberon
read a choice bit of verse. Marx appeared with the chorus in a loony “Dr. Hackenbush” song.
O’Brien and McHugh appeared in a brief and effective war
sketch. O’Brien did his version of the “America” lyrics. Eleanor Powell dished out plenty of rhythm in a tap number. Lahr convulsed the
audience with a song about a woodman.
Crosby kicked some conversation around with Hope and did his
spell of caroling. James Cagney did an impression of Cohan’s “Yankee
Doodle Dandy.”
Finale, with everybody on stage again.
Superlatives are weak things in describing a show of this
kind. On the score of names alone, it’s the biggest thing of its kind ever
done, and for entertainment, while there’s naturally nothing heavy, it’s sure
fire. Hope, Grant, O’Brien, et al, kept the thing on an intimate basis despite
the fact the audiences were among the largest ever gathered here under a single
roof.
Audience response was what the public relations gentlemen
describe delicately as “terrific.” Had the players yielded to the demand for
encores, another three hours might have been spent.
(Robert E. Murphy, Sunday Tribune and Star Journal, May 10, 1942)
As often as he could, Hope
returned to the Caravan train at night to sleep and enjoy the camaraderie of
the other stars. Hope particularly enjoyed singing barbershop quartets with Crosby,
Groucho and whomever else they could dig up to sing bass.
“One night we were in a restaurant,” remembers Groucho, “and
the three of us started singing barbershop style again. But we needed a fourth
to make it a quartet. So Bing went from table to table trying to recruit a
bass. Everyone turned him down. I’ve often thought how ironic it was that the
most famous singer in the world had to lower himself by pleading with customers
to sing along with him. Perhaps they didn’t recognize him—without his toupee.”
. . . By the time the Caravan arrived in Minneapolis, the
travelers were so sick of life in those cramped train compartments that Hope
and Crosby rented several floors of the Nordic Hotel for the cast and other
members of the troupe to enjoy a night’s sleep in a real bed.
(The Secret Life of Bob Hope, page 169)
May 10, Sunday. Matinee show starting at 2:30 p.m. at the Shrine Auditorium, Des Moines before a capacity house of 4,300 after the first street parade of the tour since Boston is seen by an estimated 200,000.
The train arrived at the Rock Island Station at 8:00 in the morning of May 10th. Stars started getting up around 11 AM, and started to leave the train in time for the first actual full parade since Boston. Stars were brought to the State Capitol to start the parade from the capitol to the Shrine Auditorium. Originally scheduled to end at 14th Street, the parade was extended to 18th Street. Due to the fact that the tickets sold out so early, and the auditorium sat just over 4,000 it was decided to give everyone in town a look at the stars with a parade. By the estimate of Joe Loehr, Chief of Police, this parade was viewed by over 200,000. H. A. Alber, Assistant Chief of Police rode in the front of the parade and was reported saying: “I rode ahead of the parade the entire distance and didn't see an unoccupied spot anywhere. Only the parade for President Roosevelt had a similar crowd, but the parade route was considerably longer.”
(I. Joseph Hyatt, Hollywood Victory Caravan, page 191)
Bob Hope opened the show by mis-pronouncing
Des Moines. After this error, for which he was forgiven, he told the story about the troupe’s visit to the
White House. After referring to it as “crowded”, he went on to say that First Lady
Eleanor flew in for the party, but Franklin was absent, “busy working on a
spare tire.”
Speaking
with the starlets behind him, he mentioned working with such a beautiful group.
He said “in Boston, I had drew a date who was at the original tea party. She was
one of the bags they threw overboard.”
Each star took
their “shot” at Bob Hope. Joan Blondell asked Hope if many girls try to chase and
grab him on the street. He responded with: “Oh, it’s about even!” When he spoke
of his “manly physique” he received remarks like “his mother must have been
frightened by an avocado.”
When
introducing Bing Crosby, Hope stated that the man needed many pockets. “Bing
doesn’t pay an income tax. He just asks the government how much it needs this year.
He has so much invested in his country that every time a Douglas bomber flies
over his house it curtsies.”
Cary Grant
shared the hosting duties again. Claudette Colbert, Merle Oberon, and Joan
Bennett kissed Grant as they came on stage. Hope told Grant that tonight he
would “hide all of the actresses’ curling irons.” Claudette responded with “If you’re
a Boy Scout, why do you try to kiss me?” Hope responded: “I belong to the Wolf patrol.
“
Charlotte
Greenwood was the next act, and made sure she kissed Hope. Hope said “It had to
be her, from the Boston Tea Party again!” and brought the house down.
When Pat O’Brien
came on stage, he received a standing ovation that ran on and on. He walked up
to the mike and said “Thank you. That was 90% for my wife, Eloise Taylor. She’s
from this town. I’ll give
her top billing tonight”. That started the crowd roaring again.
Bing Crosby
was singled out for his magenta pants and blue sports coat with brass buttons,
as much as he was for his singing. All went as planned and Jimmy Cagney’s
numbers had the whole audience standing at the end of the show.
Since the travel distance was about 700 miles to their next city, the show ran without intermission and finished just after 6 PM. The stars were taken to the Rock Island Station by bus immediately after the show. It pulled out of the station before 8 PM.
(I. Joseph Hyatt, Hollywood Victory Caravan, page 197)
May 11, Monday. The Victory Caravan train arrives at the Union station in Dallas at 2:45 p.m. and is met by large crowds. The stars parade in open cars to the hotels. As soon as Bing and Merle Oberon get settled in their rooms, they immediately find their golf clubs and go off together to the Brook Hollow club for a quick game. Commencing at 7:00 p.m. the stars parade by open car around the city on their way to the Fair Park Auditorium where the show starts at 8:30 p.m. The Caravan train sets out for Houston at 3:00 a.m. on May 12.
Dear
Diary,
And
I thought I enjoyed myself Feb. 11!! I have never seen anything to equal what I
saw tonight. I expected Bob Hope to look and act rather sick, but he didn’t
look as if he knew the meaning of the word. The program lasted 3½ hours and I
was weak by the time it was half over. Bob was never funnier than he was with
Bing Crosby tonight. They first gave an imitation of the presidents of the
Pepsi Cola and Coca Cola companies. Bing was Pepsi and Bob was Cokey. They
started at opposite ends of the stage, trotted across, met at the center mike,
and burped in unison. Next came an imitation of the presidents of the Pepsodent
and Ipana companies. Bob said, “You be Ipana. I want to keep my job.” The same
routine, except they meet in the center, shake hands, and begin gargling. Next
it’s two Ft. Worth business men. After they shake hands they start digging
feverishly in each other’s pockets. Next came two farmers. Bob came in scraping
his feet, and Bing milked his thumbs instead of shaking hands.
The
last and best was the imitation of the presidents of Vitalis Dandruff Remover
and Fitch Shampoo companies. While they talked the kept brushing their collars
and shaking their coats, then Bob turned around and Bing brushed his coat and Bing
turned around and Bob brushed his coat. Bob said, “Got much time?” Bing
replied, “Oh, about 60 seconds.” Bob said, “Sixty seconds? Well come on!” and
they began scrubbing each other’s heads. Bing called Bob “Chisel chin” as he
left the stage, and Bob yelled, “So long Dumbo! Don’t go too fast or you’ll
take off, with those ears. (By the way, Bing was actually dressed up!) Bob said
that when he was in Washington, D.C., he found out what the D.C. stands for.
Damned crowded! When Pat O’Brien walked out and said, “Hello, Texas,” I knew he
was talking to me because he called me “Texas” last summer. Pat did several
dramatic sketches and then did an Irish song and jig, and for an encore he and
Bob did the jig together. Bob said, “Well, whatta you know! They’ve even got an
Irish Conga!” (I’m running out of room, so will continue elsewhere.)
Bob
introduced Cary Grant as one of Hollywood’s handsomest, best dressed leading
men. Cary walked out on the stage and said, “Why, thanks, Bob. It’s sweet of
you say that, because I have always thought of you as one of Hollywood’s handsomest,
best-dressed men.” Bob said, “Do you really think so, Cary?” Cary replied,
“Look, I learned my lines, I read my lines. Now don’t try to confuse me!” Bob
said, “You’d better watch out there, Grant, or I’ll hide your curling iron
tonight.” Cary said, “Yeah, and ditto with your girdle.” Then Bob started
sulking and said, “Is that any way to treat me after all I’ve done for you?
After all, what would you have done if I hadn’t loaned you my underwear today
when you sent yours to the laundry?” Cary said, “You’re right, Bob. I’m sorry.
It was mighty swell of you to lend me your underwear, but every once in a while
the lace tickles.” Bob walked up to Cary and started feeling the material in
his suit and examining it (a dark blue pin-striped suit). He finally said,
“Isn’t it remarkable the designs they can print on Kleenex?” For once Cary had
no reply.
When
Bob first introduced Bing and started off the stage so Bing could sing, Bing
yelled at him and said, “Oh, by the way, Hope, your laundry came back today.
They refused it.” Bob threw him the dirtiest look I ever saw and walked the
rest of the way off the stage. For Desi Arnaz’ second number he used a big
conga drum about three feet long…. Bob brought it out to him and said, “What’ll
you have—chocolate or vanilla?”
Naturally
Bob talked about the California weather. He said, “This Texas weather is grand,
but it just can’t compare with California weather. The weather out there is so
invigorating that the caretakers have to walk around the graveyards all the
time saying, “Come on now, fellas, lie down!”
Once
Bob started across the stage carrying an open umbrella. Cary Grant started from
the opposite side with an umbrella under his arm. Bob turned around, looked at
Cary, held out his hand, shrugged his shoulders, closed the umbrella, and
walked off without a single word.
What a
show!
(Muriel Windham’s
Diary, Growing up in the Forties)
May 12, Tuesday.
(9:30 a.m.) The Hollywood Victory Caravan train arrives at Union Station,
Houston. Most of the stars remain on the train during the day. Starting at 8:30
p.m., Bing takes part in the final show by the Hollywood Victory Caravan at the
Sam Houston Coliseum, Houston, before a crowd of 12,000. In all twenty-three
screen personalities take part in the three hour show and $65,000 is raised for
the relief funds. As Bob Hope is broadcasting his radio show, Bing acts as MC
until Hope arrives. In all, the Victory Caravan, during a sixteen city, 10,091
mile (by train) tour, grosses War Bond sales of $1,079,586,819.
Most of the evening was
frivolous, with Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Pat O’Brien and Cary Grant occupying the
spotlight the greater part of the time. Crosby stopped the show with his
crooning. “Blues in the Night” called for an encore, and after Crosby sang
“Miss You” and “Sweet Leilani” the audience still clamored for more. He could
stop their applause only by going into a comedy skit with Bob Hope, giving
impressions of captains of industry.
(Houston Chronicle, May 13, 1942)
In addition to accomplishing
its purpose, I think that every one connected with it had a barrel of fun,
despite the adversities under which we lived and worked. There wasn’t a single
squawk about anything or any unpleasantness of any kind. If you could have seen
our Hollywood Glamour Girls like Claudette Colbert, Merle Oberon, Joan Bennett
and Joan Blondell all jammed together, dressing in the ladies’ rooms of
auditoriums, doing it cheerfully and laughing and kidding with each other all
the time, you’d know what I mean. If any one of them—or any of the male stars
either—had been asked to put up with the inconveniences on a picture, for which
they were being highly paid, that they endured with a laugh and for nothing on
that trip, they’d have walked out of the picture.
I couldn’t get away in time to start out with them, but I
joined them later and played eight shows—Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City [sic],
St. Paul, Minneapolis, Des Moines, Dallas and Houston. I fully expected to find
a slipshod, haphazard show that had been hastily flung together, mediocre
material, rough edges and a lot of bickering. Instead, I found a show that ran
as smoothly as if it were being presented on ball-bearings, every one having
fun, every one with first class material and playing to capacity business in
the biggest theatre in town wherever we went. The show ran three hours and
forty minutes without an intermission and there were all standees at every show
the fire warden would permit.
We traveled and lived on a special train. When we reached a
town, a police guard met us, we rode in a parade and then went to the theatre.
(Bing Crosby, as quoted in an
interview with Dick Mook which was printed in Silver Screen magazine of September 1942.)
May 13, Wednesday. En route to Louisville in Kentucky, Bing changes trains at Memphis and in the evening walks down Beale Street. He meets a soldier and buys him a meal producing some press coverage.
Bing Crosby, in
between trains, window-shopped on Main Street, took a stray soldier to eat ribs
at Johnny Mills’ famous joint on Beale Street.
May 14, Thursday. Early in the morning, Bing arrives in Louisville, Kentucky, checks in at the Brown Hotel and gives an interview to the local press before leaving with his friend J. Fred Miles (a Louisville oil company executive) to see his five horses at Churchill Downs. One of them—”Momentito”—has recently won a race at Keeneland and been placed at Churchill Downs. Bing later goes to the Audubon Country Club and plays a few holes.
May 15, Friday.
Plays 18 holes of golf at Audubon Country Club. Takes part in a trapshooting party at the Miles farm with Rodes K. Myers,
Senator A. B. Chandler, and Major General Jacob L. Devers.
May 16, Saturday. Bing is at Churchill Downs to watch the racing. His horse "Momentito" is the favorite to win the fourth race but in the event is unplaced. In the evening, Bing continues to Fort Knox and takes part in a ninety-minute ad-lib song and gag session with Senator Chandler and Governor Rodes K. Myers.
…Chandler and
Crosby played a one night stand at Fort Knox last night and rolled some 3,800 soldiers
in the aisles with a warm-up “battle of gags and vocal cords.” Appearing at the
post field house in a skit broadcast by WINN, the team staged a 50-minute running
fight of wise cracks at the record of the Crosby racing stable, and topped it
all with a more or less harmonious rendition of “Blues in the Night.” As an
encore, Senator Chandler sang his famous “Gold Mine in the Sky.”
(The Courier-Journal, May 17, 1942)
…The Senator, who
has a reputation hereabouts as an amateur vocalist, joined with Crosby and
Myers in a number of trios. The three indulged in an hour and a half gag and
song session, all ad lib which wowed the soldiers. Station WINN had the forethought
to transcribe the whole affair, and cuttings from the broadcast will be sent
out as souvenirs.
May 17, Sunday. Starting at 2 p.m., at the Audubon Country Club in Louisville, Bing is involved in a golf match for
the Army and Navy Relief Funds. He partners with local pro Bobby Craigs but
they are beaten five and four by Senator A. B. (Happy) Chandler and local
golfer Jack Ryan. Bing has a seventy-nine in front of a crowd of 1500.
The real winner, however, was
the war relief fund which realized approximately $2,376 less taxes and
incidentals, from the efforts of the four. Of this amount—believed to be a
record for such matches—$1,000 was realized from the sale of Crosby’s golf
clubs after the match. With the ebullient Chandler acting as auctioneer,
twenty-two Crosby sticks, bearing the name of the crooner, were bought by
General J. Fred Miles, referee of the match and host to Crosby on his visit to
Kentucky in a spirited bidding duel with D. D. Stewart. Then, with everyone
envying him for his acquisition, the general magnanimously donated the clubs
back to the fund and they were auctioned off again, this time to Lamar D. Roy
for $250. Bidder Roy actually stopped at $200 but, upon eloquent pleading by
Chandler, agreed to go another fifty, provided Crosby would throw in a song.
Bing, much to the delight of the crowd, responded with a few bars of “If I Had
My Way” but not until “Happy,” better than a fair warbler himself, had gotten
in a few licks at the tune.
(Courier-Journal, May 18, 1942)
May 21, Thursday. Bing is thought to have arrived back in Los Angeles in the morning aboard the City of Los Angeles Streamliner. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing returns to the Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Rear Admiral I. C. Johnson, Carole Landis and Virginia Weidler. Bob Crosby has been deputizing in Bing’s absence.
Bing Crosby takes over the reins of his “Music Hall” on KTBS tonight at
8 o’clock after an absence of two weeks during which time he participated in a
number of golf tournaments for the benefit of the Red Cross. Special guests,
who will serve with the regulars as a welcoming committee for Bing, will be
Virginia Weidler, Merle Oberon and Rear Admiral Johnson, director of the naval
reserve 11th district. Merle Oberon has been traveling with other movie
luminaries in the Victory Caravan, which has been giving shows for the benefit
of the Navy Relief Society. She can be counted on to give some interesting
highlights of the junket.
(The Shreveport Times, 21st May, 1942)
Following an
interview with Admiral Johnson, stationed in Los Angeles (about enlistments, cases
open in Naval Reserve etc.) Bing Crosby read a message in Crosby language. He
knew what ‘all soldiers, sailors and coast guardsmen’ were doing: buying bonds.
Asked everybody to do the same, ‘to clip the Nips.’ Emphasized payroll
deduction plan. Well phrased and delivered. The Admiral thanked Crosby for what
the latter had done to aid Navy Relied.
(Variety, May 27, 1942)
May 25,
Monday. (Starting at 11 a.m.) Plays in the qualifying round for the
Southern California amateur golf championship at the Riviera Club and
has an 82! Records
three songs from the film Holiday Inn
in Hollywood with Bob Crosby and his Orchestra.
May 26, Tuesday. The War Department officially establishes the Armed Forces Radio
Service (AFRS) to keep American forces informed and entertained. (Starting at 11 a.m.) Bing plays in the second qualifying round for the Southern California amateur golf championship, this time at Bel-Air.
May 27, Wednesday.
Bing records “I’ll Capture Your Heart” with Fred Astaire and Margaret Lenhart
with musical support from Bob Crosby and his Orchestra. This session also
includes two solo recordings by Fred Astaire of songs from Holiday Inn. Bing stays on to cut two more tracks with Bob Crosby’s
Bob Cats.
Fred Astaire enters
the scene for I’ll
Capture Your Heart (18427), a whimsical rhythm ditty calling in Crosby and Margaret
Lenhart with Bob Crosby’s band. Fred pointing up his hoofing tap appeal and
Bing going way back to his Bu-Bu-Bu-Blue
of the night antics.
(Billboard, August 22, 1942)
BING CROSBY Decca 18371
Walking the Floor Over You -
FT; VC. When My Dreamboat Comes Home - FT; VC
Again brother Bing goes on a Western
kick with Bob Crosby’s Bob Cats. And for this trip he has picked a classic that
for many weeks has been the top tune favorite at all the grange halls and
hoe-down temples along the cattle trails. It is Ernest Tubb’s Walking the Floor, and with Crosby
calling it to the attention, looms to become as big a favorite with the city
folk. Like most of the hillbilly music, this close-to-the-good-earth ditty is
even more free in spirit and spontaneous in expression. The charm, of course,
lies in its naturalness and simplicity, which makes it just right for Crosby.
Song story tells of the cowboy walking the floor all night long waiting for his
sweetie to come home, and ends on a turn-the-table note that some day she may
be doing the walking and waiting for him to come home. Crosby takes it in a
lively tempo, with the Bob Cats bringing up a rhythmic boot in the background.
Story telling is broken up by a band chorus and later by a tenor sax ride. It
all makes for a happy blend of the hillbilly and the hot jazz. For the
flipover, it’s the Cliff Friend-Dave Franklin Dream Boat ballad of a year or so ago. But here again, Crosby’s
chanting is in tune with the Western style. And pacing it at a moderate tempo,
the Bob Cats kick in again with the heavier rhythmic beats. Crosby sings the
opening chorus, gives the second to the small jazz band, and returns for a
third chorus to carry out the side.
Music operators
using hillbilly and Western sides need no direction for “Walking the Floor Over
You,” and now that Bing Crosby has hopped onto the tune, it should build like a
prairie fire in the more urban areas as well.
(Billboard, July 18, 1942)
May 28, Thursday.
(6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall
show on NBC. Guests include Frank McHugh and Ruth Hussey.
Crooner Bing Crosby will play host to Ruth Hussey and Frank McHugh of
the films and Dave Friedman, national badminton champion, in the “Music Hall”
broadcast over KTBS at 8 o’clock.
(The Shreveport Times, 28th May, 1942)
May 29, Friday. (8:30
to 11:20 a.m.) Records “White Christmas” for the first time plus two other
songs with John Scott Trotter and his Orchestra and the Ken Darby Singers.
“White Christmas” enters the charts on October 3 and the rest is history.
At eight-thirty on
the morning of May 29, Bing Crosby entered Decca Studios in Los Angeles to
record several songs from Holiday Inn
for a collection of 78s to be released in conjunction with the film. Among the
songs he recorded that morning was “White Christmas.” Backed by the John
Trotter Orchestra and the Ken Darby singers, Crosby cut the song with his usual
cool dispatch, requiring two takes and eighteen minutes of studio time. He
would have needed only a single take were it not for a fatal flub—he swallowed
the your in “may all your
Christmases”—in the song’s third-to-last bar. . .
The song is
given a delicate orchestral arrangement, enveloping Crosby’s baritone in a
feather bed of strings and tolling chimes; Berlin had to be pleased to hear his
song treated with the same care as “Silent Night” and “Adeste Fideles.” Even
the appearance of the Ken Darby singers, who reprise the chorus after Crosby’s
first run-through, doesn’t break the record’s gentle spell.
“A jackdaw with
a cleft palate could have sung it successfully,” Crosby once said of “White
Christmas.” “You’ve got to give full credit to its composer, Irving Berlin.”
But countless lesser “White Christmas” recordings tell a different story.
Crosby was a master at pitching his performance to suit a song’s emotional
requirements. Listening to his greatest recordings, we hear one perfectly
realized mood piece after another, from the sumptuous romanticism of “Where the
Blue of the Night (Meets the Gold of the Day)” to the
swatting-flies-on-the-front-porch breeziness of his “Gone Fishin’” duet with
Louis Armstrong to the jaundiced rumination of “I’m Thru with Love.” No one
else has summoned quite the same combination of reverence and restraint that
“White Christmas” requires.
Crosby
enunciates Berlin’s lyric with stately care, treating “White Christmas” like a
carol—a meaningful choice given the novelty of secular Christmas songs in 1942.
But “White Christmas” also sounds like a love song. In the tune’s second
measure, on the first syllable of the word dreaming,
Crosby lets fly a telltale mordent—a mournful fluttering from F to G and back
again—a Crosby signature that stamps “White Christmas” as a pop song in the
sentimental crooner tradition. (He repeats the trick on the first syllable of sleighbells in bar fourteen.) No less an authority than Berlin’s eldest daughter, Mary Ellin
Barrett, a teenager at the time of the song’s release, remembers how Crosby’s
performance gave “White Christmas” an erotic charge. “However seasonal the
words, we didn’t hear it as a carol,” she recalled. “ ‘White Christmas’ [was] a
song boys and girls . . . danced to, fell in love to, adopted as ‘their’ song …
a ballad that Bing Crosby had sung to a blonde in a movie.”
But the heart of
“White Christmas” is its creeping melancholy. This Crosby captures wonderfully,
with many small touches: with the sob that surfaces in “dreaming,” with the soul cry he brings to the song’s key line
“just like the ones I used to know.” There is spookiness in Berlin’s lyric—the
narrator is that ghostly figure, gazing dimly back at the past—and we hear that
quality in Crosby’s voice, never more clearly than in the song’s closing
moments. Crosby sings a sweet high harmony part, soaring in barbershop falsetto
above the female choir (“May your days be merry and bright"); then the
background singers fall silent, and Crosby plunges into his burring lower
register, dropping a note below the octave in the final phrase—”Christmas be white”—before Berlin’s melody climbs
back to make a valedictory cadence, still trailing the shadow of that eerie
almost-dissonance.
(White Christmas: The Story of a Song, pages 119-122)
During one of our
conversations, a few weeks before Christmas 1974, Bing reflected on the impact
of his most identifiable song: “I certainly didn’t think ‘White Christmas’ was
going to be such a hit. I thought it was a very good score for Holiday Inn, but I had no preconceived
idea what would be the hit song. ‘White Christmas’ just stepped out, because it
was wartime and so many people were away from home, away from their families,
serving in the army, navy and air force and in faraway places—and a song like
that is reminiscent of home and family, and that’s why it had such an immediate
and lasting impact, I believe.”
Bing’s musical conductor for many years, John Scott Trotter,
was also the arranger on many of his most memorable recordings. I wondered if
he ever had a feeling that one of their collaborations might be a hit. “When we
made ‘White Christmas’ I thought it was a very lovely tune, but I had no idea
that it would turn out to be the most famous recording of all time. However,
working with Bing and knowing the depth of his public acceptance, there was
always a good chance that any of our sessions would be successful.”
He
also recalled how the song might have been recorded in a different manner than
its now familiar arrangement. “There was an argument between Jack Kapp, who was
the head of Decca Records, and Irving Berlin. The song was written for a scene
in the picture that was set on the West Coast. The lyrics of the verse began,
‘I’m sitting here in Beverly Hills’—Berlin thought it was a marvelous poetic
set-up for the chorus, but Kapp said that it had nothing to do with the record.
Kapp prevailed and we didn’t record the verse, and as luck would have it, the
movie setting for the song was changed later from sunny California to snowy New
England.”
(Gord Atkinson’s Showbill, page 200)
Bing Crosby - White
Christmas
This beautiful song from
Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn score is
seemingly destined to be one of the big hits of the winter season. Because it
deals with Christmas, the publishers have not been allowing it to be played on
the air and have not been encouraging its sale. A few towns, however, have
gobbled it up, air-plugging or no air-plugging. This is a pretty good sign that
when the “drive” starts for this song it will hop to the top with ease.
(Billboard, September 19, 1942)
May 30,
Saturday
(9:05-9:55 p.m.) Bing joins in an all-star radio program to support the
USO on NBC. Others appearing are Edgar Bergen, Don Ameche, Mary Martin,
Fanny Brice, Bob Burns, Spike Jones, Lana Turner and Meredith Willson's
Orchestra.
May 31, Sunday. Attends a cocktail party at Pat O’Brien’s Brentwood home which is
thrown for all those who were on the Hollywood Victory Caravan.
June 1, Monday.
Involved in car crash at 12:03 a.m. on Wilshire Boulevard at Roxbury Drive.
Bing receives minor injuries including a cut lip. Is treated at Beverly Hills
Emergency Hospital and sent home. (8:30 to 11:30 a.m.) Records three more songs
from the film Holiday Inn with John
Scott Trotter and his Orchestra. “Be Careful, It’s My Heart” enters the charts on
August 22 and reaches a peak position of No. 2 during its 15 weeks in the Billboard list.
Driving home from
Brentwood, a few minutes after midnight, Bing crashed into a car stopped at the
corner of Wilshire and Roxbury. He was taken to a Beverly Hills hospital, treated
for bruised ribs and a cut lip, and sent home. After a few hours' sleep, he drove to
Decca's Melrose Avenue studio for a recording session, looking slightly battered
and nursing a head cold. This was the session reserved for recording
the presumed hit “Be Careful, It’s My Heart.” All things considered,
he did journeyman work, not up to snuff. Careful listeners could detect his struggle in the high notes, and 78s inspired careful listening.
No one could fail to hear symptoms of congestion on “Easter Parade.” Under normal circumstances, Joe Perry might have canceled
the date and prevailed on Kapp to reschedule. But they had no time for that. The Holiday Inn album was in
production, and Bing was slated for four more sessions with different personnel
and instrumentation before Petrillo's deadline.
(Gary Giddins, Swinging on a Star, p.207)
“HOLIDAY INN” (Decca Album
No. A-306; Decca 18424-5-6-7-8-9)
Decca has scored a terrific
scoop in packaging 12 songs from the Irving Berlin score for Fred Astaire and
Bing Crosby’s movie Holiday Inn,
which is already flashing on the country’s screens. The album is the entire
weekly release from the wax factory—and apart the music it contains, it’s more
than just another album, it’s almost a transposition on wax of the screen score
all capably executed by Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire....Plattermate is the
ballad hit from the picture Be Careful
It’s My Heart, Crosby singing it softly and rhythmically. Trotter’s soft
strings and woodwinds paint the orchestral background…Album finishes in a blaze
of vocal glory, most impressive in Bing Crosby’s plaintive appeal for a White Christmas, assisted by the Ken
Darby Singers and Trotter’s music…
(Billboard, August 22, 1942)
Decca
has brought out a peach album of Irving Berlin’s ‘Holiday Inn’ score, 12 sides,
with Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire re-creating their songs from the Paramount
filmusical, with strong assists by the Bob Crosby and John Scott Trotter
orchestras, the Music Maids & Hal, Margaret Lenhart and the Ken Darby
Singers, all of the original cast. It’s almost a sound-track on wax, with ‘the
Groaner’ and Astaire vocalizing and tapstering, plus whistling, ad libs and
asides by Crosby, with Miss Lenhart for further assist in ‘I’ll Capture Your
Heart.’ It’s a prolific score, certain of producing a number of sock Berlin
hits which should make even the Berlin, Inc., v.p. and g.m., Saul Bornstein,
happy. For good measure there are ‘Easter Parade’ and ‘Lazy,’ two Berlin standards.
(Variety, July 29, 1942)
June 4, Thursday.
(6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall
show on NBC. Guests include Rosemary Lane and John Garfield.
With screen stars John Garfield and Rosemary Lane, fresh from her
Broadway triumph in “Best Foot Forward,” joining forces with Major Marion L.
Dawson, commanding officer of the Parachute Training Center at the U.S. Marine
Base, San Diego, Calif., Bing Crosby will have his usual houseful of
interesting visitors for the Kraft Music Hall edition tonight at 9.
(The Bristol Herald-Courier, 4th June, 1942)
June 7, Sunday. The Battle of Midway in the Pacific—the Japanese Navy is forced to
withdraw.
June 8,
Monday.
The annual Bing Crosby Invitation Tournament for Women starts at
Lakeside Golf Club and finishes on June 11. (8:30 to 11:20 a.m.) Bing
records “Silent Night” and “Adeste Fideles” plus two other
religious songs with John Scott Trotter and his Orchestra supported by Max
Terr’s Mixed Chorus.
Bing Crosby (Decca 18510 and
18511)
Silent Night, Holy Night —V.
Adeste Fideles—V. Faith of our Fathers—V. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen—V
There are still plenty of
shopping days left to Christmas, but hardly enough time to give the wax factory
a chance to press enough of these Christmas hymns to meet the demand created
each holiday season. For this yuletide Decca has printed up a deluxe edition of
Bing Crosby’s reverential singing of Silent
Night, Holy Night and Adeste Fideles
(O Come All Ye Faithful) (18510), the
latter hymn sung in both Latin and English. For these two and the other two
traditional holiday hymns (18511), Crosby is assisted by the mixed chorus,
directed by Max Terr, and John Scott Trotter’s orchestra. Forgetting the jazz
idiom entirely, all four sides are in good taste, Crosby’s chanting ever most
respectful and expressive of reverence. These sides are for counter trade and
not meant for the music boxes.
(Billboard, October 17, 1942)
June 10,
Wednesday. Records “Road to Morocco” and two other songs with Vic Schoen and
his Orchestra.
Ain’t Got a Dime to My Name –
Decca 18514
Also from Road to Morocco, this rhythm ditty shows
great promise and might be a major hit. It’s a cheery song about boys hitting
the road, light of heart and of pocketbook. Crosby is in his characteristic
happy-go-luck frame for this singing, and with the song design tailored to his
talents, it’s a natural. Moreover, bright background is furnished by Vic
Schoen’s orchestra, which has been providing the swingy instrumentals behind
all the Andrews Sisters’ recordings.
(Billboard, November 14, 1942)
June 11, Thursday. It
is revealed that the military has requisitioned the Del Mar property as
a training base for the U. S. Marines. Bing hosts the Kraft Music Hall show on
NBC between 6:00 and 7:00 p.m. Guests include Vera Zorina and Thomas Mitchell.
Probably between 8 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., Bing records a guest shot with John
Scott Trotter and his Orchestra in Command
Performance show #17 which is emceed by Don Ameche. The Command Performance series was recorded
on transcription discs for shipment to overseas forces instead of being
broadcast live. In the UK, the
With Thomas Mitchell, screen character actor, Vera Zorina of the stage,
screen and ballet, and Lieut. Leonard Phillips of the U.S. Army Air Force
riding in the reserved guest airplane seats, Bing Crosby will bring his Music
Hall opus to the air tonight at 9 with the “Bombardier Song” topping his list
of vocal high spots.
(The Bristol Herald-Courier, 11th June, 1942)
June 12, Friday.
(8:30-11:30 a.m.) Records four songs with John Scott Trotter and his Orchestra
in Hollywood, including “Moonlight Becomes You” and “My Great, Great
Grandfather”. “Moonlight Becomes You” spends two weeks at the top of the Billboard charts during its 17 weeks
sojourn in the lists.
BING CROSBY (Decca 18432) My Great, Great Grandfather — FT; C. The Bombardier Song — FT; V.
Crosby goes patriotic for this couplet, but adds little to his singing laurels.
Grandfather is a forced opus
that brings up the Revolutionary forefathers, and not too effectively, in words
or music. Crosby takes this and the flipover as well in lively march-fox-trot
tempo. Vocal force is even weaker, despite the assist from the Music Maids and
Hal for Bombardier Song, the
Rodgers-Hart contribution to patriotic American music. This one is dedicated to
the bombing crews of the U. S. Army Air Force. John Scott Trotter, as usual,
trots out sterling musical accompaniment. As a service song, “The Bombardier
Song” should attract some attention from the boys who wear silver wings.
(Billboard, August 15, 1942)
Moonlight Becomes You – Decca
18513
From his forthcoming Road to Morocco picture, in which Bob
Hope and Dorothy Lamour are co-starred, Bing Crosby waxes a lovely romantic
ballad that promises to hit the top of the song parade. In a romancy mood as he
sings of Moonlight’s inspiring effect on lovers, he gives plenty of gloss to
the side. A tuneful easy-to-listen-to melody with lyrics that follow the
accepted love song pattern, it should take little persuasion for this ballad to
catch on almost immediately, and in a big way.
(Billboard, November 14, 1942)
Bing Crosby gets full marks
for his singing of “Moonlight Becomes You” and “Road to Morocco,” both of
course from his current film of the latter title. Better recording than of late
does much to add to the enjoyment of the famous voice (Brunswick 03410). Also
from his film are “Constantly” and “Ain’t Got a Dime to My Name” although less
pleasing than the other pair. (Brunswick 03410).
(The Gramophone, February, 1943)
June 13,
Saturday. Bing writes to his accountant Todd Johnson saying that he is
looking for a good cattle ranch and that he has his eye on one in Elko.
Nevada.
![jpgt[1]](Chapter_6_files/image016.jpg)
June 15, Monday. Lends
his support to the Scrap Rubber Drive and is photographed alongside items being
put aside for salvage.
June 18,
Thursday. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Lynne Overman, Donald Crisp, Linda Darnell, and
Walt Disney. Then, starting at 8.15 p.m., Bing takes part in a Gershwin
Memorial Concert at the Shrine Auditorium with Dinah Shore, Harry James, The
Kings Men, and Paul Whiteman. Whiteman jointly conducts the Los Angeles
Philharmonic Orchestra and his own orchestra which are seated side by side on
the stage—a total of 150 musicians. The event is a benefit for the Philharmonic
Orchestra. Bing sings a solo and then he and Dinah Shore sing a medley from Porgy and Bess. An edited version of the
concert titled "Homage to Gershwin" is broadcast on the East Coast on July 4 on NBC-Red in behalf of the Treasury Department.
Beautiful Linda Darnell, Donald Crisp and Walt Disney will stroll into
the “Music Hall” to chat and joke with Bing Crosby and Company during the KTBS
broadcast tonight at 8 o'clock. In honor of Disney, Bing will sing “Love Is
Just a Song,” from the former’s forthcoming feature-length cartoon “Bambi.” He’ll
also sing “Hey, Mabel,” with the Music Maids and Hal; “Not Mine,” “When My
Dreamboat Comes Home” and two other songs which will be announced later. The
Music Maids and Hal will sing “The Jersey Bounce” and John Scott Trotter will
lead the band in “Suggestion Diabolique.” Victor Borge will present another or
his side-splitting routines. Mary Martin, who is on vacation will be off the
show for one week. She will be on again on the 25th and will be heard regularly
all summer.
(The Shreveport Times, 18th June, 1942)
Bing Crosby’s entrance was to the romantically
questioning “Somebody Loves Me.” A later
bow occurred for him during the “Porgy and Bess” excerpts with “I Got Plenty o’
Nuttin’”. In company with Dinah Shore, and highlighted by the effective Gilbert
Allen choir, one of the finest Negro singing institutions, Bing put over the haunting
“Summertime” and “It Ain’t Necessaily So”—the latter had those out front asking
for more. It was a performance in the typical Crosby manner. Hollywoodians
noted that the star had changed his slouchy attire to formal dress for the
appearance, one of the rare occasions when Bing “dressed up.”
(Harry Mines, Daily News, June 19,
1942)
Forgetting the anxieties of
war, 6,500 of the music-loving elite of our community, film stars, dramatists,
artists and professionals and unprofessionals of every walk of local activity
crowded into Shrine Auditorium last night . . .
Bing Crosby sang inimically “Somebody Loves Me,” and though the audience
was all in favor of an encore, the genial Bing refused to delay the program by
accepting the ovation and invitation to sing again.
(Carl Bronson, Los Angeles Evening Herald Express, June
19, 1942)
…Much interest was evoked in
the audience over the appearance of Bing Crosby, who sang “Somebody Loves Me.”
Dinah Shore displayed a sweet mezzo in “The Man I Love” and “They Can’t Take
That Away from Me”. The two vocalists, supported by the Gilbert Allen Choir,
offered selections from Gershwin’s latest and best work, “Porgy and Bess,”
including the favorite “I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin’,” “It Ain’t Necessarily So,”
and “Summertime,” for the climatic and closing item.
(Richard D. Saunders, Hollywood Citizen News, June 19, 1942)
I
was a nervous wreck. I watched through the curtain as Bing was singing and I
saw his trouser leg shaking and I thought, “Oh, he’s nervous too!” That
straightened me out in a hurry, because I didn't think Bing could be nervous.
But he was and he concealed it better than anybody I’ve ever seen. I never
thought there was an instance of uncertainty in his performances, in his confidence,
in himself, in any of those things. I never thought there could be. He was Bing
Crosby, one of a kind ever, and he was nervous like the rest of us. He didn't
do many personal appearances, but this was a real apex in my career. [He] was a
very generous performer, very appreciative. If you said something funny, he loved
it. I was doing my portion of the program when we were doing those concerts and
in some of it I was self-deprecating, which is the best thing to do when you’re
uncertain about how you’ll be received. And this was Bing’s audience basically
and I got a lot of laughs. Bing came up and he said, “What is this? What are
you doing” with mock severity. And I explained, “I’m getting my share of laughs
before you go here with them.” Because he got all the laughs…He was a funny man. Funny offstage, funny onstage. Everything
he said had sophistication. He didn’t waste words.
(Dinah
Shore, as quoted in Swinging on a Star,
pages 229-230)
June 21, Sunday.
Thought to have performed in a USO Navy Camp show.
June 22, Monday. A threatening letter addressed to Bing by a George Baker demands $1000 which is to be sent to a post office. It emerges that the comedian Harold Lloyd has received a similar letter. The letter is passed to the FBI who contact Bing at the studio and he tells them that he does not know a George Baker. Meanwhile, Bing writes in support of Glenn Miller's desire to join the Armed Forces.
To Whom It May
Concern
Mr. Glenn Miller
advises me that there’s a possibility of his being selected for training, with
the ultimate result a commission in the United States Navy, and that he is
desirous of securing letters of recommendation from friends of his that might
be of some value.
It is a great privilege
for me to make this recommendation for whatever it is worth, as in the many
years I’ve known Mr. Miller I’ve found him to be a very high type young man, full
of resourcefulness, adequately intelligent and a suitable type to command men
or assist in organization.
June 24, Wednesday. Bing and his son Gary film a minor scene for Star Spangled Rhythm, a Paramount extravaganza packed with its contract players performing cameo roles. The film stars Betty Hutton and Eddie Bracken. The director is George Marshall with Robert Emmett Dolan as musical director. Bing’s featured spot comes at the end of the movie when he sings “Old Glory.”
The
censors could do nothing at all about the climactic number featuring Bing and an
enthusiastic throng of all-American stereotypes: the twangy son of Georgia, the dese-and-dose guy
from Brooklyn, a black choir droning a few
bars of “Motherless Child.” “Old Glory” isn't
just a song, it's a dialogue between Bing and America, beginning with his meditation
on the Pledge of Allegiance and building to a standard apple-pie-and-baseball litany as the crowd straightens out the one skeptic in its midst. Bing, in a double-breasted
suit, is the perfect interlocutor, as
well he should be-the sequence shamelessly
echoes the 1939 cantata Ballad for Americans, by Earl Robinson and John La Touche, that
Bing helped popularize. Bing’s payoff
line—"How about Washington? I mean all three: George Martha, and Booker T.”—may be
small beer compared to the paradigm of Ballad
for Americans, but it was a bracer for Paramount Pictures. Perhaps only
Bing could have delivered that number.
June 25, Thursday. Submissions to the Securities and Exchange Commission indicate that Bing had the second highest earnings in the U.S.A. in 1941 after Louis B. Mayer, production director of Loew’s Inc. who received $704,000. Bing received $300,000 from Paramount Pictures while his earnings from Decca were $100,640. No amount was quoted for his radio income. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing’s last Kraft Music Hall appearance until October 1. The guests are Harry James and Fred Astaire. The songs from the film Holiday Inn are plugged. Bob Crosby takes over for the summer months. Later, Bing attends a birthday party for Peter Lind Hayes at the Grace Hayes Lodge and sings a couple of songs.
“Plenty Of Plugging For New Paramount Pic - ‘Holiday’ Pet Of The Nets” (Headline)
“With fourteen tunes to play with and play,
‘Holiday (Inn)’can’t miss keeping things cooking on the kilocycles. Kate Smith,
last week, sang ‘Be Careful It’s My Heart’, one of the Crosby/Astaire picture’s
sock ballads. The song was heard on all major networks immediately
after release. Tomorrow night, Kraft Music Hall follows through when
Bing Crosby has his co-star, Astaire, as guest. Bing himself will
deliver two ‘Holiday Inn’ Tunes, ‘Be Careful’ and ‘Song of Freedom’ and he and
Astaire will duo on the number they sell so well in the picture, ‘I’ll Capture
Her Heart Singing’ (sic)”
(“Variety” 24th June 1942)
June 28, Sunday. June Crosby, Bob’s wife, gives birth to a son, Christopher
Douglas.
June 29, Monday.
The setting up of $50,000 trust funds given by Bing for each of his four sons
is completed in Probate Court. John O’Melveny, the family attorney, is
appointed to look after the trusts which consist of stock in the Crosby Corporation yielding $3000 a year.
The sons are to receive their respective trust fund when they reach the age of
twenty-one.
July 1, Wednesday. (6:30-7:00 p.m.) Appears on the premiere Soldiers with Wings broadcast
on CBS with Joan Blondell and The Kings Men. Captain Eddie Dunstedter
and his West Coast Army Air Force Training Center Orchestra provide the
music, The show comes from the Santa Ana Training Center.
July 2, Thursday.
The FBI detains “George Baker” when he calls at the post office to see if Bing
or Harold Lloyd have responded to his demands. Baker is discovered to be a
man named Samuel Rubin.
July 4, Saturday.
(11:00 a.m.) Larry Crosby, on behalf of Bing, presents the deed to
their burial ground to the Os Sut Indians. (12:15-1:15 p.m.) Bing
and Dinah Shore take part in a radio tribute to
Stephen
Foster broadcast over the Mutual Broadcasting System.
Fourth of July celebration
such as this State has never seen was held yesterday on the Nola fruit ranch
near Newcastle. A celebrated crooner appeared as a benefactor to the few and
impoverished remnants of a once large tribe of Os Sut Indians. Bing Crosby
appeared before all of those who were left of the Os Suts and Hollywood (in a
sense) preserved traditions of the early settlers. The story: The Os Suts were
about to lose title to lands which for years have been their burying grounds.
If you know Indian lore you know what that means. It seemed for the moment that
the abode of the ancestors of Indians would be sold cultivated and lost to history.
Bing Crosby came up yesterday with $200 to save the Indian burial grounds and
his action terminated a distressing situation. As I get it the Superior Court
of Placer County, at the insistence of the Rev. Father Hynes, had sanctioned
sale of the tract of ground to Crosby for $200 and all details were complete
for the legal transfer of the cherished plot to the diminished Indian band.
Assisting Father Hynes in the negotiations were J. P. Hall and John E. Noia, at
whose ranch home the presentation was made. Bing, it is understood, while
bestowing the gift in person declined all Big Chief honors, such as wearing the
traditional regalia of the Os Suts. The gratitude of the Indians for his
generous intervention will be his recompense. Check off your Fourth of July
stories. In many respects this may be unique.
(Oakland Tribune, July 5, 1942)
…Shifting
then to Hollywood, the program will present Bing Crosby and Dinah Shore in
Foster songs. The choice should be good, because Foster wrote many of his songs
in the slow, rhythmic tempo of the south so well adapted to these two voices…
(Jack
Bunker, The Courier-Journal, July 4,
1942)
July 9, Thursday.
Recording date in Hollywood with Captain Eddie Dunstedter and his Army Air
Force Training Center Band. Bing sings three songs. Later, he and Dixie leave for a vacation at Pebble Beach,
BING CROSBY (Decca 4367)
Hello Mom — FT; V. A Boy in
Khaki—a Girl in Lace—FT; V. Entirely in his element in singing soldier ballads,
Bing Crosby gives most sympathetic and tender vocal force to A Boy in Khaki — a Girl in Lace. Taking
it at a moderate tempo, Crosby’s voice is set in the lush fiddle background
provided by John Scott Trotter’s orchestra. Also a soldier ballad, Hello Mom is given the same lyrical
pleasantries. Side has collector interest in that the musical background is
provided by the label’s own Eddie Dunstedter, who had a hand in writing the
song, now in uniform as a captain. Musical background is etched out by Captain
Dunstedter and the West Coast Army Air Force Training Center Orchestra, loaded
with Strads and cutting it in the John Scott Trotter manner.
“A Boy in Khaki—
a Girl in Lace” is the side that is getting the attention, and Bing Crosby
hopping onto the tune not only gives it a big lift, but also provides the ops
with a sale-attracting entry.
(Billboard, September 19, 1942)
The
“Hello Mom” session, a feeble kicker to a recording year that began with the
sexy "I Want My Mama,” indicates that the [American Federation of Musicians] ban
came none too soon for Bing. His
voice was shot; tinny high notes, flagging midrange, wobbly intonation,
whole
notes out of the question. The backing was provided by a Decca standby,
the
popular pipe organist Eddie Dunstedter, now a captain in command of the
(blaringly overmiked) West Coast U.S. Army Air Forces training center
orchestra. Dunstedter composed “Hello Mom” to lyrics by his air force
buddy
Frank Loesser: “Sure Mom the food is mighty good / And lately we had a
raise in
pay / And the bonds that you're buying / That are keeping us flying /
Makes the
whole darn thing okay.” Bing gave his share of the meager royalties to
the air
force. The first take, pitched unaccountably high, had him sounding
like a
teenager socked by testosterone. They brought down the key. Yet the
rest was no
better; a trite if tolerable rendition of vaudeville's serenade “By the
Light
of the Silvery Moon” and a Gershwin jewel, “But Not for Me,” in which
Bing's
tones crack and trail off-never did the line “This is the time a fella
needs a
friend” sound more forlorn. Kapp didn’t issue the last two in the
United
States; he did offer them to Indian Columbia, which distributed the
disc only
in West Bengal, near the international airport at Dum Dum.
(Gary
Giddins, Swinging on a Star, Page 209)
July 15, Wednesday.
Bing accompanies Dixie to Pebble Beach lodge where she is made an
honorary captain of company "B" of the Fort Ord military police
battalion.
July 20, Monday. Starting today, Bing is heard on 213 radio stations five times a day for 13 days singing Junk Will Win the War, the theme song of the National Salvage Campaign launched by the War Production Board.
July 22,
Wednesday. Samuel Rubin (age twenty-four) is indicted by a federal jury on
charges of sending extortion letters to Bing and to Harold Lloyd threatening
harm to their children if they did not pay $1,000. On September 9, Rubin is sentenced
to five years in jail.
July 23, Thursday. Bing takes part in Treasury Star Parade, a War Bond Drive radio program. This appears to have been a transcribed (recorded) program as various radio stations broadcast it at different times. Bing sings “I’m Saving a Dime (Out of Every Dollar)”, the new official song of the Treasury Department. Both Bing and Dinah Shore have recorded the song with Al Newman’s Orchestra and chorus.
You’ll be hearing
it over all the stations shortly—Dinah Shore and Bing Crosby singing together “I’m
Saving a Dime (Out of Every Dollar).” It’s to help sales of War Bonds. Records
were cut in Hollywood this week and will be sent to stations everywhere.
(International Gazette, July 11, 1942)
The Treasury Department looks for
the song “I Am Saving a Dime Out of Every Dollar” to sell about $25,000,000 in
War Stamps and Bonds. If it does, Hollywood can take another bow. Leo Robin and
Ralph Rainger wrote the number and Bing Crosby and Dinah Shore have recorded
it, one on each side of a disc that will receive tremendous distribution. Free
copies will be sent to all radio stations and the treasury department will plug
the record in every other way.
(Harrison Carroll, The Roanoke Times, July 20, 1942)
July (undated). Bing is on a fishing trip in the High Sierras with Johnny Burke and Dr. Arnold Stevens and nearly slips to his death while casting from a snow-covered ledge at Mammoth Lake.
July 25,
Saturday. (a.m.) Arrives in Salt Lake City, Utah on the Union Pacific Streamliner and checks in at the Hotel
Utah. Gives interviews to local newsmen before rehearsing in the Presidents
Room with Jimmy Van Heusen. Goes on to play golf with George Schneiter and others at the
Ogden Country Club and has a 75. Later, Bing makes an unannounced appearance at the local USO center and puts on a show.
July 26, Sunday. (2:00 p.m.) Teams up with Bob Hope for a golf match at Salt Lake City with the profits going to the Army Benefit Fund at Fort Douglas. A crowd of 4,500 watch Bob Hope and Ed Dudley beat Bing and George Schneiter one up at the Salt Lake Country Club. Bing and Bob give a short impromptu show just off the eighteenth green after the match before going to the bombing and gunnery camp at Wendover to give a performance for the servicemen. Jimmy Van Heusen accompanies Bing at both shows. They all return to Salt Lake City in the early hours.
Wendover
- Rechristening this city “Leftover,” Bing Crosby and Bob Hope Sunday night presented
a two and a half hour program for the benefit of approximately 3000 soldiers of
the Wendover air base.
“I
have never seen so much salt in all my life,” Crosby told the soldiers after
which Hope retaliated with the comment “They ought to call this place ‘Leftover’
instead of Wendover.”
The
two radio and screen stars came here from Salt Lake City where they played an
exhibition golf match earlier in the day.
In
addition to the comedy, Bing Crosby sang a number of songs during the
program. The base orchestra also was included on the program.
(Salt Lake Tribune - July 27, 1942)
Commenting on the
jaunt, in which they had two blowouts and near accidents, Bing said: “We were
late getting there, and we put on a full hour’s show, made our bows and prepared
to get away. But the boys wouldn’t leave. We had to go through the whole
routine again. And after that, they weren’t satisfied and we had to put on some
impromptu stuff. The boys out there are starving for entertainment."
(Jimmy Hodgson, The Salt Lake Tribune, July 28, 1942)
July 27, Monday.
(9:30 a.m.) Bing leaves for Colorado Springs with Ed Dudley.
August 1, Saturday. The American Federation of Musicians commences a recording ban
by its members which continues until September 18, 1943, in the case of Decca.
August 2, Sunday. Bing's horse "Tangazo" wins at Agua Caliente. Meanwhile, Bing takes part in a benefit golf match with Babe Didrickson at Stockdale Country Club, Bakersfield, California. 4000 spectators watch Bing and Babe lose 3 and 2 to local servicemen from Gardner Field.
Climaxing
an arduous day when he was one of the big attractions at the Stockdale golf
club benefit given for swimming pools for Gardner and Minter Fields on Sunday.
Bing Crosby and the remainder of the stellar foursome, continued to give generously
of their talents at the Gardner Field officers’ club on Sunday night, following
the match.
Composed
of Edgar Kennedy, Jimmie McLarnin, Babe Didrickson Zaharias, and the famous crooner,
the foursome joined a large aggregation of officers and their wives in a dinner
and entertainment at the Gardner officers’ club. Continuing
his generous outpouring, the famous crooner favoured his audience with song
after song, then led the group in assembly singing. He climaxed this by presenting
Colonel Kenneth C. McGregor, commanding officer of the post, with a cheque for
$250. Not
to be outdone, the famous “Babe” favoured the audience with selections on her
harmonica, an instrument which she has mastered as thoroughly as she has her athletic
accomplishments.
(Bakersfield Californian, August 4, 1942)
August 4, Tuesday.
Bing joins USO Camp Show unit #32 with Phil Silvers, Rags Ragland and Jimmy Van Heusen and their
show “Full Speed Ahead” which begins a tour at Camp Lewis, Washington. The
attendance at the first show is 2,276. Elsewhere, Bing’s film Holiday Inn has a charity premiere for
the benefit of the Navy Relief Society at the Paramount, New York and goes on
to take $3.75 million in rental income in its initial release period in the
USA.
That man Irving Berlin has been whistling to himself again. Not content with turning out the most rousing Broadway show in years, he has scribbled no fewer than thirteen tunes for “Holiday Inn,” the light-heartedly patriotic musical which opened last night at the Paramount in conjunction with a gala stage show for the benefit of the Navy Relief Society. Mr. Berlin may not know a great deal about notes, as he confesses, but he does know a lot about music. If there are no tunes in “Holiday Inn” that quite match those of his army show, Mr. Berlin still has created several of the most effortless melodies of the season—the sort that folks begin humming in the middle of a conversation for days afterward. At present Paramount prices Mr. Berlin’s tunes are being sold dirt cheap.
As it happily happens, the film has caught the same effortless moods of the music. Mark Sandrich, director and producer, has taken the inevitable mélange of plot and production numbers and so deftly pulled them together that one hardly knows where the story ends and a song begins—a neat trick if you can do it. That it comes off, of course, is largely due to the casual performances of Bing Crosby, who can sell a blackface song like “Abraham” or turn an ordinary line into sly humor without seeming to try, and Fred Astaire, who still owns perhaps the most sophisticated pair of toes in Christendom. Mr. Astaire has rarely danced with more alert, carefree abandon than among the exploding torpedoes and red devils of “Say It with Firecrackers.” And in Marjorie Reynolds, a very fetching blonde young lady, Mr. Astaire has a new partner who can hold her own at all speeds.
Mainly “Holiday Inn” is a series of musical episodes, each of which takes an American holiday for cue. But they have been strung ever so neatly on the amorous rivalries of Mr. Astaire, who wins all the battles except the last, and Mr. Crosby, a musical lazybones who retires to a New England farm which he converts into a night club for holidays only—thus leaving him 300-odd days a year for pure loafing. And while the pair desperately conspire against each other for the hand of Miss Reynolds, Mr. Berlin’s music sets the moods from the romantic “Be Careful, It’s My Heart,” to nostalgic “Easter Parade,” tender “White Christmas” and rollicking “Let’s Start the New Year Right.”
Along the way the author and director have bobbed up with some engaging tricks such as the befuddled Thanksgiving turkey hopping from one Thursday to another or the Washington’s Birthday Minuet, in which a bland Mr. Crosby continually breaks up Mr. Astaire’s precise and dainty footwork with hot licks in the accompaniment. It is all very easy and graceful; it never tries too hard to dazzle; even in the rousing and topical Fourth of July number it never commits a breach of taste by violently waving the flag. Instead it has skipped back over the year in an affectionate and light-hearted spirit. In a month without a holiday, “Holiday Inn” offers a reason for celebration not printed in red ink on the calendar.
(The New York Times, August 5, 1942)
Paramount has decided to
‘special’ this Irving Berlin filmusical, and rightly so. It’s a standout film.
With those Berlin tunes, a strong story content and Bing Crosby and Fred
Astaire for the marquee, it’s an undeniable boxoffice parlay, a winner all the
way. . The July 4 production effects afford Astaire a whale of a firecracker
dance specialty on top of Crosby’s own ‘Song of Freedom.’ This, of course, is a
setup for the cinematic montage of U. S. planes, battleships, armaments, MacArthur, F. D. R. and finally Old Glory. That
kinda puts a topper to the George M. Cohan technique—in spades. But it fits the
occasion and, in the 1942 idiom, it’s topical and socko....The production is
ultra, and the musical interpretations, with Bob Crosby’s Bobcats backing up
brother Bing, make the song idioms ultra-modern.
(Variety, June 17, 1942)
The best musical drama of the year.
(New York Post)
With dancing by Fred Astaire
and singing by Bing Crosby and music by Irving Berlin, Holiday Inn, the new picture at the Paramount Hollywood and Downtown
theaters, fires a real salvo of entertainment. Light and romantic, the new film
is soothing balm for war nerves or whatever else ails you. . . . The picture is
going to be a gilt-edged property for Paramount and a top musical treat for
filmgoers.
(Los Angeles Evening Herald Express, August 28, 1942)
This is the best picture Fred
Astaire has made since the rupture of the Astaire-Rogers team. Accompanied by
tuneful Irving Berlin melodies, Fred makes love to two girls for both of which
Bing Crosby has fallen. It is a question as to whether Fred’s dancing or Bing’s
vocal efforts will win the day. The pair make a first-rate song and dance team
which we hope will not be dissolved too soon.
(Picturegoer, August 22, 1942)
August 5, Wednesday. Travels on to Tacoma by train where he is met by his uncle George L. Harrigan. Golfs with his Gonzaga friend Doug Dyckman at the Allenmore course. Later Bing gives further camp shows at Camp Lewis with 2,476 forces personnel seeing the shows.
Tacoma,
Aug. 5 – (AP) – First thing off the train was a bag of golf clubs. Then came a
box full of straw hats. After that came golfer-crooner Bing Crosby.
In
the customary sloppy jacket and baggy breeches, Bing came home today for the
first time in a dozen years…For the benefit of a welcoming committee, including
friends, newspaper men and members of the county bond boosting committee he
broke into a low croon of “any bond today” as he came down the Pullman steps.
…Included
in the station welcoming party were Doug Dyckeman, an old crony from Gonzaga
University days; another old friend, Frank Murtaugh, and Uncle George L.
Harrigan, who came up from Olympia to see his nephew…The crooner and his pal,
Dyckeman, went out to the golf links first thing. When Bing goes to Seattle
Friday, he will take on Harry Givan, well known Washington golfer, he said with
anticipation.
(Centralia Daily Chronicle, August 5,
1942).
August 6, Thursday.
(12:15 p.m.). In Tacoma, Bing sings at the Liberty Center to help the War
Savings Bonds drive.
When Bing sang, his feet did
little dances and his hands toyed with the cord leading to the mike, twisting
it into such knots the kilowatts could barely squeeze through. Bing blinked and
alternately looked coy and innocent. He sang first about an Irish lad and a
Mexican beauty who had a romance [“Conchita, Marquita Lopez” recorded June 10,
1942]. The latter half of this melody was devoted exclusively to naming the
children. He followed with “Sleepy Lagoon” and the swaying cadence “Jingle
Jangle,” accompanied by the soldier band. His feet shuffled and his winks kept
the children, even the old ones, squirming with delight.
(The Tacoma News Tribune, August 8, 1942)
Bing goes on to golf at Fircrest with Dr.
Harry Davis, Martin Traub, Father Gallagher and S. A. Gagliardi. He has a 75. Gives more shows at Camp Lewis and
this time the audience totals 1,788. Stays at the Tacoma Country Club.
August 7, Friday.
During the day, Bing takes part in a
benefit golf match for the War Athletic Council. Playing in front of a
crowd totaling 2000, Bing and Harry Givan defeat Yeoman Albert
Campbell and local pro Gordon Richards 3 and 2 on the Broadmoor course. Later, the USO Camp Show is at the Naval Air Station, Seattle, where the total
attendance is 2,139.
August 8, Saturday.
Having stayed overnight at the Benjamin Franklin Hotel, Bing appears in Victory
Square, Seattle, in front of 15,000 people with Phil Silvers and Rags Ragland.
In Seattle, it was a huge
open-air show—thousands of people milling around the stage—but nobody tried to
tear Bing’s clothes; nobody, as a matter of fact, really bothered him.
. . . Suddenly a cry disturbed the quietness of the smiles and
the soft laughter that Bing’s antics on the stage had elicited. Phil [Silvers]
looked around again. It was a baby crying, a baby who was lost. He leaned down
and picked it up. “Mama will find you,” he comforted the very little child.
“See,” he said, “I’ll hold you where you can be seen.” But the baby wouldn’t
stop crying.
“Sweet Leilani.” Bing was talking to the audience. “Sweet
Leilani for a $500 bond.” Still the baby would not stop crying. . . . Bing took
the baby, took a good look at it, and exclaimed, “My God! A girl. I haven’t
seen a little girl in years!”
At the obvious reference to his wholly male family, the crowd
burst into loud laughter and fixed firm attention upon the stage. Bing sang
“Sweet Leilani,” holding the little girl in his arms. Her mother noticed her,
and the family was once more complete.
(The Incredible Crosby, page 196)
The same day, Bing goes to a
“Hole-in-One” competition at Beacon Hill (where he hits a few balls) and then
entertains naval combat fliers at Sand Point.
August 10,
Monday. Bing arrives at Cheyenne, Wyoming, on an early morning train and checks
in at the Plains Hotel. Together with Phil Silvers, Rags Ragland, and Jimmy Van
Heusen they entertain at Fort Warren where 1,798 soldiers attend the two
evening shows.
August 11,
Tuesday. (11:15 a.m.–12:10 p.m.) Bing presents a radio program over station KFBC
in Cheyenne and more than $15,000 worth of war bonds are sold. More than 1,000
people pack the mezzanine at the Plains Hotel to watch and hear the show.
During the afternoon, Bing undertakes a three-hour tour of the Quartermaster
Replacement Training Center at Fort Warren including at 3:00 p.m. a special
program for the patients in the camp hospital where he sings six songs.
Starting at the motor
maintenance school, Bing, Phil [Silvers] and Jimmy [Van Heusen], as they are
known to the soldiers, visited two of the giant buildings while classes were in
session. In one of the buildings, Bing paused to talk with a group of colored
soldiers from the fourth regiment. He expressed interest in the drill presses
they were operating and listened patiently while they explained the operation
of the machines. At the other building, Crooner Crosby continued to mingle with
the soldiers and exchange quips with them. His casual, informal manner put the
privates at ease and every “hello, Bing” was answered with a “Well, how are
you, glad to see you” or some equally friendly greeting.
Traditionally
an informal dresser, Crosby was garbed in light gray tropical trousers, a dark
blue cotton high-necked polo shirt horizontally striped with white and a dark blue
linen jacket. An unlit pipe constantly dangled from his mouth.
Boarding
jeeps at the QMRTC motor pool, the visiting Hollywoodians, in the company of
several officers, went out to the rifle range where they watched soldiers learn
the art of marksmanship, posed for dozens of amateur photographers and penciled
their signatures scores of times. Twice on the range Bing met privates he had
known in civilian life and both times he made them proud by warmly
acknowledging the acquaintanceships. . . .
To the grateful cheers of bathrobed patients, at the station
hospital annex, Crosby sang a half dozen songs, Silvers entertained with
several amusing stories and Van Heusen exhibited unusually fine style at the
piano.
(The Wyoming
Eagle, August 12, 1942)
He then returns to his hotel before
presenting two more shows in Fort Warren’s Theater no. 2 at night and this time
the attendance totals 2,720.
August 13,
Thursday. The tour reaches Camp Carson, Colorado Springs, and 2,076 people
watch the shows. During the day, Bing and Lawson Little golf at Broadmoor and
defeat Bud Maytag and Ed Dudley three and two. Bing has a seventy-four.
Approximately 2,000 fans view the proceedings.
August 14,
Friday. Further shows at Camp Carson in front of 4,152 people.
August 15, Saturday. Bing and Bob Hope play golf on the Broadmoor course at Colorado Springs against Lawson Little and Ed Dudley in front of a crowd of 4,000 with receipts going to the Camp Carson Recreation Fund. Bing cards a seventy-eight and the match finishes even.
…We
had some nice entertainment Saturday night. Bob Hope and Bing Crosby were here and gave us
about an hour of fun and laughs. They were really good. Bing sang several
popular songs. They played a golf match out at the Broadmoor course. Lawson Little
and Ed Dudley were with them…
(Jim Ross, in a
letter to Oklahoma Live Stock News, August
20, 1942)
August 16, Sunday.
Starting at 11:00 a.m., Bing and Lawson Little golf against Bob Hope and Ed
Dudley at the Cherry Hills course, Denver, Colorado. A crowd of over 6,000
(including Governor Ralph Carr) watch the thirteen-hole match which is won by
Hope and Dudley one up. Bing and Bob put on a show at the driving range after
the match and are helped by entertainers from Lowry Field. Radio station KOA
broadcasts some of the show. The proceeds of the day go to the four army camps
in the area.
Denver
Aug. 17 (AP) – A crowd of about 6,000 persons–the largest individual match crowd
in Denver links history could testify today to the morale-building hilarity of
a couple of Hollywood clowns, crooner Bing Crosby and comedian Bob Hope.
The
wise-cracking Hope, paired with Ed Dudley, Broadmoor golf pro, beat Crosby and
Lawson Little, former national open champ, one up at the 13th hole
of a benefit exhibition golf match at the Cherry Hills Country Club yesterday.
Then
they topped off the day by helping sell $27,500 worth of war bonds, auctioning
off autographed Crosby records with the purchasers getting war bonds for their
money.
The
golf match, scheduled for 18 holes, was curtailed because Hope had to catch a
plane back to California.
(The Daily Sentinel, August 17, 1942)
August 26, Wednesday. (6:30–7:00 p.m. Pacific
Time) A radio program featuring a preview of Holiday Inn is broadcast on the CBS network. Bing, Fred Astaire and
Betty Jane Rhodes star.
“Holiday Inn,” the Irving Berlin film,
already a click on the screen, scored in its radio “preview” last night
(WABC-9:30 to 10). And why not? Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire were on hand
before the mike, as they were in the picture. The music is outstanding,
especially when warbled by Bing and Betty Jane Rhodes, a girl with a magnetic
mike personality.
(Ben Gross, Daily News,
(New York), August 27, 1942)
August 27, Thursday. The Los Angeles papers
report that recently Bing was at the Players Club in Hollywood with Dixie and
that he thrilled the stay-up-laters by singing all his numbers from Holiday Inn.
August 30, Sunday. Bing and many other Hollywood celebrities arrive at Union Station, Washington D.C., at 8:40 a.m. where they are greeted by Kay Kyser’s Orchestra and about 1,000 fans. Starting at 11:00 a.m. Bing takes part in a rehearsal of a show at the National Theater. The actual event takes place at 7:00 p.m. and Bing acts as host in the Bureau of Public Relations Washington Show at the National Theater in front of an audience of 1000 top ranking government and army officials plus 800 soldiers. Guests on the show include Connee Boswell, Abbott and Costello, James Cagney, Hedy Lamarr, Ginny Simms, Larry Adler, and Dinah Shore. The proceedings are recorded and subsequently issued as Command Performance shows #30 and #31. Following the show, the stars are taken to the National Press Club where they interview the press. Bing questions Tom Stokes.
A
monster radio show rode the air waves last night from the stage of the National
Theater and into the hearts of fighting Americans on every front throughout the
world. Fourteen top stars of the screen, gathered in Washington to open the
September billion-dollar War Bond drive on the Treasury steps today, poured
their talent and enthusiasm into a program the servicemen themselves had
ordered.
It
was a radio show for fighting America. It beat the air waves into a frazzle with
a display of fighting spirit that demanded fun while doing a job that must be
done. The boys wanted “Command Performance,” their own program, produced by the
radio branch of the War Department, to “lay them in the aisles” of the
Solomons, the Egyptian deserts, the rolling ships. And it did!
The
boys wanted a bit of nostalgic song, a moment to think of the home folks, and
both Dinah Shore and Bing Crosby put their hearts into the melodies they sang.
The boys got about everything that entertainment has to offer.
(Victor Ullman, Times Herald, August 31, 1942)
…The
writer was among those privileged to see a grand show in “Command Performance”
in which several of the stars participated. The group was augmented by Connee
Boswell, Ginny Simms, Bert Wheeler and Larry Adler. Bing Crosby officiated as a
very efficient master of ceremonies, sang alone and with Connee Boswell and put
on a clever vaudeville act with Jimmy Cagney. Paul Douglas was announcer.
(Russell Stewart, The Washington Daily News, August 31,
1942)
August 31,
Monday. Having stayed at the Carlton Hotel overnight, the stars leave
in army
jeeps at 11:00 a.m. for a parade to the Treasury Building. At 11:30
a.m., in
front of a crowd of 30,000, Bing acts as MC in a war bond rally which
continues
until 2:00 p.m. on the south steps of the Treasury Building. The rally
inaugurates the “Salute to our Heroes” Drive and $250,000 is raised.
The
proceedings are broadcast between noon and 12:30 p.m. and captured by
newsreels
of the day. Bing sings “This Is Worth Fighting For.” Following the
broadcast, Bing and many other stars are stationed at various tables
selling and autographing War Bonds. Later Bing and the stars
are
entertained to lunch at 3:00 p.m. by Henry Morgenthau, Secretary of the Treasury, before they depart in various directions as part of a
thirty-day tour
of 300 cities organized by the Hollywood Victory Committee. Bing is
thought to have had a few days in New York before starting his golf
tour and he is seen at the Stork Club.
They’re
still counting up at the Treasury with the indication that Washington’s first
bond sale, under Hollywood auspices, grossed over $2,000,000. Returns from the
theatres may boost this another $500,000.
Approximately
15,000 were gathered around the Treasury steps, when Edward Arnold, president
of the Screen Actors Guild, touched off the proceedings by introducing Secretary
Morgenthau. While the newsreel cameras ground, and 30 minutes of the program were
sent over the radio networks, stars were busy dispensing autographs. Hedy Lamarr
and Irene Dunne vied for popularity.
Greer
Garson, in a stunning black outfit with green gloves, did a one-minute bond
broadside, followed by Walter Abel, Ann Rutherford, Hedy Lamarr, Virginia
Gilmore, Martha Scott, Irene Dunne, Dinah Shore, Abbott & Costello, Carl
Ravassa’s band, Jimmy Cagney, whose patriotic outburst was followed by the
introduction of Bing Crosby singing “This Is Worth Fighting For.” After the
radio signoff, Miss Dunne came to the mike once more to urge the audience to
remain for more impromptu entertainment…
(Variety, September 2, 1942)
September 3, Thursday. Frank Sinatra is released from his
contract with Tommy Dorsey to begin his solo career.
“I think my appeal was due to the fact that there hadn’t
been a troubadour around for ten or twenty years, from the time that Bing had broken
in and went on to radio and movies. And he, strangely enough, had appealed
primarily to older people, middle-aged people. When I came on the scene and
people began noticing me at the Paramount, I think the kids were looking for
somebody to cheer to for. Also, the war had just started. They were looking for
somebody who represented those gone in their life. I began to realize that
there must be something to all this commotion. I didn’t know exactly what it
was, but I figured I had something that must be important. So I decided to try
it alone, without a band.
The other reason was that I had been thinking. The number one
guy in the world was obviously Crosby. Nobody was going to touch him because he
really was the best. Still, I thought, at some future time there has to be a
number two.”
(Frank Sinatra, as quoted in Frank Sinatra, My Father, page 41)
September 5, Saturday.
Commencing at 2:00 p.m., Bing plays in a benefit golf match at the
Looking a trifle worn, his
light blue eyes noticeably deep in their sockets, but nevertheless kind, accommodating and exuding the personality
that has made him stand out above the throng in the world of entertainment,
Bing Crosby, star of screen and radio, sucked on his pipe as he selected a
couple of golf balls in the shop at
The door was locked and faces flattened against the window
panes as admirers, young and old, looked at their idol. . . Crowds were just
another thing in Bing’s crowded life. He had looked at them continually the
last 15 days, hopping from city to city on sleeper stops, his last from the
nation’s capital. Yes, Bing was tired, but there were 15 more on the itinerary
and after the
(The Binghamton Press, September 6, 1942)
September 6,
Sunday. Starting at 2:30 p.m., Bing takes part in a golf benefit for the USO at
the Inverness Country Club, Toledo, Ohio with Byron Nelson, Jimmy Demaret, and
local amateur Frank Stranahan. A crowd of more than 3,000 sees Bing and Demaret
lose two down. Bing has a seventy-seven and then sings several songs at the end
of the game on the club terrace to entertain the crowd, supported by the Eddy
Brandt Orchestra. Bing goes on to Camp Perry to take part in the weekly show
given soldiers at the induction center.
I’ll never forget the first
time I met Bing Crosby. It proved to be one of the most embarrassing moments of
my career as a musician.
It was back in 1942, and I
was playing string bass with Eddy Brandt’s society-type orchestra at the
Commodore Perry Hotel in Toledo, Ohio. Bing was coming through town on a World
War II bond-selling tour and was to play golf on a Sunday at Inverness Country
Club with Byron Nelson, Jimmy Demaret and Frank Stranahan. Through Mitch
Woodbury, the entertainment columnist with the Toledo Blade, our band was asked to play a few numbers behind Bing
as he entertained the crowd after the match at the “19th hole.”
Crosby was going to sing only
three numbers, and, so that we would be prepared, we were notified several days
in advance what the tunes would be. As I remember, they were popular Crosby
tunes of the day: “Deep in the Heart of Texas,” “A Sleepy Lagoon” and “White
Christmas,” which he had done a few months earlier in a picture with Fred
Astaire, Holiday Inn. Bing rarely
sang a song in the original key, so we knew we would have to transpose to his
key. We practiced the transpositions during the regular evening dance sets so
we’d be ready. Just the idea of meeting Bing Crosby, let alone playing behind
him, was an exquisite anticipation for me. Crosby at that time of course, was
at the top of the show business heap, with no one closing in.
On Sunday, after the foursome
finished the golf match, they adjourned to the clubhouse for a toddy or two,
while the crowd assembled on the patio outside. Finally Bing came out, and I
remember him walking up to me, holding out his right hand and saying:
“Hi, I’m Bing
Crosby.” As if I didn’t know. As if anyone didn’t know.
He sang “Deep in
the Heart of Texas,” and the audience clapped in the right places. Then came
“Sleepy Lagoon,” which the composer had written in the key of C. Bing’s key was
G, which meant playing it two and a halftones lower. The band got through the
introduction and the first chorus okay. But during the second chorus, Bing, as
was his style even then, ad-libbed in tempo and in tune. Looking directly at
our violinist, Kenny Karpf, he sang: “A sleepy lagoon/a tropical moon/you take
the next chorus.”
Well, Kenny did
take the next chorus, but he was so flustered by all this unexpected attention
that he loused up the pickup notes. Bing, quick as ever on the uptake, drawled
in the familiar baritone over the microphone:
“The kid needs a little more practice, doesn’t
he?”
The crowd, of
course, laughed, because Kenny’s mistake was so obvious. But the rest of us in
the band were looking for the 20th hole to crawl into.
I was flattered
when, several years ago as I was chatting with Crosby at Fisherman’s Wharf, he
recalled the incident and even named his golfing companions of so many years
ago.
(Dick Alexander, writing in
the San Francisco Chronicle, October
16, 1977)
September 7,
Monday. Bing travels to Detroit where he plays in another fund-raising golf
match starting at 2:30 p.m. at Plum Hollow Country Club. The profits from the
match go to the Selfridge Field Recreation Center. Bing and Jimmy Demaret lose
by four and three to Byron Nelson and Chick Harbert in front of a crowd of over
5,000. He goes on to entertain 7500 soldiers at Selfridge Field.
He still managed to have a
good time, and the spectators who followed him in the match and heard him sing
“Jingle, Jangle,” “Sleepy Lagoon,” “Johnny Doughboy,” and then “Home on the
Range” with Demaret as a partner in a duet near the eighteenth green at the
close of the match also enjoyed themselves. . . . Later in the evening Crosby
made an appearance at Selfridge Field and sang for the 7,500 soldiers there.
Early this morning he left for Chicago to watch his horses run before resuming
his series of eleven war benefit exhibition golf matches at Grand Rapids,
Saturday.
(Detroit News, September 8, 1942)
September 10,
Thursday. Bing and Lawson Little play against Tommy Armour and Charley Penna in
a benefit golf match at Flossmoor Country Club, Chicago. Lawson Little beats the course record with a 66. Bing has an eighty.
He visits the racetrack while he is in Chicago. Elsewhere, there is a sneak preview of the film Road to Morocco at the Paramount, New York. The Armed Forces Radio
Service records Front Line Theater
radio show #1 with Bing, Bob Hope, Hedy Lamarr, and Glenn Miller’s Orchestra
appearing in Too Many Husbands. It is
probable that the AFRS utilized the Gulf Screen Guild version of the same play
which had originally been broadcast on March 8, 1942. Bing’s horse “Barrancosa”
(a product of the Binglin stable) wins the Brookdale Purse at Aqueduct race
course, New York.
September 11, Friday. Golfs at Ridgemoor Country Club, Harwood Heights with Lawson Little, Charley Penna and Tommy Armour. Bing has a 75.
September 12,
Saturday. Starting at 2:30 p.m., Bing takes part in a golf benefit with Jimmy
Demaret, Chick Harbert, and Al Watrous
(a late replacement for Byron Nelson who
was ill) at Kent Country Club, Grand Rapids, Michigan for the USO and
the Red
Cross. A crowd of 3,500 pays $1.10 each and sees Bing and Demaret lose
on the
eighteenth green, one down. After the match, Bing sings three songs and
auctions off various items. He travels on to Lansing in Michigan where
he stops for a meal with Fred Corcoran at the Hotel Porter before
motoring to Detroit and catching a train at 11:30 p.m. for Youngstown,
Ohio.
Bing Crosby was the high man
of the foursome, with a medal of 78. He had one ball out of bounds and used a 7
on the 15th hole, but in all fairness to the popular movie star, it must be
mentioned that he was under the most severe handicap of all. The crowd
literally mobbed him all over the course.
He needed the protection of two state policemen through the
entire round to keep away the autograph seekers. Fully three-quarters of the
gallery flocked behind him to see him hit every shot. Many times they stood
within a club length of him, but Bing calmly continued to play very good golf
for an amateur star. Playing under the conditions he did, many top-notch pros
couldn’t hit a shot. Through most of the match, he calmly smoked his pipe and
at times hummed strains of various tunes he made famous. . . .
At the finish of the match, the crowd, which was the largest by
far that ever saw an exhibition match in Grand Rapids, clustered around the
first tee and heard Bing sing three songs. And it was amazing the manner in
which the crowd acted during his singing. With a gallery of that sort, one
would think that Crosby would have had a hard time being heard, but it was as
quiet as though he were singing in an auditorium. The fans gave him their
undivided attention and gave him a thunderous ovation at the close.
(Grand Rapids Herald, September 13, 1942)
September 13, Sunday.
Bing’s tour has brought him to Youngstown, Ohio, and at 1:45 p.m. he is
at the WFMJ studios where he is interviewed by Bob Wylie in front of an
audience who each buy a $25 war bond for admission. He then goes to
Mahoning
Country Club for a 2:30 p.m. start to an eighteen holes golf match in
which he and Gene Sarazen defeat local professionals Jack Thompson and
Al Alcroft
two and one. Bing has a seventy-one and the match raises $1343 for the
USO.
After the match, Bing entertains the crowd of 1300 from the porch at
the
country club singing several songs including “Jingle, Jangle, Jingle”
and “My
Melancholy Baby” accompanied by a local string band called “Bing’s
Melodiers.”
At 7:00 p.m., Bing presides over a dinner at the country club for
twenty-five
people all of whom have had to purchase a $1000 war bond to gain a seat.
He proved a crowd-pleaser at
Mahoning, mixing superb golf with wisecracking, signing hundreds of autographs,
and adding a few songs. . . .
“All over the country the people are enthusiastic about war
bond purchases and aiding the USO. And during my appearances at the army
camps—I play to about 40,000 soldiers a week—the work of the USO is inspiring.
And that’s one way to keep up the morale of our armed forces—buy bonds and aid
the USO,” Crosby added. . . .
Crosby’s singing appearance really “brought the house down” at
Mahoning. Bing likes to ad-lib and never misses a chance for one of those
trigger wisecracks. When someone on the platform made a noise, in the midst of
his singing, Bing joked “Stay on your feet and get a draw.” . . . The biggest
kick Crosby got in the current appearance was at the bond dinner. At Bing’s
request, it was limited to some 25, as he was unable to remain for the entire
session. But the 25 bought $1000 bonds and one family—that of Thomas McFarland
Sr., was represented by eight purchasers . . . Crosby spoke briefly, as did
Peter M. Wellman, sponsor of the event. Bing joined Al Alcroft—Youngstown
Country Club pro—in Scotch songs.
(The Youngstown Daily Vindicator, September 14, 1942)
September 14, Monday.
Plays nine holes at Highland Golf and Country Club, Indianapolis during
the afternoon. Stays overnight in Indianapolis with Bruz Ruckelshaus.
September 15,
Tuesday. Bing travels by car from Indianapolis to Cincinnati and makes a speech
in Fountain Square at 1:00 p.m. as part of a gala war bond rally. Goes on to Kenwood
Country Club for lunch at 2:00 p.m. He then takes part in a USO benefit golf
match starting at 3:00 p.m. at the country club with Byron Nelson, Jimmy
Demaret, and Curt Bryan. The golf match finishes on the thirteenth hole and
Bing then sings to the crowd of 3,000 and helps sell war bonds totaling
$176,000. He attends a dinner at 6:00 p.m. on the country club verandah where
he sings for the audience. Goes on to Kansas City for golf.
Bing Crosby came to Cincinnati and has gone, and all one could hear after his visit here was “Whatta Guy!” His exhibition match at the Kenwood drew the largest crowd which ever saw a golf game in Cincinnati and not a person who left regretted being there. The master of the croon had many things of wisdom to say in his short visit here, but the truest thing he said: “It’s a strange thing about freedom—it isn’t free at all—it must be bought with blood and money.”
…After
the match, Bing stood before the loud-speaker and said he had a complaint
against his caddy, Mrs. Norman Hill. She kept looking at her watch after each
of his shots and he finally asked her if she had a date, but she reluctantly
informed him she was not looking at a watch at all, but a compass.
Then
he’d ask for a request and tried hard to please the majority with “Jingle,
Jangle, Jingle,” “Melancholy Baby,” and “Johnny Doughboy.” All the while he
toyed with the loud-speaker wire and suddenly shouted “Believe I’ve got a
catfish on here.”…At the request of Mayor James G. Stewart, Bing and Jimmie
Demaret harmonized “You Are My Sunshine.”
(Sue Goodwin, The Cincinnati Enquirer, September 16, 1942)
September 16,
Wednesday. Starting at 2:30 p.m., Bing plays in a benefit golf match sponsored
by the American War Dads at Swope Park, Kansas City. Partnered by Lawson Little
they lose two down to Ed Dudley and Johnny Goodman (former national amateur
champion) in the fifteen-hole game. A crowd of 3,000 watches the proceedings.
An auction follows the golf and Bing entertains the crowd. He then takes a train for Tulsa.
One of the non-wonderful
things about Bing Crosby is that he plays golf just about as expertly as the 3,000
men and women who gathered at the Swope Park course yesterday to see him and
three very good boys at the game. Bing, naturally, had himself and the crowd in
the traps the first nine holes, but who cared? For, you see, a part of the
entertainment sponsored by the American War Dads was to get Bing to sing. He
did. He even appeared bare-headed, accepting the first overseas cap the War
Dads ever gave out. Bing is bald here and there, so you can realize
bareheadedness in his case was a concession.
He was playing golf with Lawson Little, the one-time open
champion; Ed Dudley, a famous golfer, and Johnny Goodman, former national
amateur champion. Bing was valiant. He always, for instance, stroked the ball.
But as he said afterwards, the earth worms were crawling toward his ball to be
in safety. At that, he wasn’t so bad. He posted a 40 on the first nine,
compared to Little’s 34, Goodman’s 33, and Dudley’s 35. Six more holes were
played with Dudley and Goodman, who were partners, the winners not only of the
match by 2 up but a $50 war bond put up as security, as we say in this
nonbetting city. Goodman had the queer feeling of having the hepcats, who
seemed to form most of the crowd, identify him as Benny Goodman. He swings good
but his swing is something different from Benny’s. Little had no such trouble.
He and Bing got before the crowd later and auctioned some old records, with one
going as high as $31. Bing was pleasant and he told a lot of stories, most of
them with an air of age. You remember, for instance, the one about the Maine
gas dealer? Well, just to show you how courteous people are, they laughed at
that one. Bing is a good guy but he needs to get in a back room for some new
ones.
(Kansas City Times, September 17, 1942)
September 17, Thursday. Bing and Ed Dudley arrive
in Miami, Oklahoma, to meet their friends, Mr. and Mrs. George Coleman, a
wealthy oil man and his wife. During the morning, Bing and Ed Dudley visit
Judge Sam Fullerton’s Sunbeam farm where they are shown Prince Sunbeam, grand
champion of the Fort Worth livestock show. Bing poses for photographs with the
bull before he and Ed Dudley together with Mrs. Coleman, and Miss Patty
Fullerton play thirteen holes at the local golf course late in the afternoon. A
gallery, that numbered only a few at the start, swells to unexpected
proportions before the golfers call it a day. Before leaving the clubhouse, a
large group of teenage girls swarms about Bing and he stays to sign autographs
for them all. Bing and Ed go on to be dinner guests of the Colemans with whom
they also stay overnight.
Singer Bing Crosby is a
regular fellow. Even the crowds who surround him, paw him and worship him can’t
spoil this film and radio star who has crooned himself into the hearts of
millions. Big Ed Dudley, his golf-playing associate and one-time pro at Miami
Country Club, and Bing were Miami visitors Thursday, stopping off here to see
their friends, Mr. and Mrs. George L. Coleman, Jr., while en route to Tulsa for
a war relief golf show today.
“I don’t see how he holds up under the strain of meeting
hundreds of persons, everywhere he goes—but he does,” the congenial Dudley
said. “At Kansas City yesterday, 400 to 500 persons swooped down upon him when
we got off the train at the Union Station. There’s nothing he can do, except
meet them, and he does a good job of it.”
(Miami Daily News-Record, September 18, 1942)
September 18, Friday.
Bing and Ed Dudley travel to Southern Hills Country Club, Tulsa, where they
arrive just after noon. At 2:00 p.m., Bing and Lawson Little
team up for an eighteen-hole war benefit exhibition match against Ed Dudley and
local golfer Walter Emery. Bing and Little win one up with Bing having a
seventy-five. At 6:15 p.m., Bing sells war bonds and entertains the crowd of
2,500 as he sings “San Antonio Rose”, “Johnny Doughboy”, “Jingle Jangle,
Jingle”, “Sweet Lorraine”, “Mexicali Rose” and “My Melancholy Baby” with Bob
Wills and his Texas Playboys orchestra. The proceedings are broadcast by
station KVOQ between 6:15 and 7:00 p.m. War bond sales of $315,125 are
achieved, the highest so far on Bing’s current tour. Bing discloses to newsmen
that he has not seen his family, except for four days, since June.
A crowd of 2,500, the largest
that ever saw a golf match in Tulsa, followed the match and roared approval of
Bing’s radio broadcast and war bond sales party which featured the finish. Bing
was in grand form at the entertaining (normal for him), and surpassed even his
best previous efforts in the war bond auction by disposing of $315,000.
With Bob Wills and his orchestra playing, Bing sang for at
least half an hour after the bond sale. “San Antonio Rose,” composed by Wills
and made famous by Crosby, was the smash hit of the party. But Bing sang many
other request numbers and took time to pass some nice compliments to Wills.
(Tulsa Daily World, September 19, 1942)
One thing is certain, both
Wills and Crosby profited from the song. The song was still so popular in 1942,
that Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys recorded it near the eighteenth green at
Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa and then offered to give a copy to the
person buying the most war bonds. Leon McCauliffe [steel guitarist with the
band] reported that someone bought $250,000 in bonds in order to get that
limited edition of ‘New San Antonio Rose’. [At this point there is reference to
an end of chapter note which reads, “Leon McCauliffe; Harry Rasmussin.
Rasmussin, the sound engineer in charge of the KVOO mobile unit that day, at
the Country Club, remembered the disc sold for $20,000 in bonds.” It may be
that all of the recordings brought in $250,000 in bonds.]
(San Antonio Rose – The Life & Music of Bob Wills)
September 19, Saturday.
Bing and Ed Dudley go to Oklahoma City for another war benefit golf match at
the Oklahoma City Golf and Country Club with Henry Picard and Lawson Little,
but a near three-inch downpour washes the golf out before the match can be
started at 1:30 p.m. Bing lunches at the Country Club and later catches a train
to Houston.
September 20, Sunday.
Bing, Ed Dudley, and Lawson Little arrive by train in
Houston, Texas, and are met by a reception committee and an honor escort of
United States marines. They go on to Houston Country Club where, after a 2:30
p.m. start, Bing and Lawson Little finish all-square
after nineteen holes in a match with Ed Dudley and local amateur Ed White. Bing
has a seventy-five. After the golf match, Bing entertains the crowd of 2,000
with several songs and auctions off various items. Fred Corcoran, the
tournament manager of the
September 21, Monday. Golfs
with Ed Dudley, W. A. Moncrief and Dick Grout (local pro) at the
Colonial Country Club, Fort Worth, Texas. They play 9 holes in the
morning and 18 holes in the afternoon.
September 22, Tuesday. Leaves Fort Worth by train for Hollywood.
September 23, Wednesday. Bing arrives back in Hollywood.
October 1,
Thursday. Records the first of the Personal
Album series of shows for servicemen. Press reports indicate that Bing has
lost weight and that he attributes this to making breakfast his big meal of
the day. Later, between 6:00–7:00 p.m., Bing returns to the Kraft Music Hall on NBC until April 15, 1943. The
main guest in the opening show is Cass Daley. Audience share is 23.1 during the
season which relegates the show to thirteenth place in the Hooper ratings. Bob
Hope heads the table with a rating of 40.9. Bing’s salary is $5,000 per
broadcast. Victor Borge, Ken Carpenter, the Music Maids, and Mary Martin remain
as fixtures together with John Scott Trotter and the orchestra. The Charioteers
make their first appearance and become regulars.
A 21-bell
salute, please, Mr. Carpenter. Bing is back. Forsaking the golf course and the
race track for the nonce, Mr. Crosby supplants brother Bob and again takes his
place as the backbone and general raison d’être of the old KMH. The show is
still same expert blend of music, comedy and guest stars and that inimitable
spirited of good fellowship and effortless entertainment. In addition to the
usual regulars, there are the Charioteers.
Bing starts off with Kalamazoo, and as soon as the first notes are out you know that everything is all right again. Later on he gives the old Crosby once-over to Conchita Lopez; Be Careful, It’s My Heart and Boy in Khaki, and the season’s pops come into their own.
Even Mary Martin, who sings 10 Little Soldiers, is tolerable as Bing's foil.
Victor Borge is funny in a monolog in which he tries to explain, quite naively, what happened to him at a football game.
John Scott Trotter's orchestra is still providing accompaniment and doing equally well on featured spots, while Ken Carpenter offers the most acceptable commercials in radio because of smooth and clever build-ups.
Added feature, the Charioteers, provides that something extra. These four Negro vocalists, with piano accompanist, are tops in four-part harmony. Their arrangements of Ride, Red, Ride and All I Need Is You, in the popular vernacular, are out of this world.
Special
guests are Cass Daley, amusing as a stenographer applying for a job
with Crosby and even more so in a medley of parodies that have made
her famous, and Col. Samuel Harris, of the U. S. Army Air Force, who
gave some information concerned with teaching the boys to fly safely.
(Shirley Frohlich, Billboard, October 10, 1942)
The
Charioteers, a black quartet had begun as college students, at Wilberforce in
Ohio, then like the Boswells, made it into radio through a local contest. They
worked in Cincinnati (Ohio) for a couple of years, then hit it a little bigger
and left home for New York, eventually landing a plum position in what became
one of the longest-running musical productions in history, Olson and
Johnson’s “Hellzapoppin” in 1938.
They signed up
for Kraft and began October 1st, 1942. They were immediately popular with the
audience and with Bing. “They can sing anything four different ways”, he once
said. Mainly for KMH they stuck to spirituals and humor-songs (“Straighten Up
and Fly Right”, “Tabby the Cat”). Their beautiful work with Crosby is one of
the lasting adornments of the program. Two of them were brothers, Willie and
Ira Williams. The other two, Eddy Jackson and Howie Daniel supplying the
balance to the brothers with a second tenor and a bass voice, made them famous.
Their bright clever arrangements were all done by their pianist, who also
appeared on the series, Jimmy Sherman. They appeared with Bing after the Hall.
They must have been good to have remained for over three and a half years
(Vernon Wesley Taylor, Hail KMH! The Crosby Voice, September 1985)
“We were with Bing
Crosby when the war started, from October, 1942 until May 9, 1946 on the Kraft
Music Hall. From 1941 to 1945 we were on the road quite a bit and busy with
Bing, so we didn’t get time to record. We used to do all the camp shows with
Bing. We took a show to all the various camps in California like Pendleton and
Young. Once a week we would visit the camps and entertain. We’d take a lot of
stars with us, like Judy Garland, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour. Bing would
always send a station wagon down for me to take the boys in. A lot of
performers would take the bus, but we used Bing’s station wagon. We only went
out there to audition for two weeks after Bing had seen us in ‘Hellzapoppin’.’
Bing sent us our fare, round trip tickets, and we ended up staying about five
years.”
(Howard Daniel, Sr.,
as interviewed by Peter Grendysa and reproduced in the blog The Charioteers:
Shoo Shoo Baby by Becky Benishek, May 3, 2019)
October 3, Saturday. Bing and Bob Hope headline the two-and-half-hour AWVS show at the Civic Auditorium in San Francisco. Frances Langford, Jerry Colonna, and the Skinnay Ennis Orchestra also take part. $25,000 is raised. Bing's recording of "White Christmas" enters the Billboard charts for the first time and eventually tops the charts for 11 weeks.
In the closing weeks of the year, one of the songs
from Holiday Inn began to show signs
of entering that select circle of undying hits to which “Alexander’s Ragtime
Band” belonged. “White Christmas,” the song so many experts had disparaged,
quietly found its way to a special constituency that was immune to all of
Berlin’s promotional efforts: American soldiers abroad. Around the world, Gls
began inundating the Armed Forces Radio Services to play the song. In short order
it became, quite spontaneously, the American soldier’s anthem of longing and
homesickness. Berlin hadn’t written the song specifically for soldiers, and
this aspect of its appeal caught him by surprise. At any rate, his faith in the song had been vindicated.
Berlin held a press conference to publicize “White
Christmas” where it seemed to need a little boost: here at home. As he played
for reporters on his battered prepared piano, he noticed his audience’s discomfort
with the song’s introductory verse about warm California Christmases. In view
of the song’s wartime popularity, the gambit no longer meant much.
As soon as the conference ended, Berlin told Saul
Bornstein, “I want you to cut the verse out of the sheet music of ‘White
Christmas.’ From now on, that song goes without a verse. That’s an order.” Bornstein
did as told, but then, Berlin recalled, “The music jobbers who handled sheet
music all over the country wrote in and complained like hell-they figured we
were cheating them out of a verse.”
The songwriter held fast, and his song continued to
sell. Even after the war ended, it continued to sell, until it became the most popular
song Berlin ever wrote. It simply never fell out of fashion. In the first ten
years of existence, it sold three million copies of sheet music and fourteen
million records, nine million by Crosby alone. In time it became one of the
most valuable copyrights in existence.
(As Thousands Cheer: The Life of Irving Berlin, page 409)
October 4, Sunday. (Starting at 1:00 p.m.) Bing and Earl Fry play against Bob Hope and Mark Fry in a special golf match at Sequoyah Country Club, Oakland, for the benefit of the American Women’s Voluntary Services. The Fry brothers are local golf professionals.
After watching Bing Crosby and
Bob Hope roam around the Sequoyah Country Club fairways, one comes to a couple
of conclusions.
1—Crosby not only can sing and
act, he's a crackerjack golfer.
2—Hope is not only funny on the
air and in pictures, he knows what to do with a golf club.
The twosome teamed with Mark and Earl
Fry in an exhibition played before more than 1000 people. The foursome did not
disappoint the gallery. Hope was fast as a trigger with his gags and Crosby was
right with him.
…And that's the way the match
moved for 14 holes which is all boys played. Hope had to rush across the bridge
to attend a show rehearsal.
…It was impossible to keep a
record of what the foursome shot. Suffice to say, it was near par. And we are
convinced Crosby cannot hit a long ball but he is straight to the pin and
apparently has a fine short game.
Hope was wild off the tee at times
but made amazing recovery shots. For a couple of guys who are amateurs and
can't play every day of the week, they did a right good job.
It was an unusual gallery. Half
the crowd understood the rules and etiquette of golf while the remaining number
were music and film fans and knew little or nothing about the game. It's a
wonder that half didn't get their brains bashed out the way they crossed fairways
and crowded around greens.
It was a good afternoon’s
entertainment. Hope and Crosby are grand troupers. They played a late show in
San Francisco Saturday night and previous to that have been going at a steady
clip with charity dates. It is obvious they must be tired but one would never
know it from the pace they set at Sequoyah.
(Bob Blake, Putter Patter, Oakland
Tribune, October 5, 1942)
October 5, Monday.
Bing visits the Mare Island hospital in Vallejo as a guest of the AWVS and goes
from ward to ward entertaining servicemen. The film Road to Morocco is released nationwide
and is a box office smash taking $4 million in rental income in its initial
release period.
Let us be thankful that
Paramount is still blessed with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope, and that it has set
its cameras to tailing these two irrepressible wags on another fantastic
excursion, Road to Morocco, which
came to the Paramount yesterday. For the screen, under present circumstances,
can hold no more diverting lure than the prospect of Hope and Crosby ambling,
as they have done before, through an utterly slaphappy picture, picking up
Dorothy Lamour along the way and tossing acid wisecracks at each other without
a thought for reason or sense. That is what they are doing in this current
reprise on trips to Singapore and Zanzibar and, as a consequence, Road to Morocco is Route 1 to delightful
“escape.”
Of course, that may sound a
bit ambiguous, considering Morocco’s current significance in the news. But you
mustn’t forget that geography means nothing in a Crosby-Hope film. The only
purpose it serves in this instance is to justify a fairy-tale background of oriental
splendors, turbaned villains, Miss Lamour and Dona Drake in scant attire, and a
line in a song whereby the heroes indicate that they are Morocco-bound.
Otherwise this lot of
slapstick nonsense, wherein Paramount’s priceless pair of pantaloons whale each
other with insults instead of custard pies, might take place in any locality,
including Hollywood, in which the Messrs. Hope and Crosby could be cast up on a
strange and fearful shore, amid the most forbidding surroundings-until Miss
Lamour comes along. It might be set down in any country where Miss Lamour could
be a gauze-gowned princess and Bing and Bob could wrangle hotly about which one
should win her fair hand, then later go through mad and fast adventures when
they have to shove a native sheik aside.
For, really, this Road to Morocco runs through that
beautiful land of wacky make-believe, so seldom well explored in the movies-a
land of magic rings and mirages, a land in which Bing and Bob can suddenly make
an inexplicable escape from rigid bonds and then observe that, if they told how
they did it, no one would believe them-so they just won’t tell. It is, in
short, a lampoon of all pictures having to do with exotic romance, played by a
couple of wise guys who can make a gag do everything but lay eggs.
As usual, Mr. Crosby is the
sly one, Mr. Hope is the reckless, pop-eyed dope. Mr. Crosby woos the lady with
soft talking and a song, “Moonlight Becomes You So.” But Mr. Hope does it in a
manner which would normally make her laugh herself to death. Together they form
a combination which strings the fastest and crispest comedy line in films. Miss
Lamour is, as usual in such spots, helpful; she never gets in the way and she
sings a ditty called “Constantly” with just the proper shadow of a doubt. And
Dona Drake, Anthony Quinn, and Mikhail Rasumny furnish picturesque and
rib-tickling assists.
The short of it is that Road to Morocco is a daffy,
laugh-drafting film. And you’ll certainly agree with the camel which, at one
point, offers the gratuitous remark, “This is the screwiest picture I was ever
in.”
(Bosley Crowther, The New York Times, November 12, 1942)
Crosby, Hope and Lamour have
done it again. Their click in Road to
Singapore and Road to Zanzibar is
eclipsed by Road to Morocco…The entire
production represents a hefty budget. David Butler’s direction has kept it all
moving at a fast pace, and it’s to his credit, plus the frolicsome performances
of the two male stars, that many of the situations are the sources of amusement
that they are. Four tunes punctuate the proceedings, with ‘Ain’t Got a Dime to
My Name (Ho Hum),’ warbled by Crosby, showing the most commercial
possibilities. The others, however, are consistent for the production’s
needs…Crosby, of course, is still more or less straighting for Hope’s
incessantly steaming gags. The two have never teamed better, nor have they,
seemingly, romped with such abandon.
(Variety, October 7, 1942)
The two comedians, Crosby
with his polished deliberateness, Hope with his wildfire speed, play
beautifully together; a performance at once spontaneous and finished, a truly
American performance.
(Dilys Powell, The Sunday Times, London, November 1942)
October 6,
Tuesday. Bing arrives back late on the set of Dixie at 11 a.m.
October 8, Thursday.
(6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall
show on NBC. Guests include Milton Berle and Desi Arnaz. Bing sings "White Christmas".
Comedian Milton Berle and Desi Arnaz, Cuban screen, radio and
night-club singer, will be Bing Crosby’s guests in the KTBC “Music Hall”
tonight at 8 o’clock.
(The Shreveport Times, 8th October 1942)
October 13,
Tuesday. Probably between 8 p.m. and
8:30 p.m., in CBS Studio A in Hollywood, Bing records Command Performance #36 with Dinah Shore, Mary Martin, the
Charioteers, and John Scott Trotter and his Orchestra. Bing acts as MC.
October 15, Thursday. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Charles Ruggles and Cass Daley.
Cass Daley, the comedienne of a thousand faces – most of them
nightmarish, who rolls ‘em in the aisle regularly with her raucous-voiced
singing of zany ditties, again will be a guest of Bing Crosby in the Music Hall
tonight at 8 o’clock over WMAQ. Completing the guest roster will be veteran
film and stage comedian Charles Ruggles and Capt. E. J. Burns, a chaplain of
the U. S. army.
(Belvidere Daily Republican, 15th October 1942)
October 17, Saturday. Bing's horse "Permiso" wins at Bay Meadows.
October 19,
Monday. Records Song Sheet shows #14
and #16 for servicemen. The format of the shows is that Bing sings a couple of
songs and then reads out the lyrics of the songs at dictation speed. One of the
songs featured is “White Christmas.”
October 22,
Thursday. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Judy Canova and Andrew Tombes.
Judy Canova,
Andrew Tombes, stage and vaudeville performer for 40 years, now a character
actor in western films, and Master Sgt. Raymond B. Hunt, of 32nd
Armored Regiment were booked for the Music Hall, KFI at 6.
(Zuma Palmer, Hollywood Citizen News, October 22,
1942)
October 25,
Sunday. (11:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.) The AWVS holds a United Nations bazaar at Bing’s home at 10500
Camarillo Street. 4000 attend.
Bing Crosby Fetes Soldiers at Home
LOS
ANGELES -
(ANP) - With his colonial style mansion overlooking Tolucca Lake thrown
open to colored soldiers and
their friends, Bing Crosby famous radio and screen star showed the
true spirit of democracy last Sunday afternoon. Headed by Capt. Laura
Slayton, the A.W.V.S, girls aided the famous host in entertaining the
brown fighters. Highlight
of the entertainment being Erskine Hawkins’s famous band, here for
night club and
picture engagements.
(Jackson Advocate - November 7, 1942)
Meanwhile, starting at 12 noon, Bing golfs at Santa Ana Golf
Club in a benefit for the Army Emergency Relief Fund. He is partnered by Olin
Dutra and Johnny Dawson but he has to retire after nine holes due to problems with his foot. Others taking part include Bob Hope,
Fred Astaire, Guy Kibbee,
Johnny Weissmuller, Oliver Hardy, John Montague, Dennis O'Keefe, Sam
Snead, Jimmy McLarnin, Babe Didrickson Zaharias, and her husband
George. 4000 paying persons attend, raising $3500 for the Fund.
H. Allen
Smith’s piece on ‘Bing - King
of the Crooners’ appears in next Saturday Evening Post and declares that nobody
really knows Bing Crosby despite his wide circle of
acquaintances.
(Variety,
October 28, 1942)
October 27, Tuesday.
Elmer Davis, the director of the Office of War Information, appoints
Bing as OWI civilian consultant without compensatuon.
October 28–February 18, 1943. Wednesday–Thursday. Films Dixie with Dorothy Lamour, Marjorie Reynolds, and Billy De Wolfe.
Harry Barris has a small part. The director is A. Edward Sutherland and Robert
Emmett Dolan is the musical director. Because of wartime restrictions,
Paramount uses sets at Columbia ranch, Goldwyn studio, Fox, and Vitagraph. This
is Bing’s first full-length film in Technicolor.
October 29,
Thursday. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Eve Arden and Bob Hope.
The smash box office combination of Bob Hope and Bing Crosby will be
teamed for the Music Hall program tonight when the NBC comedian headline’s the
singer’s guest list. Also taking a prominent part will be Eve Arden, delightful
wisecracking comedienne of stage and screen.
(Arizona Daily Star, October 29, 1942)
October 31,
Saturday. Bing arrives in San Francisco. His recording of “White Christmas” reaches number one in the
charts for the first time and stays there for eleven weeks.
The song’s slow start in
America, Berlin eventually decided, was because of the opening verse about
Christmas in a warm California clime. He ordered the first verse cut from the
sheet music (to resounding initial complaints from music stores, who felt that
they were cheated of material), and Bing Crosby’s hit record climbed the charts
without it. . . . “White Christmas” changed Christmas music forever, both by
revealing the huge potential for Christmas songs and by establishing the themes
of home and nostalgia that would run through Christmas music evermore.
(Merry Christmas, Baby—Holiday Music from Bing to Sting)
November 1, Sunday. Partners with Bob Hope in golf tournaments organized
by the Junior Chambers of Commerce in the San Francisco Bay area for the
benefit of the American Women’s Voluntary Services. In the morning
commencing at 10:00 a.m., at Claremont Country Club, Oakland, there is a
nine-hole match and Bing and Bob defeat shipyard workers Henry Suico and Reno
Nardin one up before a gallery of 2,500. After skipping lunch at the Claremont
Country Club, there is a similar match in the afternoon at Presidio Golf Club,
San Francisco, commencing at 2:00 p.m. against two more shipyard workers, Jack
Finger and Oleg Baloff which Bing and Bob also win one up. The crowd at the
Presidio is estimated at 3,500. Paramount News covers the proceedings in its
newsreel of November 6.
Oakland won’t have a $5000 golf tournament this season, and probably not for the duration. But
Oakland had a surprise $50,000 tournament
yesterday, and the
champions of the event happened to be Bing Crosby and Bob Hope, the film and radio celebrities.
It was probably the
biggest single money tournament held in the history of golf. Crosby and Hope defeated Henry Suico and Reno Nardin, shipyard golf kings,
1 up in a nine-hole match played before
more than 3000 people at snug Claremont Country Club.
It was a legitimate
match but it was practically finished on the sixth
when S. A. Reinhard, Oakland banker, stopped Crosby as
he was putting for a
bird and
paid $50,000 to have Bing sing and Hope dance before the big crowd.
Crosby was ready to
tap an eight-foot
birdie putt when Reinhard
shouted, “How about a song, Bing?” The crooner stopped, marked his
ball and asked, “How about a bond?” Bing wouldn’t
sing for $5000 so the bidding started with Hope tossing
gags so fast it was impossible to keep track. The
amount was worked up to $25,000 and Reinhard
added another $25,000 on the promise that Hope would dance
the second chorus.
So
for a $50,000 bond, the customers saw and heard Crosby sing “Honeysuckle Rose”
while Hope, spikes and all, danced the second
chorus. The big gallery 1iked the show
and gave the boys a terrific hand.
Then Bing dribbled the putt in for a bird and presented the
bond to Mrs. George Washington Baker Jr., the
boss lady among the AWVS.
On
the 18th green, after the finish of the match, Crosby sang two more tunes,
“White Christmas” and “Jingle Jangle,” while Hope
gave an account of his trip to Alaska where he entertained soldiers. That was
the airplane trip when it was so foggy the birds had to come down to the ground
and walk and the pilots up front were busy measuring cigarettes.
As
an entertainment value, the people who paid one dollar to the American Women’s
Volunteer Service for the event were amply rewarded. Hope
and Crosby were at their best. Hope is one of those rare comedians who
can be just as funny away from a mike and off a stage as he is in
front of the footlights. They are genuine people.
Today, Hope takes
his radio company to Sacramento for the Mather
Field boys while Crosby will visit the Oak Knoll Hospital and give the sailors
a bit of cheer.
(Bob Blake, Oakland Tribune, November 2,
1942)
November 2, Monday. Bing visits Oak Knoll Hospital in Oakland to entertain the sailors. He was supposed to have returned to Hollywood for the Dixie filming. Bing and Dinah Shore are heard in the syndicated Treasury Star Parade (show No. 111 - 9480282) singing a medley of songs from Porgy and Bess. Accompaniment is by Paul Whiteman's Orchestra and it assumed that this came from the June 18, 1942 concert. Vincent Price is the announcer. The program is also broadcast at various times during the month on different radio stations.
Musical highlights from George
Gershwin’s folk opera “Porgy and Bess,” with Dinah Shore and Bing Crosby as the
soloists, and accompaniment by Paul Whiteman’s orchestra, comprise the program
which “Treasury Star Parade” listeners will hear on WJTS at 9:15 Monday night.
Crosby and Miss Shore, radio’s top singers of popular songs, and both well
known for their Gershwin interpretations, have selected several of the most popular
tunes from the show for this broadcast.
(The Jackson Sun, November 1, 1942)
November 4,
Wednesday. Records Mail Call show #11 with Fred Astaire, Betty Jane
Rhodes, Fibber McGee and Molly, and Ken Carpenter. The show features
extracts from the film Holiday Inn and
may have used material from the CBS broadcast of August 26, 1942. The Mail Call series of shows was
transcribed for subsequent broadcast to the armed forces.
November 5, Thursday. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Colonel Leroy P. Hunt, Leo "Ukie" Sherin, Richard Haydn and Cass Daley. Mary Martin makes her last appearance prior to having an appendectomy.
Joining Cass Daley
and Richard Haydn as guests on the Music Hall, KFI at 6, will be Col. Leroy P.
Hunt of the First Raider Battalion, U.S. Marine Corps., and Mrs. Helen
Fletcher, liaison officer of the Junior Red Cross.
(Zuma Palmer, Hollywood Citizen News, November 5,
1942)
November 6, Friday. Bing announces that his annual Rancho Santa Fe pro-am golf tournament scheduled for January has been cancelled.
November 12, Thursday. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) The Kraft Music Hall broadcast. Bing’s guests include Ginny Simms, Edgar Buchanan, and Edward Brophy. This marks the end of Victor Borge’s stint as a regular on the show.
Ginny Simms, popular radio and screen vocalist, will join Bing Crosby,
the Charioteers, The Music Maids and Hal, Victor Borge, Ken Carpenter and John
Trotter for a session of the Music Hall tonight at 8 o’clock over WMAQ. Ginny
will be the first of a series of guest stars who will fill in during Mary
Martin’s absence to undergo an appendectomy and take a rest. Dorothy Lamour
will be the Hall’s guest vocalist for November 26, Thanksgiving Day. In
addition to Ginny Simms, Bing will welcome comedian Edward Brophy and Edgar
Buchanan, well-known character actor of the films, as special guests for the
November 12 airing.
(Belvidere Daily Republican, 12th November 1942)
November 18, Wednesday. Bing writes to Francis Keppel, Joint Army and Navy Committee, acknowledging his appointment as OWI civilian consultant and writes of "his great pride in being selected to assist in this work, and pray I may be of value to the effort."
November 19,
Thursday. Bing's horse "Swingy Wingy" wins at Bay Meadows. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Freddie Slack, Slapsy Maxie Rosenbloom, Lloyd Nolan and Ella Mae Morse.
Lloyd Nolan, best-known to movie-goers as the intrepid sleuth Michael
Shayne, Ella Mae Morse and Freddie Slack, composers of the popular “Cow Cow
Boogie,” and Slapsie Maxie Rosenbloom will drop in for an hour of merriment
with Bing Crosby and his colleagues in the Music Hall tonight at 8 o’clock over
WMAQ.
(Belvidere Daily Republican, 19th November 1942)
November 20,
Friday. Records Song Sheet
shows #20
and #22. Meanwhile, it is agreed that the Kraft Music Hall will reduce
to a half-hour duration instead of the existing one-hour format with
effect from January due to war conditions.
November 21,
Saturday. Bing may have attended the “Jitterbug Jamboree” dance contest at the
Hollywood Legion Stadium.
November 26,
Thursday. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing again hosts the Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Virginia Weidler,
Janet Blair, and George Tobias.
Janet Blair, currently being seen in “My Sister Eileen,” and film actor
George Tobias and Virginia Weidler will be Bing Crosby’s guests for the Thanksgiving
airing of the “Music Hall” over KTBS tonight at 8 o’clock.
(The Shreveport Times, 26th November 1942)
November 28, Saturday.
(2:00 p.m.) Bing watches the Notre Dame versus University of Southern
California Trojans game at the Memorial Coliseum. Notre Dame win 13-0
in a bad-tempered game, Bing's son, Gary, is invited to sit on the
Notre Dame bench.
November 29, Sunday. A letter to Bing from Dixie’s father, Evan Wyatt, about Dixie's alcoholism is supportive of Bing and urges him to have Dixie committed to a sanitarium. Wyatt’s advice is to wait until “she is good and drunk” one night, then have her taken off, and to then put the necessary legal steps in place afterwards. The deal he offers Bing is that he will testify on Bing’s behalf in any court hearing, providing Bing does not seek a custody order that would deny Dixie all access to the children. Wyatt seems resigned to having Dixie legally determined as incapable of looking after herself. (2:00 p.m.) Bing attends the Loyola versus Fresno football game at Gilmore Stadium. Fresno win 27-6 and Bing, who had bet against them, treats the Fresno team to a meal at ‘Slapsy Maxie’s’, a nightclub named for boxing champion, Maxie Rosenbloom.
December 3, Thursday. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall broadcast and his guests include Dorothy Lamour and Marcia Maguire.
The Music Hall,
KFI at 6, will present Dorothy Lamour, Marsha Maguire, 16, RKO player, Henrietta
Horah, WAAC officer, and a glider pilot, in addition to the regulars.
(Zuma Palmer, Hollywood Citizen News, December 3,
1942)
December 5, Saturday. Bing is elected to the board of the Western Golf Association.
December 10,
Thursday. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Another Kraft
Music Hall broadcast. Bing welcomes Margaret Lenhart, Jinx Falkenburg,
Cliff Edwards, and Richard Haydn.
With Margaret Lenhart and Cliff Edwards as
his singing guest stars and the lovely Jinx Falkenburg and comedian Richard
Haydn as his cinema guests, Biig Crosby will wrap up another hour-long edition
of Music Hall at 9 p.m. Miss Lenhart, a soprano, was last heard over NBC on Al
Pearce’s program, and Edwards as “Ukelele Ike” has a record of disc sales that
still makes cash registers jingle jangle. Miss Falkenburg, tennis expert,
swimmer, magazine cover girl and model, is Columbia Pictures newest star. Haydn
is fondly remembered for his role of the old professor in “Ball of Fire” and
his frequent NBC guest appearances.
(The Bristol News Bulletin, 10th December 1942)
December 16, Wednesday. Bing is rated as one of the most uncooperative male stars by the Hollywood Women's Press Club. (6:30-7:00 p.m.) Bing makes a guest appearance in an episode of the radio series The Mayor of the Town which stars Lionel
Barrymore. The episode is titled "Bing Comes to Town" and the plot of the
play is built around a bond rally at which Bing is to sing. His songs include
“White Christmas”.
December 17,
Thursday. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing hosts the Kraft
Music Hall
show on NBC. Guests include Kay Aldridge, Edgar Buchanan, Frances Shoup and Trudy Erwin. A recent
speech by General Patton to his forces en route to land in Africa is
dramatized with Edgar Buchanan playing Patton.
Kay Aldridge, former Powers model and now a serial cinema queen; Edgar
Buchanan, former Pasadena dentist who is attaining fame as a film comedian;
Lieutenant Frances E. Shoup of the WAVES and Trudy Erwin, former member of the
Music Maids and now with Kay Kyser, will be Bing Crosby’s guests at 8 o’clock
tonight over WMAQ.
(The Rock Island Argus, 17th December 1942)
December 24,
Thursday. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) The Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Bing acts as emcee and the guests include Janet
Blair, Jack Carson, Fay Bainter, and Andrew Tombes.
Although credited with sky-rocketing Irving
Berlin’s “White Christmas” to its immense popularity through film and record,
Bing Crosby won’t be allowed to sing it on his Kraft airshow Thursday (24).
Sensing there would be a rush of the tune, Martin Gosch, producer of the Abbott
and Costello program for Camel, cleared the song a month ago and immediately
put in his bid with NBC, which shut off the ballad from any other show airing
within two hours on either side of the Camel entry.
(Variety, 23rd December, 1942)
8 p.m. - Music
Hall (WIBA). Bing Crosby sings “Silent Night” and “Adeste Fideles,” and presents
Fay Bainter, Jack Carson, Andrew Tombes, and Janet Blair of the movies.
(Wisconsin State Journal, December 24,
1942)
Later, an hour long Command Performance show is broadcast live on
all networks at 8:00 p.m. Bing is featured together with Bob Hope, the Andrews
Sisters, Dinah Shore, and many others. Bing and the Charioteers sing “Basin
Street Blues”. The show originates from CBS Studio A
in Hollywood.
HOLLYWOOD––
People with umbrellas – and rain coats – stood in front of CBS. It was a drizzling
rain. But no-one’s spirits were dampened in the slightest.
“There
goes Bing Crosby” some one called – as Bing stepped out of a cab – and rushed to
the entrance.
It was
“Command Performance” night. The broadcast was to be heard not only from coast
to coast – but to all of our fighting men on all fighting fronts. It was an auspicious
occasion indeed.
Stars
on the broadcast were ones directly requested from letters from our soldiers and
sailors and marines – and of course the coast guard and air corps – all branches
of the service.
Several
men in uniform stood hopefully and wistfully by the ticket window. The house
was a sell-out. Although all tickets are free.
Fortunately
our party had one extra ticket. We handed it to the nearest soldier and how his
face lighted – when he accepted the ducat that would permit him to go inside.
The entire
downstairs is reserved for service men and their ladies. We sat on the top row
of the top balcony.
Bob Hope was master of ceremonies.
You might know he’d be chosen.
Bing
Crosby – whom Bob introduced as “The Groaner” – sang songs. Red Skelton and Harriet
Hilliard presented a skit. The Three Andrews Sisters – were a trio of glamour –
with their bright colored hair and dresses. The boys in uniform – see uniforms all
day in camp. They want girls to be ultra-feminine – with gay pretty dresses – and
the girls oblige by leaving their tailored suits at home.
Edgar
Bergen and Charlie McCarthy presented a skit with Charles Laughton and Dinah
Shore, who had George Montgomery waiting for her at the stage door – sang. So did Ethel Waters, the chocolate
singer of blues songs. Ethel sang her famed “Dinah.” The Charioteers male chorus
and Spike (Der Fuehrer’s Face’) Jones and his City Slickers – were part of the
star-studded show.
Kay Kyser
got a big hand when he and his men played “Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition.”
And
did everyone watch to see what would happen when Miss Ginny Simms – formerly with
Kay’s orchestra – and in Kay’s heart – appeared for a song! After the show – which
lasted a full hour – Ginny and the boys of Kyser’s band – had a hand-shaking spree
on the stage. But Kay seemed to disappear from sight.
Presented
by the war department in cooperation with the office of war information – these
command performances heretofore have only been aired shortwave by transcription
for service men on the foreign fronts.
Fred Allen
and Jack Benny joined the broadcast from New York.
As Bob
Hope said, “If we don’t please folks tonight with all these Hollywood names we’d
just as well pack our suitcases and go back where we started from.”
It was
a grand show – and everyone’s hoping “Command Performance” will have another public
appearance.
Out
in the rain – and throngs of people – waiting to see the stars leave. CBS has front entrance and departure. It’s a cinch
to see the stars – who can’t run out the back stage door. Bob Hope received a wild round of applause and
he stood in the rain – signing autographs.
And
that’s Hollywood!
(May Mann’s Going Hollywood, The Ogden Standard–Examiner, January 21,
1943)
The War Department on
Christmas Eve gave domestic listeners their first taste of a series that had
been going out to the Armed Forces on short-wave for 43 consecutive weeks. The
purpose of the special occasion as Elmer Davis, Office of War Information
chief, expressed it in a foreword to the show, was to forge a link between the
servicemen abroad and the folks on the Home Front. A recorded version of the
show was short-waved, all over the world, the next day….Hope emceed, tossed off
a monologue and cross-fired with Crosby. A special treat in the vocal
department was the version of “Basin Street Blues” that came out of the tonsil
partnership of Bing Crosby and The Charioteers.
(Variety, December 30, 1942)
December 26, Saturday. Bing is sick and misses a day's filming. However, he is heard in the Soldiers with
Wings
radio show on the CBS network (7:15-7:45 p.m.). This has been recorded in advance at the
West Coast Training Centre at Santa Ana, California. Bing sings four
songs accompanied by the Army-Airforce Orchestra led by Major Eddie
Dunstedter.
December 27, Sunday. Bing defeats Guy Hanson 1-up
in the semi-final of the Lakeside Country Club championships. He cards a 74.
December 28, Monday. Probably between 8 p.m. and
8:30 p.m., Bing records a guest spot on Command
Performance #44. Kay Kyser acts as MC and also leads his orchestra.
December 30, Wednesday. Frank Sinatra makes his first solo appearance at the Paramount
in New York alongside the premiere of the film “Star Spangled Rhythm." The
era of the bobbysoxers begins.
December 31,
Thursday. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Richard Haydn, Johnny Mercer, and
Betty Hutton.
Signing off the old year, Bing Crosby will have a full cargo of guests
on tonight’s broadcast. There will be Richard Haydn, Betty Hutton, Johnny
Mercer and Janet Blair. Crosby and Mercer are certain to team up on some of
their recording efforts.
(The Minneapolis Star, 31st December 1942)
The film Star Spangled
Rhythm (in which Bing sings ‘Old Glory’) is released nationwide taking $3.8
million in rental income in its initial release period. Paramount buys time on
six separate radio stations to promote it in a special fifteen-minute
transcription.
That quaint old Paramount
custom of producing an annual all-star variety show, which was allowed to lapse
into the past tense after “The Big Broadcast of 1938,” has been hopefully
revived with new vigor and a few new faces, too, in “Star Spangled Rhythm,”
which came yesterday to the Paramount Theatre on the New Year’s bill. Half of
the contract players on the studio’s lot are jam-packed into it; stars of
considerable glitter play vaudeville bits like good performing seals, and the
great generosity of Paramount with entertainment is unblushingly advertised.
But the film, by its very nature, concedes consistent quality to size and
assumes the uneven proportions of a whopping big benefit show. . . And the
whole thing is topped off by Bing Crosby in a patriotic tableau called “Old
Glory.”
Those are just the high points in the picture. There are plenty
of lower ones, too. For “Star-Spangled Rhythm” is like mountains—its ups and
downs and spread all over the place.
(Bosley Crowther, New York Times, December 31, 1942)
Only trouble exhibs will have
in selling Star Spangled Rhythm will
be in finding a marquee big enough to hold all the names. By actual count there
are 16 of Paramount’s b.o. toppers listed in the official billing as ‘starred’
and 20 more players as ‘featured’.
…‘Old Glory’ is used for a patriotic finale which seems out of
place and tacked on as an after-thought, as if someone suddenly remembered,
“Gee, we haven’t waved a flag in this picture. We’ve got to do something about
that.” They got it in, but it is an appendage the film could very well do
without.
(Variety, December 30, 1942)
Bing Crosby
provides a majestic patriotic note when he sings ‘Old Glory,’ a hymn filled
with references to American ways and places. It is chanted against heroic
statues of the American forefathers with a chorus from which Crosby elicits sectional testimony.
(Daily
Variety,
December 30, 1942)
Bing is paid $298,946 for his services by
Decca in 1942 and he also receives $300,000 from Paramount. During the year,
Bing has had eleven records that have become chart hits.
January 3,
Sunday. Plays golf with Dick Gibson at the Bel-Air Country Club and
then dines
at the Brown Derby. In Bing’s absence, the Crosby home at 10500
Camarillo
Street catches fire at 7:15 p.m. and is badly damaged following a short
circuit in the Christmas tree lights. No one is hurt other than a pet
cocker spaniel belonging to a friend which is
found suffocated in the children’s apartment upstairs. Bing is
contacted by
phone by Johnny Burke and when he is convinced that the story is true,
he
returns home and pulls out a shoe from the debris containing a large
amount of
cash. The loss is said to be partially covered by insurance and with
rebuilding
out of the question because of wartime conditions, Bing eventually
sells the
charred site for $15,271. Bing and his family then go to the Beverly
Hills
Hotel for a spell before renting a property from Marion Davies in
Beverly
Hills. They are also said to live for a time with the Bob Hope family.
Raging flames that successfully
defied the efforts of four engine companies last night destroyed the palatial
North Hollywood home of Bing Crosby, film and radio crooner and actor. The fire
started when a string of Christmas tree lights short circuited as Mrs. Crosby,
the former Dixie Lee of the screen, and her four children were removing the
baubles from the tree. The flames almost instantaneously raced through the
crooner’s mansion and Mrs. Crosby and the children were barely able to flee
from the house and take refuge next door at the home of Crosby’s brother Larry
from where they summoned the fire department.
Crosby, not yet
back from a golf course at the time, rushed home when word of the fire reached
him, arrived 40 minutes after the blaze had started and in time to see only the
blackened outer walls of the two story southern colonial type structure
standing. Damage was estimated at $250,000.
Several hundred
persons witnessed the conflagration, and flames lit the sky over all of North
Hollywood and for miles around. The home—one of the most beautiful in a
neighborhood noted for its grandeur—was the manor of the Crosby clan.
It was not only
the home of Bing, his wife and their children. It also was the gathering place,
the meeting ground, of the singer’s brothers, Larry and Everett, and his father
and mother, all of whom came to Hollywood following the crooner’s spectacular
rise to fame some 12 years ago, and all of whom joined with him in the
incorporation of his many interests.
The house was a 20
room structure, complete with all the facilities for entertainment of every
fashion and with one of the largest of Hollywood’s swimming pools adjoining it.
Among the fire consumed rooms was Bing’s prized trophy room—one of his prides
comparable to his race horses and golfing ability. Servants’ quarters at the
rear of the big house were not touched by the flames. One witness reported that
neighbors rolled the Crosby automobiles from the garages on the spacious
grounds
(Los Angeles Daily News, January 4, 1943)
January 7, Thursday. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing hosts the Kraft Music Hall which becomes a half-hour program for the first time. The guests in the opening show are Janet Blair and Charles Ruggles. After the show, Bing goes on to a party at Betty Hutton’s home in the Los Feliz hills where he sings many songs to Joseph Lilley’s piano accompaniment.
The
Kraft Music Hall last week (7) marked the turn into its ninth consecutive year
of network broadcasting by telescoping its running time into half of what it
has been all these years. The event was strictly a casualty of the war. There’s
more cheese being produced by the corporation than ever before but the
Government has blocked off such a large proportion of it for the armed-forces
and lend-lease that the question for Kraft became no longer one of stimulating
sales, but rather that of maintaining a highly valuable goodwill franchise, namely,
its weekly radio show. It solved that problem by reducing the length, and not
the quality. All the elements that have made the ‘Hall’ one of the most
ingratiating packages of entertainment on the air are still intact. The only difference
is that Bing Crosby doesn't sing as many songs and the name guest performers
number one instead of an average two. The halving of the show may, as has often
happened in network radio, result in a slight drop in rating, but there's no
question that the listeners will still flock in substantial numbers to the old
.stand on the dial of a Thursday evening to harken to Crosby's quaint laryngeal
lyre and the smooth banter that overlays the interludes of crossfire and
interview.
The
initial half-hour stanza found the country's current No. 1 minstrel-man
blending present pop tunes with standard melodies with dulcet hepness and
getting smart vocal support from Janet Blair, the Charioteers and Eight Maids
and Hal. Charles Ruggles made his guest stay sprightly amusing with a routine
on a Broadway pitchman. Another visitor was Lieut. Ralph W. Sweringer, who as
commander of Naval task forces in the Pacific, has had 10 different encounters
with the japs to date. Worthy of a special commendatory note is the fine bit of
home-front comment on the air that served the program for its fadeout, with
Crosby, of course, doing the delivery.
(Variety, 13th January 1943)
January 11,
Monday. (7:00–7:30 p.m.) Stars in a radio version of the film Holiday Inn with Dinah Shore and the
Lady Esther Screen Guild Players on CBS. Wilbur Hatch leads the orchestra.
January 13, Wednesday. Bing purchases a seventeen-room Georgian Colonial home at 594 Mapleton Drive in Holmby Hills, near the Los Angeles Country
Club, for $36,000.
January 14,
Thursday. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Janet Blair and Cass Daley.
Cass Daley, wild-eyed mugging songstress of the films, and Janet Blair
will be Bing Crosby’s guests in the Music Hall tonight at 8 o’clock over WMAQ.
(Belvidere Daily Republican, 14th January, 1943)
January 20,
Wednesday. Records Mail Call radio
show #21. Bing is the MC with guests Alice Faye, Tommy Dorsey, Cesar Romero,
and Andy Devine.
January 21,
Thursday. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) The Kraft
Music Hall broadcast. Bing’s guests include Leo “Ukie” Sherin and Andy
Devine.
Andy
Devine, raspy-voiced comedian of the films, comes to the Music Hall to visit
Bing Crosby tonight at 8 o’clock over WMAQ. Devine’s falsetto whisperings will
provide plenty of fun, but little competition for Bing and his M. H. regulars…
(Belvidere Daily Republican, 21st January, 1943)
January 24, Sunday. Bing is due to play against John Leach in the thirty-six-hole final of the Lakeside Golf Club
championship but heavy rains force a postponement.
January 25, Monday. Bing and Bob Hope (plus Bob’s radio troupe) arrive in Phoenix, Arizona. Bing and Bob golf during the afternoon at the Phoenix Country Club playing against Bob Goldwater and Del Webb. In the evening, Bing and Bob entertain the soldiers at Williams Field. During their visit to Phoenix, they stay at Camelback Inn. Meanwhile, the arrangements to buy a 3,500 acre ranch, a few miles east of Elko, Nevada, on Humboldt River (the old Jube Wright Ranch, 7J’s Livestock Co.) have been completed.
Bing Crosby, star of radio and screen, and widely known for
his race horse interests, has purchased the former Jube Wright ranch, about
five miles east of Elko. The ranch was part of the Ed Ellison estate and was
purchased from the estate by J.C. Barlow and Chester Loveland of Idaho. The
recorded price of this sale was $32,000, but the price when sold to Crosby was
not revealed. John Eacret will manage the ranch for Crosby.
(Elko Daily Free Press, January 18, 1943)
Yesterday afternoon, while
waiting to go into action for the valley’s airmen, they relaxed in their
customary way, whacking little white pellets over Phoenix Country Club fairways
and greens. And while relaxing (they teamed up against Bob Goldwater and Del
Webb, leading Phoenix amateurs and their close friends), the movie travelers
proved to be just what they seem – a couple of nice, easy-going,
strictly-for-home-consumption guys with a natural talent for ad lib humor.
Not that they approached their golf game in the same slap-happy
spirit they exhibit on the screen. Brother, no! Let it be said, right here and
now, when the chips are down on the fairways, (and there were a few chips down
yesterday) the Hollywood road-runners are all business. Stricken to the heart
was Hope when his drives went slicing into the rough or his putts didn’t carry
far enough. On such occasions his mildest comment was “You silly jerk”,
accompanied by vehement club pounding.
Crosby took his “flubs” more philosophically. He is one of the
best amateur golfers in Southern California and has blistered par on many a
course, including the local country club layout. And he had to prove he was
good to take the honors yesterday. He turned in a card of 72 for the par-71
layout, and that was only one stroke better than the cards reported by Hope,
Goldwater and Webb. The radio team held a 1-up edge over its rivals at the
halfway mark, but the Phoenicians made up the deficit on the second nine and
they ended the match at all even – and still friends.
…Bing and Bob, it seems, are inseparable pals, on and off the
screen. When Crosby’s 20-room colonial mansion burned to the ground January 3
after his wife, Dixie, and their four sons started to dismantle a Christmas
tree, Hope and Mrs. Bob threw open their doors to the Crosbys for more than a
week. The Crosbys are still residing “around with friends” while the kids are
staying with “Grandma,” Bing’s mother, in North Hollywood. In a couple of
weeks, the family plans to move into a new home which Bing recently purchased
in Holmby Hills north of Beverly Hills.
(Arizona Republic, January 26, 1943)
January 26, Tuesday. (8:00–8:30 p.m.) Guests on Bob Hope’s radio show on NBC with Frances Langford, Barbara Jo Allen, Jerry Colonna and Skinnay Ennis and His Orchestra. The start of the broadcast is delayed by news reports of the Casablanca meeting between Churchill and Roosevelt and the show starts at 8:05 p.m. and originates from Luke Field, Phoenix, Arizona. Bing starts the program with an appeal to buy war bonds. He then sings “I’ve Heard That Song Before.”
It’ll be bank night on the Bob Hope show tonight. Ski-nosed Hope will
have Bing Crosby as guest, and the program’s sponsor is sweeping aside all commercials
and turning the time over to the U. S. Treasury Department so that the two
great NBC collaborators in fun can devote their talents exclusively to the sale
of war bonds. Inspired to make dialers dish out for lick-the-Axis stamps will be a
Crosby-Hope-Ennis vocal version of “1875,” an unpublished number by Wally
Anderson which was aired several months ago on the Hope stanza to create a
deluge of requests for a repeat.
(Arizona Daily Star, January 26, 1943)
January 27, Wednesday,
Bing leaves Phoenix to return to Hollywood.
January 28,
Thursday. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Ginny Simms, Leo “Ukie” Sherin and
Frank McHugh.
Comedian Frank McHugh will drop in for the doings in the “Music Hall”
over KTBS at 8 o’clock tonight. In honor of President Roosevelt’s birthday,
Bing Crosby the Hall genial emcee, will sing “Anchors Aweigh,” one of the Chief
Executive’s favorite songs. Also, there will be a special plea for listeners to
join in the March of Dimes to help the fight against infantile paralysis.
January 30,
Saturday. (8:15–9:15 p.m.) Sings “Home on the Range” on a radio program
“America Salutes the President’s Birthday” (also known as the March of Dimes
Show) which is broadcast coast to coast over all networks.
Annual 60-minute broadcast
Saturday night (30) over all networks and stations under the complete title
‘America Salutes the President’s Birthday’ climaxed the March of Dimes campaign
of the Warm Springs Foundation to combat infantile paralysis. Although there
were a few high spots on the show it was generally inferior to previous years’
programs. That was not only because President Roosevelt, himself was missing,
having not yet returned from his trip to Casablanca, but because the
entertainment portion of the broadcast was spotty.
There were two notable interludes and several passable ones,
but the rest was distinctly ordinary. ‘Four Freedoms’ dramatization, pungently
written and directed by Norman Corwin, with an expressive musical accompaniment
composed and conducted by Bernard Herrmann, provided six or seven eloquent
minutes early in the show, although the circuit-preacher narration of David
Gothard marred the effect. Sketch took the form of questioning United Nations
war dead whether the Four Freedoms were justification for their sacrifice.
The other strong spot was Jim and Marian Jordan’s “Fibber McGee
and Molly’ comedy routine from Hollywood, generating mounting laughter, but
still neatly inserting the ‘March of Dimes’ idea. Bing Crosby sang ‘Home on the
Range’ in characteristically sock fashion, Dick Powell vocalled ‘Anchors
Aweigh’, and Florence George concluded the Coast origination by leading a mass
singing of ‘The Star Spangled Banner’. At the start of the show Sammy Kaye’s
orchestra played ‘Happy Birthday, Mr. President’, specially composed by Irving
Berlin for the occasion.
. . . Basil O’Conner, president of the National Foundation to
Fight Infantile Paralysis talked endlessly and with ponderous seriousness about
the March of Dimes drive, but Mrs. Roosevelt was simple and direct in reading a
brief, genial cable from the President. Clifton Fadiman was an effective m.c.
at the Waldorf-Astoria, though apparently handicapped by difficulty in being
heard in the large ballroom there.
(Variety, February 3, 1943)
January 31, Sunday.
Bing (handicap 4) wins the thirty-six-hole final of the Lakeside Golf Club
championship for the third time by defeating John Leach (handicap 8) eight and
seven. He is
subsequently named as Southern California's Athlete of the Month of February for
winning the championship.
February 4,
Thursday. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Victor Borge and Ukie Sherin. Trudy
Erwin (formerly a member of the Music Maids vocal group) becomes the resident
female singer.
Two Music Hall veterans will return for a visit with Headman Bing
Crosby tonight over KTBS at 8 o’clock. They are Victor Borge, who has been
making a series of theatre appearances, and Trudy Erwin, Kay Kyser vocalist and
former Music Maids member.
(The Shreveport Times, 4th February, 1943)
My becoming a soloist with
Bing was a long story. I had been a Music Maid on the Kraft Music Hall for
three years when Kay Kyser asked me to join his band. After much soul-searching
and long talks with Bing and the Maids, I did go with Kay. Ginny Simms had
recently quit and as a consequence Kay wouldn’t allow me to use my own name,
“Jinny”. I told him that if that was the case he would have to choose - and
“Trudy” it was.
Shortly after joining Kay Kyser, my husband Murdo MacKenzie and
I were married. At that time he was Bing’s sound engineer. After the war he
became director and co-producer on the show and later an associate producer on
Hal Kanter’s TV series “Julia”. We are still happily married in 1985.
. . . Harry Babbitt and I recorded “Who Wouldn’t Love You?” for
Kay Kyser (January 20, 1942) and it won him his very first gold record. It was
a tremendous wartime hit and consequently Bing asked me to be his “guest”
(December 17, 1942) on the Kraft Music Hall and to sing a duet. Thus the offer
to join him weekly as a soloist.
One of the songs Bing and I sang
together was “Stay as Sweet as You Are”. Strange as it seems when I was a
senior in high school I had harmonized that very same song with a record of
Bing in a little recording booth at the World’s Fair. Dreams do come true!
I loved singing with Bing. He was totally relaxed and had a
great sense of humor. He stood on one side of the mike and I stood on the
other. We each had a music rack for the scripts and music. As Bing finished
reading a page he would let it fall to the floor. When the show was over, the
stage was covered with sheets of paper.
In addition to singing, I also did what was called the weekly
“memory spot” with Bing. He played “Harry” talking to his wife “Trudy” and at
the end of our brief conversation we segued into a duet. I also had small
talking parts during the guest spots.
We rehearsed every Wednesday evening and then worked all day
Thursday until showtime. Often, after the KMH broadcast, Bing would invite
several of us to the Palladium for dinner and dancing to whatever big band was
in town.
My mom used to drop in occasionally during rehearsals at NBC.
One day she gave a young “woe-be-gone” looking sailor a lift - it was the
patriotic thing to do in those days - and he asked if she knew where he might
be able to catch a glimpse of a “star”? Of course she brought him to studio B
and introduced him to Bing, John Scott Trotter, Ken Carpenter and the rest of
us. He spent a spellbound afternoon and after the show Bing invited him to the
Palladium. When he finally left for his ship we had all signed his white Navy
cap to prove he’d really been to KMH.
Those were truly wonderful, wonderful
times.
(Trudy Erwin [Mrs. Virginia
MacKenzie], writing on the cover of the LP “Bing & Trudy - On The Air”,
March, 1985.)
February 6,
Saturday. Records Song Sheet show #40
and is accompanied by Skitch Henderson on the piano. Bing sings “Moonlight
Becomes You” and “It Ain’t Gonna Rain No Mo’.” As is customary, he also
dictates the words separately on air to a soldier.
February 8,
Monday. Records a Personal Album show
for the AFRS.
February 11, Thursday. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Edgar Buchanan.
Local Writer Finds
Bing Crosby Most Unaffected Actor In Film Capital.
Hollywood,
Calif. – (Special) - Of the many celebrities a reporter is likely to meet in
Hollywood, Bing Crosby gets my vote for being the most unaffected by success. I
reached this conclusion after attending a rehearsal (and show) for his Kraft
Music Hall program (heard each Thursday evening over the NBC network). For Bing
Crosby is as natural and informal “in person” as the roles he portrays and the
songs he croons.
It
was about one-thirty on a Thursday afternoon in the studio-theatre of NBC’s
mammoth line station here. John Scott Trotter, (Charlotte, North Carolina)
arranger and director of his own orchestra on the show, in short sleeves and
with tie away, was polishing up a number to be played as accompaniment for
Bing, Trudy Erwin, “The Music Maids and Phil”, and “The Charioteers”, (regulars
each week) when a slim youngish man with rather rosy complexion walked briskly
onto the stage. “Bing,” someone on stage whispered.
“Hi,
folks,” the singing star, host and master of ceremonies raised a hand in
greeting to the cast and the few guests down in the theatre. He unrolled his
script and knocked the ashes from his pipe – which he is never without.
Why,
that can’t be the great Bing Crosby, I thought. He looks too informal. And that’s
just what he was. Wearing a faded blue gabardine sports shirt – tail out –
nondescript slacks, soft shoes and felt hat entwined with what appeared to be a
snake skin band, he might have just dropped a hoe in his Victory Garden or made
a birdie on the ninth hole – then rushed directly to the studio. (He is a
stickler for punctuality). A long pencil
hung across one ear. He adjusted a mike.
“A-b-r-a-h-a-m,”
he crooned and shuffled his feet. The rest of the cast fell in with him.
Trotter swung his baton and copious hips. Rehearsal for the number moved along.
From
a controls booth, the producer barked, “Mr. Trotter, let’s move “The Charioteers”
down stage. No – that won’t do – back up stage.” Bing shuffled his feet,
hummed.
“There
now, Mr. Crosby, we’ll do “Abraham” again.” The star of the show gripped his
pipe in his hand and breathed into the mike.
“That’s
better. But, Mr. Crosby - that man again.” Bing smiles. “Er-er, Mr. Crosby,
suppose we move the “Music Maids” in a little.” Bing places his pipe on a stool,
takes his pencil from behind his ear and doodles on his script.
There
is a break in the lyric to allow Bing to recite a passage from Lincoln’s
Gettysburg address. He muddles through. The cast laughs. John Scott grins and
waves his baton. The producer, visibly amused, comes on stage, “Let’s try it
again, Mr. Crosby.”
Bing
(intentionally) muffs the lines again, shuffles his shoes and winks sheepishly across
the footlights at his sparse audience. The stage is in uproar. The producer
feigns desperation, grins and disappears into the booth.
The
rehearsal progressed into another stage: the “drama,” in which several other
radio and screen personalities were being presented as guest stars! Ed Buchanan
playing the part of a warden in a model prison. Richard Haydn as “The Professor”
and tosser of such classics as “Boogie Woogie Cow Song,” and others. During
this phase the master of ceremonies heckled the actors, ad libbed throwing the
act off time.
The
sound man, meanwhile wheeled out what appeared to be a huge wooden coffin and
began adding various sound effects to the melee. In one place in the script a “battle”
between prison inmates and the guard was to be staged. The sound man started “shooting”.
Each time a gun was discharged, Bing whooped like an Indian and sought ambush –
which brings to mind the story of how Crosby acquired his nickname…
…But,
back to Kraft Music Hall – “It Seems to Me I’ve Heard That Song Before”. And Bing
introduces a new “hit” on the air.
“That’s
all. Be back at five-thirty” announces the producer.
John
Scott Trotter, who along with “The Music Maids”, has been on the show since
1936 (sic), puts on his coat and straightens
his tie. Musicians lay aside instruments.
The
regulars and guest stars saunter away. Bing lights up his pipe, smiles down
across the footlights and walks quickly off stage.
“How
in the world will they ever whip up anything out of that jumble?” I wondered
and stuck around to see. For the entire show was never dress rehearsed, only individual
acts were timed – Bing seemed so unconcerned.
What
I did not know until later when I talked with the singing star, is that each
Tuesday he is handed the script. At home he goes over every line – makes corrections
or any cut he thinks necessary and rehearses – thoroughly – his songs.
So,
by the time he appears back on stage for a brief “warm up” for the studio
audience – with no change of costume except a washed face and sans hat and pipe
– he has everything under control. His shows always turn out as smooth as the
product he plugs – like the one I saw rehearsed.
(Marion Brown, Burlington Daily News (North Carolina),
April 10, 1943)
February 13,
Saturday. Records Command Performance
#52 and acts as host to Richard Crooks, Pat O’Malley, and Janet Blair.
Any time the old groaner,
Bing Crosby, feels like singing, he can be sure of a ready-made audience. So,
for that matter, can Richard Crooks, star of ‘Voice of Firestone’.
Put the two together and what
do you have? A ‘command performance’. Also some darn good harmony. Also a priceless
record. But that’s the last line of this story.
Earlier this year, the two
silver throats stood before a group of servicemen on the West Coast as talent
on the shortwaved program, Command
Performance. Bing did his stuff on a couple of hits and Crooks sang ‘Ave
Maria’. When they tried to leave, the boys clamored for more, preferably a
duet.
“What’ll we do?” asked
Crooks. Bing suggested Stephen Foster’s ‘Camptown Races’. That suited Crooks,
so they began, completely unrehearsed, while Meredith Willson’s men filled in.
Sometimes Bing carried the melody, sometimes Crooks. Sometimes they both jumped
to the harmony, at which points the orchestra heightened the melody.
Nowadays, one of Crooks’
prized possessions, played for friends with a great deal of needle lifting, is
the single battered record of this high-class, hilarious jam session.
(Bob Bentley, The Cincinnati Enquirer, July 12, 1943)
February 18, Thursday. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Another Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Bing acts as emcee and the guests include Fay McKenzie and Alan Hale.
Alan Hale, one of Hollywood’s best known characters, and Fay McKenzie,
rising young screen star, will be Bing Crosby’s guests. Bing often orders lunch
during rehearsal by ad libbing the necessary words and working then into
whatever tune he happens to be singing at the moment. As is probably well
understood by now, the “groaner” can do just about anything with words and
music, and probably will, as he and Trudy Erwin, his new songstress, the Music
Maids, and John Scott Trotter will take care of the musical scores on the
program.
(The Cincinnati Enquirer, 18th February, 1943)
Bing Crosby’s show
is friskier and funnier since he shaved it to thirty minutes. The halving gives
him fewer dead-weight guesters to tote on his back.
(Walter Winchell, Napa Journal, February 26, 1943)
February 19, Friday. Bing arrives in San Francisco and checks in to the Palace Hotel. Goes on to play golf with local pro Benny Coltrin at Lake Merced Golf and Country Club where he has a seventy-five.
February 20,
Saturday. Bing and Dinah Shore christen the Liberty ship John R. Park
at the Permanente Shipyard No. 2, Richmond, California. They go on to make a
singing tour of the three Richmond shipyards. (The 7000 ton John R. Park was
sunk by German torpedoes on March 21, 1945). At night, Bing takes part in a
Gershwin Festival concert at the Civic Auditorium in San Francisco with Paul
Whiteman and Dinah Shore. Bing and Dinah sing a medley of songs from “Porgy and
Bess”. The takings of $40,000 are a record for a one night musical event in San
Francisco. All seats in the auditorium are sold and the concert is carried by
special microphone to the Opera House where additional seats have been made
available. Whiteman conducts the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and Edward G.
Robinson is the master of ceremonies.
…Not long after (3 or 4 weeks
maybe) we saw him when he and Dinah Shore appeared in San Francisco with Paul
Whiteman and The King’s Men at what was called a “George Gershwin Memorial
Festival”. That whole show climaxed anything I had ever seen before or since.
He sang “Somebody Loves Me” and “Maybe” and he and Dinah did all those duets
from “Porgy and Bess”. It was really wonderful.
(Helen Tolton, writing in BINGANG, summer 1996)
February 21,
Sunday. (Starting at 1:00 p.m.) Bing takes part in a
golf exhibition at Lake Merced Country Club to raise funds for the men of the
Fourth Air Force Command. Bing and Bud Ward lose two and one to Benny Coltrin
and Art Bell in pouring rain. Bing has a seventy-seven. About 500 fans turn out to witness the match.
February 22, Monday. Starting at 2:00 p.m., Bing and Dinah Shore entertain the patients at Oak Knoll Naval Hospital in the recreation hall and then go from ward to ward so that the bed-ridden can hear them sing. They also go to the hospital at Mare Island to entertain the men.
February 24, Wednesday. Probably between 8 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., Bing records a guest
appearance in Command Performance #54
with Dinah Shore at the Columbia Radio Playhouse. Bob Hope is MC and the show is a tribute to the British Army.
The AAF Orchestra is conducted by Major Eddie Dunstedter.
February 25,
Thursday. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Bert Lahr.
Professor Bing Crosby has invited a distinguished guest lecturer around to the
Music Hall in the person of Bert Lahr, an old alumnus of the College of Mirth.
(Richmond Times-Dispatch, 25th February, 1943)
February (undated). Records a special transcription with Dorothy Lamour and John Scott
Trotter for use on a radio program ‘Hollywood at War’ on
NBC hosted by Alberto Rondo, Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs.
March 4, Thursday. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) The Kraft Music Hall broadcast. Bing’s guests include Cass Daley. Later, at the Academy Awards ceremony held in the Cocoanut Grove at the Ambassador Hotel, “White Christmas” wins the Oscar for “Best Song.” Irving Berlin has also been nominated for “Best Original Story” but he loses out to Emeric Pressburger for The Invaders. Robert Emmett Dolan is nominated for “Best Scoring for a Musical Picture” but is beaten by Ray Heindorf and Heinz Roemheld for Yankee Doodle Dandy. Frank Butler and Don Hartman are unsuccessfully nominated for “Best Original Screenplay” for their work on Road to Morocco.
With Cass Daley as guest, Bing Crosby will have nothing to worry about
but to try to keep the roof on the Kraft Music Hall over WIBA at 8 tonight.
(The Capital Times, (Madison, Wisconsin), 4th March, 1943)
March 6,
Saturday. Bing has traveled by train to Phoenix, Arizona, on a war bond selling
tour and during the afternoon, he headlines a show at the Arizona Biltmore
Hotel pool to raise funds for the Red Cross. Phil Silvers is the MC and Rags
Ragland, Johnny Burke, and Jimmy Van Heusen also take part.
More than 1,000 Phoenicians
and winter visitors crowded the banks of the colorful Arizona Biltmore Hotel
pool yesterday afternoon in warm sunshine to hear Bing Crosby offer vocal
selections in return for each purchase of an $18.75 bond following a fashion
show. . . .
Introduced by glib-talking Phil Silvers, Crosby made his way to
the platform through autograph seekers and explained a 15-minute tardiness by
saying one of his horses was dying and he wanted to see at least one finish. .
. . In response to bond sales the crooner sang “As Time Goes By,” “I’ve Heard
That Song Before,” “Time on My Hands,” “Praise the Lord,” “Melancholy Baby,”
and repeated “Fighting Sons of the Navy” for several purchasers.
(Arizona Republic, March 7, 1943)
It is understood that the troupe also
entertained at local army camps during their time in the Phoenix area. Bing
golfs with Harry Offutt Jr., while in Phoenix.
March 9, Tuesday. Bing is injured when hurrying to catch the last train to Los Angeles at Buckeye, Arizona. He slips while jumping from a car and the car passes over his left leg. Johnny Burke and Jimmy Van Heusen have to carry him on to the train. Has to use a cane to get about for a while.
Bing Crosby Hurt Slightly
Bing
Crosby was recuperating at his home yesterday from a painfully skinned left leg
and hand, the price of too much haste in catching a train Monday night at
Buckeye, Ariz.
The
crooner failed to wait for his automobile to come to a stop at the Buckeye
station and took a painful skid on his leg and hand in the gravel. He had been
in Arizona on a series of War Savings Bond rallies and military camp entertainments. Crosby
is scheduled to play next Sunday in the Times $2000 Southern California War
Workers Golf Tournament at the Inglewood Country Club. Should his injuries
prevent him from playing, he is expected to help present the trophies to the
winners.
(Los Angeles Times, March 11, 1943)
March 11,
Thursday. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Major Ruth Streeter
and Eddie Bracken. Meanwhile, in Mexico City, Bing's horse, Pingo
Flash, wins the first race at the Hipodromo de las Americas. It is the
first horse Bing has entered in a race in Mexico.
The Lady Marines will be represented on the Bing Crosby Music Hall show at 6
p.m. in the person of Major Ruth Cheney Streeter, director of Women’s Reserve
of the Marine Corps. She will discuss the enlistment requirements of the
reserve.
(The Fresno Bee, March 11, 1943)
March 14, Sunday. Bing has to withdraw from a
war benefit golf match because of his leg injury and instead goes to Camp
Roberts to participate in a camp show with John Scott Trotter and his
Orchestra.
March 18,
Thursday. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing hosts another Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Bert Lahr. It is
announced that Bing has filmed a test to play Will Rogers in a biopic for
Warner Brothers. In fact the picture is not made until 1950, when Will Rogers Junior
plays his late father instead.
In spite of a jinx hanging over the Kraft Music Hall, the show will go
on as usual tonight, with Bing Crosby and Bert Lahr as guest, over WIBA at 8
o’clock. Cass Daley, scheduled for the other guest, is still hospitalized –
Crosby is hobbling around with an injured foot – and one of the script girls
swallowed a piece of glass.
(The Capital Times, (Madison, Wisconsin), 18th March, 1943)
March 20,
Saturday. Louella O. Parsons’ newspaper column states, “Only a few of Mrs. Bing
Crosby’s intimate friends know she is in the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital.”
March 25,
Thursday. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Bert Lahr and Leo “Ukie” Sherin.
Bert Lahr, radio’s
most persistent guest star, again will visit Bing Crosby on Kraft Music Hall, tonight
over WIBA at 8 o’clock. …Meanwhile, Bing “The Groaner” Crosby still sports a
cane to help him about the premises because of injuries sustained in a brush
with an automobile in Phoenix, Ariz. Nevertheless, Bing still does all right at
the mike, even though he’ll be sitting down.
(The Capital Times, (Madison, Wisconsin), March 25, 1943)
March 28, Sunday. (Starting at 1:30 p.m.) Bing
and Olin Dutra golf against Bob Hope and Jimmy Thomson in a benefit match at
Recreation Park in Long Beach. Dutra and Crosby win and the money raised goes
to buy golf equipment for a serviceman’s hospital in Corona.
BING, BOB CRUSHED BY MOB
Long Beach, March 28–The
gallerites turned out in full force (with the accent on force) this afternoon
at Recreation Park when more than 5,000 fans–the largest crowd ever to witness
a golf event in this area–watched Bing Crosby and Olin Dutra stroke their way
to a 4 and 3 triumph over Bob Hope and Jimmy Thomson in an 18-hole best-ball
exhibition match. While Crosby and Hope were being swamped with autograph
requests and jostled around by what the latter termed “one of the biggest and
roughest galleries I played to in my short but slap-happy links career,” the
only member of the high-powered quartet able to shoot steady golf under the
circumstances was big Olin Dutra, reigning president of the Southern California
(Bill Clark, writing in the Los Angeles Examiner, March 29, 1943)
March 31, Wednesday.
Starting at 8:15 p.m., Bing joins in another Gershwin Memorial Concert at the
Pasadena Civic Auditorium. Paul
Whiteman conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Dinah Shore and Bing sing a
Porgy and Bess medley.
Staid Los Angeles
Philharmonic Orchestra took a holiday last night. Appearing in a benefit
concert for its own maintenance fund it joined hands with Paul Whiteman and his
orchestra and, under Mr. Whiteman’s agile baton, gave 3000 persons in the Civic
Auditorium an evening of Gershwin…As if this interesting novelty were not
enough, the audience was entertained by crooning Bing Crosby and lovely Dinah
Shore, who sang together and in solo…The Crosby personality was in top form,
and the popular singer, unable to terminate the
audience’s applause, granted one more encore “Maybe” from “O Kay.” Once,
taking a bow, he jumped into the air kicking his heels together, and brought a
roar of laughter. Late comers had a close-up of him and his wife, Dixie Lee,
who sat well forward on aisle 3, when they arrived at the box office entrance
and Bing, all in black and hands in pockets, was ushered through the house to
the stage.
(The Pasadena Post, April 1, 1943)
April 1, Thursday.
(6:00–6:30 p.m.) The Kraft Music Hall
broadcast. Guests include Lucille Ball. A song from the show is issued on V-Disc. Probably between 8 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., Bing also
records Command Performance #60 with
Dinah Shore and Bob Burns. Bing is MC and John Scott Trotter and his Orchestra provide the musical backing.
April fool nonsense, tom-foolery, and what have you will be the main
order of business tonight at 8 over WIBA when Bing Crosby and his Kraft Music
Hall crowd cut loose in a celebration of the new month. Heading the program
will be Lucille Ball, titian-haired screen star, who has just scored a new
movie success in the Hollywood version of “DuBarry Was a Lady.”
(The Capital Times, (Madison, Wisconsin), 1st April, 1943)
April 2, Friday. Puts
on a show at Camp Pendleton Marine Base with Rags Ragland and The Charioteers.
April 3, Saturday. Another Gershwin Memorial Concert is held, this time at the Russ Auditorium, San Diego. Paul Whiteman again conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic with Dinah Shore and Bing singing a Porgy and Bess medley.
A record breaking crowd at the
Russ Auditorium last Saturday evening heard the delightful combination of
Gershwin music, Bing Crosby, Dinah Shore and Paul Whiteman’s orchestra, plus
the Los Angeles Philharmonic…Presented by the San Diego Women’s Philharmonic Committee,
the concert broke all records, the house being sold out 18 hours after the
event was announced.
(The Coronado Journal, April, 8, 1943)
April 4, Sunday.
Bing, Bob Hope, Babe Didrickson Zaharias and many other stars take part
in a
9-hole Stars and Stripes golf exhibition at Ventura Country Club,
Saticoy, California before a crowd of 7500. Babe
beats Bing and Bob with a score of 35 against Hope's 38 and Bing's 39.
Bing's foursome tees off at 1:24 and comprises Marvin Stahl, Dick
Gibson and Joe Fallon. Meanwhile, Bing's horse "Tangazo" wins at the Hipodromo de las Americas in Mexico City.
April 5, Monday. Spends most of the day rehearsing for the evening Lux Radio Theater broadcast. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) In the Lux Radio Theater version of Road to Morocco with Bob Hope and Ginny Simms on CBS. Cecil B. DeMille is the host and Louis Silvers leads the orchestra.
Surrounded by an all-star
Hollywood cast, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Ginny Simms are heard on the Lux Radio
Theater in “The Road to Morocco,” an adaptation of the screen musical hit. Cecil
B. DeMille’s top-ranking radio feature goes on the air at 9 o’clock over
CBS-WDAE. The land of mosques and veiled beauty is the setting in which Crosby
and Hope are in entertaining pursuit of a lovely princess, played by Ginny
Simms. The musical notes are arranged and played by Lou Silvers.
(The Tampa Times, April 5, 1943)
April 6, Tuesday.
Signs a new seven-year contract minus options to record for Decca. The deal
calls for a guaranteed $500,000 over the seven-year period as against sales
royalties. Jack Kapp tears up the old contract which still has two years to
run.
April 7, Wednesday. To celebrate National Boys Club Week,
Gary Crosby and his three brothers appear in a Boys Club syndication radio
program called “Building the Citizens of Tomorrow”. Bing and J. Edgar Hoover
are also heard.
April 8, Thursday. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Rags Ragland. Leo ‘Ukie’ Sherin becomes the regular comedian.
Rags Ragland, the comedian
featured in Metro’s DuBarry Was a Lady
guested at the Bing Crosby, Kraft Music Hall program, Thursday night and gave
the stanza a five minute laugh-fest that was solid all the way. In his rapid
crossfire exchange with Crosby, the ex-burlesque trouper, last seen on Broadway
in “Panama Hattie,” demonstrated a knack for delivery and timing that was
exceptional. Not even the occasional sorry pun that crept into the material
could conceal the fact that Ragland, with proper assist from the script
department, offers fine possibilities as a radio comedian. Crosby, himself, was
right on the beam while the contributions of the program’s regulars, Trudy
Erwin, the Charioteers and the John Scott Trotter Orchestra, rounded out a sock
half hour of diversified entertainment.
(Variety, April 14, 1943)
April (undated). Bing and Dixie are thought to have spent a few days at their Elko ranch.
April 13, Tuesday. Bing and Dixie stop for lunch at the Senator Coffee Shop in Carson City on their way back to Hollywood.
April 14, Wednesday. The Los Angeles Times reports that Bing is tied for the lead in the Bel-Air golf club championship qualifying rounds with a 76.
April 15, Thursday.
(6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s last Kraft Music
Hall show until June 17. Frank McHugh guests. Bob Crosby and Fibber McGee and Molly take over as hosts for the next few weeks.
Blonde, smooth-voiced Trudy Erwin will step to the microphone for her first
starring solo during “Kraft Music Hall” tonight at 8 over WIBA. Guest star of
the evening will be comedian Frank McHugh.
(The Capital Times, April 15, 1943)
April 17,
Saturday. Bing’s recording of “Moonlight Becomes You” reaches number one in the
charts. During the day, Bing and Dixie leave by train for Mexico City for a
vacation and by chance Bob Hope is on the same train. Hope attempts to persuade
Bing to stop off with him in Dallas for a show but Bing declines.
April 20, Tuesday.
Bing and Dixie arrive in Mexico City. During his time in Mexico, Bing sings in a show at Palacio
de Bellas Artes and is
said
to have done a radio broadcast in Spanish for the Red Cross. He is also
reported to
have sold seven of his horses to a banker named Carlos Gomez and two
other horses to an unnamed buyer for an overall total of $13,000.
Following his vacation, he sets out on a war bond selling tour with
Phil
Silvers.
Hedda Hopper, Hollywood
gossip writer, reports that Bing Crosby is being mobbed everywhere on his trip
to Mexico, and instead of saying hello to his fans sings them snatches of
songs. Mexicans are reported as saying, “Stop sending us missions; send us more
Crosbys.” He has picked up three new songs south of the border which, it is
hoped, will prove as popular as El Rancho
Grande which Bing popularized a few years back.
(Billboard, May 8, 1943)
April 25, Sunday. Bing's horse "Tie Score" wins the first four-furlong race at the Hipodromo de las Americas in Mexico City.
Mexico City (AP) – Entertaining Mexican soldiers at a “Soldier’s Day”
fiesta, Bing Crosby, United States radio and motion picture star, sang in
Spanish and English.
(News-Pilot, April 28, 1943)
April 27, Tuesday. Bing and Dixie leave Mexico City for points unknown.
April 30, Friday, Bing appears in a Red Cross benefit radio program
Mexico City, April 30. (U.P.) - Bing Crosby and Joan Fontaine, both
vacationing in Mexico, appeared on a Red Cross benefit radio program tonight.
(The Pasadena Post, May 1, 1943)
May 4, Tuesday. (1:30 p.m.) Bing and Dixie re-enter the United States by train at Laredo in Texas before going on to San Antonio.
Bing Crosby, the popular crooner of the movies, accompanied
by his wife, arrived from Mexico City by train Tuesday afternoon at 1:30
o'clock and after reaching the International Bridge and checking out proceeded
to the Missouri Pacific depot and left northward on the 2:10 o'clock train.
He was met and recognised by several friends at the MP station. Bing and
Mrs Crosby had been in Mexico on a vacation trip and reported having had a most
enjoyable trip. Mrs. Crosby, while at the customs department at the
International Bridge, remarked that the next vacation trip they took to Mexico
would be by plane.
(The Laredo Times, May 5, 1943)
May 5, Wednesday. Golfs at San Antonio Country Club with club pro Tod Menefee. Bing has a 76 whilst Menefee has a 72. At 5:15 pm. Bing and Dixie leave by train for New Orleans.
May 6, Thursday.
(a.m.) Bing and Dixie, accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. Dick Gibson and Barney Dean,
arrive in New Orleans from San Antonio. It is Dixie’s first visit home in
fourteen years and Bing’s first time in the city.
May 7, Friday.
(3:00 p.m.) Bing and Bob Hope take part in a benefit golf match at
the City Park No. 1 golf course, New Orleans. Bob and Louisiana State champion
Mrs. Sam Israel (Merryl
Silverstein Israel Aron) beat Bing and New Orleans City Champion Mrs. M. D. Kostmayer Jr. one up in the nine-hole match. Ed
Dudley, president of the
May 16, Sunday. (Starting at 2 p.m.) In Chicago at Soldier Field to celebrate the third annual observance of “I Am an American Day,” Bing acts as master of ceremonies and sings in front of an audience of 130,000. Dinah Shore, John Garfield, Paulette Goddard, and the Navy Band conducted by Lt. Cmdr. Eddie Peabody also take part. (6:30–7:00 p.m.) Bing acts as guest quiz master on the Quiz Kids radio program which is broadcast from station WENR on the Blue Network. He assists quiz master Joe Kelly for the first part of the show and takes over himself for the final segment. Bing donates his $1000 fee to charity.
The Quiz Kids gave
Bing Crosby a lesson in higher mathematics and also added several new words to
the master groaner’s vocabulary last evening (WJZ 7:30). Considering that the
old Bingola is quite an adept himself in the slinging of ten dollar words, that
is really an achievement.
(Ben Gross, Daily News, May 17,
1943)
Miss
(Helen) Malone has also appeared on the Quiz Kids program, and tells an
entertaining story that happened when Bing Crosby appeared as guest on the
show. It occurred while Bing was in the city for the “I Am An American Day.”
“From
the time he entered the studio until he left, he had everyone in the palm of
his hand.” Miss Malone related. “Just before the show, he and Tommy Dorsey were
in the producer’s room chatting, and when the show began, Joe Kelly, master of ceremonies
on the Quiz Kids program, started out by introducing the guest, “Bing Crosby,
who needs no introduction.” Here she paused imitating Joe Kelly, and clapped her
hands as though applauding, “and there was no Bing. I remember standing there, thinking heroically,
‘Malone, you must do something to save the show,’ and then dashing madly into
the producer’s room. I tapped him on the shoulder and told him he was on. He
grabbed his hat, shouted ‘Thanks,’ and ran out the door.”
“Oh,
yes,” she added. “He was dressed very conservatively in a black and white
checked coat.”
(Chicago
Garfieldian, July 22, 1943)
May (undated).
Bing and Dixie are in New York and are seen at Belmont Park racecourse. They
also dine at the Stork Club and the Chateau Briand while in New York.
May 20, Thursday.
Bing arrives at the Warwick Hotel in Philadelphia from New York. He goes to
Pine Valley Country Club to practice his golf shots. It is assumed that Dixie
has returned to Hollywood with Mr. and Mrs. Gibson.
May 21, Friday. Bob Hope joins Bing in Philadelphia. At 12:00 noon they appear in the Four Freedoms War Bond Show at the Strawbridge and Clothier Department Store where Bing sings “As Time Goes By” and duets “Road to Morocco” with Bob. They then visit Mayor Samuel at City Hall before arriving at Llanerch Country Club to put on a Navy Service League Show with Frances Langford and Jerry Colonna for the Philadelphia Recruiting Office. The show is advertised as taking place between 2:00 to 2:30 p.m. A five-hole golf match follows at 3:00 p.m. with Ed Dudley and Harold (Jug) McSpadden. A crowd of 6,000 watch the proceedings in pouring rain. War bonds worth $130,000 are sold.
Film Fan Crush Breaks Up Golf By
Crosby, Hope
Philadelphia
May 21 (AP). Bing Crosby and Bob Hope were scheduled to play 18 holes of golf
in a Navy League Service exhibition at the Llanerch Country Club today, but an unruly crowd of film fan
galleryites caused the match to be cut to nine holes before it started and five
holes when the spectators got completely out of hand. No attempt was made to
keep score as the movie team’s partners, Ed Dudley and Harold (Jug) McSpaden,
tapped in short putts by Crosby and Hope on the sly, and Joe Kirkwood, the
trick shot artist, lent a hand whenever the going was tough. Adding to the
confusion, one woman spectator swooned at her first sight of Crosby. The crowd
milled closer and closer to the film stars as the match went on, till finally
it was impossible for them to swing their clubs. As the match was called off
abruptly, two policemen seized Hope by the arms and hustled him through the
mob.
“This
is the way to play golf,” Hope panted, “relaxed.”
Police
reserves were also called to a downtown War Bond show at which Crosby and Hope
appeared. Bond sales amounted to $130,000.
(The Titusville (PA.) Herald, May 22,
1943)
May 22, Saturday.
Bing is on a train en route for Memphis where he is to take part in a golf
match with Bob Hope. Hope is to fly down.
May 23, Sunday.
Arriving in Memphis, Bing discovers that Bob Hope’s plane is grounded in
Atlanta by poor weather. During the afternoon, Bing plays with Byron Nelson against
Ed Dudley and local pro Jake Fondren at the Memphis Country Club before a crowd
of 10,000. Bing and Byron win two up and Bing has a seventy-two. After the
golf, Bing puts on a forty-five-minute show at the course singing “Miss You,”
“As Time Goes By,” “Please,” and “White Christmas” accompanied by the staff
orchestra of radio station
Skies were threatening when
the sale started, but Bing persuaded the crowd to ignore the possibility of
rain and entertained it right merrily for three-quarters of an hour. He sang
requests readily, with none of the pseudo-reluctance usually affected by the
celebrity coaxed to perform at such gatherings. He didn’t worry about keys,
either. The band, recruited for the occasion from the staffs of
(Memphis Press-Scimitar, May 24, 1943)
May 24,
Monday.
At Griffith Stadium in Washington D.C., Bing, Babe Ruth, and Kate Smith
entertain the 29,221 crowd at a baseball game between Norfolk Naval
Station and
Washington Senators. The Norfolk team win 4-3. Bing spends time in the
Norfolk dugout before going on to
the field at 8:36 p.m. for his seventh inning songs from the home
plate. He
sings “Dinah,” “As Time Goes By,” and “White Christmas.” Spectators
gained admission by purchasing a war bond, with a $50 bond buying a
general admission ticket and a $1000 bond buying a box ticket. It is
estimated that $2.1milion is raised to fund the Navy cruiser USS
Norfolk but as the tides of war changed, the Navy eventually scrapped
plans to build the ship.
Crosby’s Songs, Gags, ‘Stop Game but Everybody Loved
Bing
Crosby actually stopped the ball game.
The
personable guy with the celebrated wart on his esophagus earned a spot in the hearts
of the 29,221 baseball fans with a real homey appearance that honestly stopped
the show. Unstintingly, he gave. And what’s more, he gave as if he enjoyed the
whole thing—which he doubtless did.
He
stepped onto the field between the sixth and seventh innings to one of the
biggest ovations of the night. As he went to the mike, he playfully picked up
the resin bag and rubbed his hands as he went to work—just like a pitcher…
His
gags came easy and were refreshing. His story of “compartment” on the train
coming here; the one about the young cadet saluting the commanding officer and
the one about Dinah Shore christening a Kaiser Liberty ship, were terrific. And
when he asked the crowd if he hadn’t better get off the field and let the Nats
(who had three hits up to that point) get in some much needed batting practice,
the roof, had there been one, would have been raised.
(Washington Post, May 25, 1943)
May 26,
Wednesday. Bing is at Belmont Park in New York to see one of his horses “Don Bingo” win
the $3,000 Glorifier-Handicap. The horse is a product of the Binglin Stock Farm
in Argentina and its victory is its third in five races. Press comment suggests
that it is now “a red-hot long-shot hope” for the forthcoming Suburban
Handicap. It is announced that the Del Mar racetrack is to be turned into an
aeroplane parts manufacturing plant.
May 29, Saturday.
Bing joins Bob Hope in Atlanta, Georgia, and they play golf at the Capitol City
Country Club with Morton Bright, Bobby Dodd, and Ed Dudley as a warm-up for a
major benefit on the following day. Bing and Ed Dudley stay at the Georgian Terrace Hotel.
May 30, Sunday.
Starting at 3:00 p.m., Bing and Bob Hope play in an exhibition golf match for
the benefit of the Red Cross at the Capitol City Country Club before a crowd of
around 10,000 which was then the largest gallery in Atlanta golf history. Bing
and Ed Dudley beat Hope and Johnny Bulla two and one in the fourteen-hole
contest. During the show at the course after the golf, Bing sings “White
Christmas.” Over $300,000 worth of war bonds are sold at the event.
May 31, Monday.
Bing’s horse “Don Bingo” wins the fifty-seventh Suburban Handicap at Belmont
Park, New York, earning a winner’s bankroll of $27,600. A new world record for
betting is set with $2.699 million passing through the machines. Bing golfs at
the Capitol City Country Club.
June 1,
Tuesday.
Bing arrives by train at Birmingham, Alabama, shortly after noon and at 3:30 p.m. he
takes part in the presentation of a Minute Man Flag of the US Treasury at
the Bechtel-McCone-Parsons aircraft division plant in front of a crowd
totalling 8,000. Tentative plans
for a benefit golf match in Birmingham have fallen through and at short
notice,
Bing goes on to entertain the WAACs at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. After
a short
rehearsal with a pianist, Bing performs before a crowd of around 5,000
in the
outdoor theater singing “Stardust,” “You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To,”
“Dinah,” “As Time Goes By,” and “White Christmas.” Bing stays the night
at the
Read House in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Bing Crosby was featured
speaker in ceremonies awarding the Minute Man “T” flag of U.S. Treasury to
Bechtel-McCone-Parsons and its employees for their patriotic War Bond record.
More than 96% of the workers are buying bonds regularly each pay day…Bing sang
three numbers, told several jokes and was a “wow,” the several thousand plant
workers attending showed by their applause. Bing made all hands rock with
laughter when, hearing and seeing a plane overhead, he stopped a moment, looked
up and remarked, “That plane scared me for a minute—I thought at first it was
the stork.” The screen and radio star sang “As Time Goes By,” “White Christmas”
and “You’re So Nice to Come Home To.” Dewitt Shaw’s Orchestra accompanied him.
(The Birmingham Post, June 2, 1943)
June 2,
Wednesday. Bing and Ed Dudley arrive in Nashville by special army car just
after noon and check into the Hermitage Hotel. Bing telephones Dixie in
Hollywood on arrival. Starting at 2:00 p.m. Bing takes part in a golf match with
Ed Dudley against Byron Nelson and local champion Adrian McManus at Belle Meade
Country Club in front of a crowd of 5,000. Nelson and McManus finish two up in
the fifteen hole match. Bing gives a short show afterwards on the course and
auctions various items to help sell war bonds. It is estimated that $500,000 of
war bonds are sold. The event is broadcast over station
He was marvelous at the bond
auction. Immediately, when he walked out on the platform and took over the
microphone, he captivated the crowd. His easy manner endears him to you. Never
have I seen a more receptive audience. . . . In twelve years of sports writing,
this person has never met a man of Crosby’s personality, He’s the most sincere,
easiest to talk with, individual I’ve ever had the pleasure of
contacting—absolutely tops.
(Bob Rule, Nashville Tennessean, June 3, 1943)
June 4,
Friday. Bing and Ed Dudley attend the meeting of the Chicago District
Golf Association and a 'dime-a-round' plan is accepted. This is to
encourage all golfers to deposit a dime in a quart milk bottle on the
first tee before starting their round. This could produce $5M a year for war relief coffers.
June 7-10, Monday-Thursday.
Bing again sponsors the Bing Crosby Tournament for Women at Lakeside
Golf Club. The winner is Mrs. Alice Davies.
June 8, Tuesday. Arrives in Colorado Springs and checks in to the Broadmoor Hotel for a few days rest and recuperation.
June 9, Wednesday.
Bing shoots a seventy-three at the Broadmoor Golf Course at Colorado
Springs. His playing partners are Ed Dudley, Bud Maytag, and Jim
Heaney. He is persuaded to skate at the nearby Broadway Ice Palace with
professional ice skaters Evelyn Chandler and Bruce Mapes and is
photographed with them having fallen on his back on the ice.
June 13,
Sunday.
Bing leaves Colorado Springs and arrives back in Hollywood after a few days’ rest. He takes his son
Gary up to the Elko ranch and subsequently returns to Hollywood.
June (undated). Records a Treasury Star Parade program with Alec Templeton.
June 17,
Thursday. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing returns to the Kraft Music Hall on NBC with guest Eddie Bracken.
John Scott Trotter and his Orchestra, Ken Carpenter, Trudy Erwin, the Music
Maids, and the Charioteers continue as regulars.
With the entire ensemble opening the half-hour with “Army Bonds Today,”
(sic) the bond-selling Bing Crosby reports back to Kraft Music Hall tonight
over WIBA at 8, fresh from an eight-week vacation seeing Mexico City and a
succession of camp shows and treks through the midwest and east for the
treasury department. For his guest of the evening, the groaner will find his
Paramount pal, Eddie Bracken, awaiting.
(The Capital Times, (Madison, Wisconsin), 17th June, 1943)
...We sang on Kraft Music
Hall for 5½ years and there were several changes in the group during that time.
Bobbie Canvin was with the group for a short time after June Clifford left.
Later Pat Hyatt joined us as the lead singer. We had become a group of four
gals instead of the original five. Hal Hopper sang with us for awhile, when we
were called the Music Maids and Hal. We sang many war songs during the period
of World War II and those songs bring back memories of our concern at the time
for the men who were fighting the war overseas. The Music Maids left the show
when Bing changed sponsors and networks, and there was a new show format. We
have many pleasant memories of the years we sang with Bing, and it’s hard to
realize that he’s no longer with us. We all miss him and we’re so thankful to
have recordings of the songs we sang together on Kraft Music Hall. Two of the
original Music Maids... June and Dottie have passed on. Virginia now lives in
Oregon, and Denny and I are in California. Listening to these numbers we did so
many years ago gives us much pleasure. It’s surprising that the arrangements
still sound good today. We hope another generation will enjoy this music too.
(Alice Ludes, January 1981,
writing on the sleeve notes for the LP ‘Bing And The Music Maids’.)
June 19,
Saturday. Probably between 8 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., joins Dinah Shore to record Command Performance #71. Guests include
Fanny Brice, Mel Blanc, and Vaughn Monroe and his Orchestra.
June 23, Wednesday.
The New York premiere of Bing’s film Dixie
takes place at the Paramount Theater.
Dixie is a Technicolorful money-getter, ideal for the summer b.o.
It has charm, lightness, good new songs by Johnny Burke and Jimmy Van Heusen,
the classic oldies by Dan Emmett (‘Dixie’), and some spirituals such as ‘Swing Low Sweet Chariot.’ And
it has Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour for the marquee.
…The new songs are clicko.
‘Sunday, Monday and Always’ and ‘She’s From Missouri’ are Hit Parade material,
and the Negro spiritual on the riverboat was effectively introduced by Crosby….
Per usual, Crosby is in high
with his vocalizing. Whether it’s ‘Dixie’ or the new Tin Pan Alley
interpolations, the crooner is never from Dixie when it comes to lyric
interpretations. The weaker the film vehicles, the greater is
the impact of the Crosby technique. . . .Crosby now is as standard among the
male singing toppers as the Four Freedoms, and today he shapes up more and more
as the Will Rogers-type of solid American actor-citizen. He enjoys a stature,
especially because of his radio programs, enjoyed by no other singing star in
show business…
(Variety, June 30, 1943)
Gentlemen (and ladies), be
seated—at the Paramount Theatre that is to say—if you are interested in some
old-time minstrel capers tossed off in a Technicolor film. For songs and jigs
and funny sayings are what Paramount is delivering about 40 per cent of the
time in a ruffled and reminiscent picture entitled Dixie which came to that theatre yesterday. Otherwise, the
remainder of the picture is mainly and not so spiritedly absorbed in a largely
fictitious story of Dan Emmett, the original ‘Virginia Minstrels’ man and the
author of the rousing song “Dixie”— a role which the old booper, Bing Crosby,
plays.
When the minstrels in their shiny, long, white trousers,
swallowtail coats and high silk hats are jabbering and kyaw-kyaw-kyawing and
flinging their lithesome legs around, the film has a fitful exuberance. Raoul
Pene du Bois has dressed them up in brilliant clothes, and a quartet of
uninspired writers has raided the warehouse for some old but safe jokes. And
when Bashful Bing is warbling such sparkless but adequate songs as “Sunday,
Monday or Always”, “She’s From Missouri” or “A Horse That Knows the Way Back
Home”, it is easy to sit back and listen. There is also a dash of liveliness in
the wholly apocryphal climax which pretends to show how “Dixie” was born.
But when the story goes weakly meandering into a pointless,
confused romance between Dan and a New Orleans hoyden, played airily by Dorothy
Lamour, and then marries him off to an old sweetheart who is crippled (Marjorie
Reynolds), it is labored and dull. (Miss Lamour doesn't do any singing; just
flounces around and plays straight.) Raymond Walburn, the late Lynne Overman
and Eddie Foy Jr. puff and prance as minstrel men in a manner which is more
entertaining than that of a newcomer, in a parallel role, named Billy de Wolfe.
Mr. De Wolfe, with some coaching, might do in an amateur show, but he is definitely
a minus quantity in a spot generally filled by Bob Hope. Indeed, the fact is
that none of the picture has the jubilatory spirit and dash that should go with
an old-time minstrel story. There’s a great movie in that subject yet. And
Paramount had a nerve to make a picture in which Bing — and he alone — has one
hit song.
(Bosley Crowther, New York Times, June 24, 1943)
This is Bing Crosby’s first
full-length Technicolor film, and the fine color photography takes full
advantage of the picturesque period and settings. It is the story of the rise
to fame of Daniel Emmett, the first of America’s Kentucky Minstrels. It is
tuneful and most agreeable entertainment, with Bing Crosby in fine fettle,
surrounded by a first-rate cast, in which a newcomer, Billy de Wolfe, is
outstanding.
(Picture Show, October 23, 1943)
June 24,
Thursday. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Leo “Ukie” Sherin and Ed Brophy. One
of the songs at the rehearsal is issued on V-Disc.
…The half-hour will open with the ensemble – Bing, Trudy Erwin, the
Music Maids and Phil, Ukie, Ken Carpenter and John Scott Trotter’s orchestra –
getting together with a unique version of “McNamara’s Band.”
(The Tucson Daily Citizen, 24th June, 1943)
June 25, Friday.
(7:00-7:45 p.m.) Bing and the cast of the Kraft Music Hall
appear in The Camel Comedy Caravan
show on CBS and give a salute to the Merchant Marine. Joe E. Brown also
guests.
This is the fourth of five special shows of the Camel series which
arose from an MCA booking mistake which obliged MCA to provide
replacement shows.
Bing Crosby brings his headline variety show
with comedian Joe E. Brown, singer Trudy Erwin, the Harmonizing “Charioteers” and
John Scott Trotter’s orchestra to KGLO-CBS’ “Camel Comedy Caravan” at 9 p.m.
Dedicated to the merchant marine, the program
is the fourth of five special salute-to the services sessions on the Caravan
series. Bing participates in the triple role of singer, gagster and master of
ceremonies. Brown, the man with the big mouth, gives out with the comedy
routine that wowed the men in service on his recent Pacific tour.
Trudy vocalizes and acts as foil for Bing’s
florid flow of mirthful mouthings. With Trotter’s boys providing the musical
background, the Charioteers sing service men’s favorites.
(Globe-Gazette, June 25, 1943)
June 29, Tuesday. Bing is photographed as he rehearses for the following day's concert with John Scott Trotter.
June 30, Wednesday. (9:00–10:00 p.m.) Sings “As Time Goes By” and “Old Glory” as his contribution to a two hour star-studded show from the Hollywood Bowl in front of 20,000 people to launch the “Build the Cruiser Los Angeles” campaign. The show is broadcast over the NBC network and Edward G. Robinson is the MC. Music is provided by the Navy, Marine, and Coast Guard bands under the direction of Lt. Rudy Vallée. [The USS Los Angeles was laid down in Philadelphia on July 28, 1943 and commissioned on July 22, 1945. All the funds needed for her construction were raised by Los Angeles residents. The cruiser saw service in the Korean War when it was the flagship for Rear Admiral Arleigh A. Burke.]
Hollywood Bond Drive to Build Ship
Hollywood,
July 10 (AP) – Hollywood’s send-off to the treasury’s local campaign to sell
$40,000,000 worth of bonds during the current month to build the cruiser Los
Angeles was one of the biggest rallies ever staged by the film industry. As the
evening went along, the Hollywood Bowl affair assumed the aspects of a wildly enthusiastic
football rally.
Cecil
B. DeMille struck the Hollywood note by saying that the giant sized cruiser is
planned as the film town’s contribution to a “super-colossal, all-color
production, the total destruction of Japan!”
An
“it can’t happen here” episode of the evening was that in which Crooner Rudy
Vallee directed the band music as accompaniment for rival Groaner Bing Crosby.
Nobody ever thought to see such a combination, but the crowd loved it.
When
the naval, marine and coast guard bands, united under the baton of Lieut. Rudy
Vallee of the coast guard, swung into their finale of patriotic and sea airs, Toastmaster
Edward G. Robinson seized the baton and directed, to a burst of applause. Vallee
capitulated, and put his white service hat on Robinson, whose direction was
able as well as enthusiastic. Throngs cheered and stayed for more. Like most visiting
teams, Secretary of the Navy Knox, the guest of honor, couldn’t get the ball
away from the home team.
(The Ogden Standard-Examiner, July 11,
1943)
July 1, Thursday.
(6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall
show on NBC. Guests include Dorothy Lamour and Falstaff Openshaw.
The combination of Dorothy Lamour and Bing Crosby is the prospect for
“Kraft Music Hall” dialers tonight on WIBA at 8. And as an added attraction,
the groaner also will be host to Alan Reed, famous Falstaff Openshaw of the
Fred Allen show.
(The Capital Times, (Madison, Wisconsin), 1st July, 1943)
July 2, Friday.
Records “Sunday, Monday or Always” in Hollywood with only vocal group
accompaniment from the Ken Darby Singers because of the continuing musicians
ban. The song spends seven weeks at the top of the Billboard Best-Sellers list
during its 19 weeks in the charts.
Petrillo OKs Crosby’s Dixie discs for Decca
Bing Crosby carrying a
paid-up drummer’s card in Los Angeles Musicians Local 47 was permitted to
record two songs without orchestral accompaniment for Decca. Permission was granted by Petrillo on
condition that Crosby use only his voice and refrain from thumping the drum.
The numbers are ‘If You Please’ and ‘Sunday, Monday or Always’.
(Variety, July 7, 1943)
Bing Crosby enlists the aid
of the Ken Darby Singers to record “If You Please” and “Sunday, Monday or
Always.” The addition of the chorus makes a tremendous difference to the style
in which these two songs from Dixie
are presented. Let’s hope that we shall get many more similar efforts
(Brunswick 03485).
(The Gramophone, February, 1944)
July 4, Sunday.
(5:00–5:30 p.m.) Joins Al Rinker and Harry Barris in a Rhythm Boys reunion on
Paul Whiteman’s summer radio program Paul
Whiteman Presents on NBC (sponsored by Chase and Sanborn Coffee). Bill
Goodwin is the announcer. Dinah Shore is also on the show and she and Bing sing
a medley from Porgy and Bess. Bing
golfs with Rinker at Bel-Air during the afternoon between the rehearsal and the
show. It is said that Bing refuses his fee of $5,000 and asks for it to be split
between Barris and Rinker.
Chase and Sanborn Summer
series (NBC) still has eight weeks to go but it still seems a good bet that it
reached the acme of musical entertainment, as far as this series is concerned,
on last Sunday’s (4th) broadcast. Everything meshed so perfectly and the
performance produced such rare enjoyment in the genre of popular music, that
it’s hard to conceive other show’s pilots even coming within reaching distance
of this event.
The program was divided into two sections, and each was a darb
of showmanship and execution. The first section offered a revival of the
original Rhythm Boys; namely Bing Crosby, Al Rinker and Harry Barris and the
ten minutes of raillery vocalizing and special business that ensued was a treat
of uncommon dimensions. The trio’s interpretation of “Mississippi Mud” would
undoubtedly become a must for record collectors if it were recorded.
It was in the second section that the program took off to the
heights of brilliant musical entertainment. The scripted material was amended
from George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess
and what Dinah Shore and Crosby, supported by Paul Whiteman’s sterling
orchestral background, did with the vocals can best be described by borrowing a
phrase from the Swing and its lexicon, namely “out of this world.”
(Variety, July 7, 1943)
July 7,
Wednesday. (6:30–7:00 p.m.) Appears in the Soldiers
with Wings radio show on the Mutual network with Cpl. Alan Ladd. Bing sings
“Sunday, Monday or Always” and “You’ll Never Know.” The show comes from the Santa
Ana air base. Ben Gage is the announcer and Major Eddie Dunstedter leads the
orchestra.
July 8, Thursday.
(6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall
show on NBC. Guests include Franklin P. Adams.
The professor of the old Kraft Music Hall, Bing Crosby, has invited the
visiting scholar from Information Please, Franklin P. Adams, to appear at his
round table on the program to be aired at 9 p.m. on NBC-WMBG.
July 10,
Saturday. Drives to his Elko ranch and is spotted briefly in
Winnemucca, Nevada en route. His son Gary (aged 10) is spending several
weeks at the ranch.
July 11, Sunday.
Records Command Performance #75. Bing
acts as MC with guests Betty Grable, Artur Rubinstein, and the Harry James
Orchestra.
July 15,
Thursday. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) The Kraft
Music Hall broadcast. Bing’s guests include Cliff Nazarro and Raymond Walburn.
Raymond Walburn, currently seen in the local cinema houses, playing
Dorothy Lamour’s father in Bing Crosby’s latest film effort, “Dixie,” will be
featured guest when the “Music Hall” convenes again tonight at 8 over KTBS.
Sharing the guest role with the veteran stage and screen actor will be Cliff
Nazarro, the double-talk expert who may have a little difficulty in
interpreting some of Bing’s seven syllable words.
(The Shreveport Times, 15th July, 1943)
J. Walter Thompson office, Carroll
Carroll and Bing Crosby were both upset and pleased last Friday. The
double-named scripter of Kraft Music Hall, inadvertently said that femmes from
eighteen to twenty-four could join the WAVES, in a special recruiting plea,
read by Crosby on the program last Thursday. Navy recruiters were busy on
Friday, explaining to under-age gals that the script should have read, from the
ages of twenty to thirty-six with no dependents under the age of eighteen. (Variety, July 21, 1943)
July 21, Wednesday. The Los Angeles Times reports that Bing has qualified for the Lakeside Golf Club President's Cup Tournament with a net 74. His handicap is still 4.
July 22,
Thursday. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include William Frawley.
William Frawley, one of Hollywood’s best known character actors and
closest friend of “The Groaner” will be the guest of Bing Crosby tonight….
Actor Frawley replaces the guests previously announced, Lum and Abner.
(The Capital Times, 22nd July, 1943)
July (undated).
Bing, Phil Silvers, Rags Ragland, and the Charioteers entertain the recruits at
the Naval Training Station in San Diego.
I had the pleasure of seeing Bing Crosby
in person.
It was the summer of 1943. I was in
the Navy and was going to service school at the Naval Training Station in San
Diego, California.
Bing arrived in a travel trailer
that was pulled by a pickup truck. He had comedians Phil Silvers and Rags
Ragland with him, and the backup singing group, the Charioteers.
The show took place in the daytime
at the ball field on the base. I remember paying a fellow sailor $2.00 to take
my guard duty so I could go see Bing.
The show started with Phil Silvers
and Rags Ragland telling Navy-type jokes. Then Bing and the Charioteers came
out and sang a lot of songs. I can only remember three of them, “Moonlight
Bay,” and “Sunday, Monday or Always” (from his movie Dixie, which was
playing in downtown San Diego at the time). Then one of the WAVES in the crowd
asked for “White Christmas,” and of course he sang that for her.
There were a few hecklers in the
crowd, which surprised me. I thought everyone liked Bing as much as I did.
The show must have taken place during
the musician’s strike, because there were no instrumentalists there. Bing and
the Charioteers had to sing without musical accompaniment.
The base newspaper had a big
write-up about the show, and Bing’s picture was on the front page. Bing didn’t
wear his toupe that day.
I carried that newspaper with me for
the next two years that I spent on board ship in the Pacific.
(James McCusker, a
long-time member of Club Crosby, writing in BINGANG, summer 1999)
July 29,
Thursday. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Rags Ragland. The song “Please” is
recorded at the rehearsal and issued on V-Disc.
Rags Ragland, comedian star in the new movie “DuBarry Was a Lady,” will
be Bing Crosby’s guest on the program to be aired tonight at 8 o’clock over
WMAQ. Rags, a frequent visitor to Music Hall, is having trouble living down
Bing’s description of him last Thursday – “that debonair suave gentleman from
33rd street.” In “DuBarry Was a Lady,” Rags appears with the red-headed “ball
of fire” girl, Lucille Ball.
(Belvidere Daily Republican, 29th July, 1943)
July 31, Saturday. (1:30-2:00 p.m.) The Topics for Today show on the Blue network hosted by Tommy Tucker celebrates the first anniversary of
the WAVES and includes a message from Bing.
August 2, Monday. A pre-recording session for Going My Way with piano accompaniment only.
August 4, Wednesday.
(10:00-10:30 p.m.) Guests on the radio show "Wings Over the World" which is broadcast from
the AAF Recreation Hangar at Long Beach on the NBC Blue Network. Other
guests are Trudy Erwin and Ukie Sherin.
August 5,
Thursday. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing hosts another Kraft Music Hall show. Guests include Isabel Randolph. Songs from
the show are issued on V-Disc.
That lady of high society in Wistful Vista, Mrs. Uppington, will appear
on the NBC-WBMG Kraft Music Hall at 9 P. M. Mrs. Uppington, who is known off
the air as Isabel Randolph, is one of the well-known friends of Fibber McGee
and Molly. High spot of Bing Crosby’s half-hour show will be the introduction
of Frank Loesser’s new tune for the men of the “Walking Army” titled “What Do
You Do in the Infantry.”
(Richmond Times-Dispatch, 5th August, 1943)
August 10, Tuesday.
(7:00-7:30 p.m.) Bing guests on Johnny Mercer’s Music Shop program on NBC.
August 12,
Thursday. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Ed Gardner.
That
man from Duffy’s Tavern, Ed “Archie” Gardner, will take off his apron and leave
his chores at the tavern to join Bing Crosby at the Kraft Music Hall, at 9 P.
M. over NBC and WMBG. “Archie” is a busy man these days. In addition to
operating Duffy’s brainchild, he’s facing the kleig lights in Hollywood for a
motion picture which will feature the famed Blue Network tavern. Bing will
start the musical fare introducing the new tune, “Ridin’ Herd on a Cloud,”
written by Perry Botkin, guitarist with John Scott Trotter’s orchestra who has
not only been an outstanding accompanist with Bing on KMH but also on
recordings. Songstress Trudy Erwin, will double her singing chores. In addition
to her solo numbers and duet with Bing, she will fill in for Pat Hyatt of the
Music Maids. Pat was injured seriously recently in an automobile accident. It
will be old times for Trudy who started off her singing career with the Music
Maids.
(Richmond Times-Dispatch, 12th August, 1943)
August 16–October 22.
Bing films Going My Way with Barry
Fitzgerald, Frank McHugh, and Rise Stevens. The director is Leo McCarey and
Robert Emmett Dolan is musical director. The golfing scenes are shot at the
Riviera Golf Club whilst external scenes around the fictional “St. Dominic’s”
are filmed at Saint Monica Church, 725 California St., Santa Monica.
“Leo McCarey was an old
racetrack and football pal,” Bing recalled. “And he always threatened to use me
in one of his pictures. After years of joking one day, he finally said he
wanted me to play a priest. I told him the church simply wouldn’t stand for
that kind of casting, but Leo said it would. He sold his idea—and when he
finished, there wasn’t a dry eye among us. Paramount brass thought Leo was all
wrong. They couldn’t see me in a long, black buttoned-down robe. But Buddy De
Sylva, the production head went along with Leo.”
August 17,
Tuesday. (7:00–7:30 p.m.) Bing again guests on Johnny Mercer’s Music Shop radio show on NBC.
August 19,
Thursday. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing is the emcee on the Kraft Music Hall broadcast. Guests include Oscar Levant.
It isn’t true that everything Oscar Levant knows is what he sees in the
movies and he’s going to prove it when he visits Bing Crosby on “Music Hall,”
tonight at 8 over KTBS. Never one to use the unusual in the English language,
Bing will have to be at his best to cope with this week’s guest. Levant’s
pungent and vitriolic tongue is a legend wherever people of the entertainment
world gather and the “Information Pleaser” is not one to make any exceptions.
Although his serious musicianship has earned him the right to play piano solos
with several symphonies, Levant has a desire to sing which always seems to show
itself whenever he appears on KMH. When these occasions arise, Bing takes over
the ivory keyboard and accompanies him.
(The Shreveport Times, 19th August, 1943)
August 20, Friday.
Bing and several other stars entertain the servicemen at Santa Ana.
August 23,
Monday. With Trudy Erwin, records “People Will Say We’re in Love” and “Oh! What
a Beautiful Morning” from Oklahoma!
with only a vocal accompaniment from the Sportsmen Glee Club. “People Will Say
We’re in Love” reaches the No. 2 spot during its 17 weeks in the charts, whilst
“Oh! What a Beautiful Mornin'” peaks separately at No. 4 during its 13 weeks
spell.
Bing Crosby and Trudy Erwin
(Decca 18564)
People Will Say We’re in Love—FT: V.
Oh! What a Beautiful Morning—W; V.
For sheer vocal beauty and
charm, the blended talents of Bing Crosby, Trudy Erwin and the Sportsmen Glee
Club make for a real pleasantry on the platters. With the added comfort of two
of the top tunes from the smash Oklahoma musical
hit as the vehicle, it adds up to the most ear-caressing of all-vocal
recordings to come forth this year. Crosby, sharing the lyrical expressions
with Miss Erwin, and with the Glee Club weaving a rhythmic and harmonic
background, the interpretation approximates downright purring, it being that
purty. Taken at a moderate tempo, and with sustained harmonies of the glee club
setting the stage, the boy-belle team of romancing singers split the opening
chorus. The glee club gets a second stanza underway and then Crosby jumps to
the words of the bridge with Miss Erwin joining him in duet to complete the
chorus and carry out the side with an ear-tingling vocal reprise.
Unquestionably one of the more beautiful waltz melodies of this day is the
lilting 16-bar lullaby for Oh! What a
Beautiful Morning. Taking it at a bright and breezy three-quarter tempo,
Crosby and company make the morning sound all the more beautiful in song.
Sharing wordage with Miss Erwin, whose vocal talents are in high order, the
boy-belle team start right off with verse and chorus, followed by a second set
of verse lyrics and chorus. The glee club carries a chorus on their own and the
two lead voices return for a third verse and chorus. Already going strong in the music boxes with
“People Will Say We’re in Love”, it’s a certainty that the disk is going to
serve double duty for the operators, with “Oh! What a Beautiful Morning” proving
just as strong.
(Billboard, October 30, 1943)
August 26, Thursday. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Rags Ragland.
Bing
Crosby has “gone high-hat” with guest stars such as Archie of Duffy’s Tavern
and Oscar Levant, according to Rags Ragland, who will pay the Music Hall a visit
tonight to see for himself what’s what.
(The
Gazette, August 26, 1943)
Olsen and Johnson
have nothing on Bing Crosby and company. Every Thursday afternoon rehearsal of
the Groaner's Music Hall broadcast is a “Hellzapoppin.” The Music Hall is heard
tonight at 8 p.m. over KTBS. The million
and one things written on the subject of “what makes Bing Crosby different” guarantee
that - plus a cast and crew of unmatched liveliness.
Take for instance
this typical day. “The Crosby studio” has its full crew aboard, plus an odd and
sundry rehearsal audience. On the mike, center stage, are Bing and Ukie rehearsing
a spot wherein the little guy is trying to sell the Groaner a bill of goods.
“Some total draft,”
is his plea, “you won't have no band. How about hiring me and my uke?”
Ukie self-consciously
fingers his ukelele, a red-white-and-blue number which Bing ignominiously refers
to as a “patriotic lamb chop.” Ukie is nervous and muffs occasionally.
A pretty blonde girl
in red slacks giggles. She is Betty Boyle of the sounds effect department. Presently
she is joined by another pretty blonde noisemaker. The latter has just purchased
a new jacket, and while Bing and Ukie continue rehearsal, the girls make silent
gesturing comments on the new garment.
,“Pretty snazzy,” opines
Bing, who all the time has had a half closed eye on them. He has plenty of time
to notice this extra goings-on because Ukie is having difficulty: 1) reading
his script, 2) turning its pages. 3) playing the uke, 4) trying to make some
kind of stand against Bing’s barrage of ad-libs. The guest of the day, Rags
Ragland, comes to Ukie’s rescue by turning a page.
“Oh, Ragland’s got
a new job – caddying for Uke,” comments Bing between lines.
(The Shreveport Times, 26th August, 1943)
August 28,
Saturday. Records a guest appearance in Command
Performance #81 with Jimmy Durante, Judy Garland, and Kay Kyser and his
Orchestra. Bing acts as MC. During the day, he films a special trailer at Paramount called Now about Christmas in which he compares tuberculosis and the campaign
against it with the country’s war against Germany and Japan. Showings start towards the end of November. The audience is
asked to buy Christmas Seals.
September 2,
Thursday. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) The Kraft
Music Hall show broadcast. Guests include Frank McHugh. During the day,
Bing also records an appearance on Mail
Call show #54. Ben Lyon is MC and the other guests are Robert Benchley, Nan
Wynn, and the Merry Macs.
…As the Groaner’s special guest, dialers will find film funnyman Frank
McHugh.
(The Capital Times,
2nd September, 1943)
September 4,
Saturday. Records GI
Journal show #8. Bing acts as MC and the guests include
Rochester, Mel Blanc, Falstaff Openshaw, and Linda Darnell. The GI Journal shows are recorded for
subsequent broadcast to the armed forces. Harry Mitchell is the resident
announcer.
September 5, Sunday. A Liberty ship is named “S.S. Nathaniel Crosby” at the Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation in Portland after Bing’s
great-grandfather. Bing’s mother christens it as Bing is committed to filming Going My Way. Ted Crosby outlines some of the life of Nathaniel Crosby for those present.
September (undated). Bing entertains the troops at Camp Santa Anita.
Dog
faces at Camp Santa Anita are still gabbing about the best entertainment they
have received, a show featuring Bing Crosby. A record crowd of 7000 packed the
CSA theatre as early as 1800, although the program didn’t start until 2000. M/sgt
Skinnay Ennis, who is stationed at CSA, dreamed up most of the production. Bing
cracked that it was the first time he’d ever gone home from Santa Anita
breaking even.
(The Pasadena Post, September 12, 1943)
September 7, Tuesday. Bing and Rise Stevens films scenes for Going My Way in the Shrine Auditorium.
September 8,
Wednesday. (6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.) Bing takes part in ‘Cavalcade for Victory’,
a nationwide broadcast on all four networks to launch the Third War Loan which
was to be on offer from September 9 until the end of the month. Bing and Dinah
Shore operating from the NBC Studio in Hollywood introduce the song “The Road
to Victory” which has been specially written by Private First Class Frank
Loesser.
The gathering of this clan
was for the purpose of helping our Treasury Department infuse a little
glamorous oomph into the launching of the Third War Loan Drive. Show business’
part in the event was distinguished by good organization, sound radio procedure
and all-around infectious showmanship. Unlike the usual toss-together of this
type program, the Third Loan teeoff had a continuity that tied every item on
the bill into a cohesive, logical narrative. The telling was entertaining, informative
and inspiring. The program set out to tell by way of dramatic sketch, comedy
patter and song ‘how far we have gone’ in the nigh two years of war.
In the looking backward there was recalled to the listener the
heroic stand on Bataan (Robert Young); the spirit that brought forth ‘Praise
The Lord And Pass The Ammunition’ (Kay Kyser’s orchestra); an amusing sidelight
on the housing shortage (Burns and Allen); a bit of lyrical longing on the home
from (Dinah Shore); how the auto driving restriction hypoed the importance of
the bicycle (Edgar Bergen); the spirit that drew the Allies together in the
North African battle (Ronald Colman, Charles Boyer, Akim Tamiroff and George
Murphy); an adventure of two men in an upper berth resulting from the transportation
shortage (Jimmy Durante), and woman’s importance in the American arsenal (Jane
Darnell and Mercedes MacCambridge). Despite the potpourri of moods and
entertainment facets, the whole thing had the aspect of an adroitly fitted
mosaic. The timing was faultless, which fact gave special emphasis to the
skillful direction of George Zachary.
Bing Crosby had the closing spot on this Hollywood-originated
bill. With the support of a chorus, Crosby intoned the current drive’s theme song,
‘Get on the Road to Victory’. All the comedy passages were good, but Durante’s
monolog packed an added pinch of
The final 15 minutes of the hour brought from Washington James
Cagney, Secretary of the Treasury Henry A. Morgenthau, Jr., and President
Roosevelt. Cagney told about the latest ‘Hollywood Cavalcade’ that had been put
at the disposal of the drive, and introduced Morgenthau, whose mike delivery
now rates as about the best among his Cabinet confreres, and a rich relief when
compared to the general run of Washington politicos.
(Variety, September 15, 1943)
September 9,
Thursday. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Falstaff Openshaw and Phil Silvers.
The Hooper rating for the winter season is 22.2 placing the program in twelfth
position. The top show is Fibber McGee & Molly with a rating of 31.9.
During the day, a transcribed radio program—Treasury
Star Parade (No. 252)—is broadcast featuring Bing, who sings three songs. The show is
designed to raise funds for the Third War Loan and is heard at other times during the week.
Allan Reed, the poetry-reading “Falstaff Openshaw” of Fred Allen's
show, and Phil Silvers, one of the newer screen comedians, will be Bing
Crosby’s guests on his broadcast tonight at 8 o'clock over WMAQ. This will be
“welcome back” night for Hal Hopper, the male portion of “The Music Maids and
Hal,” who will return to his regular position on the show team. Last January he
joined the air corps as a radio operator and after eight months of service has
been given a medical discharge. Hal’s musical group will join Bing on the
opening of the musical side of the program, “Wait for Me Mary.” For the memory
spot on this week’s session, Bing will sing “Basin Street Blues,” one of the
most popular songs with which he has ever been associated. Aiding the “Groaner”
on this number will be Memphis boys who know something about Basin Street,
namely, the Charioteers.
(Belvidere Daily Republican, 9th September, 1943)
Bing Crosby leads
off the “Treasury Star Parade” program for the 3rd War Loan Drive as
master of ceremonies and singer of the Nation’s favorites, such as “You’ll
Never Know” and “Sunday, Monday or Always.” John Scott Trotter conducts the
orchestra, with the Charioteers and the Music Maids and Phil rounding out this
all-musical program.
(National Association of Broadcasters
report)
September 10,
Friday. Records GI Journal show #9.
Bing acts as MC and the guests include Jimmy Durante, Mel Blanc, Falstaff
Openshaw, and Linda Darnell. John Scott Trotter and his Orchestra provide the
musical support.
September 11, Saturday. Bing’s
recording of “Sunday, Monday or Always” gets
to number one in the charts where it spends seven weeks. During the day, Bing
and Frank Sinatra meet at a radio studio and the Associated Press widely
circulates a photograph of the two men apparently singing together.
September 13, Monday. (7:00–7:30 p.m.) Stars in the Lady Esther Screen Guild radio production of Birth of the Blues with Johnny Mercer and Ginny Simms on CBS. Wilbur Hatch leads the orchestra.
Ginny
Simms and Bing Crosby, two of the nation’s singing
favorites, have a made-to-measure vehicle for their guest appearances
on the “Screen
Guild Players” program, when they co-star in the radio version of the
musical
hit, “Birth of the Blues,” 9 p. m. WMT-WNAX-KRNT. Crosby starred in the
original movie production of “Birth of the Blues” with Mary Martin.
Many song favorites are heard in this cavalcade, including
“St. Louis Blues,” “St. James Infirmary,” “Memphis Blues, “By The Light of The Silvery
Moon” and “Wait Till The Sun Shines, Nelly.”
The story goes back to New Orleans of the 1900’s and
presents Bing as a clarinetist who has but one ambition - to organize the hottest
band in the Southland and with it popularize controversial music known as jazz and
blues. Intertwined is his romance with the band’s singer, Ginny
Simms.
“Screen Guild Players” is produced and directed by Bill
Lawrence and all proceeds from the weekly broadcasts go to the Motion Picture Relief
Fund.
(The Des Moines Register, September 13,
1943)
September (undated). V-Discs are issued for the first time. These discs have
been prepared for the exclusive use of servicemen and feature airshots by
famous artists, including Bing. Bing
also records special material for V-Disc use.
September 16,
Thursday. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Falstaff Openshaw and Jinx
Falkenburg.
Falstaff Openshaw, (Alan Reed), the poor man’s poet laureate, and Jinx
Falkenburg, one of the most beautiful girls ever to grace a magazine cover,
will add their talents to proceedings at Bing Crosby’s NBC-WMBG Music Hall at 9
p.m. Crosby will open the program with
“The Road to Victory,” the song which he introduced on the “Back the Attack”
the four network program launching the Third War Loan Drive.
(Richmond Times-Dispatch, 16th September, 1943)
September 17,
Friday. Records GI Journal show #10.
Bing acts as MC and the guests include Jimmy Durante, Mel Blanc, Falstaff
Openshaw, and Linda Darnell. John Scott Trotter and his Orchestra provide the
musical support. Elsewhere, Dixie and the children return home from a vacation
in Malibu.
September 18, Saturday. The American Federation of Musicians reaches agreement with most
record companies and lifts its ban on recording by its members.
September 21,
Tuesday. (7:00–7:30 p.m.) Bing guests on Bob Hope’s first Pepsodent show of the
season on NBC The show comes from the Pasadena Civic Auditorium before an audience of 3000 soldiers and sailors and features
Frances Langford, Jerry Colonna, “Vera Vague” (Barbara Jo Allen), and Stan
Kenton.
Back from a tour of the
fighting fronts and aglow with newsprint plaudits for a job well done, Bob Hope
slipped into his radio harness last Tuesday (21) and sprinted over the old
track like a filly that had long been kept under wraps. It was the beginning of
his sixth season on that course, and the only newcomer among his running mates
was Stan Kenton, pacemaker for the program’s instrumentalists. The added name
for the occasion was Bing Crosby. In summary the half-hour was topsy-top Bob
Hope loudspeaker entertainment.
Hope’s opening monolog crackled with wows and near-wows. The
gags, as was natural, drew their thematic sustenance from the comic’s recent
travels. The crossfire involving Jerry Colonna and Vera Vague, the dulcet
songmaking of Frances Langford and the smooth orchestral support from the
Kenton unit all fitted snugly in a production of Grade AA merit. Aside from a
song, Crosby’s contribution to the plot was a sketch in which he and Hope
enacted their conception of what the Hollywood studios would be like if the
producers were compelled out of necessity to resort to a.k.’s
for screen lovers.
Frank Sinatra’s name figured frequently in Hope’s post-monolog
railery. When one of his aides remarked that the reason that Sinatra holds on
to the mike is the fear that he might fall over if he let go, Hope cracked,
“That will be taken care of when he gets that job on the Kraft program and he can
eat all the cheese he wants.”
Hope took over the closing few minutes of the period to convey,
in a serious vein, some of the observations and conclusions he had brought back
with him from Africa and Sicily. There was plenty of bite in what he had to say
about the reactions of the stay-at-homes to the war. The message had both
eloquence and the sharp flick of an accusatory truth.
(Variety, September 29, 1943)
…Bing Crosby, who had
volunteered to sub for Hope in event that latter was not ready for Tuesday start,
was guest on opening program. Bing did Sunday,
Monday or Always, took a Sinatra-needling from his
host and wound up with a sketch ribbing Hollywood’s vet actors. Clowning combo
came over in fine shape to clock plenty of laughs…
(Billboard, October 9, 1943)
September 23,
Thursday. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include George Murphy.
George Murphy, frequent visitor to Bing Crosby’s Music Hall and one of
Hollywood’s most popular song and dance men, will sign Crosby’s guest book at 9
p.m. over NBC and WMBG. Bing will sing the song he introduced a few weeks back
Private Frank Loesser’s “What Do You Do in the Infantry?”
(Richmond Times-Dispatch, 23rd September, 1943)
September 24,
Friday. Records GI Journal show #11.
Bing acts as MC and the guests include Leo “Ukie” Sherin, Mel Blanc, Falstaff Openshaw,
Jerry Colonna, and Linda Darnell. John Scott Trotter and his Orchestra provide
the musical support.
September 25,
Saturday. Records Command Performance
#86 radio show with Bob Hope (MC), Tony Romano, and Frances Langford at NBC.
September 27,
Monday. (8:00–10:30 p.m.) Records “Pistol Packin’ Mama” and "Vict'ry Polka" with the Andrews Sisters and Vic Schoen and
his Orchestra. The record
is released in Decca’s “Personality” series priced at 75 cents, 40 cents more
than their usual releases.
Decca asks six bits for this
galaxy of stars, and pairing of favorites. “Pistol Packin’ Mama” and “Vict’ry
Polka” both receive the ultimate at the hands of Vic Schoen and throats of the
Groaner and the terrifying trio! Without any help from your disc-digger, this
particular disc will hit the jackpot. Therefore it will not need the help I
would feel forced to withhold in any event.
(Down Beat)
Bing Crosby – Andrews Sisters
(Decca 23277)
Pistol Packin’ Mama – FT; V. Victr’y Polka – FT; V.
Supplications to melody to
put down that revolver are going to start all over again. And with a fresh
vengeance now that Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters have taken most of the
corn out of the hillbilly classic and cut it up for a freshly broiled rhythmic
dish. The first waxing by Decca since the Petrillo ban was lifted, it’s a cinch
to remain on the best selling lists for a long time to come. There can be no
underestimating the appeal of a Bing Crosby on a platter. And with the Andrews
Sisters for added merchandising and vocal appeal, this disk is bound to bring
back Pistol Packin’ Mama to the high
position it held during the summer spell. …with Vic Schoen’s orchestra and
direction providing the instrumental accompaniment, ever with a zing, Bing and
the girls lay it down in a bright and breezy tempo. Save for a dixieland band
interlude, it’s their singing all the way, sticking to the original lyrics with
the Andrews gals adding a special patter to bridge the onslaught. And while
there is no mistaking the corn in the ditty, at least there are no kernels
popping all over the disk. The vocal combination carries on for the mated side
in Jule Styne’s and Samuel Cahn’s post-war Victory
Polka. In a lively fox-trot polka rhythm, Bing and the sisters sing it all
the way. Ditty deals with a victory parade when the boys come marching home,
and again the polka flavor is eschewed in favor of the more peppery and modern
rhythms in their singing. This is a dream platter for the phono ops, with the
combination of Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters a cinch to keep the coins
a-comin’ for a long time to come and start a fresh wave of windings for “Pistol
Packin’ Mama”. Moreover, their “Victory Polka” side also packs plenty of phono
appeal.
(Billboard, November 13, 1943)
When the recording ban was
lifted, the sisters and Bing Crosby were in the studio nine days later, their
first collaboration since 1939. The girls arrived at the Los Angeles studios following
a day of filming at Universal, still in full make-up, while Crosby arrived
straight from the golf course—pipe in mouth, hat on head, ready to record. This
nighttime session was unusual for Crosby, who preferred early morning sessions,
feeling that his voice was at its fullest in the morning (this to the dismay of
LaVerne, who liked to sleep in).
The group completed the session in ninety minutes, and a
million-selling record was born. Several photographers were on hand to record
the event as Crosby and the trio rehearsed and kidded each other, as well as
Vic Schoen and Jack Kapp. After several takes, final masters of “Pistol Packin’
Mama” and “The Vict’ry Polka” were completed, resulting in the first of four
million-selling collaborations between Crosby and the trio.
(John Sforza, Swing It! page 67)
WATCHING THEM MAKE PICTURES
Only today, we’re not going to start by watching
them make pictures, but by watching them make a record. Bing Crosby and the
Andrews Sisters got together and made a record of “Pistol Packin’ Mama,” that
song about a guy who urged his gal to put down her armament.
Because it was an event of sorts, the first record
to be made since the American Federation of Musicians made peace, I dropped
into the Decca Studio on Melrose Ave. to watch them have at it.
The Andrews Sisters were hepped up over the
occasion. They arrived straight from the set of Swingtime for Johnny, still wearing their
movie makeup. Crosby was late. He didn’t show up until an hour and a half
later. He didn’t come directly from the set of Going My Way. He didn’t
wear makeup. He was puffing on an old pipe.
“Hiya, kids,” he greeted. “Let’s knock it.”
Bing and the girls ran over the number three
times, and they were ready. “Let’s put on a pie,” Bing told Jack Kapp, president
of Decca. “This will be the master.” He meant the men in the sound booth should
put on the master wax platter from which the duplicate records are made.
The studio got quiet. A red light went on. It
changed to green. Patty Andrews gave out with a short scream. The drummer made
with his stick on the edge of his drum, in imitation of a pistol shot, a “rim
shot,” the musicians call it. Crosby and the band began as one.
The Andrews Sisters accompanied Bing in the verse,
took a chorus with him, then in the second chorus they divided up the lyrics,
Bing taking a line for himself, with the girls coming in for hot licks. When
they would sing a line of their own, they’d move up close to the mike. When
they took the background, they’d move back. Everybody was in the groove.
Toward the end of the song, Bing was supposed to
sing by himself the line: “Lay that pistol down, Babe,” but he deviated from
the set routine and talked instead. In a rich, Amos ‘n’ Andy drawl he
ad-libbed, “Put that thing down, honey, before it goes off and hurts somebody.”
It caught the Andrews Sisters completely by
surprise. Patty bit her lip to keep from laughing. They almost broke up. Mr.
Kapp, the Decca man, came out of the booth, laughing. “Let’s do it again,
Bing,” The song doesn’t need any tricks. It’s novelty enough as it is.”
“No, let it stay,” replied Bing. “People will play
it over again to hear what I’m saying. It’ll sell more records.”
Kapp considered a moment and then agreed. That, of
course, is important to Bing and the Andrews Sisters. Bing gets 5 cents royalty
on every record sold. So do the Andrews Sisters. Mr. Kapp believes that the
record will sell over a million.
The record of “Pistol Packin’ Mama” will be on the
market in six weeks. And since “Pistol Packin’ Mama” stands likely to become a
national menace, you’d better get ready to like it. One songwriter along Vine Street commenting
on the sensational success of “Pistol Packin’ Mama” said: “Those mother songs
are always a hit.”
(Sidney Skolsky, Hollywood Citizen News, October 6, 1943)
/
Bing has the able assistance of the Andrews Sisters while singing “Pistol Packin’ Mama” and the well known “Vict’ry Polka.” I felt that the team work was not all that it might have been and I would have preferred that either Bing or the Sisters had been absent so that one had not detracted from the other. Nevertheless Brunswick 03494 will appeal to many.
(The Gramophone, April 1944)
September, 29, Wednesday. A further recording session with The Andrews Sisters and Vic Schoen and his Orchestra.
Bing Crosby – Andrews Sisters
(Decca 23281)
Jingle Bells – FT; V. Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town – FT; V.
This pairing of holiday
standards, as packaged by Bing Crosby in combination with the Andrews Sisters,
adds up to one of the better platters of the year. Sides are socko all the way,
both musically and as merchandisers. Not since Glenn Miller’s instrumental of a
few years back, has there been such delightful rhythmic doings for Jingle Bells… Equally exciting is the
rhythmic treatment set for the Santa
Claus Is Comin’ to Town evergreen... Something new in the way of popular
holiday tunes. It’s merely a question as to how fast the music machine
operators can get both of these sides set in their machines before the coins
start raining in. It’s a cinch that it will be a heavy shower until the holiday
season wears itself out.
In
any case, what fun he (Schoen) had, opening the arrangement with a raggy piano mimicking
the sound of bells and providing the sisters with a countermelody and rhythm, including
a scripted scat break. The pleasure Bing took in his own vocaI production and
in his chemistry with the Andrews Sisters was rarely more evident. The performance
is taken up tempo, with a swinging instrumental passage centered on a brief clarinet
solo by Jack Mayhew. Crosby, solidly in the moment, enters with rhythmic aplomb,
gliding over the beat in a manner reminiscent of his 1939 alliance with the Music
Maids “In My Merry Oldsmobile,” but now driving an eight-cylinder sleigh. Kapp
backed it up with the 1934 song “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town,” another disarming
number with festive singing and witty arrangement. Decca ultimately claimed sales
of six million discs for “Jingle Bells.”
(Gary
Giddins, Swinging on a Star, page
286)
September 30,
Thursday. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Phil Silvers.
Phil Silvers, gagwriter and stage comic now
being given a buildup as a screen comedian by Paramount, will guest for his
studio partner, Bing Crosby, on the groaner’s weekly program tonight at 9
o’clock.
(Richmond Times-Dispatch, 30th September, 1943)
The Hollywood Women’s Press Club, which annually nominates Bing Crosby
among the three “sour pusses” of the year, should see him now. They’d change
their vote in a hurry. I have never seen Bing so gracious or as happy, as he is
in playing the role at the young priest in “Going My Way?" Frankly, I’ve
never more so thoroughly enjoyed a visit to a set than dropping in on Leo
McCarey and Bing at Paramount. It was the beautiful church courtyard scene, and
as a special treat for me Leo put on two of the best songs ever the loud speaker--Bing
singing “Swinging on a Star” with the boys’ choir and Rise Stevens’ number,
“Going My Way?” Leo told me they had received many words of encouragement from
priests visiting the set on the way the religious theme is being handled.
(Louella O. Parsons, The San Francisco Examiner, October 2,
1943)
October 1,
Friday. (6:00 to 8:30 p.m.) Recording date in Hollywood with John Scott Trotter
and his Orchestra, including “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” and "Poinciana". The former song
reaches the No. 3 position in the Billboard list, spending seven weeks in the
charts. It returned to the charts again in December 1944 in the No. 16 spot.
“Poinciana” gets to the No. 3 mark during a 15-week stay in the lists.
I’ll Be Home For Christmas.
The lyric and melody of this
number by Kim Gannon and Walter Kent reach the ultimate in sentimentality. Bing
Crosby makes a typical vehicle of it, singing first ad-lib and then in tempo,
with sweet work by the strings in the background. The other side offers Bing’s
brand new version of “Londonderry Air” in its most popular form, under the
title “Danny Boy” (Decca).
(Look magazine)
“Poinciana,”
the 1936 adaptation of the Cuban folk song “La Cancion del Arbol,” received
little attention before Bing took it up, despite Glenn Miller's version. Trotter
delegated the arranging of it to Sam Freed, a violinist, who set the sixteen-bar
verse to a firm bolero rhythm and modulated to a discreet rumba beat for the
chorus. Bing spans the transition with a perfect whole note on the title’s
first syllable. Kapp smelled a hit and put it aside for a few months (“Poinciana”
would top out at number three in March 1944); no reason to waste it as the B-side
of the session's other song, which he knew would go the distance. “I’ll Be Home
for Christmas,” one of the saddest of popular songs, was rescued from oblivion on
a golf course. The lyricist Kim Cannon, desperate after several rebuffs, sang
it to Bing between holes. Taken with the words and Walter Kent's music, Crosby
agreed to record it. After he introduced it on the radio, however, a songwriter
named Buck Ram claimed he had written a poem by that name when he was a lonely teenager
and later showed it to Cannon and Kent, who were acquaintances of his. To settle
the lawsuit, they added Ram’s name to the copyright. Accompanied by Perry Botkin’s
guitar and an understated ensemble of strings, Bing's plaintive interpretation
outdid “While Christmas” as the gloomiest recording of the war. The BBC banned
it, arguing that a song in which a soldier promises to be home for the holiday (“you
can count on me”) but possibly only in his dreams would damage military morale.
(Gary Giddins, Swinging on a Star,
page 287).
Forgot to mention what a wonderful full hour show Bing Crosby put on at
the Hollywood Canteen. He brought John Scott Trotter and lots of talent with
him.
(Edith Gwynn, Inside Hollywood, West Los Angeles Independent, October 8, 1943)
October 7,
Thursday. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Lucille Ball.
Lucille Ball, screen star whose crowning glory is affectionately
described by her good friend Bing Crosby as the “titian-tinted top-piece,” will
be the special guest of the NBC-WMBG Music Hall at 9 p.m.
(Richmond Times-Dispatch, 7th October, 1943)
October 9,
Saturday. Records GI Journal show #12.
Bing is the MC with guests Mel Blanc and Georgia Carroll. John Scott Trotter
and his Orchestra supply the musical backing.
October 11, Monday. A recording session for Going My Way wih just an organ accompaniment.
October 13,
Wednesday. In her syndicated newspaper column Louella O. Parsons states that:
Dixie Lee Crosby, Bing’s pretty
frau, has been living at Malibu the past two months, but it hasn’t been all
sunshine and tennis. Dixie has written an original story called Footlight Five, all about a theatrical
couple who have five children. Since the Crosbys have four, it might be
autobiographical. Because Mrs. C. wants to sell her story on her own, and not
through Bing’s influence, she has turned it over to an agent, and if Paramount
should be interested in it for Bing–they’ll have to bid on the open market.
October 14,
Thursday. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) The Kraft
Music Hall show broadcast. Bing’s guests include Jack Douglas. John Scott Trotter returns to the podium after a three-week vacation, his first in seven years.
Erstwhile gagwriter Jack Douglas, who tried reading his own lines and
found himself the star comic of the What’s New show, will be Bing Crosby’s
guest on the Music Hall program tonight at 9 o’clock. Tonight’s date also will
mark the return of John Scott Trotter to the podium following a three-week
vacation, his first in seven years. Douglas, as a gagwriter, contributed
material for Bob Hope, Red Skelton and Tommy Higgs.
(The Bristol News Bulletin, 14th October, 1943)
October 15,
Friday. A recording session for Going My Way wih just a piano accompaniment. On the set of Going My Way
Bing and Rise Stevens sing Lohengrin’s “Wedding March” accompanied by Leo
McCarey on the piano to mark the wedding of Irene Crosby, the stand-in for Rise
Stevens. During the day, Bing records GI
Journal show #13. He acts as MC and the guests include Mel Blanc, Jerry
Colonna, and Georgia Carroll.
October 20,
Wednesday. Records Mail Call show
#61. Bing is MC with Frank Morgan as guest. Harry Von Zell is the announcer.
October 21,
Thursday. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s last Kraft
Music Hall show until December 2. Cass Daley is the guest. During the day,
Bing records a song called “The Seventh Air Force” and the disc is sent to a South
Pacific air base. Bob Crosby deputizes for Bing on the Kraft
Music Hall for the next five weeks.
Cass Daley, wide-mouthed singing comedian, will be Bing Crosby’s guest tonight
when the Groaner brings his Music Hall to the air.
(The Shreveport Times, 21st October, 1943)
October 22, Friday. The final day of shooting for Going My Way.
October 31, Sunday. Bing attends an early mass in Elko and buys several boxes of religious Christmas cards from the Girl Scouts.
November 5, Friday.
Bing arrives in Twin Falls, Idaho for a weekend's pheasant shooting. He
and his party (including John Eacret, ranch manager) have a late dinner
at Wray's Cafe. They are mobbed as they leave the cafe. Bing has been
growing a beard for use in his forthcoming
role in Road to Utopia. In the event,
Paramount switches the filming schedules and Bing has to begin the picture
beardless.
November 6, Saturday. Hunting in Jerome County, Bing fires one shot each at the first three birds he sees to get his limit and a 100% record. The pheasants are consumed at a private dinner at Wray's Cafe that night. Back in Hollywood, Lindsay Crosby (aged 5) is injured when the chauffeur J. Murray stops suddenly in heavy traffic and he is thrown against the dashboard. Lindsay has to have three stitches at the Hollywood Receiving Hospital in a cut at the base of his nose.
November 7, Sunday. A forest
fire in Southern California consumes many homes and destroys some of Bing’s
Rancho Santa Fe property.
November (undated). Bing goes on to Schuyler, Nebraska to stay at the Higgins ranch and shoot pheasants.
A guy in a big checkered hunting coat and a billed cap
pulled low over his receding hairline had a tough argument with Omaha World-Herald
reporters a little over a week ago. The guy in the big checkered hunting coat was
looking for pheasants - and the Omaha World-Herald reporters were looking for
Bing Crosby. They found him, too, toting a gun over the countryside around
Schuyler, Neb., and breathing deeply the first air he’d had in six months that wasn't
contaminated by Sinatra fans. Not a gopher’s whimper disturbed his hunters’
paradise. Then the reporters came, muzzles to the ground. Bing explained to
them how he came on to Schuyler to visit the Higgins ranch after a short stay
at his own farm in Nevada, because he wanted to be a recluse for a spell and hunt
pheasants like a normal sportsman.
'”If you give me newspaper publicity,” Bing explained to
the reporters in words something like this, “I’ll be the one leading the hunted
life, not the pheasants.”
Reporters are human, too. They didn’t run the story.
A Lincoln man, Ray Higgins, is the son of that
Schuyler rancher who entertained Bing Crosby on his pheasant hunting trip to Nebraska.
(The Nebraska State Journal, November 28, 1943)
November 20,
Saturday. Press reports indicate that Dixie has been in St. John’s Hospital,
Santa Monica for her nerves.
November 29, Monday. Bing is back in Hollywood.
November (undated). Bing attends the wedding of his stand-in Leo Lynn and Julia Quigley.
Bing sings a solo at the event.
December 2,
Thursday. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing returns to his weekly Kraft Music Hall show with guest Ed Gardner. Bing surprises the
audience with his 5-week growth of beard and a photograph quickly hits the
newspapers. The show has an audience share of 22.2 during the season. Ken
Carpenter, the Music Maids, the Charioteers, Trudy Erwin, and Leo “Ukie” Sherin
continue as regulars.
Bing Crosby, fresh from a visit to his Nevada ranch and a bond tour for
the U. S. Treasury department will report back to Kraft Music Hall, tonight on
WIBA at 8. That old master of swinging doors, Ed Gardner, the famed Archie of
Duffy’s, will be on hand as guest star to swing wide the KMH portals in fitting
welcome.
(The Capital Times, 2nd December, 1943)
December 3-March 1944. Filming Road to Utopia with Bob
Hope and Dorothy Lamour. The director is Hal Walker with Robert Emmett Dolan as
musical director. The screenplay is written by Norman Panama and Mel Frank.
During filming, Bing suffers a back injury in a fall and needs medical
attention. The film is not released until 1946 due to Paramount having a
backlog of films for release.
[Mel] Frank was responsible
for a Utopia line which became a
movie classic. In Road to Utopia,
Hope and Crosby had to act tough to impress the local bad guys. They saunter up
to a bar in the mining town, and the head heavy asks, “What’ll you have?”
“Oh, a couple of fingers of rotgut,” growls Crosby.
“What’s yours?” asks Douglas Dumbrille.
“I’ll take a lemonade,” squeaks Hope in a high-pitched voice
before responding to a nudge by Crosby and snarling, “in a dirty glass.”
(Randall G. Mielke, Road to Box Office)
Bing applies to the Los Angeles Coliseum management for a franchise to
put on regular Sunday professional football games after the war. At that time,
professional grid games were banned in the Coliseum, by agreement with local
universities, for the next two years.
December 4, Saturday.
Bing’s recording of “White Christmas” again appears in the pop charts, peaking
at number six over a six week period.
December 7, Tuesday. (8:30–9:00 p.m.) Appears on Ed Gardner’s Duffy’s Tavern radio show on the Blue Network and sings “How Sweet You Are.” Music is provided by Paul Weston and his Orchestra. Harry Von Zell is the announcer.
With his right
hand extended in greeting, and a baseball bat in his left, Archie (Ed Gardner)
will greet Bing Crosby at Duffy’s with the idea of peddling half ownership in
the jernt to the distinguished crooner during the broadcast tonight over KFBK
at 8:30 o’clock. Archie has gone to the laborious trouble of writing a revue as
a co-starring vehicle which should put himself and Bing Crosby in the middle of
a one watt spotlight.
(The Sacramento Bee, December 7, 1943)
Bing Crosby
dropped in on “Duffy’s Tavern” to swap insults with Ed Gardner last night (WJZ
8:30). Ed tried to sell him a half interest in Duffy’s but Bing turned him down
on the grounds that he already owned two stables.
(Barbara Kilby, Daily News, December 8, 1943)
December 9,
Thursday. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Lucille Ball.
Lucille Ball, flame-haired and lovely, will be Bing Crosby’s guest on
Kraft Music Hall, tonight on WIBA at 8.
(The Capital Times, 9th December, 1943)
December 11,
Saturday. Records GI Journal show
#20. Bing hosts Rochester and Linda Darnell plus John Scott Trotter and his
Orchestra.
December 16,
Thursday. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) The Kraft
Music Hall broadcast. Guests include Phil Silvers and Joan Davis.
Phil Silvers, the fellow who can talk anyone blue in the face without taking a
breath in between, will make an appearance on WFBC-NBC’s Kraft Music Hall
tonight at 9 o’clock. Silvers’ stream of babble will be injected into the
half-hour show of songs…
(The Greenville News, 16th December, 1943)
Later,
Bing performs at the Palladium in a $1.10 admission benefit for disabled and
hospitalized service men, sponsored by the LA
Examiner. The headline act advertised is the “Band of Bandleaders,” with
Spike Jones, Les Brown, Lou Bring, Harry James, John Scott Trotter, Phil
Harris, Bob Crosby, Sammy Kaye, Alvino Rey and Ray Noble scheduled to appear.
Other entertainers thought to have taken part include Dinah Shore, Betty
Hutton, Dorothy Lamour, Reginald Gardiner, Connie Haines, Dick Haymes, King
Sisters and the Pied Pipers. Louella O. Parsons later reports that Bing sang
despite a temperature of 100.
December 18,
Saturday. Bing records Command
Performance show #97 with Dinah Shore and Leo “Ukie” Sherin. Skinnay Ennis
conducts the 370th Army Air Force Band.
December 20,
Monday. Spends most of the day rehearsing for the evening Lux Radio Theater
broadcast. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) Stars in an hour-long Lux Radio Theater version of Dixie with Dorothy Lamour and Barry
Sullivan on CBS. Cecil B. DeMille is the host and Louis Silvers leads the
orchestra.
Bing Crosby has enjoyed a
string of three successive sock performances within the unusual time bridge of
a week. Two of these were on his own show, those with Lucille Ball and Phil
Silvers. The third came in between those two, when he was a guest of Ed Gardner
on “Duffy’s Tavern”—all hilarious. Also, on Monday night (20th) he did a replay
of his picture, Dixie for the Lux
Hour.
(Variety, December 22, 1943)
December 21, Tuesday.
Films the ‘Goodtime Charlie’ number with Bob Hope for Road to Utopia.
December 22, Wednesday.
(6:30–7:00 p.m.) Bing and Janet Blair are the guests on the Soldiers with Wings radio show on the Mutual network. The show comes from the west coast air force center at Santa Ana.
December 23,
Thursday. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include the Kraft Choral Society. After the
broadcast, Bing goes to Port Arthur in the Los Angeles harbor, singing for the
men at their Christmas party.
Bing Crosby, as he does each Christmas again calls in the Kraft Choral
Club from Chicago as he special guests on the “Kraft Music Hall” program
tonight at 9 over WFBC-NBC. One of the Nation’s most famous singing groups, the
club is composed entirely of employees of the Kraft cheese company. They will
present a medley of Christmas carols as arranged by Ken Darby.
(The Greenville News, 23rd December, 1943)
December 24,
Friday. (1:00–3:00 p.m.) Rehearses for the Elgin radio special due to be
broadcast on Christmas Day on CBS. (7:00-7:45 p.m.) Bing takes part in an all
network radio special Christmas Eve at
the Fronts with Bob Hope, Eddie Dunstedter and Lionel Barrymore. Bing sings
“God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen” and “O Come All Ye Faithful”. The program segues
in to a recording of President Roosevelt’s talk to the US forces.
The
world of 1943 was so simple. Most homes had a radio receiver as their only communications
media. Getting news about WWII boiled down to radio broadcasts and “Movietone
Film News” if you were a movie-goer. On Christmas Eve of 1943, the USO in
conjunction with armed forces radio decided to bring the Bob Hope, Bing Crosby
USO show to families across the United States. These special radio broadcasts
united Americans with their loved ones deployed around the world.
But on
that one winter night, all four major radio networks – CBS, NBC-Red, NBC-Blue,
and Mutual – devoted their airwaves to a single program featuring several
amateur singers and musicians, along with jokes and sketches. The radio
broadcast, “Christmas at the Front,” gave U.S. audiences a real-time glimpse of
soldiers and sailors deployed around the world that holiday season and allowed
those service members to speak to their folks back home via the fastest-growing
mass medium of the day.
Technicians
had worked for months to pull off a feat thought impossible only a few years
before, bringing live voices from various worldwide spots to a single point and
rebroadcasting to eager listeners at home. The first Trans-Atlantic telephone
cable was still a decade away; communication satellites were the stuff of
science fiction. This big show depended on relatively new technology and the
vagaries of shortwave signal propagation.
It was
the idea of the U.S. Military, which believed real-time broadcast would be a
tremendous morale boost for the fighting forces and their families back home.
And when it became time to pick the show’s primary host, the choice was
obvious.
Bob
Hope’s network radio show commanded a large weekly audience at the time. His
first film was the “Big Broadcast of 1938,” in which he introduced his theme
song for hundreds of Hope’s USO shows between 1941 and 1991.
However,
the first voice heard in the “Christmas Eve at the Front” broadcast is not
Hope, but actor Lionel Barrymore’s portrayal of Ebenezer Scrooge in the annual
radio production of “A Christmas Carol” made it appropriate that he be part of
the show. He promised to take listeners “By the hand to the side of your loved
ones fighting in every corner of the globe” – including Italy, North Africa,
New Guinea, Guadalcanal, New Caledonia and China (where it was already
Christmas), India, Panama, Alaska, Pearl Harbor, and even on some of the ships
of “our Navy”.
Barrymore
then introduces Hope, whose name is synonymous with joy, to the GI. When
greeted with loud applause, Hope quips, “Thanks relatives” After a few zingers,
the most challenging part of the new production begins.
The
first stop is Algiers in North Africa. The signal takes a bit of time, but an
unidentified voice says it is just after 3 AM as he reads from a prepared
script. He tells listeners that this will be a typical day for the men working
there. Next, a soldier from Sheffield, Alabama, comes on the mic and says in a
deep Alabama drawl about how he and his fellow soldiers spent Christmas Eve so
far from home.
It is
difficult for us today – accustomed as we are to high-definition live
communications from anywhere on Earth to imagine how impressive this short,
wavering presentation was to millions sitting in their living rooms around the
country. Indeed, most had heard Edward R. Murrow as he dramatically described
the Nazi bombing of London live as it happened, using a shortwave transmitter.
But the voice the audience heard tonight was an ordinary guy, a soldier, whose
transmission wraps with, “We return you to America.” There may have been
wishful thinking in those five simple words.
Bing
Crosby, Hope’s usual foil and movie partner, joins the broadcast then, along
with the Army Air Force orchestra with a quick chorus of “God Rest Ye Merry
Gentlemen.”
Except
for atmospheric noise and some fading, most of the remote shortwave
transmissions were surprisingly listenable; others were difficult to understand
as some transmission paths did not work. Nevertheless, Hope, Crosby, and the
crew handled it smoothly, ad-libbing until they could verify that there would
be “no bit” from that corner of the globe.
Despite
expected technical hitches, this historic broadcast almost certainly
accomplished its goals. Families felt a bit closer to their loved ones – more
than 3.5 million Americans were deployed overseas at the time of the show – on
this special night of the year.
As
noted, Hope was not finished with his efforts to make wars a bit more tolerable
for those who were bravely fighting them. He entertained the troops, at home
and in war zones, for more than 60 years, performing in more than 200 USO shows
for men and women in uniform. Hope lived to 100, and in October 1997 U.S. House
Joint Resolution 75 was signed into law giving him honorary veteran status for
his humanitarian work with the military.
(Don Keith, writing in The American
Legion magazine, Nov. 2018)
Hope
and Crosby, in an
apparently ad-lib ribbing session, made a number of old gags seem new
and
funny...After Crosby sang "Come All Ye Faithful," Barrymore closed the
program by introducing the recording of the President's talk
(Variety, January 5, 1944)
Later, Bing goes to the Masquers’ club “at home” party for servicemen and then appears at the Hollywood Canteen on Cahuenga Boulevard and sings fourteen songs in all including “White Christmas” and also a duet with a sailor. A press report indicates that he receives the biggest hand ever at the venue. He subsequently goes to three army camps in the Los Angeles area and sings midnight mass at each one accompanied by Jimmy Van Heusen on the piano.
Hollywood’s
Christmas Eve was neither white nor old-fashioned last night. But G.I. Joe and
his Navy pal found that come Tarawa or Teheran, it could be merry in 1943 style.
At
Hollywood Canteen Eddie (Santa) Cantor, taking time out from singing “If You
Knew Susie” to introduce his Ida, tossed bundles from the stage to the first
contingents of the 6000 servicemen who packed N. Cahuenga Blvd. sidewalks for
the first chance at the show.
Lined
up three deep, the servicemen moved up for their bundles, heard songs and
jokes, fell out to cut a few fancy rugs when the lights came on and the music broke out, There were coffee,
doughnuts and sandwiches, candy, gum and cigarettes for all.
Jose
Iturbi played and Red Skelton wisecracked, Dinah Shore introduced her new husband,
George Montgomery, and sang camp songs. Jinx Falkenburg and Paulette Goddard said
hello with
bundles, and so did Sonny Tufts.
Bing
Crosby sang "Sunday, Monday and Always.” But the servicemen wanted something
else. They called for “White Christmas” and the hall was quiet, as a few sat
thinking of the folks back home.
Then
they called for “Pistol Packin' Mammma” and the lights went on. G. I. Joe gave it
a big hand. It might not be an old-fashioned Christmas, but it could be, and
was, a merry one.
(Los Angeles Times, December 25, 1943)
December 25,
Saturday. (1:00–3:00 p.m. PST) Bing and Bob Hope star on the Elgin Watch Show on CBS with Jack Benny and Judy Garland.
When you open with Bob Hope and Bing Crosby and two hours later wind up
with Jack Benny and Judy Garland—brother, you’ve got yourself a radio show!
That’s what Elgin watch did Xmas afternoon, 4-6 over CBS, with a star-studded
cavalcade dedicated to servicemen all over the world and for those reached by
shortwave, it must have meant a mighty fine Christmas present. The two-hour program
represented a duplication of a similar Thanksgiving package aired by Elgin but
the only repeater was Robert Young whose expert piloting of the November show deserved
an encore. He repaid the compliment with another smooth and effective bit of
emceeing.
Crosby, in addition to his insult-swapping chapter with Hope to start
things off, was on with Fibber McGee and Molly for more gagging, sang “Sleep
Kentucky Babe” with The Charioteers, soloed “My Heart Tells Me” and was picked
to close the show with “White Christmas” following the Benny-Garland crop of
solid laughs.
(Variety,
December 29, 1943)
December 27, Monday. Bob Hope is the mc at the Los Angeles Times National Sports Award Dinner at the Biltmore Bowl and Bing joins him to swap gags and sing "White Christmas" and other selections.
…Hope and Crosby
convulsed the capacity throng with their adlibbing as the awards were passed
out.
(Los Angeles Times, December 28, 1943)
December 29,
Wednesday. Recording in Hollywood with John Scott Trotter and his Orchestra.
Songs include “San Fernando Valley” and this tops the charts for five weeks,
spending 22 weeks in the hit parade. Another song—“It Could Happen to You”—
charts briefly in the No. 18 spot.
Poinciana-FT; V. San Fernando Valley – FT; V.
The incomparable Bing is his incomparable self again. The way he sings out for both of these sides, the song material will undoubtedly skyrocket into popularity. A large measure of attention has already been showered on “Poinciana,” and the manner in which Crosby gives voice to this gorgeous song of a tree, it’s a certainly that everyone else will want to start singing it. That a Crosby chant is the most potent potion for a song is best demonstrated by his doings for this disk. Packing all the exotic appeal of a Spanish lullaby, and its melodic charm enhanced by the lyrical appeal, Crosby is entirely in his element. Crosby gets going with the verse, marked by the bolero rhythms of John Scott Trotter’s band. Into the chorus to carry out the side, there is an infectious beguine beat. Per usual, Trotter’s scoring of figures for the fiddles brightens the background bank. Making for a complete turn in tune and tempo, yet just as effortless in his singing performance, is the turn-over. Already a heavy fave on the West Coast, Gordon Jenkins’s “San Fernando Valley” threatens to spread like a prairie wildfire across the land. Particularly with such a side Crosby turns in to set the sparks flying. Packing all the inherent qualities of a Western ditty in melodic and lyrical content, Crosby eschews any of its corn and it comes out as a bright and breezy rhythm ditty. In his characteristic manner, he makes it thoroughly contagious. It’s a 64-bar melody, and with plenty of rhythmic urges from the Trotter tootlers creates much enthusiasm for two choruses. Already reaching out in popularity circles, a Bing Crosby rendition on the record for “Poinciana” should spell real coinage for the phono ops. In spite of its travelog title, the way Bing blows his vocal horns for “San Fernando Valley” makes the Western-style ditty equally potent for the music box play.
(Billboard, February 26, 1944)
December 30, Thursday.
(6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall
show on NBC. Guests include Cass Daley. Trudy Erwin makes her last appearance
as a regular as she is expecting a baby. Bing may have transcribed another Treasury Star
Parade
radio program (No.345) to raise funds for the Fourth War Loan on this
day. One of the songs he sings is "The Way You Look Tonight".
Cass Daley, the Hollywood comedienne who is rumoured to be in line for
a radio show of her own soon, will turn her comedy antics loose on Bing Crosby
at Kraft Music Hall tonight at 8 o’clock on WMAQ, Chicago.
(Belvidere Daily Republican, 30th December, 1943)
Bing comes in at number four in the
annual box office stars listing in the U.S.A. Betty Grable is number one. During
the year, Bing has had ten records that have become chart hits.
January 4, Tuesday. Bing's parents celebrate their golden wedding anniversary.
January 5, Wednesday. Press reports state that Bing is suffering from an eye infection and the Road to Utopia
set is closed until he recovers. He misses three days and it is later
said to be snowblindness caused by the glare of movie snow (gypsum and
corn flakes).
January 6,
Thursday. (11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m., 4:30-6:00 p.m.) Rehearses his Kraft show in
NBC Studio B in Hollywood. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Nan Wynn and William
Frawley. The annual poll conducted by
Down Beat
magazine results in Frank Sinatra being voted the new “King of
Croon,” replacing Bing who has held the title for some years. Later
Bing is thought to have attended the Calcutta dinner for the
forthcoming Los Angeles Open at the Beverly Wilshire.
Nan Wynn, lovely dark-haired radio and nightclub songstress who has
been attracting more than favorable film attention of late, will be among those
present when Bing Crosby opens the Kraft Music Hall tonight over WIBA at 8.
(The Capital Times, 6th January 1944)
January 8, Saturday. Bing and Ann Sheridan are thought to
have recorded a transcription at
NBC for the Office of Coordinator of Inter American Affairs for distributing to
the other Americas. This day also sees the introduction of “Billboard’s Hot Country Songs”, then called “Most
Played Juke Box Folk Records”, and topping it is Bing and the Andrews Sisters
with “Pistol Packin’ Mama”.
January 10,
Monday. Bing and Bob Hope watch the last round of the Los Angeles Open
at Wilshire Country Club and see Jug McSpaden win. Later Bing records a
guest spot on Jubilee show
#60. Ernie Whitman is MC. Bing sings “Shoo, Shoo, Baby.” He is the
first white performer to guest on the usually segregated show.
January 12,
Wednesday. Records Mail Call show
#73. Bing is the MC with guests Skinnay Ennis, Jerry Colonna, and Dorothy
Lamour. The show is dedicated to the fighting men of Iowa. Bing introduces
Meredith Willson’s song “Iowa” on the show but has considerable difficulty
singing it at first. Major Meredith Willson conducts the AFRS Orchestra.
January 13, Thursday. Thursday. (11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m., 4:30-6:00 p.m.) Rehearses his Kraft show in NBC Studio B in Hollywood. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) The Kraft Music Hall broadcast. Guests include George Murphy and Jane Frazee. Bing sings "I'll Be Seeing You" for the first time.
George Murphy, popular sing and dance man of the screen, and Jane
Frazee, a rising young starlet, will be Bing Crosby’s guests on the Kraft Music
Hall this evening at 8 o’clock over WMAQ, Chicago. “Georgeous Georges” as he is
called by Bing Crosby for his many screen roles in which he is surrounded by
beautiful girls, is a frequent visitor to Kraft Music Hall. On his last visit,
Murphy and Bing re-enacted a scene between two youngsters who were earning big
salaries at a defense plant.
(Belvidere Daily Republican, 13th January 1944)
Kapp
knew it (“I’ll Be Seeing You”) would
be a hit for Crosby, and before he released Hildegarde’s recording, he sent Bing
a test pressing so he could learn it and try it out on Kraft Music Hall. Expecting to take dictation, Hazel Sharp walked into
his dressing room as he played the test, singing along, which was his preferred
method of learning a song. During the lines about “the wishing well,” he frowned
and said, “She’s wrong, she’s wrong. Listen to it. Isn’t she wrong?” Hazel had
never heard the song and didn’t know. “You’re no help,” he muttered.
He
continued playing it because he planned to sing it that evening, January 13, on
KMH. Hazel said she had never been to a radio station to watch a show. He
asked, “Would you like to go? I’ll leave a ticket for you at NBC.” She went and
took a seat down front, uncertain if he knew she was present. During “I’ll Be
Seeing You,” when he got to the problematical phrase (measures 15 and 16), he looked straight at
her with a smile and winked. Apparently, Hildegarde’s version jarred him because
she had added the conjunction and between
the phrases “the chestnut trees” and “the wishing well.” She did so for decades,
although, as Bing suspected, it is not in the sheet music.
He deleted the conjunction and the lugubrious verse.
(Gary Giddins, Swinging on a Star, page 388)
January 15, Saturday. In
San Francisco with Bob Hope and they golf at the San Francisco club
with Morton Bright. At night, Bing is with Bob and his troupe at a
"blow-out" party.
January 16, Sunday. (3:00–3:30 p.m.) Bing is advertised to appear in the Silver Theaterproduction of an original comedy called “Mr. Margie” on CBS. The program is sponsored by the International Silver Company. Some newspaper reports state Bing withdrew from it because of a commitment to run a war bond auction in San Francisco. Dick Powell took his place. Meanwhile in San Francisco, Bing and Bob Hope run a war bond auction staged by the Junior Chamber of Commerce in conjunction with the San Francisco Open Golf Tournament at Harding Park and $2million worth of war bonds are sold.
Bing Crosby stars
in an original musical comedy titled “Mr. Margie” on the “Silver Theatre” this
afternoon at 5 on CBS and KWKH. John Loder is emcee and director. The script is
by Robert Riley Crutcher. In the title role, Bing plats the art of a famous orchestra
leader who gets his nickname because he habitually croons the song “Margie.”
His wanderings from city to city with his band are interrupted by romance,
which fact stirs discord among the musicians
when they learn the girl in “Mr. Margie’s” life insists that he give up his
career,
(The Shreveport Times, January 16, 1944)
Bing, Bob Sell Bonds
San Francisco, Jan.
17 (UP) Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Jerry Colonna sang and clowned their way
through a war bond auction staged by the Junior Chamber of Commerce in
conjunction with the San Francisco Open Golf Tournament here and recorded sales
of $2,000,000 for their work. For Crosby’s rendition of “Million Dollar Baby”,
an anonymous buyer purchased $1,000,000 in bonds. Crosby, Hope and Colonna,
singing “If I Had My Way,” was good for $175,000, while Colonna earned a sale
of $74,000 for a song. Hope’s version of a solo brought in $50,000 while Crosby
came back to sing “Sunday, Monday and Always” for a sale of $250,000 in bonds.
January 17,
Monday. (3:00-6:00 p.m.) Back in Hollywood, rehearses for an evening War Loan broadcast in the CBS
Studios. (6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.) Bing takes part in “Let’s All Back the Attack,” a
radio show on all four networks to launch the Fourth War Loan drive. Other
guests include Captain Ronald Reagan, John Charles Thomas, Ginny Simms and the
Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band. The program has a Hooper rating of 44.4 and is heard by more than 42 million Americans.
January 20,
Thursday. (11:00 a.m.- 2:00 p.m., 4:30-6:00 p.m.) Rehearses his Kraft show in
NBC Studio B in Hollywood. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Dale Evans.
With dramatics by Ann Sheridan and songs by Dale Evans, Bing Crosby
will have more than a full house when he opens Kraft Music Hall tonight on WIBA
at 8.
(The Capital Times, 20th January 1944) (NOTE: Ann Sheridan was
withdrawn by her studio at the last moment).
January (undated). Records GI Journal #25 with John
Scott Trotter and his Orchestra. Bing is the MC and he introduces Mel Blanc,
Linda Darnell, and Jerry Colonna.
January 21, Friday.
Bing and Bob Hope serve as hosts at a dinner in the Paramount Commissary where
the plans for the forthcoming Bing Crosby and Bob Hope Invitational Pro-Am at
Lakeside are drawn up.
![76[1]](Chapter_6_files/image022.jpg)
January 23,
Sunday. Bing and Bob Hope introduce Frank Sinatra to Lakeside Golf Club.
Look out—Frank Sinatra is now
crowding Bing Crosby and Bob Hope in the sports picture. Frankie, the “Swooner-crooner,”
was so impressed with golf yesterday at the Lakeside Golf Club that he
immediately wanted to become a member. Lakeside is staging the unique two-day
golf show next weekend for the American Women’s Voluntary Services and the
United States Marine Air Station at El Toro, two worthy beneficiaries, and the
great pros and big names of movieland will compete to make it a terrific
occasion. Sinatra appeared for some publicity shots and got the golf bug. Who
should propose Sinatra as a member? Crosby and Hope, of course, and then the
gagging went merrily apace. Crosby, in signing a recommendation for Sinatra
wrote:
“He sings a helluva song!”
And Hope, opposite the query
“time known,” wrote: “Since he became famous!”
As to Sinatra’s character and
habits, Hope wrote: “Swooning!”
It was all good fun and a
preview of the rollicking time everybody is going to have to come this weekend.
(George T. Davis, Sports
Editor of the Evening Herald and Express,
January 24, 1944)
January (undated). Bing records a supply of "Treasury Song Parade" tunes with David Broekman and the Treasury Orchestra to be used in the week of February 13.
The Treasury Star Parade
presents Bing Crosby in a quarter-hour of songs to be heard during the Fourth
War Loan Drive, the week of February 13. It is one of three special programs to
be broadcast during that week.
(The Circleville Herald, January 27,
1944)
Bing Crosby has
recorded a supply of Treasury Song Parade tunes for the week of February 13.
(The Pittsburgh Press, January 27, 1944)
January 27,
Thursday. (11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m., 4:30-6:00 p.m.) Rehearses his Kraft show in
NBC Studio B in Hollywood. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Gloria DeHaven and
William Bendix.
William Bendix will be Bing Crosby’s guest on the Music Hall Thursday
at 9 p. m. over NBC. Bendix is the current star of “Lifeboat” and “Guadalcanal
Diary.”
(The Circleville Herald, 27th January 1944)
January 29, Saturday. The
start of a two-day Bing Crosby–Bob
Hope pro-am Charity Golf Tournament at Lakeside Golf Club. (12:30 p.m.) After some
pre-round
horseplay with Frank Sinatra, Bing partners Marvin Stahl and they have
a
best-ball round of sixty-six, although Bing himself has a
seventy-eight. A
crowd of 3,500 watches the golf. Among the celebrities playing are
George Murphy, Jimmie Fidler, Mickey Rooney, Horace Heidt, Richard
Arlen, Dennis O'Keefe, Bob Crosby and Johnny Weissmuller,
January 30, Sunday.
The second day of the pro-am event at Lakeside which is won by Bob
Crosby (twelve handicap) and Harold “Jug” McSpaden with a best-ball
score of
119. Bing and Marvin Stahl finish with 133 and are placed tenth. After
the
golf at about 5 p.m., a war bond auction is held and Bing takes part as an auctioneer
with
Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, and Kay Kyser. Kay Kyser bids $20,000 to hear
Bing and
Frank Sinatra sing together and in response they duet “People Will Say
We’re in
Love.” The proceedings are captured on film by Paramount News and
included in
its newsreel of February 6. Bing becomes concerned about him
being seen in the newsreel without his toupee and he telegraphs
Frank Freeman, the head of Paramount Pictures, saying "Would appreciate
it if you can do something at that end toward stopping these releases
or at least editing objectionable footage."
Their first chance to apply
the acid test was at a War Bond exhibition golf match at Lakeside Country Club
where Bing and Bob slap the ball around. . . .
It was a big Hollywood event, and thousands of people were on
hand to watch the fun. It was also the first public appearance together of the
Groaner and his sensational new rival, and to be fair, Frank was at a big
disadvantage. Bing and Bob had played lots of Southern California benefit
matches before. Both of them are super golfers: Bing had even been Lakeside
champ for two straight years, and Bob was a close runner-up. Frankie was a mere
dub at pasture pool. Although in a prize ring or a swimming pool he could make
both Bing and Bob look awkward.
They went to work on Frank right away. First off, Bob turned to
Bing. “Crosby,” he said, “your caddy can carry the clubs. Mine can carry
Sinatra.” When Frank teed off, Bob got him talking while Bing traded a trick
ball on the tee. Frank swung and “Bang!” it exploded all over the place. Then
Bob had his caddy hand Frank a mammoth gag golf club, complete with rubber
handlebars, a flashlight, a compass, a bicycle bell and other gags, gadgets
tailored for a dub. And all around the course he and Bing kept up a running
patter like this: “Hope, it sure is swell to have new blood in the game.”
“Yeah, Bing, did you say ‘no blood’?” (Ever since Bob has called Frankie “No
blood.”) Or, “Bob, why do you suppose this Sinatra’s so skinny?” “I don’t know,
Bing. Maybe when he was a baby his mother tied his bow tie too tight.” “Yeah,
Bob, but not tight enough!” Well that gives you the general idea. Frankie’s
number was really up. But he took it with a wonderful Sinatra grin all the way
around, and even poked back a few cracks himself, because Frankie is no slouch
whatever on the uptake. He sang a duet with arms around Bing’s shoulders and
entered into all the silly business a mob of cash customers, even for war
bonds, seem to demand around Bob Hope and Bing Crosby. Although afterwards,
Frank sighed, “Whew! Next time I go out with those guys I’m gonna wave a flag
or blow a horn or something to get a little attention. Boy, were they laying for
me!”
(Modern Screen, October, 1944)
In the big War Bond rally
climaxing the two-day spectacle, thousands of dollars' worth of certificates
were auctioned off by Bing, Hope, Frankie Sinatra and Kay Kyser. In fact, the
Old Professor put out $20,000 himself just to hear Bing and Frankie do a duet
on “People Will Say We’re in Love.”
(Bill Clark, Los Angeles Examiner, January 31, 1944)
Later
that night, starting at 8:15 p.m., Bing, Dinah Shore,
Lena Horne and the Merry Macs sing at the Los Angeles Times
Servicemen's Benefit Concert in front of a crowd numbering 6000 at the Shrine Auditorium with Victor Young
conducting
the Philharmonic Orchestra. The show is emceed by Dick Powell and Kay
Kyser, and features 15 of the top ASCAP composers soloing their outstanding
hits at the Steinway with the musical back-up of 130 musicians. Bing and Dinah sing excerpts from "Porgy & Bess".
The high point of
this large evening when Kay Kyser presented Bing Crosby. He kidded Sinatra and
Bob Hope, absent because of the day’s golf tournament, and then turned to the “mike”
and sang George and Ira Gershwin’s music as it has seldom been sung here. Dinah
Shore joined him in excerpts from “Porgy and Bess” after making a big hit in “My
Man” by Jerome Kern.
(Isabel Morse Jones, Los Angeles Times, January 31, 1944)
Popular concert on
Sunday night packed the auditorium to overflowing and many of the attenders
couldn’t understand why the philharmonic were needed to accompany Bing Crosby,
Dinah Shore, Lena Horne et al when Skinnay Ennis’ army band drowned them out
whenever the brass section let go with a blast.
(Variety, February 9, 1944)
February 1,
Tuesday. Probably between 8 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., Dinah Shore acts as MC on Command Performance #104 and Bing guests
with Frank Sinatra and John Scott Trotter and his Orchestra. Bing sings
“Candlelight and Wine,” accompanied by John Scott Trotter on the piano, as well
as a medley with Sinatra.
Somebody wrote a script for
the Bing Crosby - Frank Sinatra radio broadcast last night, but the two singers
found the document valuable chiefly as something to deviate from as they
rollicked through a 40-minute program and kept a capacity studio audience
skittering from chuckles to chortles to forthright guffaws.
Vocalist Dinah Shore made
some remark about Sinatra having plenty of backbone to get where he is.
“Sure,” said Bing, “far as I
can see, the guy is all backbone” – which he wasn’t supposed to say at all.
Then Frankie spoke unkindly about Bing’s stomach, which really isn’t very
pronounced, and said he wished he had it full of war bonds, which wasn’t in the
script either.
Most of the asides were
drowned by studio laughter. But they were picked up by the microphone and will
be heard by the troops overseas, for whom the broadcast was staged. It was a
“command performance” program at CBS under sponsorship of the Armed Forces
Radio Service and was not released for United States consumption.
Press agents had billed the encounter
as a baritones’ battle of the century but if it was a fight, both Crosby and
Sinatra seemed to have a lot of fun waging it.
Barring an impromptu duet on
a local golf course last Sunday, inspired by their success in selling war
bonds, it was the first appearance together of these two crooners, who have
become close friends in the last few months.
After sparring around a while
with Crosby singing excerpts from songs Frankie has popularized and Sinatra
reciprocating, they joined in a duet of “People Will Say We’re In Love”.
Frankie who has taken a lot
of kidding about his frail-looking physique, enjoyed a joke at his own expense.
Maj. Meredith Willson, conducting an army orchestra, suggested that Frank
elevate the microphone slightly.
“I’ll do it if I can lift
it,” Frank responded, and Bing laughed and laughed.
(James Lindsley, writing in
the Hollywood Citizen News, February
2, 1944)
In 1943 and 1944 and 1945, Bing and Frank made more benefit appearances, did more radio shows for soldier and sailor consumption than either has been able to remember or account for. A series of appearances on the most glamorous of the service shows, Command Performance, drew devastating laughter from studio audiences and similar response from the boys for whom they were intended. The fan mail received from camps and bases overseas was understandably heavy and enthusiastic. Take the second anniversary show of Command Performance-
Dinah Shore was mistress of ceremonies. She introduced Frank, seriously, decorously. He sang Speak Low. She introduced Bing with well-weighed words about his importance as a singer and a personality, as an institution. He sang Candlelight and Wine. Then came the talk, fast talk, much of it very funny, all of it beautifully timed by some of the most practiced entertainers in the business, by the three biggest singers of the time.
“You know, Bing,” Dinah said, “a singer like Frank Sinatra comes along only once in a lifetime.”
“Yeah.” Bing responded ruefully with the famous line that has been placed in a hundred other contexts and used several times by Bing himself and that actually originated in this fast ad lib interchange on Command Performance. “Yeah, and he has to come along in my lifetime!”
“No, no, Bing,” Dinah protested. “He’s quite a man, really.”
“I know.”
“He has a lot of backbone,” Dinah continued.
“He’s all backbone,” Bing commented.
“Well, how about your pot tummy, Dad?” Frank asked.
“It’s not so big,” said Bing.
“1’d like to have it full of war bonds,” said Frank.
Then the singers told each other how much each genuinely admired the other’s singing, with serious asides to Dinah to give their fulsome mutual praise conviction. To keep it from becoming maudlin, too lush or gushy, in spite of the honesty of their stated opinions, they launched a duet, singing a big song of the year, a wonderfully apposite song, People Will Say We’re in Love. Everybody in the audience and on the show, including Bing and Frank, broke up.
Followed a skit in Scottish dialect, in which they played Crooner McCrosby and Swooner MacSinatra, each vying for Dinah McShore’s hand. The forced moments and the poor dialect were quickly compensated for by the ensuing battle of songs between the two men. Sinatra sang I Wonder What’s Become of Crosby, the Sinatra of 1909. When Frank sang Stardust, Bing commented wryly, “That’s my song. I introduced it in 1904. It was very big for me in Des Moines.”
The loose, relaxed, informal nature of that show on February 1, 1944, was the proper carry-over from the open golf tournament and bond auction of the day before at Lakeside.
(The
Incredible Crosby, pages 226-227)
February 3, Thursday. (11:00a.m. - 2:00p.m., 4:30-6:00 p.m.) Rehearses his Kraft show in NBC Studio B in Hollywood. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Donald O’Connor. Marilyn Maxwell becomes resident female singer.
Donald O’Connor, the young Hollywood movie star with the razor-sharp
tongue will trade quips with Bing Crosby on the “Music Hall” program tonight at
8 o’clock over KTBS. Marilyn Maxwell, former featured songstress with Buddy
Rogers and Ted Weems orchestra, and now a rising young actress in the films,
will be the guest girl singer with Bing.
(The Shreveport Times, 3rd February, 1944)
Meantime,
KMH wisely recruited twenty-two-year-old trans-planted Iowan Marilyn Maxwell—a
girl-next-door type, if your neighbourhood was MGM, which had her under
contract. Spirited, uncomplicated, and blindingly blond, she was so charming
and well liked that columnists shielded her through successive, widely known affairs
with two married men, Sinatra and Hope. Crosby found her a joy to be around,
and they worked well together. Marilyn could carry a tune and excelled in their
scripted sketches, especially the memory songs, which helped bolster the show's
ratings. At Crosby’s urging, she fully embraced the regimen of AFRS broadcasts,
appearing with and without him on Command
Performance.
(Gary
Giddins, Swinging on a Star, p.381.)
February 5, Saturday. It is announced that Bing's Rancho Santa Fe home has been sold.
February 7,
Monday. Records three songs from the film
Going My Way in Hollywood with John Scott Trotter and his Orchestra in the
Decca Studios at 5505 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles. The Williams Brothers
Quartet (including a young Andy Williams) accompanies Bing on “Swinging on a
Star.” This song tops the charts for nine weeks and spends 28 weeks in the Billboard Best-Seller lists. “The Day
After Forever” charts briefly in the No. 15 spot. A 3-disc 78rpm album set is subsequently issued by Decca and reaches the No. 1 spot in Billboard's best-selling popular albums chart in October 1945.
Going My Way – FT; V. Swinging on a Star – F; V.
From his new picture, “Going
My Way,” Bing Crosby dishes up two ballads from the Jimmy Van Heusen-Johnny
Burke score that should command plenty of attention on all fronts. Particularly
so in the bright and rhythmic “Swinging on a Star,” rich in kid appeal and
packing a moral in pointing out how much better off you can become in trying to
be better than you are. Williams Brothers’ Quartet, taking the stanzas sung by
children in the picture, heighten the appeal of the fanciful lyric with John
Scott Trotter bringing up an instrumental background that counts the most when
Bing gives out in song. Also fanciful, and wrapped in flowery wordage, is the
“Going My Way” title ballad which Crosby chants for the mated song. Taken at a
slow pace with full tempo liberties, Bing sings it out most convincingly. Has
it all to himself here, with Trotter’s tootlers turning in a lush and velvety
orchestral bank. It’s too early for these sides to show their real strength.
But once Bing Crosby’s newest screen effort starts flickering on the celluloid
and the radio starts blaring out the movie songs, both of these songs will
undoubtedly rate big.
(Billboard, April 29, 1944)
Here he presents two of the most popular, in
the shape of the title song “Going My Way” and “Swinging on a Star,” and seldom
can he have recorded a more enjoyable pair.
(The Gramophone, November, 1944)
As well as our radio work, we were also singing at any venue that would have us, and we did many Mail Call programs: hour-long shows made for our servicemen overseas. Many Hollywood stars appeared on Mail
Call, and it was through the show that we secured our own breakthrough: a recording session with the biggest
star of them all, Bing Crosby. It is hard now to believe just how much Bing
dominated the music industry at the time. At
one point Music Digest estimated that his recordings accounted for more than half of the entire eighty thousand hours of
recorded music played on the radio every week. Backed by the Notre Dame boys’ choir, Bing had sung a number called “Swinging on a Star” in the movie Going My Way. He now wanted to put it out as a record, but the boys’ choir was not available, so Bing’s musical director,
John Scott Trotter, was looking for another backing group. He heard
us singing on Mail Call and promptly hired us to do the backing vocals for $25 apiece.
Bing Crosby was an idol to us, and it was an honor to be
given the chance to sing with him, but we were so in awe of him that we were practically trembling, with our arms around one another, as we recorded the song. Bing had a reputation for being a lot
less charming offstage than on it, but, if so, we never saw that side of
him. He was always very kind and encouraging, both then and in later years.
Released in early 1944, “Swinging on a Star” became a huge hit.
(Andy Williams, writing in Moon River
and Me, page 41)
Dick remembered the
recording session when “Swinging on a Star” was laid down. Bing was very nice
but extremely business-like. He always knew his part – he was a professional.
Dick remembered that they sang the song a couple of times and then it was
goodbye. It was a great coup for the Williams Brothers’ father to work with
Bing in this way. Dick laughed as he told me how his father was very pushy and
managed to get in to see a top ranking film executive called Mr. Cassidy.
Father had difficulty in remembering names and his trick with Mr. Cassidy was
to remember “Hopalong” to trigger the name. Typically, when father later
introduced the boys to Mr. Cassidy, he called him Mr. Hopalong!
(Author Interview with
Dick Williams, August 1, 2007)
The Day After Tomorrow (sic
– should be “Forever”) - FT. V. “It Could Happen to You”- FT.V
You could never say that Bing is at his best because the singer is always
extra good when giving out with the love ballads. At his best merely means that
it is Bing singing as only he knows best. That high vocal mark is again
attained for these two Jimmy Van Heusen-Johnny Burke songs of romance. In like
manner, the kudos are once again cornered by John Scott Trotter for his stellar
orchestral accompaniment in shedding musical gloss on the lyrical delights.
“The Day After Tomorrow” (sic) has Crosby chanting just the way he feels, with
the song being close to him in that he sings it for his new “Going My Way”
picture. The same sympathetic expression is given “It Could Happen to You” from
the “And the Angels Sing” screen score.
(Billboard, May 20, 1944)
February 8, Tuesday. (Starting at 8:00 pm.) Bing takes part in a special WAVE recruiting show in front of a capacity
audience of 3000 at the Civic Auditorium, Pasadena. Others performing are Fred
Astaire, Alan Ladd, Harpo Marx and Kay Kyser and His Band.
February 10,
Thursday. (11:00a.m.-2:00 p.m., 4:30-6:00 p.m.) Rehearses his Kraft show in
NBC Studio B in Hollywood. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Mischa Auer. Bing wins plaudits by promoting the right of the Armed Forces to vote.
Mischa Auer, the sad-eyed Russian comedian, will join Bing Crosby on
the Music Hall tonight…Mr. Auer, who has just completed his work in “Lady in
the Dark” for Paramount, has a long list of screen successes behind him. He is
best known for his impersonations of screwball characters.
(The Shreveport Times, 10th February, 1944)
Bing’s Vote Plug for GIs
One of the rare
intervals in radio when top performers offer striking evidence that show biz isn’t
shrouded in an ivory tower and has the courage to back it up with an expressed
avowal of its convictions on controversial issues came last Thursday (10) night
during the Bing Crosby-Kraft Music Hall program. With almost bombshell effect,
Crosby broke in with a declaration that evoked a solid round of applause from
the studio audience. Incident occurred after Crosby, early in the program, put
across a novelty gag tune and followed it up with the usual “Good evening, this
is your old K. M. H.” to which he immediately appended, “And bound out for every
quarter of the globe where American citizens are fighting for our right to
vote. It certainly seems the least we can do, is to protect theirs.”
(Variety, February 16, 1944)
February 11,
Friday. Recording in Hollywood with John Scott Trotter and his Orchestra,
including the Cole Porter song “I Love You.” A version of “I’ll Be Seeing You”
is rejected. “I Love You” spends five weeks at the top of the charts during an
18-week stay, whilst “Night and Day” charts briefly in 1946, peaking at No. 21.
February 13,
Sunday. (Starting at 1:30 p.m.) Bing and Bob Hope play
in a charity golf match at the Recreation Park municipal course at Long Beach.
A crowd of 5,500 watches the eighteen hole
match and
raises $2657 for various good causes. Bing plays with Macdonald Smith
against Bob Hope and Willie Hunter. Hope and Hunter win 2 up. Bing has
a seventy-one while Hope cards
a seventy-three.
February 15, Tuesday. At Santa Ana air base, Bing emcees an open air show for the
enlisted men during the late afternoon and introduces Bob Hope, Frances
Langford, and others. Hope and Bing sing “Mairzy Doats” and the performance is
captured by newsreel cameras. (7:00–7:30 p.m.) In Theater Three at the Santa
Ana Classification Center, Bing guests on Bob Hope’s radio show on NBC with
regulars Frances Langford, Jerry Colonna, Vera Vague, and the Stan Kenton
Orchestra.
Retreat was the most
beautiful, the most impressive, the most unforgettable moment at the Santa Ana
Army Air Base Tuesday – the second anniversary of the base and the 54th of Col.
W.A. Robertson, commanding officer. Against a backdrop of foothills,
snow-capped mountains and gray and white clouds with thousands of officers and
enlisted men standing at attention and squadron pennants raised, our flat was
slowly pulled down from its mast. A band then played the “Star Spangled
Banner.” Previous to the nightly ceremony, the enlisted men had sat on the
ground; nurses, wives, children and sweethearts in folding chairs, to see and
hear a show emceed by Bing Crosby and paid for by him from royalties from his
recordings of sacred songs. Four servicemen in wheelchairs, each boy with an
attendant, were directly in front of the open air stage. Maj. Gen. Ralph P.
Cousins, Maj. Gen. P.T. Mow, C.A.F., Col. W.A. Robertson, Capt. W.A. Robertson
Jr., a few other officers and Mrs. Bob Hope and Hedda Hopper sat in a group to
one side.
A second hour of entertainment followed Retreat. Bing Crosby
introduced the acts until Bob Hope came out after finishing the rehearsal of his
evening broadcast. Arkansas Slim, a tall, spare defense worker in a ranch
outfit, his one-man band equipment, a tire pump and a rubber glove, and Paul
Gordon, a skilled performer on bicycles of different build, were two of the
most popular entertainers. They received more applause than did the Comets,
three girl acrobatic dancers, and eight girl dancers dressed in sarongs. Johnny
Marvin and a trained bulldogs were other features. John Scott Trotter conducted
the orchestra of servicemen.
The stars of course were Bing Crosby, Hope, Frances Langford,
Jerry Colonna, and Vera Vague. The Charioteers, one of the finest singing
foursomes on the air, and Bing sang several numbers. Before each the soloist
would ask, “Who starts this?” In “Moonlight Bay,” he came out with “If anyone
remembers the next line, remind me” and to one of the quartet, “Lay it in
there, Will” (Wilfred Williams). To the pianist, James Sherman, he once
remarked, “You’re killing the count.” Hope, after introducing his wife, said “I
paid a hell of a lot of money for that hat. Stand up in a chair so the fellows
can see it.” It was light blue with two large bunches of blue feathers hanging
down the back.
(Zuma Palmer. Hollywood Citizen News, February 17,
1944)
Bing Crosby’s visit, Tuesday
(15) to the Bob Hope show, while not exactly a dud, did not come up to
expectations. Boys exchanged some mild banter about a guy named Sinatra and
then shuffled into a skit in which each took the part of a bobbysox
Sinatranter, complete with squeals and other sound effects. It was a letdown,
mainly because the original Voice protagonists are too funny to be topped.
(Variety, February 23, 1944)
February 16,
Wednesday. Records Mail Call show
#78. Bing is the MC and the show is dedicated to the fighting men of the state
of Washington. Guests are Richard Crooks, Connee Boswell, and the Les Paul
Trio.
February 17,
Thursday. Bing records four songs with John Scott Trotter and his Orchestra,
including a successful version of “I’ll Be Seeing You.” This song goes on to the
top of the charts for four weeks during a 24-week period in the Billboard list. (11:00a.m. - 2:00 p.m.,
4:30-6:00 p.m.) Rehearses his Kraft show in NBC Studio B in Hollywood.
(6:00-6:30 p.m.) The Kraft Music Hall
broadcast on NBC. Guests include Cass Daley.
Cass Daley, the young lady whose high spirits on the screen would deny
Bing Crosby’s description of his film friend – “whispering, murmuring, timid
Cass Daley,” will be his guest on the “Music Hall” program tonight…Cass has a
special new song for the occasion. She will lend her vocal talents to, “I’m
Getting Corns for My Country at the Stage Door Canteen.”
(The Shreveport Times, 17th February, 1944)
“I Love You” – FT; VC. “I’ll
Be Seeing You” – FT; V.
The blend of a highly favored
singing with these two song favorites, along with a flavored musical etching
weaved by John Scott Trotter and his men in the background, gives Bing Crosby two
more winning sides… Sammy Fain’s and Irving Kahal’s I’ll Be Seeing You, originally written in 1938 and only this year
beginning to attract attention, is particularly suited to Bing’s song-selling
talents. Taking full liberty with the tempo, Crosby chants it slowly with full
meaning and expression to the love lyrics…The phono fans will give out for the
way Bing Crosby gives out for these love lullabies, particularly for “I Love
You”, which maintains a bright rhythmic beat for more effective music box spinning.
(Billboard, April 15, 1944)
“I’ll
Be Seeing You” emerged as one of the great standards of the Second World War, a
totemic song of longing and remembrance, frequently recorded (magnificently by Billie
Holiday in April 1944) and performed for years as a way of evoking the era. Yet
only two versions qualified as hits a daringly upbeat dance-band version by Tommy
Dorsey (vocal by Sinatra), which reached number four, and Bing’s, which charted
for six months, four weeks as the nation’s number one record, soon to be
supplanted by “Swinging on a Star.” The song cleaved to him; servicemen
requested it everywhere. He sang it seven times on KMH between January and July;
it tied “San Fernando Valley” and was topped only by “Swinging on a Star” as his most
performed song that season. Yet it is one of Crosby’s more enervating records from
the mid-1940s, often cited as an example of his sporadic vocal slump, his voice
weakened, his attention blurred. He had to schedule two sessions just to get a
releasable take, one on February 11 (when he didn’t do Cole Porter’s “Night and
Day” any favors either) and one a week later. In the opening phrase, he degrades
the word old (in “the old familiar places”)
from a dotted quarter to half that, as if he had run out of breath after three bars;
he strains at high notes; he pauses, often and oddly, as Trotter’s strings grind
intrusively. Maybe his failings made the performance more human, almost tremulous.
(Gary Giddins, Swinging on a Star, pages 388-9)
February 23, Wednesday. Bing and Dixie are thought to have attended the premiere of "The Sullivans" at the Chinese Theater.
February 24,
Thursday. (11:00a.m.-2:00 p.m., 4:30-6:00 p.m.) Rehearses his Kraft show in NBC
Studio B in Hollywood. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Phil Silvers.
Phil Silvers, who is well known in the films for his portrayals of the
fast-talking boy from Brooklyn, will be Bing Crosby’s guest on the “Music Hall”
tonight…Marilyn Maxwell will make another guest appearance as Bing’s girl
singer. Silvers has come to the conclusion that “The Groaner” is at the
crossroads of his career. For the sake of an old friendship, the comedian has
offered his services to Bing as manager. Silvers’ first step as Bing’s manager
will be to give him a few lessons in diction. Of course, Phil will also handle
the money matters and promises that “The Groaner” will be able to afford a
smart wardrobe, which he hitherto has not displayed about the “Music Hall.”
(The Shreveport Times, 24th February, 1944)
February 25, Friday. Bing’s film Going My Way is shown at a Los Angeles trade show.
Crosby film bound over until next season
“Going My Way”,
Bing Crosby starrer, which was tradeshown in February and scheduled for sale as
a block of five pictures, has been withdrawn and probably will be held over
until the beginning of the coming season (1944-45), with merchandising plans to
be set up given pre-release dates in August.
(Variety, March 22,
1944)
March (undated).
Bing joins a song publishing venture with Johnny Burke, Jimmy Van
Heusen,
Sidney Kornheiser, and Edwin H. (Buddy) Morris. The company is named
Burke and Van Heusen, Inc and their first songs are those from Going My Way which were originally destined for the Paramount-owned Famous Music.
March 2,
Thursday. (11:00a.m. - 12:00 noon, 3:00-6:00 p.m.) Rehearses his Kraft show in NBC Studio B in Hollywood. (6:00–6:30
p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Lucille Ball. Billy May joins
the orchestra as a trumpeter.
Once again bringing lovely Marilyn Maxwell as his singing partner to
Kraft Music Hall, Bing Crosby will spotlight Lucille Ball, the movie star, as
his guest tonight over WIBA at 8.
(The Capital Times, 2nd March, 1944)
Lucille
Ball, the cinema charmer, visited Bing Crosby’s Music Hall (WEAF-9) and added
considerably to the merriment around those precincts. Bing continues airily on
his own blithe way as the champion of crooners. Furthermore, he has the
advantage of being primed with really first-rate material. And that, my
friends, is truly a great deal, as many radio stars whose scripts aren’t so hot
have learned to their sorrow over and over again.
(Ben
Gross, Daily News, March 3, 1944)
March 3, Friday. Bing
records GI Journal #33 with guests Linda
Darnell, Andy Devine, and Hedda Hopper. John Scott Trotter and his Orchestra
again supply the musical backing.
March 4,
Saturday. Records a Personal Album
show for the AFRS with Harry Mitchell.
March 9, Thursday. (11:00a.m.-2:00 p.m., 4:30-6:00 p.m.) Rehearses his Kraft show in NBC Studio B in Hollywood. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include George Murphy.
Bing Crosby will air premier two songs from his soon-to-be-released
film “Going My Way,” during Kraft Music Hall tonight…They are “Swingin’ on a
Star” and “Going My Way.” Song and dance star George Murphy will be the
Groaner’s guest along with Marilyn Maxwell, who will duet the memory song with
Bing. “Two Sleepy People.” (NOTE: Obviously a late change as “Swinging on
a Star” was not used.)
(The Capital Times, 9th March, 1944)
After this week’s
broadcast, Bing Crosby will take another vacation to be away from his Thursday
night program March 16 and 23. Brother Bob will take over.
(Fort Worth
Star-Telegram, March 8, 1944)
March (undated).
Sings “The Road to Victory” in the two-reel film short The Shining Future. This is a Warner Brothers production made for
Canada’s Sixth War Loan and is released in Canada from April 12 onwards. A later abbreviated version titled The Road to Victory is released in June to promote the U.S.
Fifth War Loan.
The film takes an
imaginative glimpse into the life of an average Canadian family in the year
1960, when all the inventions and gadgets predicted in 1944 become commonplace.
(The Gazette, Montreal, April, 6, 1944)
Road to Victory Added California Attraction
To
those of us who are curious to know what the world will be like in ten years,
there is one available, if fanciful, answer. It is found in the brief film, “Road
to Victory,” the literally all-star, all Hollywood film dedicated to the Fifth
War Loan, and opening today as an extra-added attraction at the California theatre.
With
a cast including Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Irene Manning, Cary Grant, Dennis
Morgan, Jack Carson, Jimy Lydon, Charles Ruggles and Olive Blakeney, “Road to Victory” will
give movie audiences a peek into life as it will be lived, that is, as it will
be lived if we all buy plenty of bonds during the Fifth War Loan and hold them
until they mature in 1954.
(The Press-Democrat, (Santa Rosa, California)
June 14, 1944)
March 16/23, Thursdays. Bing does not appear on the Kraft Music Hall. Bob Crosby deputizes. Bing is at his Elko ranch. Having been flooded out at the old Jube Wright ranch along the Humboldt River the previous year, Bing exchanges it (and an undisclosed amount of cash) for the Quarter Circle S, a 19,000-acre cattle ranch fifty miles to the north of Elko in Independence Valley, near Tuscarora, Nevada.
March 17, Friday.
Hedda Hopper, writing in her syndicated column, announces that Bing has
signed a new contract with Paramount for ten years straight, 52 weeks a
year, for 23 pictures, with permission to do one outside picture a year
for another company. Bing to have final say over story, director,
leading lady, songs and publisher of songs.
March 30,
Thursday. (11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m., 4:30-6:00 p.m.) Rehearses his Kraft show in
NBC Studio B in Hollywood. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Returns to the Kraft Music Hall with guest George Murphy. During the day, also
records a Personal Album show for the
AFRS. Press comment indicates that Bing has a problem with the name of the
Music Maids vocal team. Dorothy Messmer has retired to get married, Trudy Erwin
had become a solo performer but more recently has had a baby. Jeannie Darrell
has been entertaining the forces overseas with a group of entertainers. The
previous week, the newest Music Maid, Margaret McCraven had retired and was
replaced by Ernest Newton who joins another man, Lee Gotch in the group. The
group now comprises Denny Wilson, Alice Sizer, Pat Hyatt and Gotch and Newton.
Bing Crosby’s good friend, George Murphy, will be on hand to greet the
“Groaner” when he returns to the Music Hall tonight…A frequent visitor to KMH,
“Murph” is one of Crosby’s closest film friends. Together, the two are a
popular comedy team.
(Belvidere Daily Republican, 30th March, 1944)
April 6, Thursday. (11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m., 4:30-6:00 p.m.) Rehearses his Kraft show in NBC Studio B in Hollywood. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include the Kraft Choral Club.
The Kraft Choral Society will present their annual Easter music on Bing
Crosby’s NBC-WMBG at 9 p.m.
(Richmond Times Dispatch, 6th April, 1944)
April 9, Sunday. Appears at the Hollywood Canteen.
Eddie Cantor sang “Ida”
and “Margie,” and then Bing Crosby sang “Easter Parade.” Phil Silvers asked
Bing about Frank Sinatra, saying: “Don’t worry, Crosby, a voice like Frank’s only
happens once in a lifetime!” “But why, “said Bing, “did it have to happen in my
lifetime?”
(Los Angeles Times, April 11, 1944)
April 13, Thursday. (12 noon.-1:30 p.m., 3:00-6:00 p.m.) Rehearses his Kraft show in NBC Studio B in Hollywood. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) The Kraft Music Hall broadcast. Bing’s guests include Bob Hope. Crosby introduces "Swinging on a Star" on the air for the first time.
Bob Hope, Bing Crosby’s good friend and screen pal, will drop in on the
“Music Hall” as guest of the “Groaner” tonight at 8 o’clock over NBC and KTBS.
Marilyn Maxwell, Bing’s visiting songstress will be featured during the
evening’s entertainment. The screen team, who so frequently travel on “The
Road” will have an opportunity to compare notes on their recent ‘real life
travels’. Bob has just returned from an extensive entertainment trip where he
put on about 250 camp and hospital shows in eleven weeks. The
“Groaner” more recently came back from a USO tour of American training camps.
Their latest travelog “Road to Utopia” will soon be released.
(The Shreveport Times, 13th April, 1944)
April 14, Friday.
(starting at 3:30 p.m.) Hosts a fifteen-minute Pan American Day
radio program on the Mutual network with Ginny Simms and Arturo de Cordova.
April 15,
Saturday. Records Command Performance
#115. Bing acts as host and introduces Dinah Shore, Shirley Ross, and Yehudi
Menuhin.
April 17, Monday. June Crosby, Bob’s wife, gives birth to a son, George Robert Jr.
April 20, Thursday. (11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m., 4:30-6:00 p.m.) Rehearses his Kraft show in NBC Studio B in Hollywood. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Dave Shelley.
Bing Crosby will present a protégé during the “Music Hall” program
aired tonight…He is Dave Shelley, comedian. Shelley recently participated in a
studio warmup performance with Bing, and the Groaner and the audience thought
him so funny that it was decided to bring him to the air audience as soon as
possible. A native of Boston, Shelley is 26 years old and his last professional
appearance was with the road company of “Du Barry Was a Lady.”
(The Shreveport Times, 20th April, 1944)
Bing thought
Shelley so funny he hired him as a guest on KMH in 1944 introducing him to
listeners as a representative of the backbone of America, the small
businessman. They did an eight-minute sketch with Shelley playing a song
plugger who tries to convince Bing to record one of his songs, carrying an
inside joke about as far as it could go.
(Gary Giddins, Swinging on a Star, page 258)
April 22,
Saturday. Bing’s record of “San Fernando Valley” reaches the top of the charts where
it has five weeks at number one.
April 27,
Thursday. Going My Way
has its world premiere on all the WW2 battle fronts prior to the USA
premiere. 65 16mm prints are rushed to 20 overseas Army exchanges.
(11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m., 4:30-6:00 p.m.) Bing rehearses his Kraft show in
NBC Studio B in Hollywood. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Hosts another Kraft Music Hall show. Guests include
Sonny Tufts.
Sonny Tufts, a Paramount crony of Bing Crosby, will be the Groaner’s guest on Kraft
Music Hall tonight…A former drummer, piano player, night club, and opera
singer, Tufts recently spiraled to film fame as a result of his performance in
“So Proudly We Hail.”
(The Capital Times, 27th April, 1944)
April 28, Friday.
Records GI Journal #41. Bing is the
MC with guests Judy Garland, Mel Blanc, Jerry Colonna, and John Scott Trotter
and his Orchestra. Meanwhile, the California Horse Racing Board has recently
granted permission for racing to restart at Hollywood Park and at Bay Meadows
but not at Del Mar. Bing wires the board and also Governor Earl Warren asking
for an investigation. He points out that Del Mar is the only racetrack still
indebted to the banks and which has not repaid its stockholders
May 1–June. Films
Here Come the Waves with Betty Hutton
and Sonny Tufts. Harry Barris has a small part. The producer and director is
Mark Sandrich with Robert Emmett Dolan as musical director and Joseph J. Lilley
handling the vocal arrangements.
May 3, Wednesday.
Bing records four songs in Hollywood with John Scott Trotter and his Orchestra,
including “Begin the Beguine” and “Long Ago (And Far Away)”. “Amor” spends 16
weeks in the charts reaching the No. 2 spot. “Long Ago (And Far Away)” charts
separately and hits the No. 5 position. Another song—“Like Someone in Love”—is
seen at the No. 15 mark for one week. The film Going My Way has its world premiere at Paramount, New York, and
is held over for ten weeks. It goes on to be the top box office attraction of 1944 in the U.S.A taking $6.5
million in rental income in its initial release period.
“Amor”- FT; V. “Long Ago”-
FT; V.
When it comes to picking his
songs for the platters you can be almost sure that Bing Crosby will single out
the winners. And for the song-selling, the Bing Boy has smooth sailing all the way.
That about tells the story for these two sides, with the retail marts and the
music boxes sure to take it up from there and make the most of it for their own
designs. “Amor,” getting a Sunny Skylar set of lyrics for the movie “Broadway
Rhythm,” is already scaling the song heights, while the Jerome Kern-Ira
Gershwin lovely form “Cover Girl” rates as one of the better song ballads
crowding out the hit parade leaders. For both favorites, Crosby chants with
full expression in an effortless manner, taking full liberties with the slow
tempo to make the song stories all the more a standout…
(Billboard, July 1, 1944)
Bing Crosby’s presentation of
‘Long Ago’ is by far the best that I have yet heard, and despite my previous somewhat
critical remarks regarding this tune I must admit that I found this very
enjoyable.
(The Gramophone, December, 1944)
Having hit about
as high in his profession as any average man would hope to hit—and that is to
say the top notes in the musical comedy league—Bing Crosby has switched his
batting techniques (or had it switched for him) in his latest film, Going My Way. And—would you believe
it?—old Bing is giving the best show of his career. That’s saying a lot for a
performer who has been one of the steadiest joys of the screen. But, in this
Leo McCarey film, now at the Paramount, he has definitely found his sturdiest
role to date.
For in this, Mr.
Crosby’s first picture with a comparatively serious dramatic theme—and also the
first in which his singing is not heavily depended upon—he has been beautifully
presented by Mr. McCarey, who produced and directed the film. And he has been
stunningly supported by Barry Fitzgerald, who plays one of the warmest
characters the screen has ever known. As a matter of fact, it is a cruel slight
to suggest that this is Mr. Crosby’s show. It is his and Mr. Fitzgerald’s
together. And they make it one of the rare delights of the year.
For Going My Way is the story-rich, warm,
and human to the core—of a progressive young Catholic priest who matches his
wits and his ideas with those of the elderly pastor of a poor parish—a parish
which the young priest is tacitly sent to conduct. It is the story of new
versus old customs, of traditional age versus youth. And it is a story of human
relations in a simple, sentimental, honest vein.
But it is far
from a serious story—in the telling, anyhow. It is as humored and full of
modern crackle as a Bing Crosby film has got to be. From the moment that Mr.
Crosby shows up at St. Dominic’s Church in a faded athletic costume to face the
breathless skepticism of Mr. Fitzgerald until the final (and somewhat obvious)
fadeout, when Mr. Crosby goes away in the night—the parish’s treasury
replenished and Mr. Fitzgerald comfortably wrapped in his old mother’s arms—it
is a delightful and witty case of sparring, with perfect dignity, between the
two men.
There is the
beautiful moment when Mr. Fitzgerald, while displaying his parish garden to the
young priest, exclaims that it is a wonderful place to meditate and then adds,
slyly, “You do-meditate?” There is the charming scene in which Mr. Crosby
escorts the weary old gentleman to his bed, and then is surprised to discover
that the reverent ancient likes “a drop of the craiture” now and then. And
there is that simply exquisite sequence in which Mr. Fitzgerald goes off in a
huff because Mr. Crosby is testing the neighborhood roughnecks in a vocal
rendering of “Three Blind Mice.”
Yes, there are
musical passages in the picture. They come when Mr. Crosby occasionally sings a
modern song bearing the title of the picture, another new air, and a couple of
old timers. They also come—and more magnificently—when Risë Stevens, who is
trickily worked in, sings an aria from Carmen, “Ave Maria,” and the title song,
too. And Mr. Crosby and the Robert Mitchell Boy Choir (dressed up like
neighborhood kids) do very amusingly by a number called “Swinging on a Star.”
The only
criticism of the production—and of the excellent script which Frank Butler and
Frank Cavett wrote—is that it runs to an excess. It is more than two hours
long. And in that time there are certain stretches when the momentum somewhat
lags. But otherwise no exceptions are taken. In addition to Mr. Crosby and Mr.
Fitzgerald, Frank McHugh, Miss Stevens, Jean Heather, and Stanley
Clements—especially the latter as a genial tough-give thoroughly good
performances. They enrich this already top-notch film with a vigorous glow of
good spirit. Going My Way is a tonic
delight.
(Bosley Crowther, The New York Times, May 3, 1944)
Bing Crosby gets a
tailor-made role in Going My Way, and with
major assistance from Barry Fitzgerald and Rise Stevens, clicks solidly to
provide top-notch entertainment for wide audience appeal. Picture will hit
hefty biz on all bookings…Intimate scenes between Crosby and Fitzgerald dominate
throughout, with both providing slick characterizations….Crosby’s song numbers include three new tunes by Johnny Burke
and James Van Heusen—‘Going My Way,’ ‘Would You Like
to Swing on a Star’ and ‘Day After Forever.’ Trio are
topgrade and due for wide pop appeal due to cinch recording and airings by
Bing. He also delivers ‘Ave Maria,’ ‘Adeste Fidelis’ and ‘Silent Night’ in
addition to a lively Irish folksong, ‘Toora-loora-loora’ with boys’ choir
accompaniment (sic).
(Variety, March 8, 1944)
Bing Crosby, by a performance
both sincere and endearing, once again shows what a good actor he can be.
(Dilys Powell, The Sunday Times, London, July 1944)
May 4, Thursday.
(11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m., 4:30-6:00 p.m.) Rehearses his Kraft show in NBC Studio B
in Hollywood. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Gene Kelly. Marilyn Maxwell
continues as resident girl singer with Leo “Ukie” Sherin still in place as
regular comedian.
Bing Crosby invites Gene Kelly, Hollywood’s newest topflight musical
star, to visit with him on the Music Hall…Marilyn Maxwell charming MGM
vocalist, returns for another guest appearance.
(The Atlanta Constitution, 4th May, 1944)
May 6, Saturday.
Bing and Bob Hope appear together on Command
Performance #118 with Betty Hutton and Gypsy Rose Lee. Major Meredith
Willson conducts the AFRS Orchestra. As usual the show is recorded for
subsequent broadcasting to the armed forces. Elsewhere, Bing’s record of the
Cole Porter song “I Love You” hits the number one position in the charts and stays
there for five weeks.
May 11, Thursday.
(11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m., 4:30-6:00 p.m.) Rehearses his Kraft show in NBC Studio B
in Hollywood. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Keenan Wynn.
Keenan Wynn, back from the China-Burma-India theatres of war, will try
to sell Bing Crosby on the idea of making a similar tour, KFI at 6. Wilfred
Williams, top tenor of the Charioteers, has reported to the
Army. There will be no outside replacement. Eddie
Jackson, second tenor, will take over.
(Hollywood Citizen News, 11th May 1944)
May 12, Friday.
Bing accepts an honorary membership in a Frank Sinatra fan club based in New
York.
May 13, Saturday.
(1:30-2:00 p.m.) Bing takes part in a radio program on the NBC network featuring Cadet Nurse Corps inductions.
During the weekend, Bing and Bob Hope play in the Lakeside Golf Club’s annual
tournament.
May 17,
Wednesday. Bing records Mail Call
show #91 with Judy Garland, Jimmy Durante, and Arthur Treacher. The show is
dedicated to the servicemen of Minnesota.
May 18, Thursday.
(11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m., 4:30-6:00 p.m.) Rehearses his Kraft show in NBC Studio B
in Hollywood. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) The Kraft
Music Hall broadcast. Bing’s guests include Jack Carson. Billy May writes
his first arrangement for the show.
Bing Crosby has invited Jack Carson and Eddie Marr to be his guests on
the “Music Hall” show tonight…The popular radio comedy team paid a visit to the
“Music Hall” this fall but missed the Groaner who was away on a bond-selling
tour. Jack Carson is now in his second year with his own half-hour air show and
his pal, Eddie “I'll Tell You What I'm Going to Do” Marr, appears with him in
the familiar role of “pitchman.”
(The Shreveport
Times, 18th May, 1944)
May 19, Friday.
Records GI Journal #44. Bing hosts
Jerry Colonna, Anita Ellis, and Mel Blanc. John Scott Trotter and his Orchestra
are in support.
May 20, Saturday. (10:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m.) Bing and Dinah Shore have travelled by train to San Francisco and visit all the wards at Letterman General Hospital .
A
soft whistle escaped the lips of the young sergeant from Tennessee, wounded at Bouganville.
“Oh,
brother,” he said, and pounded his cane with approval.
This,
in spirit, was the enthusiastic reception accorded Bing Crosby and Dinah Shore,
motion picture and radio stars, yesterday morning when they visited Letterman
General Hospital.
In
San Francisco to participate in today’s spectacular “I Am An American Day”
celebration, the famous pair blended their multi-million dollar vocal cords to
bring down the house.
Answering
request after request, first in the hospital recreation hall, the famous
crooner clowned with the sultry voiced Miss Shore, improvised lyrics and told
jokes.
Wearing
a more subdued ensemble than usual – a plaid jacket, tan slacks and a blazing
yellow sports shirt – Crosby “gave” with “San Fernando Valley,” called for
sound effects from the audience and beat out the rhythm with a tapping toe.
A
young soldier, blinded in the South Pacific, sat enthralled as the brown eyed “Dixie
Diva” sang “It’s a Lovely Way to Spend an Evening” – especially for him.
Later
in the fracture ward, the wounded veterans clapped out “Shoo Shoo Baby” for
Miss Shore and both she and Crosby visited informally among the maze of weights,
wires and broad grins.
Accompanied
by Miss Shore’s bridegroom, actor George Montgomery, now an Army corporal and sporting
service bars won in the Aleutians, the famous Hollywood pair arrived here
earlier by train.
(The San Francisco Examiner, May 21,
1944)
May 21, Sunday.
Starting at 2:30 p.m., Bing, Bob Hope, and Dinah Shore take part in the “I Am an American Day”
celebrations at the Civic Auditorium, San Francisco.
They were still talking
about it yesterday - that spectacular, mightiest of “I Am An American Day”
observances staged by The Examiner and a citizens’ committee in Civic
Auditorium Sunday, in which 65,000 San Franciscans, who overflowed into Civic Center,
rededicated themselves to the principles of citizenship that have made America great.
They talked of the patriotic pageantry and the color, and of the knock-out performances
by Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Dinah Shore, Vera Vague, Jerry Colonna, Tony Romano, and
particularly did they acclaim the deft showmanship in the entire staging.
(The San
Francisco Examiner, May 23, 1944)
May (undated).
Bing films a cameo appearance in Bob Hope’s film The Princess and the Pirate.
May 25, Thursday.
(11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m., 4:30-6:00 p.m.) Rehearses his Kraft show in NBC Studio B
in Hollywood. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) The Kraft
Music Hall broadcast. Bing’s guests include Richard Haydn.
Richard Haydn, better known as “Mr. Carp, expert on fishes of all
types,” will put down his rod and reel to pay a visit to the “Music Hall”
tonight…This will be Haydn’s first visit to Bing’s half-hour show. The comedian
once presented his character “Mr. Carp” before England’s present king and
queen. British-born, he was first introduced to this country through Noel
Coward.
(The Shreveport Times, 25th May, 1944)
Extra!
Stop those presses! Call of the war and make the world stand still. Last
evening, Frank Sinatra picked Bing Crosby as “the top tonsil artist for my
dough,” during the Bob Burns show (WEAF-7:30)! Then to cap it all, Bing himself
walked on to the stage and handed Sinatra a dollar bill. It really wowed the
studio audience in Hollywood.
(Ben
Gross, Daily News, May 26, 1944)
May (undated). Bing reaches the Bel-Air Country Club golf quarter finals but is defeated by Les Kelley, losing 1 down.
June 1, Thursday.
(11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m., 4:30-6:00 p.m.) Rehearses his Kraft show in NBC Studio B
in Hollywood. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Katina Paxinou.
Katina Paxinou, Greek actress who distinguished herself in the film
“For Whom the Bell Tolls,” is the guest star Bing Crosby has invited to the
“Music Hall” for the show aired tonight…One of the most dominant characters in
the epic film based on Ernest Hemingway’s popular novel, Katina Paxinou in “For
Whom the Bell Tolls” won her first American acting laurel. However, the Greek
star will be called upon to do a different version of her screen character when
she appears in a special Crosby production of “For Whom the Bell Tolls.”
(The Shreveport
Times, 1st June, 1944)
June 3,
Saturday.
At a dinner at Paramount Studios, Bing, Betty Hutton and other stars
entertain members of the Navy Recruiting Division. (7:30 p.m.) Records Command Performance
#122 with Bob Hope (MC), Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, and Major Meredith
Willson, who conducts the AFRS Orchestra.
One place where the trio let
themselves go is on “Command Performance,” the GI radio show. The insults and
lowerations flow fast and furious. Bing and Frank were warbling off a duet, for
instance, the other day for the soldiers, Cole Porter’s “You’re the Top.”
Suddenly Bing heard Frank change the lyrics. “You’re the top,” Frank sang,
“you’re the head canary!” Bing thought that was pretty nice. But the next line
showed Frank was just suckering him. “You’re the top,” he chanted, “though your
top ain’t hairy!” That’s Bing’s real weakness, his shiny head of vanishing
fuzz.
(Modern Screen, October 1944)
Later in the day, Bing also records Command Performance #123 with Connie
Haines (MC). Bing, Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, and Jerry Colonna make guest
appearances.
June 4, Sunday. (5:00–6:00 p.m.) Takes part in “Salute to Our Armed Forces” a Bakers of America radio show on NBC for Fleischmann Yeast. Bing sings ‘It’s Love, Love, Love’ and also duets “The Way You Look Tonight” with Judy Garland. Other guests are Bob Hope, Edgar Bergen, Gracie Fields and Burns & Allen. The conductor is Ray Noble. Later in the evening, Bing is thought to have been at the Los Angeles Coliseum for Leo Carrillo’s second annual Wild West rodeo.
…From Judy Garland’s
opening “Trolley Song” (from the yet to be released “Meet Me in St. Louis”)
right through to Gracie Fields sign-off “Danny Boy,” the entertainment was strictly
top of the bureau. Miss Garland also clicked with an arrangement by ex-spouse
Sgt. Dave Rose of “Long Ago and Far Away”. In between was Bob Hope for characteristic
ack-ack chatter, an insult routine with Bing Crosby, latter’s “Love, Love, Love”
and “Amor,” plus a Crosby-Garland duet of “Way You Look Tonight.” Burns and Allen,
visitors from CBS, had a smart script, and, as usual, got everything out of it…
(Variety, June 7, 1944)
June 6, Tuesday. D-Day. The Allies invade
Normandy.
The Tuesday
lineup of radio shows tonight (Tues.), emanating from here, was thrown into
the following juxtaposition because of the invasion: Bing Crosby went on with
Bob Hope for 15 minutes in Hope’s regular slot, with their chatter consisting
of a serious discussion of the war; Ronald Colman, also on NBC, was on for only
15 minutes and read a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay. CBS cancelled the Norman
Corwin show and all commercial plugs from programs. On orders from N. Y., Burns
& Allen cut all comedy from their show. Local stations killed all commercials
throughout the day, and cancelled all programs, using only martial music and
war news to fill in.
(Variety, June 7, 1944)
June 8, Thursday.
(11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m., 4:30-6:00 p.m.) Rehearses his Kraft show in NBC Studio B
in Hollywood. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Cecil B. DeMille. The show is reduced
to only twenty-three minutes due to an extended news bulletin regarding the
recent D-Day landings. A short cartoon feature called "Swooner Crooner" featuring a Crosby lookalike is released and is eventually nominated for an Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons).
Bing Crosby has invited Hollywood’s ace film and radio producer, Cecil
B. DeMille, to be his guest on the Kraft Music Hall at 9 o’clock over WFLA.
(The Tampa Times, 8th June, 1944)
June 9,
Friday.
Press reports indicate that the Del Mar racetrack is being prepared for
a
proposed opening on July 1. Bing says that it will only go ahead if the
stockholders can be certain that the race meeting will not hamper the
war
effort. On June 22, the Navy objects to plans to open the track saying
that it would be detrimental to obtaining labor for construction of
vital miltary installations in the area. The outcome is that the racing
does not take place again until 1945.
June 13, Tuesday. (8:30-10.00 p.m.) Bing, Bob Hope and many other stars take part in a program titled "War Bond Day" on NBC promoting the Fifth War Loan. Later, Bing is at the Palladium Ballroom in Hollywood for Jimmy Dorsey’s opening performance.
…The final 30-minute period
will present Bing Crosby, who will introduce “Amos and Andy,” Bob Burns, Frances
Langford again, and “The Great Gildersleeve.”
(Bob Bentley, The Cincinnati
Enquirer, June 13, 1944)
June 14,
Wednesday. (7:30 p.m.) Bing is scheduled to appear with Charles Boyer on the commercial radio program Report to the Nation
sponsored by Electric Utilites on CBS to promote bond sales. The
American Federation of Radio Artists objects to his appearance under
Rule 15 as Bing is not receiving his standard fee and he is withdrawn
from the program. Later, (8:00-10:00 p.m.) Bing takes part in a show in the Hollywood Bowl at a rally of 20,000 volunteer
Bond workers with Bette Davis, Judy Garland, Bob Hope and Jose Iturbi, plus
Rudy Vallee and his Coast Guard band. The show starts off the Fifth War Loan Drive and is addressed by Treasury
Secretary Henry Morgenthau. The short film "Road to Victory", in which Bing makes an appearance singing the title song, is released.
June 15, Thursday. (11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m., 4:30-6:00 p.m.) Rehearses his Kraft show in NBC Studio B in Hollywood. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Bob Hope. Bing closes the show with "I'll Be Seeing You".
Bob Hope, who is affectionately called “Snag-Snoot” by his good friend
Bing Crosby, will be the guest of the “Groaner” on the Music Hall tonight at 8
o’clock over WMAQ…When Robert (Leslie Towne) Hope last visited Crosby he
rumored he had just completed a book. However, he was elusive when pinned down
to the date of its publication and name. When Bing discovered the manuscript in
Hope’s golf bag, while trying to retrieve some of his own golf balls, he found
the title to be, “I Never Left Home.”
“That’s the name of it,” said Hope, What do you think of it?”
“Leave home,” countered Crosby.
(Belvidere Daily Republican, 15th June, 1944)
Bing had struck a chord with the
song (I’ll Be Seeing You”), and he
kept striking it to promote bonds. He sang it on the
air the week after D-day, and as the strings continued and before the studio audience could think to applaud, he
read a short prepared statement: “’I'll Be Seeing You,’ that’s the dream of
every infantryman holding his little piece of ground because he knows the
battle line is only as strong as its weakest link and he's not going to be that
link. I say ‘every infantryman’ because we have finally gotten around to
recognizing and giving a little credit to the foot-slogging soldier without
whom wars can’t be won. Your infantry man is the first guy to set foot on a
beach and he’s the last guy to get leave and the very last guy to get a string of ribbons for his tunic. Today was Infantry
Day and there’s no better way to observe it than by
adding your best and biggest buy to the Fifth War
Loan. Every bond you buy is a vote of confidence and another weapon in the
hands of the men who are fighting to defend our happy future. Good night.”
(Gary Giddins, Swinging on a Star, p389.)
June 16, Friday.
Bing records GI Journal #48. He acts
as MC with guests Lena Horne, Henny Youngman, Mel Blanc, and John Scott Trotter
and his Orchestra. In the evening, Bing joins Alec Templeton and they entertain
at the Hollywood Canteen.
June 17,
Saturday. (8:30-9:00 a.m.) Makes a surprise appearance on the Melody Roundup radio show on NBC hosted by Andy Devine and sings “San Fernando Valley”
accompanied by Perry Botkin. Records an appearance on Command Performance radio show #125 hosted by Jack Benny with Gary
Cooper, Georgia Gibbs, Ann Miller, and Harpo Marx. Major Meredith Willson
conducts the AFRS Orchestra.
…On show caught, Andy Devine
tried to do a Bing Crosby number and then faded to deliver to the audience
Crosby in person. A neat surprise package that should hypo audiences for the
next few weeks…Wonder if anyone has thought of using the Kraft Music Hall
technique? This reviewer got the flavor when Crosby, after chirping and
adlibbing San Fernando Valley, went
into some typical banter with Perry Botkin.
(Billboard, June 24, 1944)
June 18, Sunday.
(4:00–4:30 p.m.) Appears on NBC’s Your
All Time Hit Parade with Tommy Dorsey. Two of the songs he sings with the
Dorsey orchestra are recorded for use on a V-Disc.
This first program
with Tommy Dorsey’s orchestra in place of Mark Warnow’s studio band will be a
hard one to top…A slick bit of writing re Crosby’s early days with Paul Whiteman’s
band served to insert his version of “Louise”…Dorsey handles the m.c. chores on
the show and did a neat job when he wasn't stumbling. His band hit brilliant
performance peaks throughout and despite his many singers and the inclusion of
Crosby, who’s still the tops, there wasn't too much vocalizing. All in all, it
was a very auspicious beginning.
(Variety, June 21, 1944)
“Your
All Time Hit Parade,” like its Saturday night counterpart, may please you or
irritate you. But it does attract your attention. Last evening (WEAF-7), it drew
plenty of listeners, not only because Tommy Dorsey’s band, out in Hollywood,
took over the procession, but because Bing Crosby himself was the guest star.
For lovers of jive and sentiment, one couldn’t scramble up a better combination
than that. The Dorsey crew has pace, rhythm and the loudness necessary for this
show. As for Bing, he proved himself again the best singer who is a comedian
and vice versa. This was a good spot for the Groaner, as, after all, it is on
the sponsor’s other “Hit Parade” that another warbler, The Voice—What's his
name? Oh, yes, Sinatra, isn’t it—earns the price of caviar for his
family larder.
(Ben Gross,
Daily News, June 19, 1944)
An unsubstantiated story revealed that in 1944 Crosby did a date with the Tommy Dorsey band, which was probably a joint radio appearance. At a rehearsal, after running down a particular tune, Bing wanted to know who had written the chart. Tommy told him it was Nelson Riddle. Bing was introduced to Nelson and gave him a business card with his arranger John Scott Trotter’s phone number and told him to contact him if he ever would be interested in writing arrangements for him.
At first, Nelson served as a ghostwriter for Trotter. Over a three-year period, he wrote about two dozen charts for Crosby, one of which, “That’s How Much I Love You,” reached #17 on the Billboard pop chart in April 1947.
Finally, Nelson got his chance to actually conduct a recording date with Bing. Bob Bain, who played on that date, recalled calling Doreen as soon as they had finished recording. “Nelson wasn’t nervous but Doreen sure was,” Bain recalled. “I had promised her that I would call her to let her know that everything went okay, which it did.”
(Peter J. Levinson, September in the Rain: The Life of Nelson Riddle, page 74)
June 22, Thursday.
(11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m., 4:30-6:00 p.m.) Rehearses his Kraft show in NBC Studio B
in Hollywood. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include George Murphy. During the day, Bing
records a Personal Album show with
Don Forbes for the AFRS and he also makes an unscheduled guest appearance on Johnny Mercer’s Chesterfield Music Show
on NBC to surprise Bob Hope.
Bing Crosby’s popular “Kraft
Music Hall” visitor, George Murphy, will be on hand for the “Groaner’s”
half-hour show tonight at 9 over WFBO-NBC. The “Mighty Murph” will find Bing’s
singing partner. Marilyn Maxwell, and deadpan stooge, “Ukie”, on the regular
reception committee. Murphy has requested an easier routine from the one Bing
gave him on his last visit. The two wound up playing singing waiters at a
Hollywood restaurant. Their theme song was set to “O! What a Beautiful
Morning.” There’s a rumor around Hollywood that George Murphy may be the
substitute for Bing if he plans to take a vacation this summer. Brother Bob,
who usually takes over KMH during the “Groaner’s” vacation weeks, is now a
lieutenant with the Marines.
(The Greenville News, 22nd June, 1944)
Only a couple of months ago I
had Bob Hope as a guest on the Chesterfield program. Hope was working in a film
at Sam Goldwyn’s studios and for the early (afternoon) broadcast had to appear
in costume, with a long beard hanging down off his chin. We were right in the
middle of the show, exchanging banter at the mike, when suddenly, out of the
wings, Bing came running out with a huge pair of scissors wearing a barber’s
coat. Neither Hope nor I had any idea that Crosby was present. Anyway, the gag
broke up the show. Bob and I howled, forgot the script; the musicians fell out
of the chairs, the audience was hysterical and for a couple of minutes it was
plain panic. I wonder what listeners to the show thought. Only Crosby could
pull a gag of that magnitude.
(Johnny Mercer writing in Metronome, October, 1944)
June 23, Friday. Bing is thought to have appeared at the Shrine Auditorium in “Koppers' Kapers,” the tenth annual police show.
June 25, Sunday. Bob Crosby has entered the armed
services as a second lieutenant. Bing visits Camp Pendleton at Oceanside,
California (near San Diego) where Bob is based and puts on a show in 13 Area for
the 5,000 marines there. Judy Garland and Phil Silvers accompany him. After
several weeks of training, Bob Crosby is shipped out with his band of marines
to entertain in the South Pacific.
June (undated).
Records three songs (“Going My Way,” “Ave Maria,” and “Home on the Range”) with
Eddie Dunstedter at the organ for use in a new experimental Auroratone
Kodachrome 30-minute film called “Music in Color”. The film is used in army and
navy hospitals in the treatment of neuropsychiatric and severe migraine cases.
CROSBY SINGS FOR HOSPITAL FILMS
Telefilm, Inc., has recorded Bing
Crosby and Lt. Col. Eddie
Dunstedter, famed organist, directly on 16 m.m. film for the Auroratone
Foundation.
(Daily
Variety, July
19, 1944)
June (undated).
Makes a series of sing-along records for use by the AFRS which are issued as an
album of six records with “Sing-Along with the Stars” labels. Some of the songs
are also issued on V-Disc.
June 29,
Thursday. (11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m., 4:30-6:00 p.m.) Rehearses his Kraft show in
NBC Studio B in Hollywood. (4:00–4:15 p.m.) Bing makes a surprise appearance on
Johnny Mercer’s Chesterfield Music Shop
on NBC.
Bing made a surprise
appearance on the Johnny Mercer radio show. Jerry Colonna, Johnny’s guest, said
there was a special guest back in the control room. “Someone we all love from
the Jack Benny Show, the one and only Rochester (Eddie Anderson).” Instead of
Rochester, out walks Bing Crosby! Bing didn’t say anything, just took a bow,
whirled around, kicked his heel, and strolled out.
(BINGANG, summer 1944)
(6:00–6:30 p.m.) The Kraft Music Hall broadcast. Bing’s
guests include Roy Rogers.
Roy Rogers, the No. 1
singing cowboy, will be the visiting guest with Bing Crosby on his Music Hall
show tonight…
(The Rock Island Argus, 29th June, 1944)
Bing was dressed very
conservatively on June 29th. He was wearing dull green slacks and light grey
shirt — no tie or hat. His hat was placed on a nearby chair. The next week,
Bing’s outfit was the same except for the addition of a gray jacket. During the
shows, Bing tosses the pages of the scripts to the floor as he’s finished with
them. Roy Rogers guested the first week (June 29), and Tommy & Jimmy Dorsey
the second (consecutive) week.
(BINGANG, summer 1944)
June 30, Friday.
(7:00–10:00 p.m.) Records “Hot Time in the Town of Berlin” and “Is You Is, or
Is You Ain’t (Ma Baby)” with the Andrews Sisters. Musical support is provided
by Vic Schoen and his Orchestra.
Is You Is or Is You Ain’t?- FT; V. Hot Time in the Town of
Berlin – FT; V.
The label’s ace song sellers
once again combine their talents for a couplet that will sell many sides on the
strength of the names involved. It’s a pat and stock formula they follow both
for the singing and the styling, lending itself best for the topical “Hot Time
in the Town of Berlin.” It is a gay and lively marching song by G. I.’s Joe
Bushkin and John Devries, tale of the triumphant Yanks marching into Berlin.
With V-day virtually at hand, it serves that purpose well. Taken at a likely
tempo tempered with eight-to-the-bar rhythms, Bing and the girls take the song
in stride in spirited fashion, with the boy-belle duet in march style a dandy
for the going-out refrain. For “Is You Is or Is You Ain’t?,” the boy and girls
sing it bluesy for the verse, picking up the tempo to a lively pace for the
chorus and carrying it rhythmically thruout. But for all their fine vocal
efforts, it is still Louis Jordan’s song. As ever, Vic Schoen’s music cuts an
attractive rhythmic pattern for individual and collective singing talents.
(Billboard, September 16, 1944)
Maxene recalled the following
regarding the many recording sessions with Crosby: “Bing loved to kid around
with my sister, Pat, because he didn’t read music, and we would come in on the
record dates with just a sheet of lyrics, but with the routine of the record,
and he and Pat would go to the piano. And Vic Schoen only played piano with two
fingers—and so, they’d go to the piano and Bing would say, ‘Okay, Pat, what am
I singing?’ So Pat and Vic would run down the whole routine for him, and it
would be once or twice and he was prepared.” Vic Schoen also remembered
Crosby’s professionalism and easiness in the studio, although he was usually
unaware of what they were recording that day.
(John Sforza, Swing It! page 40)
“Is You Is or Is You Ain’t Ma
Baby?” on the other side includes assistance from the Andrews Sisters and as on
previous occasions I did not think the combination too effective.
(The Gramophone, December, 1944)
July 1, Saturday.
“I’ll Be Seeing You” is the next Bing record to reach number one in the charts.
This remains at the top for four weeks.
July 2, Sunday. Bing appears
in a camp show at Camp Pendleton, San Diego County, to dedicate the new Marine
Amphitheater. (7:30-8:00 p.m.) With Barry Fitzgerald he acts out scenes from Going My Way for the CBS radio program "We the People" from Camp Pendleton.
July 3, Monday. Bing Crosby Productions starts to make The Great John L which is released in 1945. Bing goes on the set on only one occasion prior to his departure to Europe and says “Don’t spare any expense.” The film stars Greg McClure and Linda Darnell with Victor Young in charge of the music. The film is directed by Frank Tuttle.
July 4, Tuesday.
(2:00 p.m.) Bing and Bruce McCormick play in a war bond golf match against Bob Hope
and Johnny Dawson at the Los Angeles Country Club in front of a crowd of 4,000.
Reports state that $700,000 worth of War Bonds is sold. The event is for the
benefit of the Red Cross War Fund. Bing and Bruce McCormick beat Bob Hope and
Johnny Dawson two and one, with Bing having a round of seventy-five and Hope
(off a handicap of ten) taking seventy-nine.
At 2pm, a tanned Bing
appeared wearing a dark brown jersey, henna slacks, dark brown golf shoes, and
a straw hat with a feather band, chewing gum (though he later smoked his pipe).
Bing handed Bob what appeared to be an ordinary golf ball, but when hit with
Hope’s club, it exploded, much to the surprise of Hope and amusement of Bing
and the audience. After recovering from the shock, Hope set out after Bing amid
the laughter of the crowd...Bing and his partner won the match, after which,
Bing walked over to him, and planted a kiss upon his forehead!
(BINGANG, winter, 1944)
In the evening, starting at 8:00 p.m.,
Bing serves as MC of a Military Musical Spectacle at the Hollywood Bowl to
raise money for the Fifth War Loan. The show is sponsored by The Los Angeles Times. A capacity crowd
of 20,000 hears Bing sing “Long Ago and Far Away” and “Going My Way.” Other
performers include Ginny Simms, James Melton and Ella Mae Morse. Music is
provided by a 150-piece army air forces orchestra under the direction of Lt.
Col. Eddie Dunstedter. Over $5 million worth of War Bonds is sold.
Bing Crosby, Ginny
Simms, James Melton and Ella Mae Morse sang and Crosby doubled in brass by playing
a master of ceremonies role in which he bantered with the heroes, the musicians,
the soloists and the audience.
(Tom Cameron, The Los Angeles Times, July 5, 1944)
July 6, Thursday.
(11:00 a.m.-2:30 p.m., 4:00-6:00 p.m.) Rehearses his Kraft show in NBC Studio B
in Hollywood. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey making their
first appearance together since their reunion.
The two distinguished brothers of the band world, Tommy and Jimmy
Dorsey, will make a rare radio appearance together when they pay a visit to
Bing Crosby on the “Music Hall” show tonight…This will be a renewal of a long
friendship dating back to the early days when Bing and his good friends, the
Dorsey brothers, first made records together. All three worked with Paul
Whiteman’s orchestra at one time.
(The Shreveport Times, 6th July, 1944)
During a Dorsey Bros. number,
Bing was playing the cymbal, and at one point, tossed the drumstick in the air
and caught it just in time. Bing threw his head back and laughed - along with
everyone else. At the conclusion of the show, Bing saunters off the stage as
the audience leaves with the strains of “Hail KMH” ringing in their ears.
(BINGANG, summer 1944)
Tommy and Jimmy were two of my very
best friends in the music business. Tommy, mercurial, explosive, loaded with
talent and an unforgettable personality. You always knew when Tommy was around.
He took a position on every issue, and you knew where he stood. You had to like
him, and you had to respect him. Not only for his immense talent, but for his
uncompromising integrity. Tommy was pretty frank, all right.
Now Jimmy—Jimmy was a different type
fella. Something of a dandy, very modish, soft-spoken. He had good taste in the
things life afforded, as well as in music. He was an inveterate punster. He
collected them. I can still hear him at rehearsals, cracking some particularly
odious pun, and then beaming at the derisive howls it evoked. He was especially
proud if the bandsmen pelted him with mutes, drumsticks, and other impedimenta
of the tour.
About most things, other than music,
Jimmy was rather shy and self-effacing. Sometimes on the Kraft Music Hall, he’d
have some announcements to make introductions of a guest, and such like. This
was a chore which literally terrorized him, and led to some amusing malaprops.
Like the evening one of our guests
was a famous baritone from the Metropolitan Opera. Jimmy presented him as
follows: “And now, ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce a famous opera
steer.”
This was a particularly appropriate
description to the folks in the studio audience, since the singer was of more
than ample girth. The band broke up, of course.
Tommy, to be sure, was more
articulate. I recall one day with the Whiteman band in Baltimore. Tommy had
missed a rehearsal, and Pops had fined him $50.
Tommy was irked because he claimed
he had a legitimate excuse. Before the matinee, he brooded a bit in a nearby
pub (there always seemed to be one near the stage door), and when the band took
their places on stage in back of the curtain, he was pretty well pumped up.
Pops was standing on the podium,
baton poised, waiting for the signal for the curtain to open and to give the
downbeat for the opening strains of Rhapsody in Blue.
Tommy arose from his seat, trombone
in hand, and announced in a loud voice, “Pops, unless you forgive the fine,
when the curtains open, I’m going to play Come to Jesus in whole notes.”
“You wouldn’t,” hissed Pops.
“Wait till you hear me,” barked
Tommy, with mouthpiece to his lips.
At this moment, the curtains started
to open. “Forgiven,” said Pops, in abject surrender, with a downbeat that more
resembled a Sign of the Cross.
I often wondered how Tommy’s choice
of an opening selection would have gone over.
Yes, this was a colorful and
appealing pair of brothers.
It’s curious in our business how you
work with people and become inseparable companions and then their work takes
them in one direction and
yours in another. The years go by and
you hardly ever see them any more.
Of course, I followed their careers,
and was immensely proud of their progress. It’s interesting to speculate on
what innovative and creative things they might have achieved if they had lived.
Tommy and Jimmy were genuine
geniuses.
(Bing Crosby, writing the introduction to Tommy and Jimmy—The Dorsey Years)
July 7, Friday.
Bing records three songs with John Scott Trotter and his Orchestra in
Hollywood, including “I’ll Remember April” and the Irish song
“Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral.” The latter song has 12 weeks in the hit parade,
peaking in the No. 4 spot.
“Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral”- FT; V. “I’ll Remember April”- FT; V.
The plaintive Irish lullaby,
“Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral,” which Bing Crosby sings so touchingly in his “Going My
Way” cinema click, makes for an ideal record treasure. With John Scott
Trotter’s orchestra accenting the music box characters in the music, similar to
the movie setting, Bing literally dreams the fetching lullaby, singing it with
full expression out of tempo. Mated side provides still another outstanding
vocal interpretation of “I’ll Remember April,” the lovely song ballad still
short of striking a popular fancy in spite of a song story as appealing as
“Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.” An extremely attractive background, graced by
shimmering fiddle fashions, is painted by the Trotter tootlers, with Crosby
chanting at a moderate tempo.
(Billboard, October 7, 1944)
July 8, Saturday. Bing visits Camp Roberts and watches the finals of the Los Angeles Times Camp Roberts Golden Gloves boxing tournament before presenting some of the awards. Other celebrities present include golf trick shot artist “Mysterious” Montague, welterweight boxer Jimmy McLarnin, heavyweight boxer Jim Jeffries and football player Bronko Nagurski.
July 9, Sunday. Bing is the headline attraction at the Super-Star Bond Show held at Atascadero Golf
Club, San Luis Obispo,
California.
He entertains the crowd of 600 bond buyers at the microphone and then plays the
course in a nine-hole exhibition. Other
celebrities present again include “Mysterious” Montague, Jimmy
McLarnin, Jim Jeffries and Bronko Nagurski. Bing also entertains at
Camp Roberts whilst he is in
the area.
July 11, Tuesday. The film Going My Way completes a record breaking
ten-week run at the New York Paramount where it has been seen by 1,010,000
people who paid a total of $847,000 to watch it.
July 13,
Thursday. (11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m., 4:30-6:00 p.m.) Rehearses his Kraft show in
NBC Studio B in Hollywood. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Keenan Wynn. A song
from the show is issued on V-Disc.
Keenan Wynn, the Mulvehill of Marian Hargrove’s popular best seller and
movie, “See Here, Private Hargrove,” will join Bing Crosby in the Kraft Music
Hall at 9 o’clock over WFLA.
(The Tampa Times, 13th July, 1944)
Wilfred Williams, who can sing F above high C, has received a medical
discharge from the Army and is again with the
Charioteers.
(Hollywood Citizen News, 13th July 1944)
July 14, Friday.
Bing records GI Journal show #52 with
Linda Darnell, Helen Forrest, Mel Blanc, Andy Devine, and John Scott Trotter
and his Orchestra.
July 15,
Saturday. Records a guest appearance on Command
Performance show #129 with Judy Garland and the Andrews Sisters. Major
Meredith Willson conducts the AFRS Orchestra.
July 17, Monday.
Records songs from the film Road to
Utopia with John Scott Trotter and his Orchestra in Hollywood. Press
reports indicate that Bing received a salary from Paramount of $336,111
in 1942.
WELCOME TO MY DREAMS…Bing Crosby with The John Scott Trotter Ork Decca 18743-A
For those who like Bing straight (with
the Trotter band backing) this one is it and there are enough who like him
straight (as proved by previous best-seller, most-played items) to put this
over. Tune is from Para’s “Road to Utopia,” that won’t hurt any either. Reverse
“It’s Anybody’s Spring,” is one of Bing’s least successful efforts, due to
unhappy mating of tune and lyric, each of which individually is fine, but don’t
jell well.
(Billboard, February 9, 1946)
Bing Crosby’s admirers will
be just as pleased, if not more so, to hear his recording of “Welcome to My
Dream” from the film Road to Utopia—in
my opinion, one of the most pleasing tunes he has recorded for some long time.
This is backed with “It’s Anybody’s Spring” from the same film. Both these
numbers are excellently recorded and Bing gets every ounce out of them.
(The Gramophone, February, 1946)
July 19,
Wednesday. Records three songs with John Scott Trotter and his Orchestra in
Hollywood. “Sleigh Ride in July” reaches No. 14 in the charts during a
three-week stay.
July 20, Thursday. (11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m., 4:30-6:00 p.m.) Rehearses his Kraft show in NBC Studio B in Hollywood. (4:00–4:15 p.m.) Bing is billed to appear on the transcribed Johnny Mercer’s Chesterfield Music Shop on NBC but the show is postponed because of the Democratic Party’s Convention in Chicago. A duet with Mercer accompanied by Paul Weston’s Orchestra is recorded at the rehearsal for the show and issued on V-Disc. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Sonny Tufts.
Bing Crosby’s guest on tonight’s “Music Hall” will be Sonny Tufts when
the program is aired at 8 o’clock over NBC and KTBS. Bing’s singing assistant
Marilyn Maxwell and comedy stooge, “Ukie” Sherin will complete the talent for
the half-hour show. Bing and his film friend are currently at work on a new
motion picture with Betty Hutton called “Here Comes the Waves.” On Sonny’s last
visit with Bing, he revealed that he was merely passing his time away
movie-acting until he could return to his old job of selling refrigerators.
(The Shreveport Times, 20th July, 1944)
July (undated). Bing dubs three songs which are lip-synched by Eddie Bracken in the film Out of This World
(released June 1945)
as a parody of Frank Sinatra. Bing’s four sons also appear briefly in
the film after Bing extracts a payment of $12,500 for each boy from
Paramount to be held in a college trust fund.
In one scene the four Crosby boys are seated in the front row at a radio show when Bracken is singing. “Where have I heard that voice before?” asks the first one. “I was just thinking that” says the next. The third says, “Aw shucks, I’d rather hear that bow-tie guy sing anyway” (meaning, of course, Sinatra). The last one says, “You’d better not let mother hear you say that.”
July 21, Friday.
Records GI Journal show #53 with Jo
Stafford, Lynn Bari, Mel Blanc, Peter Lorre, and John Scott Trotter and his
Orchestra.
July 24, Monday.
At the Decca Studios on Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Bing records “Just a Prayer
Away” and “My Mother’s Waltz” with Ethel Smith and the Ken Darby Singers
supported by Victor Young and his Orchestra. Then he records “Beautiful Love”
and “Dear Friend” with Victor Young and his Orchestra. “Just a Prayer Away” has
ten weeks in the charts and reaches a peak position of No. 4.
“Just a Prayer Away—FT; V. My
Mother’s Waltz—W. V.
There is plenty of vocal and
instrumental embellishment to the spinning of these sides. But it’s still to
the credit of Bing Crosby that it is entirely his chanting that makes this
couplet a desired one. For “Just a Prayer Away,” singing the ballad at a
moderately slow tempo, the Ken Darby Singers blend their voices with the
organology of Ethel Smith and Victor Young’s orchestra. Miss Smith’s organ
playing is pronounced throughout, and the entire company adds up to a simple
setting that heightens Bing’s simplicity in selling a song. Just as fitting and
attractive is the setting created for Crosby’s chanting of Dave Franklin’s “My
Mother’s Waltz,” rich in sentimental melodic and lyrical content, and sure to
find immediate response among the three-quarter-time fans. For the phonos,
“Just a Prayer Away” packs most of the nickel appeal where the fans are content
to give a listen.
(Billboard, March 31, 1945)
“Just a Prayer Away” and “Mother’s Waltz.”
An unusual aggregation of
talent backs up Bing Crosby in these two ballads for his mellow mood. The
Hammond Organ-izing of Ethel (Tico Tico) Smith, the Ken Darby Singers and
Victor Young’s orchestra all contribute to his support. In “Just a Prayer
Away,” Bing voices current sentiment in a manner that should keep the Dave
Kapp-Charlie Tobias song high on the Hit Parade. Less distinctive but nicely
handled by Crosby and Co. is “Mother’s Waltz.” (Decca)
(Look magazine)
July 25, Tuesday.
(6:00–9:00 p.m.) Records “Don’t Fence Me In” and “The Three Caballeros” with
the Andrews Sisters, supported by Vic Schoen and his Orchestra.
BING CROSBY-ANDREWS SISTERS (Decca) Don’t Fence Me In — FT; V. The
Three Caballeros — FT; V.
It's about time for a swell song of
the wide open spaces to catch hold of the popular fancy and if the public
likes it as much as Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters sing it, this is it.
Cole Porter for the “Hollywood Canteen” movie score has created a cowboy chant
in “Don’t Fence Me In” that packs all the infectious charm and lilt that one
could hope for. With Crosby in his free and easy manner singing it out that he
can’t stand houses and he can’t stand fences, but he wants lots of land, it’s a
lullaby that is dangerous in spreading like a prairie fire. The sisters add to
the rhythmic setting with their harmonies, and Vic Schoen’s orchestra, as per
usual, punches thru expertly with the toe-tapping beat. Underscoring, the
lovely setting, tempo is set up for the Mexican marche “The Three Caballeros,”
title tune of Walt Disney’s forthcoming cartoon feature. It’s a gay and lively
piece as pushed out by this vocal combination without any undue excitement one
way or the other for the song or its singing.
(Billboard,
December 2, 1944)
When Crosby arrived at the
studio, he was unfamiliar with “Don’t Fence Me In,” the trio’s choice for the A
side of the disc. Patty taught the trio’s arrangement of the Cole Porter
composition to him in thirty minutes, and it was recorded in two takes (during
the first take, Crosby lost his place following Patty’s solo and embarked on
his own musical journey, causing the sisters to break up in laughter). “The
Three Caballeros,” from the Walt Disney film of the same name, was recorded as
the B side. The record sold over one million copies, the quartet’s third gold
platter in less than twelve months.
(John Sforza, Swing It! page 74)
Bing Crosby enlists the aid of the Andrews Sisters for his version of “Don’t Fence Me In” from Hollywood Canteen and “The Three Caballeros.” Both Bing and the girls reach a very high standard in both. This can be
recommended as being the best record from this team so far reviewed.
(The Gramophone, June 1945)
July 26,
Wednesday. Records Mail Call show
#102. Bing is MC and the show is a tribute to the servicemen of Hawaii. Guests
include Connie Haines, Betty Grable, the Merry Macs, Harry Owens and his
Orchestra, the Les Paul Trio, and the Paul Taylor Choristers. (5:00–8:00 p.m.)
Records two songs with Louis Jordan and his Tympany Five. “My Baby Said Yes” charts briefly in the #14
spot.
My Baby Said Yes—FT; V. Your Socks Don’t Match—FT;
V.
Teaming with Louis Jordan and
his instrumental five, Bing Crosby gets as much kick in the singing as the listener
will get in its spinning. Showing that he can cut a jive lyric with the best of
‘em, Crosby adds an exciting lilt to “My Baby Said Yes,” Teddy Walter’s and Sid
Robin’s “Yip, Yip, De Hootie” ditty. It’s a throw-back to Bing’s Rhythm Boys
days, bringing on the song with an introductory patter that recalls the time he
left his Sugar standing in the rain. Jordan confines his talents to a lick of
hot tenor saxing, with the Tympany five blending their voices with Crosby on
the final stanza to carry out the side. “Your Socks Don’t Match,” whilst not as
effervescent a ditty as Fats Waller’s earlier “Your Feet’s Too Big” has the
advantage of Crosby’s song selling talents. With Jordan cutting thru lyrically
and instrumentally, the side spins in a most striking and sock manner. This
disk will do plenty of double duty in the music boxes.
(Billboard, July 7, 1945)
Bing
had no warning, let alone preparation, for the recordings he made the following
evening. He and Dixie were hosting a party when a Decca producer called to say he
had Louis Jordan at the studio. Bing and Jordan had discussed doing a session
but with Jordan on the road, their schedules had never chimed, and now that Bing
was planning a USO tour of Europe, they were loath to miss the opportunity. According
to Jordan, “He said, ‘I’ll come in tonight’ and he just came down. Nothing was pre-planned
and when Bing walked in they said, ‘Here’s the music.’” Today, one listens to
the two numbers they recorded with pleasure and unease. Meeting for the first
time, they interact like old friends, especially on the second tune, “Your Socks
Don’t Match” (previously recorded with unexpected delicacy by Fats Waller), where
they verbally joust and Jordan telegraphs his delight in an ebullient solo on alto
saxophone. Another memorable moment occurs on “My Baby Said Yes,” where Jordan
plays gruff tenor saxophone and responds heartily to Bing’s encouraging comment
“Come on, Lou.” Still, and as ever, when things go Southern, Bing can’t help
but resort to his minstrel voice, which is more pronounced on the rejected
takes than those released. No one minded at the time, least of all Jordan whose
standing at Decca and beyond rose immediately. Sales were modest (the record got
to number fourteen), but as Jordan’s biographer noted, the “one coupling gained
an enormous amount of air plays” and broadened his audience. For Bing, it added
another category to his checklist of idioms: rhythm and blues.
(Gary
Giddins, Swinging on a Star, page
404)
July 27,
Thursday. (11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m., 4:30-6:00 p.m.) Rehearses his Kraft show in
NBC Studio B in Hollywood. (4:00–4:15 p.m.) Bing appears on Johnny Mercer’s Chesterfield Music Shop
on NBC, the transcribed show having been postponed from the previous week. Bing
sings “I’ll Get By” and a duet with Mercer of “Small Fry”. Musical
accompaniment is provided by the Paul Weston Orchestra. During the day, Bing
also records a Personal Album show
with Marilyn Maxwell. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing makes his last Kraft Music Hall appearance until October 12. Guests include Sonny
Tufts who is to host the show in subsequent weeks.
Bing
Crosby, in addition to airing his own show (WEAF-9), dropped in on Johnny
Mercer’s Music Shop (WEAF-7) last night, and on both occasions proved himself a
master showman.
(Ben
Gross, Daily News, July 28, 1944)
Bing Crosby’s show has
seldom, if ever, provided a better consecutive twenty minutes than the opening
for last week’s summer sign-off (27th). Nothing dynamic or hysterical about any
of it, but consistently amusing and good. Besides, in the middle of it was
“Crawz” putting away, “It Had to Be You.” One of those plain but solid little tunes
which he has always been smart enough not to tie up too fancy, vocally. Between
John Scott’s flute obbligato and Crosby just ramblin’ along, tendin’ to his
mumblin’ it ought to become one of his wax “standards.” For this rendition,
unquestionably, rates as an example of Crosby at his best.
(Variety, August 2, 1944)
July 31, Monday.
(7:00–10:15 p.m.) Records “You’ve Got Me Where You Want Me” and “Mine” with
Judy Garland, supported by Joseph Lilley and his Orchestra.
Joined by Judy Garland, with
Joseph Lilley laying down the musical background, it’s a lively pace set for
“Connecticut,” dipping back to the slow ballad tempo as they share the wordage
for George Gershwin’s “Mine.” While neither voice lets loose on either set of
lyrics, their chanting is in good style and taste. The Crosby fans will listen
to these at home.
(Billboard, February 8, 1947)
August 1,
Tuesday. Press comment indicates that Bing is awaiting departure to entertain
troops abroad. He has had all necessary inoculations and is ready to travel by
any available means. Since the death of Knute Rockne in a plane crash in 1931,
he has not traveled by air.
August 5,
Saturday. Starting today, Bing’s recording of “Swinging on a Star” spends nine
weeks at number one in the Billboard
charts during August and September. Meanwhile, Bing has joined Overseas Unit #329 of the USO in San Francisco for an overseas trip to entertain troops. The
unit also includes comedian Joe DeRita, singer Jeannie Darrell (formerly one
of the Music Maids), dancer Darlene Garner, guitarist Buck Harris, and Earl
Baxter (accordion). Starting at 12:30, Bing
fronts a show for the
patients at the Oakland Naval Hospital. This is a tryout for the show
he and his troupe are to present overseas. After the show, Bing visits
the hospital wards.
Songs and snappy patter
delivered in the inimitable Bing Crosby manner brought cheer to hundreds of
patients at the Oakland Naval Hospital yesterday when the famous crooner and
his troupe appeared in the hospital amphitheater. Attired in one of his most
conservative ensembles, Crosby acted as master of ceremonies, served as
straight man for comedian Joe Durita (sic), then toured the wards to entertain
bed-ridden patients.
(Oakland Tribune, August 6, 1944)
August (undated). Bing
and his troupe entertain at the Shoemaker Naval Hospital and later they
give a show at the Naval Station at Treasure Island.
August 14,
Monday. Bing is issued with a USO identification card showing him to be a
civilian.
August 16, Wednesday.
Bing and his unit have travelled to New York and they put on an
extemporized show at the Brooklyn Port of Embarkation. Bing stays at
the Waldorf Astoria overnight and dines at the Stork Club with
Anita Colby.
August 17,
Thursday. The Paramount newsreel issued today includes an appeal by Bing for
the youth of the nation to return to school. Elsewhere, Bing and his troupe board the converted liner “Ile De France” bound for Europe.
August 25,
Friday. Bing arrives in Greenock, Scotland. He has given four shows a day to the
troops on board during the trip.
Crosby worked harder than
anybody; he endeared himself to everyone aboard the ship. He was miserably,
agonizingly seasick through most of the crossing; nevertheless he insisted on
putting on four one-hour shows a day so that all the troops could be
entertained, 2500 at a time—a gruelling schedule for any entertainer, even one
who could keep his lunch down, which Crosby could not, as a rule. He could have
made it easier on himself; the ship’s officers who got three meals a day and
had a very pleasant private wardroom to eat them in, sympathetically invited
Crosby to join them, but he declined. If two meals a day in the mess hall were
all the fighting men got, he said mildly, then that would be good enough for
him, and he took his green-faced place in the shuffling queue with the troops.
He did not spurn the officers’ hospitality entirely; the ship’s officers had
liquor, which the troops did not, and Crosby could occasionally be prevailed
upon to join the officers for a single highball in the evening. But then he
invariably made it a point to leave shortly before 11 o’clock in order to spend
an informal hour with Captain Lauder’s Coast Guard gunners as they changed the
watch, amiably chatting and joking, and agreeably singing any nostalgic old
song that anyone asked for.
(Don Stanford, The Ile de France)
If there were enough lads in Uncle Sam’s army of the same kidney as the paratrooper I met on the Ile de France on my way overseas, it’s small wonder we Americans helped our Allies win the last war. He was a very determined character, indeed.
The Ile de France had been converted into a troopship. In peacetime it carried between twelve and fifteen hundred passengers, but on this particular crossing they were packed together like a bride’s spoons. They slept in relays. They’d sleep eight hours, then get out of their bunks, go up on deck, and let somebody else hit their sacks for eight hours. I had a little cubicle in which I slept. It was just big enough for a bed. My door opened onto a space where paratroopers were quartered—about a regiment of them. They were a rugged-looking bunch, with crew haircuts and polished high boots. Most of them bore scars acquired during their training period. They worked off their excess energy by getting into fights nearly every day. Two or three of them climbed up into the crew’s nest and wouldn’t come down until they had seen their fill of the sea, orders or no orders. A big, blond, tough, Boston-Irish paratrooper, with a chin like a landing barge, stationed himself outside my door and waylaid me.
When I came out,
he said, “Sing-me a song!”
“I haven’t got any accompaniment here,” I said. “I ought to have at least a guitar.”
“Oh yeah?” he said. “You don’t want to sing me a song. The hell with you.”
Our troupe was made up of a comedian, a girl singer, a girl dancer, an accordion and guitar player, and me. We did five shows a day on five different decks. We started mornings and worked through until dinner, with time out for meals. But every time I came out of my cubicle, the blond rock from Boston was waiting for me and saying, “Come on and sing me the song!”
Each time I said, “Why don’t you catch me later when my troupe is all together and we’re doing a show?” On the last night, just before we were to land, I got hold of a guitar player, found the Boston strong-boy, got him out in the hall, the guitar player struck a few chords, and I sang him a solo. I selected “Sweet Leilani” for the occasion. When I was done, he harrymped, “Not bad,” turned on his heel and went back to join the crap game.
Evidently he’d been trained not to give up until he’d obtained his objective. I’ll say for him he had Situation Crosby well under control.
(Call Me Lucky, page 290-291)
Later, crowds gate crash a Glasgow
station where Bing is to catch an overnight train to London and Bing sings a
few bars of “Blue of the Night” for them.
Bing Came To
Glasgow
BING CROSBY fans
gate-crashed the platform of a Glasgow railway station last night when
Bing himself made his way to a train after short visit to the city.
Called on to sing he sang a few bars of “The Blue of the Night.” Asked
by Porter Mathieson what he thought of Scotland, Bing’s reply was to
ask all present
to sing “I Belong to Glasgow.” Bing joined in heartily.
(Daily Record,
August 26, 1944)
August 26, Saturday. In London, Bing checks in at Claridges and is later seen strolling near Marble Arch and Hyde Park. He reports to the American army headquarters. A press conference is held at Claridges during the afternoon.
“Bing”
Looks At
London
WITHOUT MONEY
OR COUPONS!
Wearing a
check sports jacket, open neck shirt, and
grey felt hat trimmed with a band
of shaded blue and deep purple
feathers, Harry L. Bing Crosby took his
first look at London yesterday. He is here
for the first time to sing to the
troops, and until his tour begins, he is staying
at a West End hotel. He went for a
stroll in the park from Marble Arch
to the Serpentine. Caruso of
crooning to his public, in private life
he is the strong silent man of the
pictures, biting meditatively on his pipe, and
saying little. A woman fan
called—“Sing, Mr Crosby,” but
he replied in a slow, scarcely
audible voice, “l only sing in Berkeley
Square!” Asked if he
intended to do any shopping, he
said—“I have no money and no
coupons. Anyhow, I much prefer a quiet
stroll around.” Before his walk,
he called at American Army
headquarters to check in to the authorities
who are planning his tour of American
camps in Britain and France. Before
leaving he was mobbed by officers and
G.l.’s. Without comment, still
unsmiling, and smoking his pipe, he gave his
autograph to all who asked for it, including
a medical corps lieutenant. In the street
he was recognised by many
Londoners, and again gave autographs. “Since the
Army took charge of me everything
has been clouded in mystery. I thought I
was going to the South Pacific, but
I landed here. I have to be back home
sometime in November. I would like to
celebrate the end of the war here, and to
sing Hitler's swan song.” “I have heard lot about the
flying bombs, but I
appear to have arrived at a lucky time,
and have not experienced any yet.” Bing is
giving his first entertainment since his
arrival to-night at the Queensberry Club. The
programme will 'be broadcast to
the Forces. He has with
him in his Company Earl Baxter, accordion
player; Buck Harris, guitar
player; Jeanne Dorrell, singer; Darlene
Garner, dancer; and Joe de Rita, comedian.
(Sunday Post, 27 August 1944)
August 27, Sunday.
Golfs at Wentworth in the morning and Sunningdale in the afternoon with Andrew
McNair, Frances Ricardo, and Commander Raymond Guest. (6:00 p.m.) Records the Variety Bandbox radio show at
Queensberry All-Services Club with Tommy Handley, Pat Kirkwood and Olive Groves
supported by Geraldo’s Concert Orchestra. The program is broadcast at 1:15 p.m.
on the General Forces wavelength on August 29. Bing gives a show afterwards for
an audience of 4,000 in which he duets with Anne Shelton on “Easter Parade.”
Goes on to Kettner’s Restaurant in Soho and has to sing “Pennies from Heaven”
to the crowd outside to get them to disperse.
I’d like to place on record
at once that all of us who have met and seen him agree that a more charming,
sociable, kindly and genial guy you could never wish to meet. . . .
The scene
was the Queensberry All-Services
Club in London last Sunday evening, 27th August. It was jam-packed from floor
to ceiling with some 4,000 excited
men and women in uniform. The
word had gone around - Crosby
was going to appear - and khaki
and blue-clad figures had stood for hours in the hot sunshine to get in. As it was, hundreds and hundreds had to be disappointed, since even the vast Queensberry Club isn’t elastic-sided.
Thanks to the courtesy of
…Six o’clock. The red light on the stage flickered its warning and then
glowed steadily. The
He bounded on to the stage and stood there, beaming while the biggest
reception ever accorded to an artist in my memory thundered through the vast hall. The minutes
ticked by but the volume of sound didn’t diminish, even though producer Stephen Williams vainly
tried to stem the tide. Finally, after many minutes, order was restored, and
Tommy Handley welcomed Bing to England and presented him with a pipe, to which
Bing made the rejoinder: “Well, isn’t that nice. What is it?”
And so the badinage went to and fro until Bing ejaculated, “Well, for ever
more” and the stage cleared and it was song time. Accompanying him at the piano
was Private James Rusin, second pianist of the Glenn Miller Band and a smashing
ivory-tickler. Bing and Rusin had never met one another before this show. They
had not rehearsed - just talked
over the numbers for a few minutes beforehand - and neither of them had any music.
But it didn’t matter. Rusin is
a first-class pianist, able to tackle
anything, and Bing is no slouch,
either. Oh! But I’m running ahead.
The female fans are dying to know what Bing looks like - and here I am talking music! Well, he looks much younger in
the flesh than he does on the films, and he’s much slimmer. He’s
baldish, but not gleamingly so, and
he’s taller than you imagine. His eyes
are just about the most vivid blue I’ve ever seen - and his tie was pretty vivid too! Then he
sang and I don’t have to tell you what that was like.
First
“San Fernando Valley” -
then (and what a gasp of joy when he announced it) “Long Ago
and Far Away” and finally, in response
to requests “Moonlight Becomes You”.
He said he wasn’t sure of the words of that one so, in the middle, he suddenly sang “Does anyone know the words to this song?” -
and this ad lib fitted the music,
and it was terrific. And so, with a nice little speech from Bing to the boys fighting overseas, the broadcast
ended, amidst tumultuous applause, and we all sat back well satisfied.
But there
was more to come. After an interval, Bing
sportingly came back and gave the boys and girls of the forces half an hour’s entertainment - and believe me that really WAS something. He gagged with comic Joe de Rita about Bob Hope and Frank
Sinatra, and pulled out two of the best cracks I’ve heard in years. One was when he announced that he and Sinatra
were going to form a double act
to go on the halls after the
war under the name of “Breathless and Hairless”. The other gag concerned Bob
Hope. Bing said, “You know, Bob and I are really great pals. There’s nothing in the world I wouldn’t do for Bob Hope, and there’s nothing that Bob
would not do for me. And that’s how we both go through life - doing nothing
for each other.” But in between
all this we had a surprise item.
Bing
announced that he was going to bring a young lady on to the stage whom he believed we liked. He
had never heard her sing but he was
told she was the Dinah Shore of this country and he wanted us to give her a big hand.
Well,
when he announced her name as Anne Shelton, there was no
need to ask for a “big hand” - she got it, a tremendous reception, and one, I think, that even startled Bing - who obviously can’t be expected to know how our vocalists rate with us.
Anne
looked as excited as any of us. It was a brainwave of Cecil Madden’s that brought her there after broadcasting
her own programme “Anne to You”
and how the audience appreciated it! She sang “I’ll Get By” very charmingly, then
- without any rehearsal, she
gagged around with Bing as if
she’d been doing it all her
life.
But when Bing said: “How about you’n me singing a duet together?”
Anne just looked into those vivid blue eyes heretofore mentioned and breathed:
“I’ve dreamed of this moment all my life.” And it wasn’t an act either; we could all see she meant it.
So they sang ”Easter Parade” - America’s Bing Crosby and Britain’s Anne Shelton, and Anne didn’t let the old
country down. Far from it. Her voice blended beautifully with his, she copied
his twiddley-bits against the melody and it was a really terrific performance.
Finally,
in response to shouts from all over the house, Bing sang “White Christmas” and
the show was over, and we
came out into the crowded streets of
Soho with thousands of people milling around to see the star leave.
Now, what
was the secret of Bing Crosby? Well, it is his
amazingly relaxed personality that gets you. There is nothing
studied or artificial about his
movements, his speech or his
singing. He’s just a natural
good guy - and he’s essentially
masculine! It was interesting to note that men and girls alike were completely
captivated by him. Tough Commandos and burly Sergeant-majors were amongst those who yelled out for him to sing
“White Christmas” - certainly not hysterical girls.
And
outside, it wasn’t what we
used to call “flappers” who waited to see
him. No - it was men and women of all ages and nationalities. It seems that the whole world loves Bing. Later that
evening, Bing was dining at Kettner’s Restaurant in Soho when the crowds recognised his car
standing outside. They chanted “We want Bing, we want Bing”, until finally he came out on to the balcony and sang “Pennies from Heaven” to the thousands of
people below.
Nor was this
all, for as it was getting dark, the crowds assembled
again and called him out. This time he sang them eight songs (sic, he only sang "Pennies from Heaven") before they would
disperse, and thousands of people shone their torches on him as he sang. Of all the Hollywood scenes in which Bing has figured, surely none can compare with the artistry and humanity of this one...
Well,
there we are. Anne Shelton said all there is to be said when I asked her what she thought
of him and she replied; “He is just
about the greatest thing that ever happened.”
In a
nation war-weary and war-torn, with “doodle-bugs” still
reminding us that the end is
not yet in sight, Bing had brought a breath of peace-time atmosphere, a reminder that there are other things in the world to get excited about than battles.
And that
evening did more for transatlantic relationship than a
hundred speeches. Thanks, Bing!
(Ray Sonin, Editor, Melody Maker &
Rhythm, September 2, 1944)
What can I say about Bing Crosby that has not been said already? He had
great talent, he was kind, and so sweet to a 16 year old girl in 1944, that was
me Anne Shelton.
How we met. I must take you back to 1944. I was broadcasting my own show
called “Anne to You” the show was live. About half an hour before I went on air,
I received a phone call asking me to come to the Queensbury Club (The London
Casino) as Bing Crosby was there, and he wanted to sing with me. I thought it
was a joke, and said “Sorry. I cannot come, as I am having tea with the King.”
About ten minutes later Cecil Madden the head of Overseas Broadcasting phoned
me and said “Anne. Bing is here and he wants you to be in his show for the boys
and girls, so, after you have finished your broadcast please come straight
here.”
My sister Eileen was with me, and she said it can’t be a joke, we had
better go along. So I phoned my mummy and told her not to send the car to the
studio, but to send it to the Queensbury Club, as I was going to sing with Bing
Crosby, she was just as excited as I was, but not as nervous.
After the broadcast my sister and I got a taxi to the Queensbury Club. When
we went to the stage door, and down to the stage the back stage seemed empty. I
turned to my sister and said “I told you it was a joke” Then I was met by an
American officer. He said “Are you Anne Shelton? I have been looking for you.”
He took me to a dressing room, and there he was, the man himself, he said “Hi
Anne gal. I am glad you came to sing with me.” For me this was a dream. He put
his arm around me and said “You O.K.?” I told him that I thought I was going to
faint. He said “with that wonderful smile? Come on you are the greatest.” To me
that was just like getting an Oscar.
We did the show, the rest is history. Our friendship lasted until he went
to the Great Showman in the Sky and I am sure God will give Bing his own show,
not just because of his talent, but because of all the good things he did in
his life on earth. You see Bing was not a phoney. He said what he meant, and
meant what he said.
I have a wonderful photograph of him in his golf hat signed “To my dear
friend Anne”, and to be called a dear friend by Bing really means
something. If anyone asked me what I
thought of Bing Crosby I would just say
‘The Best’.
(Copy of a letter written by Anne
Shelton that accompanied the CD “Thank You Captain Miller”.)
BING HOLDS UP SOHO TRAFFIC WITH ‘PENNIES’
By “HERALD” REPORTER
Bing Crosby held up the traffic In Soho last night and sang " Pennies from Heaven" from an upper window of Kettner's Restaurant a waving, cheering crowd the street below. He had just given his first broadcast in England at the Queensberry All-Services Club, where more than 3,000 uniformed men and women gave him a terrific welcome. Hundreds who could not get in waited and followed him down the street. He took refuge in the restaurant. But the crowd yelled: “We want Bing.” The millionaire crooner came to the window, held up a hand to enjoin silence and crooned—and it was “Pennies
from Heaven”
(Daily Herald - 28 August 1944)
August 28,
Monday. Takes part in a live broadcast of Mark
Up the Map with Broderick Crawford on the
One of the big events that
shook the AEFP was the arrival of Bing Crosby in August 1944. Long before he
arrived all the factions were warring over him; it became a matter of endless
intrigue whether he should appear first at the Queensberry Club or the Stage
Door Canteen.
Bing himself was the calm spot in the centre of the whirlwind.
I have never met anybody so natural and relaxed. The factions raged around the
door and in the corridor, but the object of their strife seemed not to have a
care in the world. He must have acquired this poise in sheer self-defence
against the strain of being the biggest one-man entertainment business in the world,
but it made him very easy to deal with and very nice to know.
He
did everything he was asked to do, including some things that I should have
thought anybody would have known better than to ask him: for instance, singing
in French and German for ABSIE, and taking part in our AEFP item ‘Mark Up Your
Map’. This was a daily broadcast in which we told the troops where the front
line was, according to the latest communiqués which had often not reached them
yet. Ed Kirby thought it would be a good idea to have Bing go in there one
morning and sing ‘Going My Way’, and Bing did. It was after this broadcast that
I got him up to my office to get away from the crowds, for naturally when Bing
appeared work virtually stopped in Broadcasting House. Before he left I asked
him just to walk through our AEFP offices and say Hello to the girls, and he
did. On the way out he was attacked by other
(Maurice Gorham, writing in
his book Sound & Fury - Twenty-One
Years in the
August 29,
Tuesday. At Bedford, Bing records several tracks in sessions starting at 11:15
a.m. and 3:30 p.m. with pianist Jack Russin, which are inserted into various
broadcasts and eventually broadcast in their entirety on July 26, 1945. Goes on
to the HQ of the 8th Air Force Service Command at Milton Ernest Hall, five
miles north of Bedford, for a meal and then, accompanied by Jack Russin, gives
a show for the HQ personnel. Stays overnight at a nearby country house assigned
to General Goodrich at Oakley.
The next day, with hardly a
break, Glenn [Miller] and the orchestra flew from Twinwoods Farm for a series of
concerts for the Navy down in Plymouth, Devon. Once again they were weathered
in for two days. They did not get back to Bedford until Wednesday dinner-time,
and who should be at Twinwoods Farm airfield, but the Old Groaner himself, Bing
Crosby! Bing had returned to Bedford with Russin on Tuesday. Glenn and Bing
were old friends from the early thirties, when they were both in the Dorsey
Brothers Band. The two greats were scheduled to do a series of broadcasts
together. Cecil Madden had arranged everything. Cecil remembered Bing’s arrival
well. “He really wanted to help with broadcasts to the troops. One thing I will
always remember about him was that he had very bright hand-painted ties. They
showed naughty girls on them. I said you can’t wear them over here. He began to
laugh, and then took them off. He was a real joy to work with and he remained a
good friend until his death in 1977.”
(The Big Bands Go To War, page 181)
August 30,
Wednesday. During the morning, Bing again records with Jack Russin. Starting at
1:30 p.m., he records the program A
Soldier and a Song with Glenn Miller at Bedford which is broadcast on
September 3. Goes on to London where Bing broadcasts live on the Allied
Expeditionary Forces program from the
Bing Crosby was greatly
impressed by the Band and (Don) Haynes noted an incident during a break in the
proceedings while he, Miller and Crosby were sitting chatting. Miller and
Crosby had been friends or years and Glenn admired Bing’s colorful hand-painted
tie, which was in marked contrast to his drab khaki one, the only kind he had
been able to wear for the last two years. Bing offered to swop, and taking off
his tie he borrowed Haynes’ fountain pen and wrote on it ‘Glenn Miller, AAF
Band – the greatest thing since the invention of cup mutes’, signed it Bing and
passed it over to Miller who, however, kept his tie on!
(Geoffrey Butcher, Next to a Letter from Home: Major Glenn Miller’s
Wartime Band)
A week later the British Band
played host to their biggest star yet — The ‘Old Groaner’ himself, Bing Crosby.
The day was Wednesday, 30 August 1944, and his first song was I’ll Be Seeing You. Captain Franklin
Engelmann introduced the show, which included two other songs by Crosby — Swinging on a Star and Bert Thompson’s
arrangement of the Rodgers and Hart title With
a Song in My Heart. It was a wonder the broadcast ever took place at all
because the orchestra’s leader, RSM George Melachrino, had lost both his wife
and young son when a V-l ‘Doodle-bug’ made a direct hit on their house in
London. George, who was away at the time, was heart-broken and no one in the
orchestra knew how he had the nerve to continue, but continue he did. Thanks to
ORBS the entire broadcast still exists and is an example of the orchestra at
its finest. Included is the Selby piano backed up by the strings in a really
beautiful arrangement of Sweet and
Lovely. It was a fine orchestra indeed and with Crosby it showed itself off
to the full.
(The Big Bands Go To War, page 23)
August 31,
Thursday. Bing records three 15-minute programs with Jack Russin for broadcast to
Germany from ABSIE (American Broadcasting Station in Europe) in London. He
speaks phonetic German. He is thought to have broadcast in French also. The
clock shows 5:50 (presumably p.m.) in the photo of the event. The programs are
broadcast on September 6th. at 1:30 - 1:45pm., September 13th., and September
20th. Bob Musel gives Bing a new nickname.
... Oliver Nichols with ABSIE
came to SHAEF to see if Crosby would broadcast to the Germans in their own
language. Bing had a tight schedule in personal appearances and broadcasts
before the troops on the continent and he didn’t speak German. To learn it
parrot fashion would take too much time. So Nichols came up with the idea of spelling
it out phonetically from which Bing could read. In just about fifteen minutes
Bing had mastered it and this is how he came to be known as “Der Bingle.”
Talk spelled out phonetically (accent is indicated in
Hahl-LOH, DOIT-Sheh
Zohl-DAH-ten!
Heer Shpreekht Bing
Eekh KOHM-meh zoh-AYBEHN. . .
. Ouse Ah-
dehm LAHN-deh . . . voh NEE-mahnd
Zeekh . . . fohr dehr Geh-SHTAH-poh FUERKH-tehn mooss–voh YEH-dehr-MAHNN
dee FRY-HIGHT haht . . . Tzoo
ZAH-gen oond tzoo SHRY-ben vahs ehr vill.
Eekh KORM-meh Ouse dehm
LAHN-deh
Eekh HOHF-feh, dahss
OON-zeh-rah REH-khteh . . . oond OON-zeh-reh FRY-HIGH-ten Oukh bahld VEE-dehr .
. . in OI-rehm LAHN-deh EYN-TZOOK HAHL-ten VEHR-den;
dah-FUER KEMP-fen veer
Ah-meh-ree-KAH-nehrr–
AH-behr Eekh been neekht heer
oom tzoo oikh tzoo
PREH-dee-gen, ZOHN-dehrn fuer
Oikh eyn PAH-ahr
Translation:
Hello, German soldiers! This
is Bing Crosby speaking to you. I just came from America, the country where
nobody needs to be afraid of a Gestapo–where every man enjoys the same liberty
to say and write whatever he wishes. I come from the land of Lincoln where
there is no master, no slave. I honesty hope that our liberties and rights
shall soon return again to your own country; for this, we Americans are
fighting for–but I am not here to preach to you, I am here to sing a few songs.
(Star-Spangled Radio, pages 233/234)
The Allies opened up on the
Nazis with a new secret weapon from London, this week, according to Bob Musel,
“United Press” and “Variety” correspondent in London whose story on the weapon
broke, Monday. The new counter attack to the V2 was Der Bingle, sometimes known
in the States as Bing Crosby and now, overseas, for morale work. He talked and
sang in a recorded broadcast by an American broadcasting station in Europe,
beamed to Germany. Der Bingle, who, according to Musel, is a great favorite
with the Germans, took off first in a snappy chat to the Wehrmacht, astonishing
front line observers by using reasonably good German. Der Bingle who doesn’t
speak German was asked to explain how come. “I do it with phonetics,” he said.
Consulting his phonetic chart, according to Musel, Crosby started off with,
“Hello, German soldiers, here speaks Bing Crosby, I’ve just arrived from
America, the country where nobody is afraid of the Gestapo and where everybody
has a right to say and write what he thinks.” Rippling through the Teutonic
guttural, the Bingo told the Germans about constitutional rights and what
Americans fight for, then he signaled his pianist and said, “I didn’t come here
to preach, I came to sing a few songs.” It was beautiful psychological warfare,
wrote Musel. A passing typist, asking what was going on in the studios, was
told it was Crosby singing to the Nazis, had a different comment. “To the
Nazis,” she exclaimed, incredulously, “what kind of punishment is that?”
(Variety, September 6, 1944)
(8:30–9:00 p.m.) Takes part in a live broadcast for the Allied
Expeditionary Forces program with Glenn Miller and his American Band of the AEF
from the Paris Cinema and sings four songs. The program is broadcast again on
the General Forces Programme on September 2.
The next day, Thursday, 31
August, the orchestra came into London for their weekly American Band of the
AEF broadcast. However, during the afternoon they again appeared at Rainbow
Comer for another of Cecil Madden’s American
Eagle in Britain broadcasts. This time, Fred Astaire was also on hand and
did a dance number with the trio from the dance band. This included Ray
McKinley on drums, Mel Powell on piano and Michael Peanuts’ Hucko on clarinet.
Later, at the Paris Cinema, the full orchestra broadcast their live show. Their
very special guest star was Bing Crosby. Bing again tells the story, just
before his death in 1977: “Glenn walked in during the early evening rehearsal,
and I was handing out bottles of Scotch to the orchestra. Somehow, he did not
seem to like the idea, but I said this is a freebee for the guys. That seemed
to calm him down.” Cecil Madden was also present during the broadcast. He
remembered: “Bing did not rehearse with the orchestra and at the time of the
broadcast went straight into the four songs. It was a great broadcast.”
(The Big Bands Go To War, page 182)
Crosby was completely knocked out by the band, and,
after the session was over, took off a beautiful hand-painted tie and
autographed it to "Glenn Miller's AAF Band -- the Greatest Thing Since the
Invention of Cup Mutes!"
Trumpeter Bernie Privin was immensely impressed
with Crosby's total lack of formality, especially the way it contrasted with
the Miller disciplinary attitude that he and the other rebels resented so
deeply. "I remember Glenn came in and immediately said, 'OK, fellers, let's
go.' But Bing stepped in and said, 'Hey, wait a minute. This is a freebie for
the guys, isn't it?' And he brought out bottles of Scotch and whiskey for all
of us. I got to tell you, that day we recorded some of the best stuff the band
ever played!"
(George T. Simon, Glenn Miller
& His Orchestra, page 380)
…and then it was back to the
Paris for the band’s regular Thursday evening broadcast with a surprise guest
star – none other than Bing (he wasn’t billed in “The Radio Times”)
surprisingly without an audience. He sang all the songs on the programme,
replacing Johnny Desmond, and in one, “Swinging on a Star” was accompanied by
Mel Powell and the Swing Sextet. The finale of the programme was Jerry Gray’s
classic arrangement of “Poinciana”, and earlier at rehearsal, the free and easy
Bing had come up against the perfectionist bandleader who was wont to rehearse
everything repeatedly to get it exactly right. The two men had been great
friends since the early 30s, but after running through it again, Bing refused,
saying “What, make all these boys tired? Glenn, dear
boy, just wave your baton and I’ll promise I’ll come in.”
Needless to say,
with Crosby, the complete professional it was “all right on the night.”
(Geoffrey Butcher, Next to a Letter
from Home: Major Glenn Miller’s Wartime Band)
…They were all great, but I have to
think the Glenn Miller band was the greatest. Unlike so many of the others,
Glenn was not a virtuoso instrumental soloist. And so instead of his horn he
did it with great personnel and innovative harmonic experiments producing a
sound that was his, and his alone,
I don’t suppose there was a single
listener in the United States, unless he was tin-eared and tone-deaf, who
didn’t love and appreciate the music of the Miller band.
You know, it always seemed to me that
the musicians and the leaders in those days were a breed apart. Their dialogue
was unique, and they spoke in an argot that was unintelligible to the
uninitiated, and peculiarly indigenous to the cult.
I really believe the greater part of
them were not so much concerned with how much money they earned, or what
measure of fame they achieved—although that was a consideration—as they were
with the approval, appreciation and esteem of their peers.
They decried and derided any music
that was corny or unimaginative. “Commercial” they called it.
They eschewed the route of “note for
note,” and “play it as it reads,” They believed that every piece of popular
music was fully susceptible to development and enhancement.
Glenn employed a harmonization that
was new and vastly different. If I even attempted a description of what he did,
I would be immediately adrift. I think it was the way he voiced his
instruments—it was just beautiful. And when you heard the sound, it was
recognizable and memorable. It was just Glenn Miller.
And Glenn, as a person, was just as
memorable. He was a very good personal friend, from the early days on, ever
since he performed on some of the records that I made with the Dorsey Brothers
Orchestra during the early stages of my career. During World War II, we were
united for the last time—when I sang in London with his great AAF Orchestra.
About the best thing I can remember
about Glenn, personally, was his innate taste and class. He loved good
things—musically and in his personal life.
Although he came from Colorado, I
believe his taste in clothes and life-style was definitely Ivy League. A most
attractive man, and, of course, tremendously gifted,
I have no doubt, had he lived, he
would have been a tremendous force in the popular music in the years to
come—not that he wasn’t already.
(Bing Crosby, writing the foreword to the book Glenn Miller and his Orchestra, by George T. Simon)
Later that evening Bing participates
in the opening of the Stage Door Canteen at 201 Piccadilly, with Bea Lillie,
Jack Buchanan, and Fred Astaire. The event is captured on film by various
newsreels and footage appears in Pathe News on September 7 in the UK and
Paramount News in the U.S.A. on September 18.
And all the stars were there
News Chronicle
Reporter
London’s
own Stage Door Canteen opened its hospitable doors last night to the men and
women of the forces of all the Allied Nations.
It
was a great night at 201, Piccadilly, and a free one, for it didn’t cost a
penny to hear and see people like Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, Beatrice Lillie,
Jack Buchanan, Nervo and Knox, Carol Lynne and Dorothy Dickson.
Bing
Crosby sang three songs, told a lot of jokes about Bob Hope and ended with “I’m
Dreaming of a White Christmas.” And the crowd loved it.
And
they cheered and shouted “More” when Beatrice Lille sang “Rhythm” and “Wind,”
and “Three Little Fishes.”
They
nearly knocked Fred Astaire down when he came on the stage, beseeching him for
autographs.
When
the doors opened at 7:30, as they will now for the remainder of the war, nearly
1,000 people were waiting.
There
were soldiers and sailors and airmen wearing uniforms of all the Allied nations.
And there were Wrens and ATS and Waafs and American Wacs.
Stage
Door Canteen was opened by Mr. Eden, Foreign Secretary.
(Daily News, September 1, 1944)
This was at the height of the
V-l ‘Doodle-bug’ blitz on London, and on the following day, Thursday, 31 August
1944, the Stage Door Canteen in Piccadilly opened. Among the people who opened
the now legendary Canteen were the RAF Squadronaires, Bing Crosby, Fred and
Adele Astaire, Jack Buchanan, Anthony Eden, and Dorothy Dickson. The opening
was pre-recorded by the
(The Big Bands Go To War, page 216)
Jack [Buchanan] was still,
despite his many commitments, active in entertaining Service audiences.
Probably the greatest wartime occasion of this kind was the opening of the
Stage Door Canteen on 31 August 1944. Lyons Corner House in Piccadilly had been
turned into a Forces Club to entertain the thousands of allied troops en route
to or from the invasion forces in France.
On the opening night, the place was packed with a predominantly
Anglo-American audience. In recognition of this, Dorothy Dickson and Bea Lillie
had worked frenziedly to line up some of the greatest British and American
stars. They themselves appeared and Anthony Eden came to perform the official
opening in a speech in which - thinking of the flying bombs - he said ‘They are
heading for the last round up’. Meanwhile, the crush grew even greater and
there were fears that the balcony might collapse.
At this point, Jack arrived, and as W. MacQueen Pope recalls in
The Footlights Flickered: ‘His mere
presence seemed to have a tranquillizing effect on the noisy milling crowd. He
went on the little stage, he told stories, he sang and he danced. They cheered
and cheered again. He told them what to do to make things easy - to keep the
doorways clear, those in front sit down so that all could see. They obeyed at
once.’
A little later, Jack was joined by Fred Astaire and, as Fred
indicates in his Foreword to this book, after twenty years of just missing each
other in the West End, on Broadway and in Hollywood, the two greatest musical
comedy stars on each side of the Atlantic finally got together to perform for
probably their most appreciative audience ever.
When Fred Astaire left, he was succeeded by Bing Crosby. W.
MacQueen Pope continues the story: ‘Bing was as good as Jack in his own way.
He, too, sang to them, yarned to them, cracked jokes; he signed autographs, he
was pushed about as Jack had been and enjoyed it, just as Jack did. Then the
two of them went on the stage together and for half an hour they wisecracked at
each other, right “off the cuff” and totally unrehearsed - a performance which
anywhere else would have cost many pounds. Here were two really great artists
working together, each supreme in his own line, each perfectly confident of
himself, giving and taking gags, never trying to crab each other, an example of
professionalism at its very best. It will live in the memory of all who saw
it.’
(Top Hats and Tails - The Story of Jack Buchanan, page 150)
September 1, Friday.
(10 a.m.) Having travelled overnight by train to Preston, Bing gives a show for services
personnel at Warton air base in Lancashire. Later visits the base
hospital to see four survivors of a
recent tragedy at Freckleton where an American bomber had crashed on a
school
killing thirty-seven children. Sings two songs to the children but is
so badly
moved he has to go outside to compose himself first. Gives another
concert at Warton at 2:00 p.m. before going to Burtonwood to entertain
the
American forces there. Gives one show at 5:00 p.m. in the open air and
another
show at 9:00 p.m. in a hangar. Stays overnight at Burtonwood.
Bing Crosby Sings to Infants Injured at Freckleton
Bing
Crosby, who arrived in the North-West today, went to an American military hospital,
and sang to some little British children who are still lying in a quiet ward—infants
injured in the Freckleton ‘plane crash, a week last Wednesday. The
youngsters, all of Freckleton and none aged more than six, are David Madden, of
44, Lytham Road; George Carey, of 73, Kirkham Road; Maureen Clarke, of Hall
Cross Cottage; and Ruby Whittle, of Clitheroe’s Lane.
Specifically
for these sole survivors of the 41 infants from the plane crash, Bing sang “White
Christmas” and “Easter Parade.” Hospital
orderlies, nurses, and Service patients came into the ward for the show, after
which the famous American singer sat on the youngsters’ beds and chatted with
them.
Bing
Crosby began his tour of North-West American military posts when he arrived
early this morning by train at Preston Railway station. He was met by U.S. Army
Air Force officers who took him by road for breakfast at a U.S. Air Service
Command Depot. He was wearing tweeds, an open sports shirt, and felt hat.
Every
one in the hospital he visited wanted his autograph, which he cheerfully
scribbled on request. His friendliness was infectious. “The nicest man we’ve
ever met” was the verdict of all.
Later
in the day he was the star of a show in a huge hangar where the audience was
made up of U.S. military who repair and maintain combat aircraft. The
stage was a large trailer and draped parachutes served as the backcloth. Among the
songs he sang were “San Fernando Valley.” “Sweet Leilani,” “Easter Parade,”
and, from his latest picture, “Swinging On a Star.”
(Lancashire Evening Post, September 1,
1944)
Ruby (May Whittle) recently
related that whilst she, George and little David were lying in the American
Hospital, Bing Crosby visited Warton to entertain the troops. Bing was told
about the three tots and immediately went to see them. Ruby said he sat on her
bed and held the tips of her fingers that were sticking out of the bandages. He
asked if she would like him to sing him something for her. All she could think
of were two songs that her mum always sang: “White Christmas” and “Don’t Fence
Me In”. But Ruby said that the sight of the three tots lying there proved too
much for him and Bing could not sing a note. He finally got up and went out
into the hall to compose himself. Then he came back and stood in the doorway
and sang the two songs which had been requested
(The Day Freckleton Wept, Flypast magazine)
September 2,
Saturday. Entertains U.S. servicemen of the 482nd Bomb Group at Alconbury in
Cambridgeshire at 2:00 p.m. Goes on to Duxford, Cambridge, arriving at about
6:30 p.m. and is briefly entertained in the officers’ mess before giving a show
in drizzling rain for the U.S. 8th Air Force’s 78th Fighter Group. Bing and his
troupe then travel to Ridgewell in Essex where a concert is given in T2 hangar
between 9:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. for the 381st Bomb Group.
Furloughs, recently
re-authorized for Eighth Air Force took effect for the first batch of fortunate
Group member September first and large contingent left base from each of the
organizations. Those whose furloughs began then, however, were not altogether
fortunate. For September 2 was a red letter day in the history of the station.
It was the anniversary of the opening of the Red Cross Club,
and the celebration reached heights of entertainment. Despite the pouring rain,
the celebration opened in the early afternoon with a USO show in Hanger 1. Bing
Crosby, great American radio and screen star, was the leading member of the
cast which also included comedian Joe DeRita, and songstress Darlene Garner and
Jean Darrell. Some 600 wounded from neighboring hospitals were guests of the
Group for the occasion. They were literally hanging from the rafters (not the
wounded) when Crosby opened the show. It was the most successful of
entertainment ever offered on the base.
(381st Bomb Group (H) web
site, War Diary September 1944)
In this setting, Bing Crosby
arrived with his troupe consisting of musicians, pianists, accordion players,
and singers. Naturally there were pretty girls with him. They sang and also went
through skits with him, and there was a comedian who dialogued with him at the
mike.
There was nothing novel about the dialogues; they sounded like
old minstrel dialogues, the usual slapstick stuff. But it went over big with
the crowd. The size of the crowd made the applause sound tremendous. The girls
were not outstanding, but that made no difference to the fellows. They were
girls, and that is all that mattered. And they were here. They went over big
with the boys, who always love to see and hear a girl. Then, when one of the
girls asks for a GI to come to the platform, and the episode ends with a big
hug and kiss from her—that pleases the crowd no end. The applause is
tremendous.
In the dialogue Bing merely acts as the interested questioner, the
second person being the comedian. Bing maintains his dignity. He is never the
comedian. Bing may be a singer, but he also knows “how to act.” The success of
the program was not just the fact that it was the best show to come to the
base. It was Bing Crosby himself. He was the attraction. He was the limelight.
In the first place, Bing Crosby has a pleasing personality. He
is at ease. He is kindly. He is sympathetic to his audience. He knows how to
win his audience. He sings not merely “songs,” but what is far more important,
he sings “to people.” How easily he will interject remarks to someone in the
front row while singing, words which are not in the song at all. He is clever.
He thinks fast. Then, too, he knows how to croon. At this he is the best. He
still knows how to sing: “Bl-bl-bl-blues,” and bring it up from the depths of
his vocal cords. He has a superb crooning voice.
I had quite a conversation with Crosby before the show began as
he was waiting for the men to get the stage arranged in the proper manner. He
thoroughly enjoys going around to the war camps and bases. To him, it is both
fun and a patriotic duty. He feels that it is the way he can do his part in
this war. Neither did I hesitate to tell him I thought he was doing as much
good for the men as the chaplain.
To this he remarked, “Not quite as much good as you chaplains
are doing.”
(James Good Brown, The Mighty Men of the 381st: Heroes All)
September 3,
Sunday. Having stayed overnight at Ridgewell, Bing travels to Depot 4SAD at Hitcham
in Suffolk where he puts on a show during the afternoon for the 353rd Fighter
Group and for servicemen from several other bases including those from the
479th Fighter Group stationed at Wattisham. He then goes on to London by staff
car.
When we got to France, we saw
what organized confusion could really amount to. The Red Ball Express of trucks
running a continuous supply of gas to the front lines had right-of-way all over
the roads. Bing and I went up in jeeps with our respective groups. . . . We
passed through the fantastic ruins of St. Lo, Villone, Le Mans, Etampes.
Knowing what had occurred at these places, I still could hardly believe what I
was seeing. Paris was not yet open—the
(Fred Astaire, writing in his
book, Steps in Time, page 272)
On the evening of our return, we
were told that a special entertainment was to be held nearby. Bing Crosby and
Fred Astaire had just arrived on the Continent and COMZ had arranged for them
to give a show near Valognes. Thousands of GIs brought from many parts of the
Cotentin Peninsula were seated in a large field where they could observe the
performance. The show was largely spontaneous and filled with the type of ad
libbing for which Crosby is famous. The two men appeared without their wigs and
proved to be extremely bald, a fact that served as the basis for many of their
jokes. Astaire showed his age when, after some of his more exacting dance
routines, he had to struggle against the speechlessness brought on by his
exertion. Although the two men appeared without makeup, special microphones,
and the like, they were an uproarious success.
(Pogue’s War: Diaries of a WWII Combat Historian, page 207)
September 5, Tuesday. Entertains at an army field hospital at Sainte-Marie-du-Mont with Fred
Astaire. Bing and Fred record some dialogue for subsequent use in the weekly
radio show American Eagle in Britain. Overnight they are at Le Mans.
September 6, Wednesday. Visits a prison camp at Nonant-le-Pin and then Bing and Fred give a show at the Le Mans Nineteenth General field hospital. They give an afternoon concert for the men of the 36th. Fighter Group of the Ninth Air Force at Le Mans. Fred Astaire follows Bing on the stage using Bing’s accompanists. At night they reach Etampes where they stay for three nights.
September 7,
Thursday. Fred Astaire leaves to join the First Army. Bing and his
troupe give a show at Fontainebleau on a golf course for the Ninth
Replacement Depot. Later they perform for the Seventeenth Replacement
Depot at Loiret.
September 8, Friday.
(2 p.m. and 6.45 p.m.) Bing and his troupe give two concerts at the 3rd Replacement Depot at Melun, 28
miles south south east of Paris. He also visits the Eighth Field Hospital.
…Tis rumored that Bing Crosby is
to be here this afternoon. You know he is touring the ETO and it isn’t unusual for him to be in
a place like this. If I am able to, I am going to take some pictures, and try
to get him in it, to show you later. As you move around, there are more things to
see and pictures to take. At present we are 150 miles from war front.
lV
Just went down to
see Bing Crosby and his show. Took my camera with me and had quite a time
taking pictures. There was a huge mob all around, and I thought I would get
some closeups. I walked to the left side of the stage and got some good views,
if they turn out OK.
Bing was dressed
in G.I. clothes and looked much as he does on the screen, except that he is
older and balder. He asked me to send him some of the pictures, showing you
that being away from the camera makes him like anyone else. Also took some of
the cast, a couple of girls and three men. I need to take care to keep the
pictures safe, don’t want to take a chance in losing them…
(Captain Charles
Donatelli, writing to his wife on September 8, 1944)
September 9, Saturday. The troupe leaves Etampes and after a short tour of the centre of Paris, they drive on to Meaux where they give a show for the First Infantry Division of 26th Infantry Regiment. Moving on to L'Epine, Bing meets up with Dinah Shore and they give a concert for General Patton’s Third Army at Chalons-Sur-Marne. They also meet the General himself.
THE 3RD ARMY
At Third Army Front — (U.P) Wear your Easter
bonnet, in spite of September rain. . . . Dream of
that white Christmas on a stretch of windy mud.
Three hundred GI’s stood in a sort of congealed
mass of tin hats around a large gray truck. Behind it was a line of pine
trees and behind them convoys pounded up and down a dusky road, Remnants of the
sunset were blotted out by rain squalls bearing down from the west and a few
fitful drops were whipped across the field by a sharp wind.
Harry Mendoza had finished
his magic act and Joe Derita had done a comedy turn. Now two more performers
stood at the microphone.
One was a girl with bright hair and a big smile,
dressed in a thin white shirtwaist and a flaring blue skirt. Dinah
Shore.
The other was a little guy bundled into an army
issue coat, pants and heavy shoes, with a yearning look. Bing Crosby.
A bunch of Negro engineers broke into applause.
A big truck roared by. Bing mugged, flinched
exaggeratedly and said: “I thought that was the stork.”
Bing and Dinah sang “Easter Parade,” clowning it a
little and barbershopping it a little. Then somebody demanded “White
Christmas."
Bing did this one without clowning, The GIs were
quiet. A lot of them probably were thinking that maybe this Christmas will
bring peace to Europe again, but not many dared to figure on their own chances
of spending a white Christmas at home.
The GI’s cheered
as the show ended. Dinah stepped to the microphone and said: “Thanks for the
use of your pasture.”
Big trucks pulled out with most of the
audience. USO crews loaded up the show truck for another hop to another
performance somewhere along the windy front.
(Edward W. Beattie (U.P.)
On their way back to their billet, they give a show for an anti-aircraft battery in the dark.
Today, while out
on the road I happened to see the Bing Crosby Dinah Shore show which is touring
these parts. I’m from a Gun battery, and my men man the equipment 24 hours a
day which means it’s hard to leave our area, so l requested the impossible and
asked Mr Crosby to come to us. They had just done a show and it was accompanied
by a light cold rain as evening crept slowly in, so my request was more than
difficult to fulfill. …By the time the show ended it was dark, but they still
came. Our unit is located in a lonely field and walking thru it in the dark was
magnificent - but singing a few songs and making all the boys forget for a few
minutes that they were away from home, and they’d been sleeping in holes for almost
three months or more with a belly full of K rations - that part I just can’t
find words for that could properly convey that certain grin, that ear to ear
smile and that wonderful light that those two put in their eyes again They
entertained in a hole which is protection for one of the instruments. Instead
of stage settings the hole was covered with sand bags, rifles and military gear
The stage was bad - there was almost no light, save for a glow from one of the
instruments, the night was cold and they were tired, but the audience was the
happiest bunch of guys that ever listened to a person sing. It’s not correct, l
know, but from us, to them, thru you, thanks a hell of a lot.
(From a letter from First Lieutenant Julius D. Weiner to Headquarters)
September 10, Sunday. After mass, the troupe perform for the 103rd Field Hospital and in the evening they give a concert for the Third Army Division.
Bing Crosby Was ‘Regular
Army’ to These GIs
During
World War II, I was personnel sergeant major in Headquarters Company, XII
Corps, which was the spearhead for General George Patton and his 3rd Army’s
dash across south France, Luxembourg and Germany.
In
September 1944, our unit was bivouacked in a deserted French army camp in the
eastern France town of Commercy. One evening, I was walking with my GI towel
over my shoulder when I saw a man bent over, washing his hands by the enlisted
men’s mess tent. As I neared him, he said, “Hey, soldier, can I borrow your
towel?
I
knew all the men in our company but did not recognize him. After looking, I saw
that he was none other than Bing Crosby. After I got over my amazement, we
shook hands and chatted a bit. He dried his hands and thanked me, and I went on
my way.
The
next morning, Bing, wearing a floppy hat and Army ODs with no insignia or other
ID, lined up as the last man in the chow line. When Bing got near the food, the
GI serving the chow asked him curtly, “Hey, soldier, where’s your mess kit?”
In a
slangy way, Bing replied, “Ain’t got any? Where is yours?”
The
soldier barked back, “What are you, a smart...? What’s your name?”
“The
name is Crosby,” he said, “but everyone calls me Bing.”
Bing
said later that the man almost passed out, then stammered, “Sorry, Mr. Crosby,”
running out to get a mess kit.
A
couple of days later, Bing again showed up at the enlisted men’s mess for
breakfast and was given a royal welcome this time. As Bing was eating, an
officer came rushing in and said, “Bing, we’ve been waiting for you to eat with
us at the officers’ mess. The general is eating with us today.”
Looking
up at the officer, Bing replied, “I’ve been spending a lot of time with you
stuffed shirts. Now I want some time with the working men. Give the general and
other officers my regrets.”
Of
course, Bing became a big hit with our outfit. We all thought he was a real
regular guy.
(Walker W. Smith, Reminisce, October, 2005)
September 12, Tuesday. Gives a night show for the 35th Infantry (the Santa Fe).
September 13, Wednesday.
Bing gives three successive shows in the Rex cinema at Commercy for troops in the area.
September 14,
Thursday. Visits the 39th Evacuation Hospital at Sorcy-Saint-Martin and
puts on a show outside. They travel on to Bulligny where they give a
show for the 106th Evac. Later,
Bing and his troupe put on a show for the 176th Field Artillery
Battalion which is occupying a position area near Griscourt, just west
of Dieulouard.
September 16, Saturday. The troupe travels on to Vezelise where they base themselves at an old brewery. Bing sings at the brewery in front of GIs from the 35th Infantry Division.. Back in Hollywood, Bing’s four sons film a scene with Robert Benchley for the film Duffy’s Tavern at Paramount.
Memories of Corporal Reginald
Stowe Battery C of the 161st Field Artillery Battalion (35th Infantry
Division):
“... We settled in Vézelise, in a very large brewery. We set up our tents on the heights. The town was so small that there were not many distractions for us. We spent our days in the camp. This is where Bing Crosby gave us a show. It rained all the time, and the day he arrived, we spent the morning waiting for him. His show was very beautiful, and it was exactly as it was in movies. He set up his command post in our camp, and ate with us when he was not outside.”
September 17, Sunday.
After attending mass at a local church, Bing visits the 110th
Evacuation Hospital. Heavy rain forces him to cancel a planned show.
September 18, Monday. (2 p.m.) Bing performs for the 313th Regiment of the 79th Infantry Division at Mirecourt. In the evening he puts on a show for the 314th. Regiment at Charmes and is only 15 minutes into the show when the troops have to move out in the direction of Luneville, in the vicinity of Moriviller.
In
an abandoned factory only two miles from German positions American
troops of a frontier regiment gathered today for an afternoon of
entertainment.
Every
G. I. in the outfit was on hand because word had spread that the show
would be something special, with a well known entertainer as the star
attraction. The place was packed.
After
the comedian and two pretty girl singers had completed their acts, a
familiar figure appeared and got a rousing reception from the soldiers
who had not been told who the star would be.
The
owner of a voice known to millions sang one song and was halfway
through another when word came that the Germans had started an attack.
The
order to leave was passed quickly down the line of disappointed Joes
and they marched hurriedly out to battle—leaving Bing Crosby singing to
an empty house.
(Associated Press, September 27, 1944)
September 19, Tuesday. The troupe put on a show at Frenelle-la-Grande. Bing visits the 54th Field Hospital.
September 23, Saturday. Entertains at the 53rd Replacement Depot at Mars-la-Tour in northeastern France. Goes on to play for the 69th Signal Battalion at Rezonville. At some stage he entertains the XX Corps, part of the 3rd Army under Gen. Patton.
A
slow rain that had been falling all day withdrew behind some capricious clouds
and rolled lazily across the horizon. As the sun broke thru GIs came out of the
bushes and gathered in a clearing to see a current USO show touring our present
area. The show was scheduled to start 1600 and started promptly at that time.
We all knew well in advance that the star was Bing Crosby. It was a motley group
that had gathered for this occasion—headquarters clerks that had been behind a
typewriter all day, cooks fresh from the kitchen, guards that had been
patrolling in the mud all day, men just back from the front, mechanics swathed
in grease and nurses from a nearby medical unit.
An
impromptu stage had been set on the rear of a truck. Canvas turp, once the
property of the Germans, formed a cover and backdrop. In front of the stage, a
USO orchestra assembled and started off the show with a few lively numbers.
Small tents were on the sides as dressing rooms. The men sat on the wet ground
or on their helmets, each with their weapons at their side. Even though the
star of the show was not supposed to be seen previous to his entrance several of
the fellows had the opportunity of
seeing his familiar form behind the tents swinging at an imaginary golf ball
with an old limb.
At
the conclusion of a number by the band, Crosby casually sauntered around the truck
and on to the stage amid a rousing burst of applause. This illustrious
Hollywood figure was garbed in his usual careless style of dress. He wore khaki
trousers, a GI jacket, an OD muffler that appeared to have been thrown around
his neck instead of placed. A herringbone twill fatigue hat rested
indifferently on the back of his head. A pair of brown service shoes with a
generous coating of mud completed his attire. The applause continued and increased
with vigor as Crosby unconsciously revealed bright yellow socks,
In
his nonchalant manner he opened the program by ribbing Bob Hope… After a few
minutes of chatter all of which was mirth provoking, he went into “San Fernando
Valley” with accompaniment by accordion and guitar. At the end of the song the
ovation was tremendous. His line of chatter and jokes continued as he built up
an introduction for a comedian that had recently returned from a tour of the
South Pacific— (a) fat little fellow with a big cigar and a little brown derby….
...Bing
then spoke on behalf of the entire group, saying how glad they were to be here
and doing their part in entertaining the soldiers. He said the soldiers shouldn’t
be applauding him, but that he should be applauding them and that he did and so
did the folks back home.
Parts
of this may seem mediocre to the blasé people back home, but for us GIs over
here, used to mud, sweat and monotony, it was a definite relief. The end of the
show was just an intermission for us, because the entire troupe retired to our
section where they remained for dinner. They came in the tent and were briefed
on the situation and everybody conversed with each other. On leaving the situation
map {DeRita] assured the men of our section that the war would soon end as he
had just changed the map. After dinner they all climbed in the back of a truck
and drove off in the night.
(Sergeant John F.
Milliken, Twentieth Corps in a letter to his uncle F. M. Bingham in Beverly
Hills).
While on his lengthy overseas
tour in 1944, Bing couldn’t do a show without bringing a little bit of home to
the front lines with “White Christmas.” At the time of our last interview his
thoughts went back to those bittersweet wartime days.
“Well, it was
always a kind of a wrench for me to sing the song,” he confessed. “I loved it
of course, but at the camps and in the field hospitals, places where spirits
weren’t too high anyway, they’d ask for the song–––they’d demand it–––and half
the audience would be in tears. It was a rather lugubrious atmosphere that it
created, which you can understand, because of its connotation of home and
Christmas, and here we were thousands of miles from either one. It was a rather
sorrowing experience to have to sing it for these men and women when it made
them feel sad. But I guess in retrospect that it was a glad kind of sadness.”
September 24, Sunday.
The troupe puts on a show for the 1103 Combat Engineers. Bing remains
for a mass and after the service his driver takes him into German
occupied territory by
mistake and when they reach a certain village, they turn around and
hurry back
to the Allied lines where he gives a show at Onville. Later, another
show is given at Doncourt-les-Conflans.
After the service and with a
lieutenant at the wheel of their jeep, they started for their destination.
After they’d traveled ten or fifteen minutes, Crosby became worried because the
telephone lines strung up in the battle zone by the Army had run out.
“When that happens you know you’ve gone too far,” Bing related
later. “It was raining and most of the road markers had been washed away. Then
we got to a town and I asked the lieutenant if he knew where we were. I
remembered seeing this town on a map earlier.”
“Do something for me,” Bing told the officer. “Turn this thing
around and get us out of here.”
The lieutenant turned around. That night Bing mentioned to the
commanding officer where he’d been during the day.
“But you couldn’t have been in that town,” the commander
protested.
“I sure as hell was,” Bing told him.
“That town’s in German hands,” the officer insisted.
“Well,” Bing shot back, “we had it for two minutes today.”
(The Fabulous Life of Bing Crosby, page 74)
September (undated). They
leave the Metz area and drive to Verdun where they entertain the US
Army Air Forces. Bing visits the 12th Evacuation Hospital and later the
troupe is entertained by General Bradley. They put on a show at the
Verdun Theatre that night.
September 26, Tuesday. Bing visits the 34th Evacuation Hospital and the troupe then heads for Paris where they check into the Hotel Ritz.
September 27, Wednesday. Bing
meets up with Dinah Shore and Fred Astaire and they give two concerts
for the personnel of Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force
(SHAEF) at Versailles. Bing lunches with General Eisenhower and
arranges to borrow his car.
Shortly before my tour was over, I visited General Eisenhower’s headquarters at Versailles. I’d found a memorandum in my hotel mailbox which said: “A Colonel Galt wants to see you. Please call him.” I was so busy I didn’t have a chance to call back right away, but when I mentioned the message to a friend, he asked, “Do you know who Colonel Galt is?” When I said, “No,” he told me, “He’s one of Eisenhower’s aides. Chances are the General wants to see you.”
“I’d like to see him too,” I said, “but he must be very busy and I don’t want him to think he has to entertain every itinerant minstrel who happens along.”
“If you do see him,” my friend said, “and he asks if there’s anything he can do for you, why not see if he’ll lend you an automobile for a couple of days?”
Automobiles were at a premium. Civilians couldn’t get them.
The subways had broken down and the French were all on bicycles. Colonels drove, up to the Ritz in small cars, took out chains with links as big as horseshoes and a giant lock and locked their cars to hydrants before going in for lunch. I got in touch with Colonel Galt, and the upshot was that our troupe went out to Versailles and did some shows. Then we had luncheon with General Ike and his staff, and since he liked to sing barbershop harmony, we got up a quartet. Ike sang baritone.
When I was leaving, he asked, “Is there anything I can do for you?”
“You could let me have an automobile for a couple of days if you’ve got one handy,” I said. I told him I wanted to go to Fontainebleau to see a friend from California who’d married a Frenchman and who’d been stranded there since the war began. It was true enough.
“Take my car and driver,” he said.
“When do you want them back?” I asked him. “When you’re through with them,” he said.
That was on a Wednesday. The General got his car back on Saturday. Of course it had five stars painted on it, and I’m afraid that those five stars were parked in front of a few gay spots where the General wouldn’t normally have been featured. I bumped into General Ike at the Celebrities’ Golf Tournament in Washington, D.C., around 1947 or ‘48 and he looked at me slyly and asked with a smile, “Are they taking good care of your transportation here?”
When I returned the car, I asked, “Is there anything I can do for you when I get home?”
“Yes,” he said, “you might send me some hominy grits. I can’t seem to get any over here.” When I returned to New York, I mentioned those grits at a press conference. A month later I got a cablegram from Eisenhower, “Call off the grits,” it said. ”I’ve got grits spilling over all this area.”
Kind-hearted ladies from the South had responded—some of it was cooked, some of it was raw, some of it had sauce, some even had red gravy on it. I hate to think what those cooked, sauced, and gravied grits must have looked like and smelled like after days or weeks en route from Dixie to Versailles. I don’t think Ike has eaten a grit since.
(Call Me Lucky, pages 295-296)
September 28, Thursday.
Bing is driven to Fontainebleau to meet old friends Mr. and Mrs. de
Ricou. He arranges for them to attend two shows he puts on at Chantilly
that night for the Ninth Air Force and the Army Signal Corps.
September 29, Friday.
Bing returns General Eisenhower's car and then flies back to England
from France and checks into The Mayfair Hotel. He dines with Glenn
Miller and goes on to the home of Jack Hylton, the British bandleader.
September 30,
Saturday. Entertains forces from the 7th Photographic Reconnaissance Group at
Mount Farm airfield, Oxfordshire. Returns to London for a number of parties at Claridge's and the Milroy Club.
October 1
Sunday. Catches a train for Glasgow with Fred Astaire. After being
mobbed at the Glasgow station, Bing and Fred board the liner “Queen
Mary” at Greenock
for the return trip to the USA.
I ran into Crosby again and
we had some laughs relating our experiences. Arriving in London, we were loose
for a day or so awaiting the alert to embark for home. I had chosen the boat
trip and so did Cros. We were shipped on the Queen Mary and it was loaded, but loaded. The boys were sleeping in
the halls, on the stairs, and every place. It was a good trip, with several
deviations to avoid submarines.
There were a
great many bomber boys on this trip. They were being transferred from the
European to the Pacific area mostly, as they told me. Some were just going on
long leave. They were dead tired.
Cros and his
group and I entertained on the boat a number of times in a special setup in the
main dining hall, also in the hospital sections for the many returning wounded.
(Fred Astaire, writing in his
book Steps in Time, page 278)
October 8,
Sunday. Bing and the rest of OSU #329 arrive back in New York on board the
Queen Mary.
HOLLYWOOD (AP)–Hollywood’s wandering minstrel, Bing Crosby, was home today after a four-month tour of England and the battlefronts of France.
Nothing El Bingo saw abroad touched him so deeply, he says, as the spectacle he witnessed as his troopship, the former Queen Mary, brought war-weary, wounded and spent young American soldiers to their native soil for the first time in three years.
“As we steamed into the upper bay of New York,” says Bing, “1,000 American soldiers, all of them casualties and many without hands, arms or legs, begged to be brought topside to the forward deck. These boys hungered for a sight of their homeland and the Statue of Liberty, the epitome of all they had been fighting for, all they had sacrificed.
“I cried unashamedly along with them as the Manhattan skyline came into view and we passed Bedloe’s Island where the Statue of Liberty stands. A fellow from San Diego who had lost both legs was by me as we sailed by. ‘She’s a great old girl,’ he murmured in a choked voice. ‘She was worth every bit of it.’”
(Associated Press, October 10, 1944)
Once in a while I’ve been asked what has been the most
satisfying and rewarding experience in my career. The answer is readily
available. Nothing I’ve ever done stands out like my trip overseas to entertain
the troops in England and France during the last war. If I never do anything
else, I’ll always take satisfaction in knowing that I helped some of our
soldiers relax for a few moments when they needed amusement and entertainment.
(Bing Crosby, Call Me Lucky, page 290)
October 10,
Tuesday. Bob Hope’s film The Princess and
the Pirate, in which Bing has a small but significant bit part at the end
when he steps in and takes the girl (played by Virginia Mayo) from Bob Hope’s
arms, is shown at a New York trade show and is released nationwide on October
17.
The film has a cutely novel
finish, in which ‘a bit player from Paramount’ steps in and snags the girl from
Mr. Hope’s arms. But they asked us not to tell you what it is.
(Bosley Crowther, New York Times, February 10, 1945).
The film is a very funny
topper, and the turn at the end is a switch on a bit Hope and Crosby did in one
of the former’s Paramount starrers.
(Variety, October 11, 1944)
October 12,
Thursday. (10:45a.m.) Bing gives a press conference at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. He has
lost ten pounds during his tour. At 9:00 p.m. he makes a guest appearance on
the Kraft Music Hall being cut-in to
the Los Angeles broadcast from New York. He mentions that General Dwight D.
Eisenhower would like some hominy grits.
Crosby Making
Plans For So. Pacific Tour;
Tells About Trip
in ETO
Bing
Crosby is so impressed with GI’s need for entertainment, after his eight-week
USO tour of the French and German battlefields, that he’s already making plans to
do a similar tour in the Pacific war theatre next spring.
If
possible, Crosby says, he’s going to take the same troupe with him that
accompanied him on his European appearances. These players are Joe De Rita,
comic; Jean Darrell, singer; Darlene Garner, dancer; Earl Baxter, accordionist:
and Buck Harris, guitarist, De Rita’s low comedy, Crosby said, scored especially
well with the GI’s whose comedy preference is strictly in an earthy vein.
Despite
the excellent job done by the Army with its film and radio activities, GI’s
still hunger for live entertainment, Crosby said, and opined it’s because they’re
so anxious to see a familiar face. Likewise, their taste in songs runs to the
oldies which were popular several years ago, these having an association for the
GI’s with America at the time they left it. Songs most requested were in the
vein of “White Christmas,’’ “Star Dust,” “Sweet Leilani” and “Dinah,” only
current winner called for being “Swinging on a Star.” Latter is from “Going My Way,”
Crosby filmusical, which the Army showed a few days ahead of his unit’s
personal appearances.
Crosby
averaged about 50 songs a day, he said, doing three or four shows, each about
an hour and a quarter long, plus the impromptu shows staged in hospital wards.
His pipes held out, though, because he got plenty of sleep. Nightly blackout brought
an end to the day’s performances, except for those rare occasions when a
completely blacked-out, light-proof theatre was available.
Singer
commented that the closer he got to the front, the better the men’s morale was.
He also said that Nazi attempts to lower U. S. troops’ morale, with radio
programs similar to those of the Japs’ Tokyo Rose, fail completely. Nazis, like
the Nips, use a femme announcer for these broadcasts and the GI’s have dubbed her
with an unmentionable label.
While
overseas, Crosby, in addition to his well-publicized “Der Bingle” broadcasts,
also made several singing stationbreak announcements for the Armed Forces
Network.
Crosby,
who lost 10 pounds overseas, cutting him down to 170, trained out for Hollywood
Friday (13).
(Variety, October 18, 1944)
George Murphy—later Senator
Murphy—also did some pinch-hitting for Crosby. And it was arranged that when
Bing came back from Germany, George should turn the show back to him. To make
it a real gala we added Bob Hope to the reception committee.
But Bing’s ship didn’t arrive in New York in time for him to
get to Los Angeles for the broadcast, because at that time he did not choose to
travel by air. Today he’s as happy in the sky as the Flying Nun. So we put Bing
in a studio in New York and had him do the show with George and Bob and Marilyn
Maxwell, just as if they were all together. But of course the audience knew
that it was actually a very expensive conference call they were tuned in to.
Part of the script went something like this. George said, “Hey,
Bing, guess who’s here to welcome you.”
“It must be Hope. I can hear him breathing. He gets so eager
when near a mike. Better stand back, George, before he goes berserk and claws
you.”
“Well, if it isn’t Der Bingle,” said Hope. “Same old Cros.
Jealous of us younger men who can still experience a little passion. I want to
tell you, Bing, this is wonderful.”
“Glad to have me back, huh?”
“It is so refreshing after working with you all these years to
be able to do and not have to look at you.”
“And that goes double for me, Toboggan Beak. It’s just as I
planned it. And if you think it’s easy to talk a ship’s captain into bringing
his barge in a day late, forget it.”
(Carroll Carroll, My Life With...)
October 13,
Friday. Records “Evelina” and “The Eagle and Me” with Camarata and his
Orchestra in New York. “Evelina” spends five weeks in the Billboard Best-Seller
charts with a top position of No. 9. Bing leaves New York by train and changes
at Chicago on to “The City of San Francisco” streamliner to enable him to go to
his Elko ranch where he again grows a beard. Writes from the Streamliner to
General Eisenhower as follows:
Upon arrival in New York,
I went right to work on the Hominy Grits detail and if operations were successful
some should be en route to you ere long. In an effort to clinch things, I have
two different concerns committed to this project, and unless they fail me,
you’ll be grit-happy indeed. The press has cornered me on several occasions and
wherever possible, I’ve tried to confine my remarks to the concerns expressed
in the E.T.O. [European Theater of Operations] over the growing complacency at
home. This I will accent on the radio and whatever outlets are available, and
if my small voice and those of my friends has any persuasive powers, we may
keep some of them on the ball around here. I’m grateful to the Army for
affording me the richest experience of my life. The courage, resourcefulness,
and general all-round class of our men is something every American should be
proud of, and the privilege of watching them at work is something I’ll never
forget. They are wonderful. Thanks for the lunch and the use of your car. Your
driver is a nice guy, and so capable. If I can do anything for you over
here—command me.
Bing Crosby
594 Mapleton
Los Angeles
Evelina – FT; V. The Eagle and
Me – FT; V.
In his most persuasive style,
Bing Crosby sells it like a million for these two hit ballads from the “Bloomer
Girl” stage smash. Spinning drips with magnolias and honeysuckle juice as
Crosby chants the “Evelina” love ballad, with pizzicato fiddles creating the
flavor of a banjo to accompany the singer. For “The Eagle and Me,” Crosby
starts off with the verse, taking liberty with the tempo and then hits into a
moderate rhythm tempo for the chorus. A mixed choir breaks in on the second
stanza to add vocal force to his singing. Crosby brings out all the emotional
appeal of this freedom song, and for both sides, gets excellent musical support
from the large studio band directed by Toots Camarata. Both of these show tunes
are bound to skyrocket on the strength of Bing Crosby’s song selling, and both
sides should bring in a bumper crop of coins for the music ops.
(Billboard, January 6, 1945)
October 14,
Saturday. Bing’s record with the Andrews Sisters of “A Hot Time in the Town of
Berlin” is top of the Billboard
charts where it stays for six weeks.
October 21, Saturday. General MacArthur returns in triumph to the Philippines.
October 28, Saturday.
Bing passes through Wells, Nevada en route to Idaho. Meanwhile General Eisenhower writes to Bing about the hominy grits.
Dear Bing,
Had I had the slightest idea
that you were going to say anything on your radio program about my liking for
hominy grits I would have kept still in all the languages I know. My secretary
tells me that already she has a couple dozen letters saying that hominy grits
are on the way.
I enjoyed having you for lunch. Since your departure I have
heard a number of people speak of your entertainments here, always in the
highest terms.
Again let me express my thanks.
Sincerely,
October 30,
Monday. Daily Variety reports that
Decca is concerned about competition from Columbia Records.
DECCA is peeved over Columbia’s
reissue of a complete album of Bing
Crosby records made for the
company a few years ago. Tunes were waxed during period when critics felt Crosby was in best voice of his
career. Tone was about two notes higher at the time and the numbers were all
smash hits of their day.
(Daily Variety, October 30, 1944)
November 7, Tuesday. Franklin D. Roosevelt is elected president for a record fourth
time.
November 8, Wednesday. Bing arrives back in Hollywood.
November 9,
Thursday. Bing delays a rehearsal of his Kraft show to give a press conference
about his trip to Europe.
I can quite understand why
professional interviewers, seeing him individually, would get a bad time of it.
He’s too unassuming to offer any views. Waits for direct questions and then,
being given naturally to the use of monosyllables, answers so that he seems to
be cutting them off at the knees.
In a mass interview he is wonderful. I turned out for the big
press reception thrown for Bing when he got back from England and France
recently. His references to the British and French people had about them none
of that patronizing ring which so often arouses my ire when stars “give forth
“about the heroism of London, Plymouth, Coventry and scores of other towns that
have “caught it.”
Without ever knowing it—because he’d be too polite to disparage
anyone—he cut down to a minimum the silly sort of questions which always arise
on such occasions. One press man did say, blushingly, “My syndicate wishes to
know what you think of the French women as compared with the American women.
Are they as well groomed?”
Bing replied, “I
guess they are when they’ve got what it takes.” The correspondent coughed and
persisted.
“Did they mob
you in Paris?” he asked. “Nope,” answered Bing, “they didn’t know me from Adam,
and wouldn’t have even if I’d had my toupee on, but they’d sure have mobbed me
if I’d been a beefsteak!”
Realistically, he painted for these American press people a
picture of what war really means to people upon whose homes and lives it lays
its blight. There was humour in every answer and yet there was never a moment
when his deep respect and genuine sympathy was obscured. He was trying not to
be a wet blanket, but at the same time he wasn’t going to let any one think he
had found Europe at war a place of high adventure and exciting romance. You
might think they’d know, but the fact is many do not. Bing told them. His
description of V1, given in a few lines, brought them to silence for a full
minute. Some of them had pictured a flying bomb falling in the street, making a
hole and that’s all. We were in Hollywood’s biggest broadcasting station.
“If one fell here,” he explained, “this whole building would be
gone and for two blocks all around houses would be deroofed, trees uprooted,
lamp-posts shattered … it isn’t pretty.”
“Do you duck when you hear them coming?” chirped up a young sob
sister. “You bet I did … and often when I thought I heard one and didn’t.”
Shortly after that Bing left them. He had done more to convey to Americans an
accurate picture of Europe at war than any one else I’d ever listened to, not
excluding my friends who’ve come through places like Coventry.
(W. H. Mooring, writing in Picturegoer, April 14, 1945)
(10:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m., 4:30-6:00 p.m.)
Rehearses his Kraft show in NBC Studio B in Hollywood. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing
returns as host of the Kraft Music Hall show on NBC with guest Ethel Smith.
The Music Maids have been replaced by Charles Henderson and the Kraft Choir.
The Charioteers are still regulars on the show while Eugenie Baird has taken
over as resident female singer. John Scott Trotter remains as musical director.
Audiences are asked not to applaud except at the opening and closing of the
shows. The Hooper rating for the season is 25.8 which makes it the top-rated
music show and leaves it in third place overall. Bob Hope’s show tops the Hooper ratings
with 34.1.
There were several contestants for the job. The veteran agent Cork O'Keefe, who
had helped launch Crosby's career, offered him Eugenie
Baird, the singer with the Casa Loma Orchestra (a Decca band), whose dark-lidded
eyes, pillowy lips, and hourglass body turned sober men into Tex Avery wolves.
Cork sent Crosby her latest Casa Loma recording “Don't Take Your Love from Me," and four eight-by-ten head-and-shoulders-and-cleavage
portraits that were too steamy for publication. O'Keefe confidently described
these pictures as “the clinchers. This gal really has it.” Come November, free
of her Casa Loma contract, she would have the job.
(Gary Giddins, Swinging on a Star, P.381)
Somewhere along the line that
heretofore, sock, Bing Crosby-Kraft-Comedy-Musical format that Carroll Carroll
invariably succeeded in wrapping up into one of the boff nighttime radio shows
has been lost in the shuffle. Unfortunately, what the Groaner came up with on
his initial broadcast of the new season, last Thursday (9th), was a far cry
from the entertaining stanza that made the 9 to 9:30 NBC, Thursday niche a
valuable showmanship commercial time segment.
Apparently, Crosby, if reports are accurate, has won his way.
He’s long wanted to de-emphasize the show’s comedy pattern and stay closer to a
musical format. He’s done it in spades, with a resultant lusterless quality
that made the tee-off stanza, at times, almost unidentifiable except for the
fact that the Groaner’s singing, now, as always is in a class by itself but
from the production standpoint the show’s qualities were nil.
The Crosby banter that was part and parcel of the program’s
warmth and infectiousness was completely gone and what was left was something
that approximated the insertion of an ordinary daytime, Crosby, transcribed
show into nighttime programming. The initial rating won’t tell the story, for,
unquestionably the Groaner’s legion of fans were on hand to welcome him back,
expecting the usual fare but as a safe bettor, the Hooper’s and the Crosley’s,
in the next five or six weeks will be very revealing if Crosby stands pat on
the format that prevailed last Thursday.
Crosby has contracted a new femme singer, Eugenie Baird, whom
he caught in Chicago while she was singing with the Casa Loma Orchestra. She
has a pleasant enough voice but nothing particularly outstanding. Her “Always”
and “It Could Happen to You” registered well, as did her duet with Crosby on
the medley of “Going My Way” tunes [“Always” was her duet with Crosby not the
medley—author] but she won’t burn up those kilocycles and even Crosby’s
segueing into the “pic” medley had a definite corny quality, somewhat in
keeping with the new switch in tempo and somehow suggestive of the “. . . and
then I wrote” boys.
Ethel Smith, the organist who appeared in Metro’s Bathing Beauty was the initial guest and
while there is rhythm and dexterity in her fingering, the question is still in
order, “What’s she doing on the Crosby show,” even if it was a last minute
substitution after Rise Stevens canceled herself out. The Charioteers and the
John Scott Trotter Orchestra came through in their usual fine manner and Ken
Carpenter’s commercials were models of restraint but for a Crosby show, this
was all very strange.
(Variety, November 15, 1944)
November 14,
Tuesday. (7:00–7:30 p.m.) Bing appears on Bob Hope’s radio show on NBC with
Frances Langford and Jerry Colonna. The show comes from the Los Alamitos Navy Air Station, near Long Beach.
November 16,
Thursday. (11:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m., 4:30-6:00 p.m.) Rehearses his Kraft show in
NBC Studio B in Hollywood. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) The Kraft Music Hall show broadcast. Frank Sinatra makes his first
guest appearance on Bing’s Kraft Music
Hall radio show, joining the program from Buffalo, New York. A medley of songs from
the rehearsal is issued on V-Disc.
The
meeting of the century takes place tonight. Frank Sinatra will be Bing Crosby’s
guest on the NBC-WBMG Music Hall at 9 o’clock. But—Sinatra will be in New York—Crosby
in Hollywood. Until now only the armed forces have heard them together. The show
will be musical, save for a brief exchange of words between Crosby and Sinatra.
The new vocalist, Eugenie Baird, and John Scott Trotter’s orchestra will also
be on hand.
(Richmond Times-Dispatch, November 16,
1944)
November 17,
Friday. Bing records GI Journal show
#69 with Joan Blondell, Pat Friday, Mel Blanc, Jimmy Durante, and John Scott
Trotter and his Orchestra.
November 20,
Monday (5:30–5:55 p.m.). Bing takes part in Frank Sinatra’s Vimm Vitamins radio
show on CBS and sings parodies in a duet with him. This time it is Bing who is
cut in from the West Coast to the show which is taking place in New York.
Frank Sinatra had a lot of
nerve, getting into the same ring with an ad-lib artist as deadly as Bing
Crosby but he got away with it with a whole skin, last Thursday (16th) on
Crosby’s show and again Monday (20th) with the initial broadcast of his own Vim
show at its new time.
Crosby started out, last week, as though he was going to take
Sinatra’s hide off with gag-gloved barbs that left the Voice almost unable to
cope with the barrage. It all was capped by a parting crack by Crosby about “a
lovely orchestra” after Sinatra did a fine job on “These Foolish Things.” The
Groaner’s comment on the sixty-piece band under Alex Stordahl’s baton was
deserving, however. It was brilliant.
On his own show, Sinatra at least came out even with Crosby
which isn’t a pun on the fact that they finished in a duet. Crosby wasn’t quite
so sharp, Sinatra taking most of the play, almost immediately, with a crack
about the grand old man of all crooners and doing a right good job of parrying
and tossing them back from thereon. Crosby contributed “I’ll Be Home for
Christmas” as his guest contribution, later going into a duet with Sinatra in
which they, laughingly, derided each other’s ability. It was good stuff and so
was the idea of pairing them in such a way. Exchange shots might have been
better had the two been in the same studio, at that, technicians did a crack
job on the pick-up. Sinatra being in the East and Crosby, in the West for each
broadcast.
(Variety, November 22, 1944)
November 22,
Wednesday. Records Mail Call show
#120. Bing is the MC with guests Rise Stevens, Garry Moore, and the Andrews
Sisters. The show is dedicated to the amphibians.
November 23, Thursday. (11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m., 4:00-6:00 p.m.) Rehearses his Kraft show in NBC Studio B in Hollywood. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall show. Guests include Rise Stevens.
Rise Stevens, “Glamor Girl of the Mets,” will sing “The Last Rose of
Summer,” and “Through the Years” when she appears as guest on the Bing Crosby
show at 9 p.m. over WHO.
(The Des Moines Register, 23rd November, 1944)
(8:30–10:00
p.m.) Bing, Jack Benny, and Eddie Cantor act as emcees on the NBC Sixth War
Loan Drive program “Let’s Talk Turkey to Japan”.
One of the most successful
war loan programs was broadcast on Thanksgiving evening, November 23, 1944,
from 8:30 until 10:00 P.M. Pacific War Time. Carried on the NBC network and titled
“Let’s Talk Turkey to Japan,” the Sixth War Loan Drive aimed to raise $5
billion for the war effort. The program featured show business personalities,
such as Robert Young, Jack Haley, Bob Hope, Joan Davis, Jack Benny, Amos ‘n’
Andy, and Kay Kyser and his orchestra, performing skits and scenes to encourage
war bond purchases. Others with prominent parts in the show were Bing Crosby
singing ‘Accentuate the Positive’ and ‘White Christmas’; the Ken Darby Singers
performing ‘Let’s Talk Turkey To Japan’ and ‘The Time Is Now’ (‘The time is
now/The time is now/It’s time to read the writing on the wall’); Dinah Shore
singing ‘Always’ and ‘Together’; Ginny Simms performing ‘The Man I Love’; Dick
Powell singing ‘You Always Hurt the One You Love’; and Eddie Cantor performing
a medley of George M. Cohan songs: ‘Yankee Doodle Dandy’, ‘Harrigan’, ‘Mary’s A
Grand Old Name’, ‘Give My Regards to Broadway’, ‘You’re a Grand Old Flag’ and
‘Over There’. The program concluded with the NBC orchestra and the Ken Darby
Chorus performing ‘The Star Spangled Banner’, while Eddie Cantor made one more
plea for Americans to give ‘everything we have. We don’t dare make it easy on
ourselves…when by doing so, we make it harder on the men who are fighting for
us!’
. . . Introducing ‘White
Christmas’ during his performance on NBC’s Sixth War Loan Program, ‘Let’s Talk
Turkey To Japan’, Bing Crosby said, ‘On a holiday like this,….is when our men
fighting overseas….have to swallow the biggest lumps….think (ing) of the cozy,
quiet warmth of home on a holiday…They asked to hear, ‘White Christmas’….I
hesitated…it…made them sad. Heaven knows making them sad wasn’t my job…but
every time I tried to slack it they’d holler for it. Sometimes we all got a
little dewy-eyed. You can’t know….and yet you must know how… (sings) ‘They’re
dreaming of a White Christmas…’
(God Bless America – Tin Pan Alley Goes To War)
November 27, Monday.
Bing responds to the letter he has received from General Eisenhower (1). He also writes to makeup artist Harry Ray. (2)
(1) I am sorry if my little slip
on the radio caused you to be deluged with shipments of grits. At any rate you
are now “loaded” with this delectable commodity, and should have enough to
supply Supreme Headquarters with ease.
I have learned since coming home that returning actors have to
be awfully careful what they say on the radio, or for the press. It was my
first intention to say nothing about the trip because I feel actors should not
be taking bows for doing so little when others are doing so much. But the
people at home are so hungry for news, and the news-hounds chase you so
desperately that it is impossible to avoid saying something or other.
Unfortunately whatever is said is quite apt to be misquoted, and I hope if this
has happened you will understand the sentiments were probably not my own.
We are working hard now on the Sixth War Loan, and hope the
results will convince the men over there there’s no letup in support from the
people at home.
With sincere personal regards, and thanks
for allowing me to visit the E.T.O.
Your friend, Bing
(2) ...There have been many
switches at Paramount since last you stole money there. The current boss of the
joint is Ginsberg; Frank Freeman, according to Barney Dean, is going into vaudeville
with his dogs. I guess you have heard that Hope is currently on suspension, and
there’s no immediate prospect of his difficulties being straightened out. I have
just finished pulling him through a picture for Goldwyn, called The Princess and
the Pirate, but I can’t keep doing this forever, so he is fighting for only two
pictures a year at Paramount instead of the four he contracted for. I imagine by
the first of the year some sort of a compromise will have been worked out...
(As quoted by Gary Giddins, Swinging on a Star, pages 490)
November 29, Wednesday.
Bing writes to Captain Charles Donatelli, whom
he met in France on September 8.
You are
certainly a nice fellow to remember your promise and send me the pictures taken
at Melun when our little show appeared there for the 3rd Replacement Depot.
Incidentally, they are very fine pictures. If you have any extra prints of the
one in which the comedian, myself and the little girl appear, the one in which
she appears alone with the accompanist, and the one with the four performers
together, I know they would appreciate copies.
If there is any
way I can serve you here in Hollywood, feel free to call upon me.
Hope you and
your pals soon get out of the end of France, and back home where you long to
be.
Sincere regards,
Bing.
November 30, Thursday.
(11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m., 4:30-6:00 p.m.) Rehearses his Kraft show in NBC Studio B
in Hollywood. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Spike Jones and his City Slickers.
During the day, Bing also records a Personal
Album for the AFRS.
Bing Crosby’s musical colleagues on the Kraft Music Hall will be Spike
Jones and his City Slickers tonight at 8 o’clock over WMAQ. Bing will be joined
by his new singing partner, Eugenie Baird, the Charioteers, and John Scott
Trotter’s orchestra. Shortly after Spike and the City Slickers returned from
their overseas entertainment tour they dropped by KMH to visit “The Groaner.”
However, they missed Crosby who had just left to visit servicemen at the same
front where Spike had been, France. The only dim spot in Spike’s overseas tour
was the fact he missed the chance to play his famous “Der Fuehrer’s Face” for
Hitler.
(Belvidere Daily Republican, 30th November, 1944)
Crosby Guesters Need Good Acts Not Just Names
What may possibly cure new
trend on spotting of guest stars on air shows has the trade watching, with more
than casual interest, the policy laid down by Bing Crosby for his Thursday
night, Kraft Music Hall program. It takes on additional significance in view of
the zooming price tags for one shot artists that many fear might, eventually,
snafu radio, unless curbed. Crosby edict is for come on talent that can stand
on its own, as a boff act without too much regard for name values. This hiring
of a top flight star, simply because he or she’s a star and can command a
fabulous fee, is out. Similarly, it will cue the exit of picture plugs from the
air show. Some believe Crosby’s hit on something, particularly in view of the
fact that a lot of the guesters with real talent and an act to sell are out of
that swell-price-tag-class. Crosby, incidentally, has gradually been segueing
back into his banter routine, in contrast to KMH’s opening, ‘music only’ broadcast.
(Variety, December 13, 1944)
December 4,
Monday. Records some of the songs from the film Here Come the Waves with John Scott Trotter and his Orchestra but
two of the songs are rejected. During the day, Bing also films a parody of
“Swinging on a Star” in the film version of Duffy’s
Tavern with a host of guest stars including Dorothy Lamour, Cass Daley and
Billy De Wolfe. The film features Ed Gardner, and Bing’s four sons make a brief
screen appearance together. Bing is paid $11,000 for his appearance. Later he dines at The Brown Derby at 1628 North Vine
Street and picks up the ticket for a couple of sailors dining there also. The
sailors obtain his autograph on the menu.
Let’s Take the Long Way Home - FT; V. I Promise You - FT; V.
Two beaut ballads from his
“Here Come the Waves” screen starrer, Bing Crosby comes thru with his usual
vocal éclat for each of the sides. Singing ‘em in his most appealing manner,
striking a rich sympathetic note in his voice, Crosby sells it strong in the
slow ballad tempo with his vocal dreaming for a single chorus of the 64-bar
“Let’s Take the Long Way Home.” With the tempo stepped up lightly, gives full
expression to the deep and abiding love truth sustained by the “I Promise You”
song. On both counts, the soft strings and sustained brass harmonies designed
by John Scott Trotter, create the desired musical effect to frame the romantic
vocalsetting. Of the two sides, “Let’s Take the Long Way Home” shapes up
stronger for the phono play.
(Billboard, February 24, 1945)
December (undated). Sings two songs in the film short Sing with the Stars accompanied by Lt. Jimmie Grier conducting the Eleventh Naval District Coast Guard Band. This is for the Army-Navy Screen Magazine series.
Bing
Crosby is kept busy these days with many activities outside his regular stint
on Thursday night’s Music Hall. There are appearances on various radio programs
such as “Mail call” and “Command Performance,” for the boys overseas; motion
picture features exclusively for the Army and Navy and treks here and there to
camps and hospitals within a radius of a few hundred miles of Los Angeles.
Bing’s
latest short feature film will be released shortly for the U. S. Army Signal
Corps and will not be shown to the civilian public. With Captain Claude Binyon
as producer, the one-reeler, “Sing With the Stars,” and was directed by Mark
Sandrich.
In
this short subject, “Der Bingle” sings two songs “Don’t Fence Me In” and “Accentuate
the Positive”. Pittsburgh’s Jimmie Grier and his Coast Guard band accompany
Bing and provide several musical numbers. The scene for the short subject is a café
floor show, with Bing wearing high hat, white tie and tails. He puts on about
the same routine as his “warm-up” on the Music Hall and on his visits to camps
and hospitals.
Leo
“Ukie” Sherin makes his first appearance as a motion picture personality,
feeding Bing with “Comeback” lines as he used to do on the Music Hall for
comedy purposes.
“Ukie”
was greatly impressed with the make-up department headed by Wally Westmore, who
gave him the “business” with grease paint and powder.
While
he sang his songs, Bing had a high-priced star audience including Judy Garland,
Rags Ragland, Lucille Ball and Lana Turner, who visited the set to hear “The Groaner”
sing.
(The Pittsburgh Press, March 25, 1945)
December 6, Wednesday Mail Call show #122 is recorded starring Bob Hope, Humphrey Bogart, and Betty Grable. They all take part in a sketch based on Hope’s film The Princess and the Pirate and Bing walks on at the end to reprise his cameo appearance. (10:00–11:00 p.m.) Bing and Bob Hope emcee “The Show Goes On” (on NBC) to raise money for the Sixth War Loan. Fred Astaire, James Cagney, Frances Langford, Dinah Shore, and Edgar Bergen are featured on the hour-long show. Meredith Willson conducts the orchestra.
Every
once in so often one of those dream shows pops up in radio—the kind that would
provoke sponsor somersaulting if they could reasonably approximate it. “The Show
Goes On,” put on last Wednesday night (6) cooperatively by the War Activities
Committee of the motion picture industry and NBC as a feature of the Sixth War
Loan, to tie in with the free pix admission for each bond purchase on the third
anni of Pearl Harbor, was that kind of a program.
Take
a look at that $1,000,000 parlay: Bing Crosby and Bob Hope to wrap up emcee
jobs (and what a wham routine!): Edgar Bergen & Charlie McCarthy, Jerry
Colonna, Paulette Goddard, Dinah Shore, Frances Langford, Adolphe Menjou, Merle
Oberon, Fred Astaire, Larry Adler, James Cagney, Maj. Meredith Willson batoning
the orch! (Jack Benny was skedded for a cut-in from Palm Springs but was killed
off by line trouble.) Not just an on-again, off-again succession of star-acts
to project the overseas “soldiers in greasepaint” campaigners into the limelight,
this was an hour of boff entertainment from intro to signoff. And all wrapped
together with a sock production job sparked by Mann Holiner and a top-drawer scripting
contrib paced by Carroll Carroll.
Here’s
a show that merited a four-network hookup in the “heart” of the evening. This
was the hypo that those snail-paced E bond sales needed. For that
multiple-millioned audience would have paid off with an addition dividend. But
what happens! One of the top radio shows of the year is tucked away in the quiet
11:30-12:30 (EWT) nighttime spot. After all, it wasn’t much trouble yanking out
the Arthur Hopkins dramatic sustainer which occupies that niche. Yet here was a
gold-mine package of solid showmanship virtually wasted. It would be interesting
to get a Hooper on the number of people who heard the show to match it against
a four-web potential audience draw and translate into terms of actual bond
sales lost.
(Variety, December 13, 1944)
December 7,
Thursday. (11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m., 4:30-6:00 p.m.) Rehearses his Kraft show in
NBC Studio B in Hollywood. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Diana Lynn. Eugenie
Baird continues as resident female singer. Songs from the show are issued on
V-Disc.
Diana Lynn will prove she is a pianist as well as a dramatic actress
when she guest stars with Bing Crosby on the NBC-WMBG Music Hall at 9 p.m. Miss
Lynn has chosen the stirring “Warsaw Concerto” as her piano solo.
(Richmond Times-Dispatch, 7th December, 1944)
December 8,
Friday. (6:00–8:30 p.m.) Records “Ac-cent-tchu-ate the Positive” and “There’s a
Fella Waiting in Poughkeepsie” with the Andrews Sisters. (9:00 p.m. till
midnight) Records “Put It There, Pal” and “Road to Morocco” with Bob Hope. Vic
Schoen and his Orchestra provide musical accompaniment throughout the evening.
“Road to Morocco” charts briefly in the No. 21 spot.
Bing Crosby assisted by the Andrews
Sisters produces a perfect version of “Ac-cent-tchu-ate the Positive” and
“There’s a Fellow Waiting in Poughkeepsie,” both of which are, of course, from
the film Here Come the Waves.
(The Gramophone, July 1945)
Put It There, Pal—FT; V. Road to Morocco—FT; V.
From the standpoint of
merchandise, there is mucho mucho in the mating of Bing Crosby and Bob Hope to
introduce the label’s new Specialty Series. But as much as one must admire the
artistry of both gents in their respective fields, neither Bing nor Bob give a
fair sample of their talents in this spinning. As a matter of fact, it’s a case
where singer Bing tries to turn comic and funny man Hope casts himself as a
singer. The net result is a nonentity. Were it not for the names involved, it
can all pass off as a home-spun ham on the part of a pair of parlor wits.
Crosby and Hope merely have a session of synthetic fun, leaving the listener to
wonder what it is all about. Even with the song material, it’s much ado over
nothing. Both selections are of the novelty genre, scooped up skimpishly by
Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke for movie scores. “Put It There, Pal” is a
feeble attempt to create a “Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Shean” pattern. But it never
does. “Road to Morocco” displays even less ingenuity as song material for such
a high-powered pair. Hope, who needs more expanse than what a confiding platter
can afford, signs off with an under-breath murmur—“We can be arrested!” And he
ain’t kidding, bub! Vic Schoen’s musical beats, keeping the spinning bright,
should help to bring in some nickels strictly on the novelty strength of the
pair of big names involved in this needling.
(M. H. Orondenker, Billboard, November 24, 1945)
December 11,
Monday. (5:00-8:30 p.m.) Recording session in Hollywood with John Scott Trotter
and his Orchestra when three songs are recorded.
More and More—FT; V. Strange Music—FT; V.
In his most appealing lyrical
fashion, Bing Crosby peels off both sides of this platter. With John Scott
Trotter painting a particularly colorful background, it’s Bing giving out from
the heart and not merely from the throat. Moreover, the song selectivity is top
drawer, giving a bright beat to both “More and More” and from the operetta
“Song of Norway,” the love lyrics of “Strange Music.” Both sides are Crosby
specials, with the more commercial song in the screen’s “More and More” making
for immediate phono play.
(Billboard, March 10, 1945)
December 12,
Tuesday. Decca Records announces that “White Christmas” by Bing is the top
record seller of all time and has now sold two million records. Decca says that
the record will sell more than 500,000 copies this year.
Crosby's disking of ‘Christmas’ over 2 million.
Hollywood, December 12
Decca Records claims that
Irving Berlin’s ‘White Christmas’ as recorded by Bing Crosby is the top record
seller of all time with a total of more than two million discs. First waxed in 1942, the tune will sell more
than 500,000 records this year.
(Variety, December 13, 1944)
December 14, Thursday.
(11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m., 4:30-6:00 p.m.) Rehearses his Kraft show in NBC Studio B
in Hollywood. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft
Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Jerry Colonna. Later, he is again at
Paramount filming some more of his contribution to Duffy’s Tavern. Filming continues until 11:30 p.m.
“Professor” Jerry Colonna will have the opportunity to give his
“baritone of baritones” a workout when he appears with Bing Crosby on the
NBC-WMBG Music Hall at 9 p.m.
(Richmond Times-Dispatch, 14th December, 1944)
December 15, Friday. Glenn Miller disappears while on a flight from England to France. (9:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m.) In Hollywood,
Bing records three songs with John Scott Trotter and his Orchestra, including
“These Foolish Things.”
December 16,
Saturday Bing records a guest appearance on Command
Performance #154 with Bob Hope (MC), Lauren Bacall, the Andrews Sisters,
Stan Kenton and Anita O’Day. Later, Bing also records Command Performance #155 with Bob Hope (MC), Ann Sheridan, the
Benny Goodman Quartet, and the Andrews Sisters. Bing’s recording of “Don’t
Fence Me In” with the Andrews Sisters reaches number one in the Billboard charts where it spends no less
than eight weeks. Also, his recording
of “White Christmas” makes its annual appearance in the pop charts, peaking at
number five over a three-week period.
December 17,
Sunday. Starting at 1:00 p.m., Bing and Willie Hunter play Bob Hope and Olin
Dutra in a fund-raising golf match for the
December 18, Monday. (7:00-7:30 p.m.) Bing, in Hollywood, is cut in to a radio program called “Vox Pop” on CBS which
features the WAVES. The show comes from Hunter College in New York where background scenes for the Crosby film Here Come the Waves were filmed.
Bing
Crosby (in person - not a phonograph record) will join “Vox Pop’s salute to the
Navy’s WAVES when Parks Johnson and Warren Hull go “aboard” the U. S. Hunter –
which is really a Naval Training School at Hunter College, New York, and not a
boat at all.
(Norman
Travis, The Indianapolis News, December
18, 1944)
Ripples
of “oohs” and “aahs” from WAVES at Hunter College greeted Bing Crosby’s song
serenade to them. (Vox Pop, WABC-8:15).
(Sid
Shalit, Daily News, December 19, 1944)
December 19,
Tuesday. (7:00–7:30 p.m.) Guests on Bob Hope’s Christmas show on NBC with
Frances Langford, Vera Vague, and Jerry Colonna. The show comes from the Russ
Auditorium, San Diego in front of an audience of 2400 WAVES and is followed by
a special showing of Here Come the Waves.
December 21,
Thursday. (11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m., 4:30-6:00 p.m.) Rehearses his Kraft show in
NBC Studio B in Hollywood. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include the Kraft Choral Club.
Bing Crosby will present a special Christmas program at 9 p.m. over NBC
and WMBG. A feature will be two vocal renditions by the Kraft Choral Society.
(Richmond Times-Dispatch, 21st December, 1944)
December 23, Saturday.
Bing takes part in an exhibition golf match at Santa Maria with Sam Snead for the benefit of
the S.M.A.A.F. (thought to mean the Santa Maria Army Air Field, Santa Barbara
County). He later entertains the wounded at the local hospitals.
December 24,
Sunday. (3:00–4.00 p.m.) Stars in the Philco
Radio Hall of Fame show on the Blue Network with The King's Men, Orson
Welles and Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra. He is also reunited with the troupe
who had accompanied him to Europe, namely Joe DeRita, Jeannie Darrell, and
Darlene Garner. The show comes from the Earl Carroll Theater/Restaurant in
Hollywood. Bing is the MC and also takes part in a reading of “The Happy
Prince” with Orson Welles. Bing is paid $7500 for the show. In the evening,
Bing and his four sons appear at the Hollywood Canteen on Cahuenga Boulevard
and sing together.
However, on Christmas Eve, he
received a telephone call from Bette Davis who, with John Garfield, founded The
Hollywood Canteen in a former Sunset Strip nightclub site. The canteen was a
marvelous idea, one of the most effective of all morale builders. Stars would
entertain, wash dishes, wait on tables, mingle and dance with military
personnel, radical departure from prewar custom when stars led sheltered lives
seldom appearing at public functions and rarely glimpsed in person by the
masses.
Davis told Crosby a scheduled
celebrity had decided he did not wish to sacrifice his Christmas Eve to
entertain the troops. The canteen was packed, she said, and the young men and
women would be disappointed. Crosby bundled up his four small sons and drove to
the canteen where they sang carols and he answered requests for more than two
hours.
In her memoirs, Davis
recalled how groans changed to bedlam when she batted her enormous eyes and
said: “Our scheduled star is unable to appear tonight.” And, after a dramatic
pause, “but we do have a substitute. Bing Crosby.”
(Troubadour, page 273)
December 25,
Monday. (9:00-11:00 a.m.) Rehearses for his afternoon broadcast. (1:00–3:00
p.m.) Bing, Bob Hope, and Jack Benny star in the two-hour Elgin Christmas Party radio show on CBS. Don Ameche acts as MC and
other stars taking part include Ginny Simms, Burns and Allen, Carmen Miranda
and the Les Paul Trio. Louis Silvers and his Orchestra provide musical support.
Bing sings “Don’t Fence Me In”, “Moonlight Bay” and “White Christmas”. He
mentions another make of watch (Bulova) much to the annoyance of the Elgin
company.
One of the finest comedy
sequences of 1944 was that between Bing Crosby and Bob Hope on the Christmas day
two hour all-star variety show over CBS. This team rarely lets its following
down, but Monday it hit an all-time high, making even mistakes count for big
laughs from the serviceman canteen audience. At one time Crosby forgot a line
of the ballad he was singing, so Hope interrupted him from somewhere in the
gallery with an insulting offer of help. They made much fun with Bing’s horses
which soon will get a rest when the racing industry folds in January. Hope said
he thought that would be a break for the glue industry, although it might put a
hole in Crosby’s radio material. Crosby countered, “Yes, and it’ll set you back
six or seven programs, too.” But Hope had the last line, as usual, with “Yes,
and I see you’re wearing one of your horse’s blankets today,” obviously a
reference to a colorful Crosby shirt.
(Richard K. Bellamy, Riding
the Airwaves, The Milwaukee Journal, December 26, 1944)
December 27,
Wednesday. Bing and Bob Hope golf with Sam Snead and Craig Wood in a pro-am at
Lakeside Country Club. Both Bing and Bob shoot 76s. (7:30 p.m.) Bing and Bob
Hope headline the National Sports Award dinner at the Biltmore Bowl which is also broadcast by station KMPC. In
New York, the premiere of Bing’s film Here
Come the Waves takes place at the Paramount.
Paramount and its favored son, Bing Crosby aren’t going precisely the same way that they went in Mr. Crosby’s last picture—and everyone knows which way that was—but they are taking an agreeable turn together in “Here Come the Waves,” which trooped into the Paramount yesterday. They are ambling along that vein of comedy, with vamped-in music, that Mr. Crosby used to rove, and they have Sonny Tufts and Betty Hutton as convivial companions this time. Sure, the traveling is nothing like as charming as it was on that last prize-winning tour, but it offers a few attractive vistas and several gaily amusing jolts.
In this one our old friend, the Bingle, doffs mufti for nautical attire and plays a swoon-throwing crooner who becomes a member of Uncle Sam’s fleet. As a gob he runs into Miss Hutton playing twin sisters, both of them Waves—one a dignified lady and the other a jive-happy chick. He also becomes somewhat violently involved with Mr. Tufts, who is likewise a side-wheeling sailor with a strong luff toward one of the girls. And, what with confusion of identities and a Wave recruiting show to put on, a plot of comic sorts is concocted and the musical numbers are hauled in.
Mr. Crosby sings most of the latter, either solo or in company with his pals, and does very nicely by them, as he does by his droll and genial role. “Accentuate the Positive,” which is sung with Mr. Tufts, is probably the best of the several Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer tunes. Miss Hutton, in her broader characterization—meaning that of the more rambunctious sis—is also terrific in a gag song called “Strictly on My Own Tonight.” Regarding Miss Hutton’s dual performance, it should not be mistaken for high art, but it certainly can be commended as very vigorous virtuosity. And Mr. Tufts is dry and diverting as a mildly disturbing element.
There are several scenes in the picture of Waves in training which are atmospherically good, and the settings contrived for the Wave show are well above regulation grade. Paramount, in short, has been generous to the service in every respect. But the humor is the best part of the picture—and the best part of the humor is that which has Bing crooning in travesty of a famous “swooner” who shall be nameless (just this once).
(Bosley Crowther, New York Times, December 28, 1944)
A kinda corny title, “Here Come
the Waves” manages to surmount the handle and emerges as a tiptop film.
Der Bingle, the effervescent Betty Hutton in a double role, and
Sonny Tufts are an undeniable marquee and b.o. parlay. They play it across the
board for a clean sweep.
Interspersed in Crosby’s nifty songalogy, Johnny Mercer-Harold
Arlen have supplied a set of excellent songs, including a dandy novelty in
“Accent-Tchu-ate the
Crosby is cast as the new pash crooner, and his mike-clutching
stance, accented by the whinnying dames, leaves no secret as to whom Der Bingle
refers. It’s a dandy take-off on The Voice, but it’s not harsh; in fact, it’s a
sympathetic salve for all out-of-service crooners. . . . [The writers] do as good a job for The
Groaner as does Carroll Carroll on the radio.
(Variety, December 20, 1944)
December 28,
Thursday. (11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m., 4:30-6:00 p.m.) Rehearses his Kraft show in
NBC Studio B in Hollywood. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Beatrice Kay and the
Les Paul Trio. Film exhibitors name Bing the top box office star of the year
for the first of five consecutive years.
Les Paul and his Trio and Beatrice Kay will pay their respects to Bing
Crosby’s Music Hall at 9 p.m.
(Richmond Times-Dispatch, 28th December, 1944)
December 29, Friday. Bing appears in the “Cavalcade of Overseas Stars” war bond stage show at the Shrine Auditorium with Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Dinah Shore, and other stars that have been overseas to entertain the troops. The various artists give performances which conform as nearly as possible to the routines they presented overseas. A crowd of almost 5,000 is in attendance and sales of $10M in War Bonds are achieved to pay for a hospital ship. Elsewhere, the annual public poll by Down Beat magazine has Bing as most popular male singer with 2406 votes. Frank Sinatra is second (1686 votes) and Dick Haymes third (690 votes).
…Bob Hope
and Jack Benny alternated as masters of ceremonies. From the Hope chest of
overseas troupers came Jerry Colonna, Vera Vague and Patty Thomas, as well as
Frances Langford’s songs.
Hope’s
fencing partner, Bing Crosby, appeared to sing servicemen’s favorites and to
present Joe de Rita, Darleen Garner and Jean Durelle of his battle-front
brigade.
Others
appearing included Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, Gary Cooper, Dinah Shore.
Keenan Wynn, John Garfield, Edward G. Robinson, Ann Sheridan and Martha Tilton.
(The Los Angeles Times,
December 30, 1944)
December 31,
Sunday. (1:30–2:00 p.m.) Appears on the Andrews Sisters radio show Eight-To-The-Bar Ranch with Gabby Hayes
plus Vic Schoen and his Orchestra on the Blue Network. At night, Bing and Dixie attend
Jack Benny’s “black-tie” party with Bing appropriately dressed in a tuxedo, much to the
surprise of the local press.
The first Andrews Sisters’
show was heard at home. I am not a devotee of the girls’ type of singing but it
was refreshing after the amount of “romantic” warbling to which we are asked to
listen. Bing Crosby is a welcome guest on almost any program but when are his
horses going to be forgotten? Gags about the nags were run into the ground a
long time ago. It is too soon to judge the work of “Gabby” Hayes, there being a
perennial problem of suitable lines, on the program as a whole.
(Zuma Palmer, Hollywood Citizen News,
January 2, 1945)
Bing’s royalties from record sales in
1944 are $250,000. He receives $150,000 per film from Paramount and $5,000 per
show from Kraft. During the year, Bing has had fifteen records that have become
chart hits and he wins the Photoplay
magazine Gold Medal Award for most popular actor. He continues to win this
medal for five successive years.
January 1, Monday. Bing and Dixie attend the lavish Bob and Dolores Hope party in the afternoon.
January 4, Thursday.
(11:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m., 4:30 p.m.-6:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his Kraft show.
(6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall
show on NBC. Guests include Johnny Mercer. Around this time, Bing introduces
many Personal Album shows for the
AFRS which include some of Bing’s recordings and the occasional extract from Kraft Music Hall shows. The shows are
broadcast at weekly intervals.
Johnny Mercer, singing songwriter who has supplied Bing Crosby with some
of his best songs, will be the guest on “Kraft Music Hall” at 6 over KFI.
(Metropolitan Pasadena Star-News, January 4, 1945)
There has
been a lot of talk along radio row about the new Bing Crosby show which permits
“The Groaner” to sing more songs. There are those who like the idea and then
there are those who insist they liked the old format which gave Bing a chance
to read more lines with some very fine comedy relief. Last week, there seemed
to be a happy center-of-the-road path being followed. Bing did a little patter
and still did a lot of singing. For our money, it was one of the best “Music
Hall” shows in a long time.
(Hal Carlock, Los Angeles Daily News, January 11, 1945)
Spreading Guest Shots Pays Bing Off in Hoopers
With the latest
Hooper reports putting Bing Crosby in the No. 3 spot on rating of top air shows
and the Kraft Music Hall program for the first time snaring top laurels in the
highly-competitive Thursday night programming skeds, the trade is becoming more
and more cognizant of the guestar factor toward the hypoing of audience pull. Since
his return to the air two months ago, Der Bingle has been spreading himself
around the dials, appearing in a succession of guestar shots. And contrary to
previous widespread opinion In the trade that If - you - want – to - keep -
that-rating - hold - yourself - exclusive - and-stay - put-on-your-own-show,
those Crosby visitations, it's now agreed, are primarily responsible for the
latest boff Hooper returns via the 25.2 year-end rating. That, coupled with the
fact, it's also agreed, that the Groaner has segued partially back into his former
banter routine in sharp contrast to his early-season stick-to- music-alone
decision.
(Variety, January 10, 1945)
January 5, Friday.
Bing is at the Los Angeles Open Golf Championship and follows his friend Byron
Nelson for most of the first day.
January 6, Saturday. Bing is thought to have been at the Los Angeles Open again.
At the 1945 Los Angeles Open, Bing Crosby gave Sam Snead a
brand-new Spalding Dot. At the time, rubber wasn’t publicly available; ‘pre-war’
golf balls were going for over $100/dozen. Snead repped Wilson at the time, but
he took the Spalding and played it the entire 72 holes, even as the cover came
loose, and won the tournament in the process.
(June 27, 2019 Golf.com article)
January 8,
Monday. (7:00–7:30 p.m.) Stars in a radio version of Going My Way with Barry Fitzgerald and George Murphy on CBS with
the Lady Esther Screen Guild Players. Wilbur Hatch leads the orchestra. Bing and Barry are presented with Redbook magazine’s Annual Motion Picture
Award by Paul Lukas during the program. After the show, the Redbook people entertain Bing and the
cast at a party at the Mocambo.
Humphrey
Bogart, the Brian Levys, Eddie Brackens, Georgia (the peach) Carroll and Kay
Kyser and many more turned out to see Bing Crosby receive from Thornton
Delehanty a huge national magazine cup for his work in Going My Way. Barry Fitzgerald and director Leo McCarey were also
honored. The Crooner, so calm and collected on the fairways and greens, for
whom the mike hath no frights, was so trembly he averred he hoped he’d never
win an Oscar, he’d be too scared to claim it. Jinx Falkenburg and Voldemar
Vetliuguin, Signe Hasso and Spencer Tracy, the Walter Pidgeons, got a laugh out
of his statement.
(Los Angeles Examiner, January 11, 1945)
January 9,
Tuesday. Dixie is in St. Vincent’s Hospital after collapsing with a
“respiratory infection.” Bing accompanies Dixie to the hospital in an ambulance
and remains at her bedside during the night. A later article in Picturegoer magazine suggests that she
had taken an accidental overdose of sleeping tablets and that her life was in
the balance for over a week.
Bing’s
Wife Improves After Collapse
Mrs. Dixie
Lee Crosby, wife of the crooner and mother of his four sons, was reported
improving today at St. Vincent’s Hospital, where she was rushed after
collapsing at her home with a respiratory infection.
“She’s going to be all right,” Bing
declared today, after announcing that Mrs. Crosby had spent part of the night
in an oxygen tent in an effort to avert pneumonia. He remained at the hospital
throughout the night. The former actress was sped to the hospital late
yesterday on orders of her physician, Dr. George Hummer, after she collapsed at
the Crosby Holmby Hills home.
Larry Crosby, brother of Bing, stated that
Mrs. Crosby had been suffering from a heavy cold and the hospital stay was
decided upon because it was feared that pneumonia was incipient. Hospital
attaches refused to release any information regarding Mrs. Crosby’s condition
and referred all inquiries to members of the Crosby family.
(Los Angeles Evening Herald
Express, January 10, 1945)
January 10, Wednesday. Variety gives details of a dispute with Decca.
Bing’s Peeve at
Decca For ‘Fernando’ Detour
Hollywood, Jan. 9.
Bing Crosby’s
relations with Decca Records were a bit strained recently via the groaner’s
claim that the disc manufacturer limited the production on one of his
recordings as a means of marketing .a greater number of pressings of another
artist. Crosby is Decca’s ace salesman and in the past he has more or less
gotten what he wanted from the company, which makes Decca’s risk of a breach
with him all the more unfathomable. Discs involved are said to be Crosby’s “San
Fernando Valley,” which was reportedly held down to allow more attention to the
Mills Brothers’ “You Always Hurt the One You Love.” Latter song is published by
Sun Music, owned by Decca.
(Variety, January 10, 1945)
January 11,
Thursday. Dixie is declared "out of danger following pneumonia.” (11:00
a.m.-2:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m.-6:00 p.m.) Bing rehearses for his Kraft show.
(6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall
show on NBC. Guests include Spike Jones and his City Slickers.
Some may question whether he belongs in a Music Hall, but Spike Jones
and his City Slickers call on the great groaner tonight.
(The Cincinnati Post, January 11, 1945)
January 18,
Thursday. (11:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m., 4:30 p.m.–6:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his Kraft
show in NBC Studio B in Hollywood. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) The Kraft Music Hall broadcast. Bing’s guests include Duke Ellington.
Songs from the show are issued on V-Disc.
Duke Ellington, genius of jazz, will be Bing Crosby’s guest on “Kraft
Music Hall” on WCOA Thursday at 8 p.m. Ellington’s band has been selected by
Esquire magazine as the best of the year. The Duke himself has been named
number one arranger in the popular music field.
(Pensacola News Journal, January 18, 1945)
January 21,
Sunday. (9:00 a.m. - 12 noon) Bing records three songs in Hollywood with John
Scott Trotter and his Orchestra. “On the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe” reaches
No. 3 in the charts during a 15-week stay. “All of My Life” charts briefly in
the No. 12 spot.
Night and Day—FT; V. Just One of Those Things—FT; V.
It’s a tired Groaner giving
out for these two Cole Porter standards. Altho he stays with the ballad tempo,
Crosby is far from a “Night and Day” frame of voice for the title tune of the
forthcoming Porter picture. While he gets going good for “Just One of Those
Things,” he gets overly dramatic and the spinning is just one of those things.
John Scott Trotter tries hard to cover up with his music. Phono fans will be
too tired to play any of these sides.
(Billboard, June 29, 1946)
On the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe—FT; V. I’d Rather Be Me—FT; V.
While it takes super-selling
to put it over lyrically for Johnny Mercer’s On The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe, Bing Crosby comes thru
admirably for the railroad song, with full rhythmic expanse as well. Assisted
by the Six Hits and a Miss with vocal effectiveness and John Scott Trotter’s
musicians cutting it rhythmically, Crosby keeps the ditty moving along. Nor is I’d Rather Be Me from the movie Out of This World, rich in melodic or
lyrical appeal. But Der Bingel solely because of himself, puts the ballad
across. The phono fans will turn to “On the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe.”
(Billboard, July 28, 1945)
Bing Crosby “All of My Life” / “More and More”
Only two sides from “The
Groaner” at going to press time but both are right up to his usual standard.
First side is a new number by Irving Berlin while the second was from the
Deanna Durbin film Can’t Help Singing.
Nothing much one can say about Bing beyond the fact that he is Bing. John Scott
Trotter provides fine support with a grand orchestra.
(Tempo [Australian Musical magazine], June 1946)
January 23, Tuesday. Bing writes to Mrs. Bernadine Hackney of Brooklyn, New York.
Captain Bill
Connolly has recently written me, advising that Bud has been reported missing
in action somewhere in Belgium. In view of the fluid condition of the front at
that point recently, it certainly appears that I wouldn’t be raising false
hopes in telling you that it is most probable that he is a prisoner of war. I certainly
hope that this is so. Bud and I had quite a few pleasant visits on the way
over. Talked about horse racing, and I enjoyed his company very much.
Kindest personal regards, and with the hope that you soon have good news from the War Department, I am, sincerely, Bing
January 24, Wednesday. Records Mail Call show #128. Bing is MC with guests Cass Daley and Lauritz Melchior.
January 25,
Thursday. (11:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m., 4:30 p.m.–6:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his Kraft
show in NBC Studio B in Hollywood. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include the Andrews Sisters.
It will be a gay reunion when the Andrews Sisters pay their respects to
Bing Crosby on the Music Hall program at 8 o'clock tonight over WIRE and NBC…
Though this will mark the first appearance of the mad musical trio on KMH.
they were singing over the air with Bing, as recently as three weeks ago.
Crosby…was their first guest when Patty, Lavern and Maxine inaugurated their
own radio show at the turn of the year.
(The Indianapolis Star, 25th January, 1945)
The Groaner and his juke-box
girl friends, the Andrews Sisters, really broke it up on Crosby’s Thursday
night (25th) soiree for Kraft. Especially their combined vocalizing of ‘One
Meat Ball’.
(Variety, January 31, 1945)
January 28, Sunday. (2:00–7:00 p.m.) Bing records in Hollywood with Xavier Cugat and his Waldorf Astoria Orchestra but all four recordings are rejected. He is thought to have taken part in the Lakeside Golf Club fourball handicap competition on this day also.
January 30,
Tuesday. (8:15-9:15 p.m.) On the March of Dimes radio
show with Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland to salute the President’s birthday and
to raise funds for the fight against polio. The program is broadcast on all
radio networks. Bing and Frank repeat the comedy duet they sang on November 20,
1944 and also Bing sings “Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral.”
February 1,
Thursday. Records a guest appearance on Command
Performance show #160 with Jack Carson, Edward Arnold, Carmen Miranda, and
Gloria DeHaven (MC). (11:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m., 4:30 p.m.–6:00 p.m.) Rehearses for
his Kraft show in NBC Studio B in Hollywood. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Eugenie
Baird and the Charioteers continue as regulars.
February 4,
Sunday. Bing is nominated for an Oscar as Best Actor for his role in the film Going My Way. Results to be announced
on March 15.
February 5,
Monday. (1:00–4:00 p.m., 4:30–5:00 p.m.) Rehearses for an NBC broadcast later
that day. (8:30–9:00 p.m.) Stars in the Dupont Cavalcade of America broadcast “The Road to Berlin” on NBC which
tells the story of Bing’s trip to Europe in 1944. Robert Armbruster and his
Orchestra supply the musical background and Bing is also joined by Jeannie
Darrell and Darlene Garner.
February 8,
Thursday. (11:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m., 4:30 p.m.–6:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his Kraft
show in NBC Studio B, Hollywood. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) The Kraft Music Hall broadcast. Bing’s guests include Vivian Della Chiesa and Fred Lowery.
Later, Bing looks in at a surprise birthday party for Lana Turner at Larry’s and sings “Happy Birthday”.
Along with prima donna Vivian Della Chiesa, previously announced as
Bing Crosby’s guest on the Kraft Music Hall, Thursday, February 8, will be Fred
Lowery, sensational whistling star of Horace Heidt’s band, now at the Trianon
Ballroom, Los Angeles.
(Belvidere Daily Republican, 8th February, 1945)
February 10, Saturday. (4:30–4:45 p.m.) Appears on the NBC program On the Scouting Trail.
Bing Crosby, in
person, helps celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America
when KFI’s “On the
Scouting Trail” is heard Saturday at 4:30 p.m.
(Daily News, February 9, 1945)
February 11,
Sunday. (2:30–5:20 p.m.) Records four songs with Xavier Cugat and his Waldorf
Astoria Orchestra in Hollywood, this time successfully. “You Belong to My
heart” reaches No. 3 in the Billboard
Best-Seller lists and spends 14 weeks in the charts. “Baia” too enjoys some
chart success reaching the No. 6 position.
You Belong to My Heart—FT; VC. Baia—FT; VC.
Xavier Cugat, moving into the
Decca camp, gets Bing Crosby to tee off on the new label. However, neither
Crosby nor Cugat enhance each other’s capabilities in combination. Each holding
to their own ground, Cugat’s music is hardly the flavor for Crosby’s chanting,
nor is the singing a fitting blend for the band. As a result, neither Crosby
nor Cugat spin to any definite advantage to either side. Selections both stem
from the movie The Three Caballeros,
and both artists share in the spinning for both You Belong to My Heart and the haunting Baia. Only the combination of names provides any phono attraction
for these sides, with “You Belong to My Heart” the most effective of the two.
(Billboard, June 2, 1945)
Siboney—FT; V. Hasta Manana—FT; V.
Bing Crosby steps out of song
character to bring two familiar Latin melodies to the waxes. And while Xavier Cugat’s
music making for Ernesto Lecuona’s “Siboney” and the lively “Hasta Manana”
leaves nothing to be desired, Crosby does. Hardly the gay caballero, the Bing
Crosby fan will wait until something more like Bing Crosby comes along.
(Billboard, July 6, 1946)
February 15,
Thursday. (11:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m., 4:30 p.m.–6:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his Kraft
show in NBC Studio B in Hollywood. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Eddie Heywood and Ella
Logan. Wendell Niles is the guest announcer in the absence of Ken Carpenter.
Eddie Heywood, young piano stylist, and Ella Logan, songstress who has
just returned from overseas, will be guests with Bing Crosby at 9 p.m.
(Richmond Times-Dispatch, 15th February, 1945)
The chances are that only a
Bing Crosby could get away with it but NBC officials must have had a few
jittery moments, last Thursday (15th) when Der Bingle went the whole hog in a
banter routine with guest announcer, Wendell Niles, when he skirted the
customary ‘another network’ tag and let out all the stops in crediting the Blue
Network. Kidding Niles, who co-stars with Don Pringles on ‘The Icebox Follies’
about breaking in a gag for his own show, Bing Crosby went to town on the
credits, giving the night, the time and the network and faded off with
something that suggested he feared there might be repercussions.
(Variety, February 21, 1945)
During the evening in Studio A, Columbia
Square, Bing records Command
Performance show #162 “Dick Tracy in B-flat” with Frank Sinatra, Jimmy Durante,
Dinah Shore, Bob Hope, Judy Garland, and the Andrews Sisters amongst others.
Major Meredith Willson conducts the AFRS Orchestra.
Waxing
the Comics: Our invitation to the Command Performance read 9:30 p.m. but the
show didn’t really get under way until 9:40, as Frank Sinatra was busy over on
Dinah Shore’s program. When it did get going, friends, you couldn’t buy a show like
that for five cool millions and yet every week Hollywood stars give their time
rehearsing hour upon hour for a request radio program for the boys overseas.
This
was a special night however, for the boys had requested a Dick Tracy show with
stars taking the parts of the various comic strip characters. And how’s this
for a line-up: Bing Crosby as Tracy, Bob Hope as Flattop , Frank Sinatra as
Shaky, Dinah Shore as Tess Trueheart, Frank Morgan
as Vitamin Flintheart, Jimmy Durante as the Mole, the Andrews Sisters as the
Summer Sisters, Cass Daley as Gravel Gertie, Judy Garland as Snowflake, Jerry Colonna
as the Chief? From the western front to the Philippines, in remote bases over
the world, on ships at sea, in hospitals and at the very fronts, the boys will
hear this side-splitting show — one of 125 such programs that have been made exclusively
for them.
“Heavens,
but I’m nervous,” Hope screamed from the stage, which, of course, was
ridiculous. The script, highly seasoned, brought roars of laughter from the invitational
audience. The actors kidded Bing’s baldness, Frankie’s slenderness and Hope’s
weight. At one point Bing produced a picture of Hope clad only in long underwear
which was passed among the audience to Hope’s open-mouthed astonishment. First
time Cal ever saw Bob stopped. Frank Morgan in a horrible fur coat exactly like
Vitamin’s, and carrying the usual cigaret holder, was a riot. At one point they
altered Durante’s script and the look on his face as he read the risque line
was so paralyzing neither Hope nor Crosby could continue for five minutes. What
an evening!
(Photoplay, May, 1945)
In Hollywood on
February 15, 1945 Bing, Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra and a notable cast put on the
most gala performance of a Dick Tracy story ever known to radio. The occasion
was an Armed Forces Radio Service Command Performance, which records programmes
for the United States troops overseas. Bing played the square-jawed detective
Dick Tracy. Hope played the villainous Flat-Top and Sinatra, the despicable
Shaky. The title of the show was “Dick Tracy in B Flat” or “For Goodness Sake
Isn’t He Ever Going to Marry Tess Trueheart?” The show managed to do what
Tracy’s creator, cartoonist Chester Gould, had never done - marry Tracy to
Tess.
The act opened
with a Tracy - Tess wedding scene and song - “Oh Happy, Happy, Happy Wedding
Day” which faded into the sound of an auto, the squeal of tyres, a machine gun
burst and three pistol shots. Subsequent wedding scenes were interrupted by a
bank robbery, a kidnapping and a hold-up with 13 people killed. Most of the
songs were clever parodies and the entire show was one big laugh from beginning
to end. However, the programmes best moment was not in the script and was never
heard on the air!
Unplanned and
unrehearsed Bing whipped out a photograph of Bob hidden in his script, and
handed it to a sailor in the
first row of the audience. Hope was terrified lest it be an embarrassing shot which
Bing had been threatening to show of him. Hope almost dived over the footlights
to retrieve it. Bing tried to restrain him. The blushing Hope tore the photo
out of the sailor’s hand. Bing made as if to kick him, while Sinatra and the
rest of the cast howled with laughter. Hope examined the photo and discovered
to his great relief that it was just a harmless photo of himself, wrapped
sarong-fashion in a sheet!
(The Crosby Collector magazine, July, 1966)
February (undated). Bing is at El Toro Marine Air Station in front of 3,000 marines to receive
a “Gizmo” for his film Going My Way
which has been selected as best movie by the marines’ magazine The Leatherneck.
February 18, Sunday.
Attends the Junior Auxiliary of the Jewish Home for the Aged 16th
annual charity ball at Earl Carroll's Restaurant with Bob Hope, Frank
Sinatra and Danny Kaye.
Costumes of the Washington
and Lincoln periods figured at Earl Carroll’s last night as the Junior
Auxiliary of the Jewish Home for the Aged held its 16th annual ball.
Mrs. Louis B. Mayer was official hostess, Bob Hope was master of ceremonies and
Danny Kaye, Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra participated in the program. Sinatra
was the recipient of an award presented annually by the auxiliary.
(The Los Angeles Times, February 19, 1945)
February 20,
Tuesday. (7:00-7:30 p.m.) Bing is named as the screen’s “No. 1 Entertainer of the Year” by Look magazine at its annual awards
ceremony at Carthay Circle Theater. Bob Hope presents Bing with a gold plaque for his performance in Going My Way. Rita Hayworth receives a gold plaque for her work in Cover Girl and Leo McCarey is given the director's award for Going My Way. The awards are broadcast as part of Hope’s radio program. Paramount News
also films the proceedings and includes them in their newsreel of March 6.
Bing Crosby is scheduled to
check off the Kraft Music Hall in the near future, for a trip to the South
Pacific to entertain the fighting forces. All of which raises a problem for the
sponsor, who is reaping the benefits of unprecedented Hooper ratings for Der
Bingle (he’s been up there with the top four highest, for the past couple of
months). Naturally, Kraft would like to have him stick but in view of the
reason given for his proposal to bow out, obviously, can say nothing.
Meanwhile, there is some conjecture as to who might take over. In view of the
fact that Frank Sinatra is not under exclusive contract to Max Factor, the
point has been brought up in the trade that Kraft might make a pitch for ‘The
Voice’.
(Variety, February 21, 1945)
Frank
Sinatra was the object of terrific curiosity when he recorded for that war bond
drive at 20th Century-Fox. Betty Grable came over to watch him sing (Harry
James was leading the band) and Frankie, in turn, visited Betty’s set, The Dolly Sisters. Bing Crosby recorded
for the same film but without any fooling around. He came in, passed a few
quips, sang his song twice, liked the second try, said “That’s it, boys,” and
was gone.
(Los Angeles Evening Herald Express,
February 21, 1945)
The most pleasant way anyone was ever asked to buy war bonds is being done by a
short feature emceed by Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Fibber McGee and Molly and
Hope’s side man, Bing Crosby. It shouldn’t be missed for its entertainment
value as well as its message.
(San Francisco Chronicle, May 17, 1945)
February 22,
Thursday. Bing signs an agreement giving Arnold, Schwinn & Company (the bicycle
manufacturers) the right to use his picture for advertising and publicity purposes
as soon as the US Government permits the company to manufacture tandems again. (11:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m., 4:30 p.m.–6:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his Kraft
show in NBC Studio B, Hollywood. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Marian Anderson.
Marian Anderson, concert contralto, will make her first visit to Bing
Crosby’s NBC-WBMG Music Hall program at 9 p.m. One of her most frequently
requested songs, “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child,” will be her
selection.
(Richmond Times-Dispatch, 22nd February, 1945)
February 23, Friday. Bing’s horse Ligaroti drops dead at Binglin Farm having been in stud for the last few seasons. Meanwhile, Bing writes to Mrs. Lawler of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
You were very nice
to send me excerpts from your husband’s letter, written in France, and
describing our show there for the mighty 70th Division. I’m going to keep this
letter handy because it provides an exact reminder of our routine Overseas, and
when anyone asks what we did, I need only to whip it out, and let them read the
complete details. And I can supply the more important information that the audience
was the greatest I ever faced – warm, receptive, eager, and we left there
entirely conscious that we’d just been given a rare privilege, the privilege of
bringing even a small touch of home, a few laughs and some sighs to a wonderful
bunch of men doing a sensational job.
Please tell your
husband Hello for me when you write him.
Sincerely, Bing
February 25, Sunday. Bing and his partner Logan Van Zandt reach the quarter final round of the
annual membership four-ball handicap competition at Lakeside by beating Bob Buller and Norman McKinnon 5 and 4. Bing has a 69!
February 26–May 23, Monday–Wednesday. Films The Bells of
St. Mary’s with Ingrid Bergman and William Gargan at RKO. The writer,
producer, and director is Leo McCarey with Robert Emmett Dolan looking after
the music score.
But I didn’t get to know Bing
Crosby at all. He was very polite and nice, and couldn’t have been more
pleasant, but he was always surrounded by a little group of three or four men
chattering away and protecting him from everybody else. I asked who they were
and I was told they were his gagmen.
Actually, I played an extra gag on Bing and Leo at the end of
the picture. . . . So that time I said, “Thank you Father, oh, thank you with
all my heart.” And I threw my arms around Bing and kissed him right on the
mouth. Bing nearly fell down with shock. Everybody stood up. “Cut! Stop the cameras!
Cut for heaven’s sake cut!” The priest acting as consultant came running up,
actually running, in a great state: “Now this is going too far, Miss Bergman,
we simply can’t allow that. A Catholic nun kissing a Catholic father. . . you
can’t have such a thing in a movie.”
I was already grinning all over my face. Bing was just
recovering from the assault, and I looked around and, of course, Leo had caught
on and was laughing his head off.
(Ingrid Bergman, My Story)
March 1,
Thursday. (11:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m., 4:30 p.m.–6:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his Kraft
show in NBC Studio B in Hollywood. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include violinist Sandra Berkova.
Sandra Berkova, 12, who made her concert debut as a violinist when
she was three and a half will play ‘Zigeunerweisen’(sic) on Bing Crosby’s
program, KFI at 6 pm. Eugenie Baird will sing ‘More And More’(?),
the Charioteers ‘I’m In His Care’ and Bing, ‘This Heart of Mine’ and ‘A Little
on the Lonely Side’(?). The new format is a real improvement over
the old.
(Hollywood Citizen News, 1st March 1945)
The boys in the trade are still chuckling over that Bing Crosby “Blue
of the Night” theme intro last week (1) on the Kraft Music Hall show. Back in
the old vaude days when the pit orchestra went off beat, the guy thrown off key
only had to bend over the footlights and ad lib his way out of it with the pit
man. Crosby, however, apparently thrown off by John Scott Trotter, turned it
into the boff lyric improvisation:
“When the Blue of the night,
“Meets the gold of the day,
“When am I gonna get my key?”
(Variety, March 7, 1945)
March 3,
Saturday. Records with John Scott Trotter and his Orchestra in Hollywood, including
“Temptation” and “Why Do I Like You”, which is issued as a special limited
edition of 1,000 single-sided discs sold at $5 each in aid of the building fund
for St. John’s Hospital, Santa Monica.
Crosby spins most soothingly
for “Temptation,” the scoring set to a bolero beat while mixed voices blend
with the band to make for richer background color. Flipover finds lush
lyricizing for “September Song,” making the lovely song sound as lovely as
ever.
(Billboard, February 8, 1947)
March 4, Sunday.
Film producer Mark Sandrich (age forty-four) dies. He was preparing to produce
and direct Bing in the film Blue Skies
and the production is delayed. Stuart Heisler is brought in as director.
March 5, Monday.
The Screen Players Union selects Bing as outstanding actor for his role in the
film Going My Way.
March 7,
Wednesday. (7:30–8:00 p.m.) On Five Will
Get You Ten radio program broadcast on the Blue Network for the Catholic
Bishops’ War Emergency and Relief Committee. Others taking part in the playlets are William
Gargan, Ruth Hussey, J. Carrol Naish, Pedro de Cordoba, Pat O’Brien, and Loretta Young.
The Bob Mitchell Boys Choir also take part as does Ernie Gill and his
orchestra. Bing sings "Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral" and appeals on behalf of
the Committee.
March 8,
Thursday. Bing’s four sons record Command
Performance show #165 with host Frank Sinatra. Elizabeth Taylor and Roddy McDowall
are also on the show. (11:00 a.m.–2:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m.–6:00 p.m.) Bing
rehearses for his Kraft show. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include concert pianist Count Aldo Solito de Solis and Joe Venuti. A song
from the show is issued on V-Disc.
Aldo Solito de Solis, noted Spanish concert pianist and composer, will
guest with Bing Crosby on the Music Hall program at 8 p.m. today…When Solito de
Solis first guested on KMH a few seasons back, Crosby suggested the pianist
reverse the usual musical procedure and paraphrase popular music into unique
classical arrangements. He did and it proved popular with the listening audience.
Prior to his arrival in the United Sates, the concert pianist had set a record
in London by presenting 23 successful concerts in one season.
(The Atlanta Constitution, 8th March, 1945)
March 9, Friday.
Records GI Journal
show #86 with
Marilyn Maxwell, Mel Blanc, and Allen Jenkins in CBS Studio A, Hollywood. Dick
Aurandt directs the Army Air Forces Training Command Orchestra. (8.00 p.m. - 11.15 p.m.) Bing records “Connecticut” and “Yah-ta-ta, Yah-ta-ta”
with Judy Garland in Hollywood. Joseph Lilley and his Orchestra provide
backing. “Yah-ta-ta, Yah-ta-ta” spends seven weeks in the charts reaching a
peak of #5.
Joining together for the
first time on a single record, Bing Crosby and Judy Garland rise far above the
song material they had selected. In spite of the triteness of the tune, they
make it easy enough to listen to for the gab-fest ditty, Yah-Ta-Ta, Yah-Ta-Ta, marked by gabbing sessions that has Miss Judy
jabbering about her new hat and Bing talking about his golfing. But at best,
it’s kid stuff for such major talent. Also on the light but polite side is the
Harry Warren-Johnny Mercer oldie, You’ve
Got Me Where You Want Me. While the tune texture is of the pearl button
shoe days, the singing of these two gives it a fresh luster. Joseph Lilley’s
orchestral background is in keeping with the demands of the singers.
Combination of the two artist names is going to attract nickels to both of
these sides.
(Billboard, May 26, 1945)
I am pretty sure that
“Yah-ta-ta, Yah-ta-ta” will become one of the hit tunes of the very near
future. . . . Judy manages to get more words into about three grooves of a disc
than I would have thought possible.
(The Gramophone, January, 1946)
March 15,
Thursday. (11:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m., 4:30 p.m.–6:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his Kraft
show in NBC Studio B in Hollywood. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Artie Shaw and his
Grammercy Five. A song from the show is issued on V-Disc.
Artie Shaw will present his Gramercy Five on Bing Crosby’s program
tonight…He revived this jazz group shortly after being discharged from the
navy.
(The Akron Beacon Journal, 15th March, 1945)
After completing the
show, Bing escorts Dixie to Grauman’s Chinese Theater for an 8:00 p.m. start to
the Academy Awards presentation. He receives his Oscar for “Best Actor” from
Gary Cooper for Going My Way. This is
Dixie’s first outing “after a long illness.” Going My Way receives seven Oscars altogether including one for
“Swinging on a Star” as the best song. It also wins “Best Picture,” Leo McCarey
wins “Best Director,” and “Best Original Story,” Barry Fitzgerald wins “Best
Supporting Actor” (having also been nominated as “Best Actor”), and Frank
Butler and Frank Cavett win “Best Screenplay.” The proceedings, which are
emceed by Bob Hope, are broadcast on the Blue Network and re-created film footage is
included in the Paramount newsreel of March 23. [During WWII, to conserve on
materials, Oscar statuettes were made of plaster rather than tin, copper and
gold plate. When the war was over, recipients of the plaster Oscars, including
Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman, were belatedly given the real thing.]
At the Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences Seventeenth Annual Presentation of Awards of Merit,
held last night at Grauman’s Chinese Theater, movieland greats gathered to pay
tribute, to play their best scenes of emotion and happiness and to heartily
applaud winners of those coveted statuettes, better known as “Oscars.”
For the first time in its eventful history, the academy
presented a specially made “Cinematage” on the screen, displaying scenes from
all the nominations. Particularly effective and enlightening for a nervous
audience–one that was so tense you could hear a bobby pin drop, and nobody even
looked for it.
With the ever-at-ease Bob Hope as master of ceremonies (and he
was instructed to give the gentle brush-off to winners who wanted to make
speeches), Hollywood’s “great moment” was timed to match with radio
schedules—and, for once, the notoriously tardy movieland came out on the dot.
Jennifer Jones, last year’s winner,
made the presentation to Ingrid Bergman for her work in Gaslight. Miss Bergman
thanked the audience, her co-workers and said: “I am glad I won because I
happen to be working with Bing in his new picture.”
Gary Cooper made the presentation to Bing Crosby for Going My Way. Hope, always kidding,
cracked: “You’d BETTER say something!” And Bing, without his movie toupee and
getting balder by the moment, shyly remarked: “It just goes to show you what a
great and democratic world we live in, when a broken-down crooner like myself
can win this Academy crockery. All I need now is a Kentucky Derby winner!”
Hope came in with: “And I’m just as surprised that Bing won as
when I heard that Sam Goldwyn was making speeches at Oxford!”
Charles Coburn gave the award to Barry Fitzgerald as the best
actor in a supporting role for Going My
Way, and said: “I would like nothing better than being Barry Fitzgerald
this year.”. . .
Going My Way won as
the best picture of the year. Buddy DeSylva, production head of Paramount at
the time the film was made, accepted the Oscar from the hands of Mervyn LeRoy.
Going My Way won for
Leo McCarey the best achievement in direction. The same picture got another
Oscar for McCarey for the best original motion picture story. Again it won
statuettes for the best written screen play, by Frank Butler and Frank Cavett.
And again it copped the honors for the best original song, “Swinging on a
Star,” by James Van Heusen and Johnny Burke.
It is interesting too that of the possible 21 awards, Going My Way won seven. Of a possible 21
awards, Wilson also won seven.
Nobody made the remark, but it’s
true that Crosby, unlike his horses, finally came in, “Straight, place and
show.”
Warned that the event would start promptly at 8 o’clock, most
of Hollywood gulped down its dinner and arrived on time (if they could find a
parking place), but there were those who nonchalantly wandered in late, still
adjusting crooked seams in their stockings if they had stockings. Bob Hope got
gay with such lines as: “I didn’t know the Chinese Theater was where they held
the Academy thing, I thought it was where Zanuck had his laundry done.”
And: “Everyone is supposed to be fairly well dressed tonight so
they had to send Crosby home twice.”
And: “Since this is such a nervous audience, we will take time
out for the ushers to sweep up the fingernails. Before presenting the Oscars, I
wish Basil Rathbone would come up on the stage and start the sneering.”
The program was divided into two parts, the lesser awards being
presented first, topped by a terrific stage show. With Ed Gardner of Duffy’s
Tavern fame, as master of ceremonies, he presented his own little bit, then
brought out the Andrews Sisters, who literally tore the rafters down with “Done
Fence Me In” and “Rum and Coca Cola.” Following that rare vocal treat, the
inimitable Danny Kaye bounced out and finished wrecking the theater with a
couple of his unusual numbers.
Commentator George Fisher took over
the Blue Network’s microphone following intermission, and again Hollywood’s bold
heroes and brave heroines settled down to have a case of the jitters.
A special note printed on the program read: “This program is
dedicated to the memory of Mark Sandrich, whose basic plan has been followed in
the presentation.”
Limited space does not permit even a
partial list of all the Hollywood greats who were present, but it can be stated
that filmdom turned out en masse for its most colorful and exciting annual
event.
(Jimmy Starr, Los Angeles Evening Herald Express,
March 16, 1945)
“He made the speech, came home and the next day it [the Oscar] was on the
mantlepiece. He was never one to blow his horn about awards and things. . . .
He was honored of course by the nomination and by the fact he won and I’m sure
he showed that. But at home it was never ‘hey kids look at this Oscar.’ He
said, ‘It’s the Oscar, it’s wonderful to have and it’s great’ but he never made
a big thing out of it.”
(Gary Crosby, speaking in an
exclusive interview with Gord Atkinson, subsequently broadcast in Gord Atkinson’s The Crosby Years,
www.whenfm.com)
A man who was
christened Harry Lillis Crosby last week won Hollywood’s Oscar for the best
cinemactor of the year. But it had just become apparent that he could boast of
a far rarer distinction: his voice had been heard by more people than any other
voice in history.
Nobody could put
a finger on the exact point at which Bing Crosby attained this distinction, but
the honor was definitely, securely his. For the past ten years “The Groaner”
has averaged a new record every other week. Number of copies sold since he
first began recording two decades ago: about 75 million. The Crosby voice has
been heard oftener and by more people than even these figures hint at. Most
U.S. radio stations play about twelve hours of recorded music a day. Day in and
day out, from coast to coast, the singing voice heard oftenest in canned
concerts is Crosby’s.
Last week the
latest listener-polls, as they have for years, put Crosby among the dozen most
popular attractions in radio. The entertainment trade-sheet, Variety, considered him front page news.
He had been a top-rank songster since the season of 1930-31, when a current pop
tune was Crosby, Columbo and Vallee. Other singers have come and gone. Last
week Crosby, 41, had never even been away.
How did he do
it? Decca records, which Crosby has helped to make, put out statistics which
offered a partial answer. Crosby can sing almost any type of song, and sing it
well. His best-sellers are a ballad (White Christmas, 1,700,000 records), a
hymn (Silent Night, 1,500,000), a cowboy song (Don't Fence Me In, 1,250,000), a
romantic love song (Sunday, Monday and Always, more than one million).
How long will it
go on? Crosby's current contract with Decca, the latest in a long, profitable
series, runs into 1950.
(Time
magazine, March 26, 1945)
The picture won a flock of Academy Awards. Leo was given the director’s award
and the award for writing the screen play. Barry Fitzgerald won the supporting Oscar. I got lucky and wound up with the award for the best male movie actor of 1944.
My memory of the award-giving at Grauman’s Chinese Theater is not too clear. I’d heard there was a chance I’d get an award, but I was
sure that it would go to someone who was recognized as an able actor rather than a crooner. So I didn’t take it too seriously until shortly before the ceremony, when it began to look as if I had a chance. After that I took it seriously enough to put on a dinner jacket, which is unusual for me. I’m not a great lad for getting into a dinner jacket in which to attend functions of a semi-official character.
Gary Cooper was chosen to hand me
the award. I don’t remember what he said, but when he managed to put the idea over to me that I had won
the award, a great warm feeling came over me. I stumbled
up on the stage like a zombie. Neither Coop nor I said much.
I asked, “Are you talking about me?”
And he said, “Yup.”
(Call Me Lucky, page 38)
March 17, Saturday.
Louella Parsons’ newspaper column states that Bing had a narrow escape flying
back from an army camp when his plane had to make an emergency landing. The
plane had only five minutes of fuel left and the landing gear was smashed by
the landing. (This sounds like a spurious press release for publicity purposes
as Bing seldom flew in those days)
March 18, Sunday. Plays in a golf benefit at the O'Donnell course in Palm
Springs with Bob Hope.
Palm Springs.
March 18.—Thirty-five hundred fans–the largest golf gallery to ever follow an
event here since the last Thomas O’Donnell built this sporty nine-hole layout
many years ago–collectively split its side while watching film and radio
comedian Bob Hope outbanter and outgolf crooner Bing Crosby here today.
Hope paired with
Captain Jack Anderson, former Bel-Air Country Club linksman now assigned to the
21st Ferry Group Air Base near here, to defeat Crosby and Sergeant John Oliver,
also of the base, by a 4-and-3 count. Hope shot an individual 37-35-72 for the
part 34-34–68 route, while Crosby, twice a champion from his own Lakeside Golf
Club in Hollywood, helped himself to a 37-40–77.
“Those Motion
Picture Academy Award contests are kinda tough on a golf game,” was Hope’s
consoling advice for Crosby as they struggled through a mob of autograph seekers
on their way to the clubhouse. Crosby charged off five three-putt greens to “an
annoying opponent.”
All gallery
receipts for the exhibition foursome were donated to the 21st Ferrying Group
air base athletic department.
(Los Angeles Examiner, March 19, 1945)
March (probably—undated). Bing appears on the fifteen minute Spanish-language program Hollywood Visita A Las Americas #70 and appears to sing “Don’t Fence Me In,” although this may have been dubbed from a Kraft show. His commercial recording of “Let Me Love You Tonight” (No Te Importe Saber) is also played as though Bing was singing it live. Rosita Moreno is the hostess and Bing speaks in Spanish throughout.
March (probably—undated). Takes
part in a program called "La Parade des Stars" in which he is
interviewed in French by Franchot Tone. Paul Whiteman also takes part
and there is some banter between them. Bing sings three songs in
English and "Parlez-Moi D'amour" in French,
March 22,
Thursday. (11:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m., 4:30 p.m.–6:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his Kraft
show in NBC Studio B in Hollywood. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Frankie Carle. A song
from the show is issued on V-Disc.
Frankie Carle, the bandleader, pianist-composer, will be guest with
Bing Crosby on his Music Hall program tonight…Formerly featured with Horace
Heidt, Gene Krupa, Jack Teagarden, Carle now has a top ranking band of his own.
Carle bears the popular tag-line “the pianist with the golden touch.” His
golden touch has successfully scored such song hits as “Sunrise Serenade,”
“Lover’s Lullaby,” and Falling Leaves.” For two years, he has been awarded
Orchestra World’s plaque as the “nation’s outstanding musician.”
(The Central New Jersey Home News, 22nd March, 1945)
March 28,
Wednesday. Records Mail Call #138
program with Bette Davis (MC), Barry Fitzgerald, Leo McCarey, and William
Frawley. The program honors the film Going
My Way.
March 29,
Thursday. (11:00 a.m.–2:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m.–6:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his Kraft
show in NBC Studio B in Hollywood. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include the Kraft Choral Club.
Later, Bing takes his four boys to the opening night of the Russell Brothers
Circus at the Pan-Pacific Auditorium.
The Kraft Choral Club will sing
‘Spring Burst (sic) Today’ and ‘God Shall Guide Us’ (a
patriotic hymn from Victor Herbert’s, ‘The Call to Freedom’ on the Music Hall,
KFI at 6 pm. Bing Crosby will sing, ‘Old Glory’, ‘Hit the
Road to Dreamland’ and ‘That Old Black Magic’ from ‘Star Spangled Rhythm’.
(Hollywood Citizen News, 29th March 1945)
April 5,
Thursday. (11:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m., 4:30 p.m.–6:00 p.m.) Rehearses for his Kraft
show. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) The Kraft Music
Hall broadcast. Bing’s guests include Florence Alba and the King Cole Trio.
During the day, Bing also records Command
Performance show #169 in CBS Studio A and acts as host to Johnny Mercer, Marilyn Maxwell,
Dame May Whitty, and Lionel Barrymore.
Florence Alba, lyric soprano, and the King Cole Trio will be Bing
Crosby’s guests on his NBC-WMBG airshow at 9 p.m.
(Richmond Times-Dispatch, 5th April, 1945)
April 6, Friday.
Rehearses for a Lux Radio Theater version of Sing You Sinners with James Dunn, Joan Caulfield, and Elizabeth
Patterson which is recorded on April 9.
April 9, Monday.
Spends most of the day rehearsing for the evening Lux Radio Theater recording.
(9:00–10:00 p.m.) Records the Lux Radio Theater version of Sing You Sinners which is broadcast on May 7.
April 11, Wednesday. (6:30-7:00 p.m.) May have been heard on a radio program called “Which Is Which” with Peter Lorre and Frank
McHugh. Ken Murray introduces voices of the stars - or their reasonable facsimiles.
April 12, Thursday. 3:35 p.m. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt dies suddenly in
Warm Springs at the age of sixty-three. Vice President Harry S.
Truman is sworn in as President at 7:09 p.m. (11:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m., 4:30
p.m.–6:00 p.m.) Bing rehearses for his Kraft show but the broadcast has to be
canceled because of the President’s death. It is believed that the show is
performed for the benefit of the studio audience. Gladys Swarthout was advertised to be the guest.
April 15, Sunday.
Starting at 12:45 p.m., Bing and Bob Hope take part in the Rio Hondo Golf Club pro-am at Downey, California
in aid of the
April 16, Monday. The Hollywood Foreign Correspondents Association gives the film Going
My Way the Golden Globe Award at a dinner at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
April 18, Wednesday.
Records five songs in Hollywood with John Scott Trotter and his Orchestra. One
song – “If I Loved You” – reaches the No. 8 position in the charts during a
six-week stay.
April 19, Thursday. (3:00 p.m.–6:00 p.m.) Bing rehearses for his Kraft show. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall show on NBC. Guests include Yehudi Menuhin. During the day, Bing writes to a Mrs. Brown in East Grand Forks, Minnesota.
Yehudi Menuhin, one of the world’s greatest violinists, will guest star
on the Kraft Music Hall tonight… In the past two years, Menuhin has given
unstinted time and energy to the job of entertaining U. S. servicemen in every
corner of the global war.
(The Capital Times, 19th April, 1945)
Many
thanks for sending me the pictures taken overseas. It was a pleasure working
for the boys in France and Belgium, in fact, one of the richest experiences of
my life.
They
are doing a great job over there, and when you see them operate it makes you
proud that you are an American.
Again
thanking you, I am, sincerely, Bing
April 20, Friday.
Makes an appearance at a Jaycees benefit at the Municipal Auditorium in Long Beach to raise funds for a
club house for enlisted men at the local air base. Others appearing include The
Andrews Sisters and Jack Carson. Approximately $6000 is raised.
5000 Laugh and Cheer at Benefit for Ferrying Group
Take
a look at this lineup: Bing Crosby, Jack Carson, Arthur Treacher, the Andrews
Sisters, Helen Forest (sic), Ziggy Elman and Jimmy Van Heusen. From that group
how can any evening be anything but a howling success. And howling it was, with
laughter and cheers from approximately 5000 people that packed the Auditorium
last night to see a show sponsored by the Long Beach Junior Chamber of Commerce
with proceeds going to help build a service club for enlisted men of the Sixth
Ferrying Group.
The
program was fast-moving, entertaining and varied, reaching a climax when “Der
Bingle” sang and finally joined up with the Andrews Sisters to bring the show
to a socko finish…
…Crosby,
without a doubt one of the finest entertainers before the public today, had a
lot of fun last night in doing his bit for the Army. He sang “Swinging on a
Star” and “Irish Lullaby” from his now famous “Going My Way” and he was accompanied
on the piano by Jimmy Van Heusen, author of the “Star” song and an “Oscar” winner
for that very-piece of song-writing. Even Bing spoofed Frankie by imitating his
microphone style, but all nice clean fun without a hint of malice. Bing would
up his act by bringing on the Andrews Sisters who sang song after song among
their recorded hits...
(Herbert Wormser, Press-Telegram, April 21,
1945)
…Why
not get Bing, why not indeed? It was Good Friday, April 20. I got on the
telephone. “I’d like to speak to Mr. Bing Crosby in Hollywood, California,” I
said. The answer came back that he was away for the weekend. On Monday I called
again. “He's on the lot right now, filming The
Bells of St. Mary’s,” I was told. “Leave a number and he‘ll call you.” I left
the number. Inside half an hour I heard Bing’s voice on the phone. I told him who I was and what I wanted, that I
was trying to put the family Rosary back in the home, that I had got this wonderful
chance of a lifetime on a network, that his participation would increase the
audience impact immeasurably. “You have me,” he said, just like that. “Write me
a letter to confirm our conversation and to tell me what to do.”
On
Tuesday I walked into Mutual again. “We have Bing, I said, “and I’m proud of
him, because he is ready to put his name, his fame, and his reputation on the
line for Our Lady, for the Rosary, and for the family.”
(All for Her - The Autobiography of Father
Patrick Peyton, C.S.C., page 120)
April 22, Sunday.
Bob Hope, Babe Didrikson Zaharias, and Olin Dutra defeat Bing, Ben Hogan, and
Betty Jameson in a 14-hole benefit match for the AWVS at Santa Anita Golf Club in front
of 5,000 fans. $3500 is raised.
April 25, Wednesday
records “Home Sweet Home” and “Ave Maria” with John Scott Trotter and his
Orchestra but neither version is released. It is said that Bing is intoxicated
and that the session has to be rescheduled.
April 26,
Thursday. (11:00 a.m.–2:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m.–6:00 p.m.) Bing rehearses for his
Kraft show. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) The Kraft
Music Hall broadcast. Bing’s guests include Carmen Cavallaro. A song from
the show is issued on V-Disc. During the day, Bing also records a guest shot in
Command Performance show #172. Jimmy
Durante acts as host.
Bing Crosby’s young singing discovery, Florence Alba, will make a guest
appearance on his NBC-WMBG Music Hall program at 9 p.m. Pianist Carmen
Cavallaro will also be guest. Miss Alba will sing “Thine Alone.”
(The Richmond Times-Dispatch, 26th April, 1945)
April 29,
Sunday.
Bing and Bob Hope play in a 12-hole Navy charity exhibition match at
Camp Oaks,
Ojai. Hope and Navy specialist Rube Burbank beat Bing and Comdr. B. H.
Creighton by one stroke. A large crowd watches the proceedings.
(8:15-8:30 p.m.) Bing is thought to have taken part in a radio
broadcast
with Hedda Hopper.
April 30, Monday. Adolf Hitler kills himself.
April (undated).
Bing films a short Meet the Crosbys
(original title Anybody's Children)
with his four sons for the Seventh War Loan Drive at his home. The
short is produced under the auspices of RKO and Rainbow Productions.
May 2, Wednesday.
Bing and Bob Hope record a short promo for the film The Great John L.
with pianist Charlie LaVere. (6:00 p.m. to 6:30
p.m.) Bing guests on the Frank Sinatra Show on CBS for Max Factor and
sings "This Heart of Mine" and a
medley of parodies with Frank. Lorraine Russell is another guest. Music
is provided by Axel Stordahl and his orchesta with the Ken Lane Singers.
Bing Crosby is feted with a birthday party by host, Frank
Sinatra, when he appears as his guest at 8 p.m. over KRNT-WNAX-WNT.
Sinatra
has invited the 1945 Academy Award winner to his musical variety program to disprove
all the reports and rumors that fierce rivalry exists between them. This is the
first time Crosby has appeared in person on the “Frank Sinatra Show,” although
he appeared last year by remote from the West Coast.
When the
two nationally-favorite crooners get together, comedian Bill Goodwin and
musical conductor Axel Stordahl will be standing by to watch proceedings. Both
Crosby and Sinatra will indulge in a goodly share of their singing, with Bing
featuring the tune, “This Heart of Mine” and Frankie singing “The Night Is
Young and You’re So Beautiful.”
(Mary Little, Airglances, The Des Moines Register, May 2, 1945)
EXTRA! Will wonders
never cease? Last night, Frank Sinatra celebrated Bing Crosby’s birthday. The
Voice played host to the Groaner on the former’s program, and the result was a
fast set-to of banter and a mellifluous merger of song.
(Daily News (New York), 3rd May, 1945)
May 3, Thursday.
(11:00 a.m.–2:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m.–6:00 p.m.) Bing rehearses for his Kraft show.
(6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall
show on NBC. Guests include the King Cole Trio.
The King Cole Trio will entertain Music Hall listeners, KFI at 6 pm
with ‘Sweet Georgia Brown’ and ‘If You Can’t Smile and Say Yes, Don’t Cry
and Say No’. If song titles get any longer, they’ll take up a
paragraph. Bing Crosby will sing a medley from ‘We’re Not Dressing’,
it will include, ‘Love Thy Neighbour’, ‘May I’ and ‘Goodnight, Lovely Little
Lady’.
(Hollywood Citizen News, 3rd May 1945)
May 6,
Sunday.
(Starting at 1:00 p.m.). Bing and Bob Hope participate in a golf
exhibition
match at the Montecito Country Club in support of Santa Barbara
County’s
Seventh War Loan. Both men card a seventy-four and the match is
halved. It is reported that $500,000 worth of bonds are
bought by the 3000 present.
May 7, Monday. Germany surrenders to the Allies. (6:00–7:00 p.m.) The transcribed Lux Radio Theater version of Sing You Sinners is broadcast on CBS. The host is Cecil B. DeMille, and Louis Silvers leads the orchestra.
Bing Crosby will head the cast of “Sing You Sinners,” playing
happy-go-lucky Joe Beebe in an adaptation of the musical film on the CBS-WRVA
Radio Theater at 9 p.m. James Dunn, in the role of brother David Beebe, and Joan
Caulfield, as Martha, will support Bing. Crosby’s songs are “Small Fry” and “I’ve
Got a Pocketful of Dreams.”
(The Richmond Times-Dispatch, May 7, 1945)
May 8, Tuesday. Bing contributes songs and dialogue to a special AFRS 30-minute VE-Day disc. Other featured stars are Bob Hope, Dinah Shore, Johnny Mercer, and Ginny Simms. The show had been recorded in April at CBS Studio A in Hollywood.
…Servicemen also heard a special V. E. Day program featuring Bob Hope,
Bing Crosby, Frances Langford, Dinah Shore, Loretta Young, Ginny Simms, Judy
Garland, “G.I. Jill,” and Johnny Mercer. The V-E Day “Special” was a serious half-hour
of familiar music, reverential reading, and comment on the war situation,
emphasizing that now the fighting job is just half finished.
(Hollywood Citizen News, May 8, 1945)
May 9, Wednesday.
(6:00-6:30 p.m.) Bing, who is in Hollywood, takes part in a radio show on the Blue
Network The Road Ahead with Grace
Moore. Most of the show comes from Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland and the
MC is Clifton Fadiman. The program is presented in behalf of wounded service men in an effort to help them plan their futures.
May 10, Thursday. (11:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m., 4:30 p.m.–6:00 p.m.) Bing rehearses for his Kraft show. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) The Kraft Music Hall broadcast. Bing’s guests include Cass Daley.
Cass Daley, “Miss Take-a-Powder of 1944,” will guest on Bing Crosby’s
Music Hall tonight… singing one of Betty Hutton’s specials. “Stuff Like That
There” in the bombastic Daley manner.
(The Indianapolis News, 10th May, 1945)
Those letter-perfect
performances of Bing Crosby and the Kraft
Music Hall cast are the result of plenty of hard work on the part of all
concerned. But there’s plenty of fun at a Crosby rehearsal too. At 1 p.m., the
rotund figure of John Scott Trotter, the show’s musical director, may be seen
hurrying into the studio, briefcase under arm.
By 1:30 the orchestra members
are in their places and ‘The Groaner’ appears clad in a loud sport shirt and
slacks, his usual pencils sticking from under his hat. The studio stage bustles
with activity. Eugenie Baird, the Charioteers
and the chorus are all waiting for the opening number.
Then, at a cue from the
control room, everything is quiet. Stop watches click as Trotter’s baton lowers
and Bing sings. The spectators sit back in their seats. This is what they’ve
waited for. They know that no artist, no singer ever works as completely
relaxed as ‘Der Bingle’.
Seated on his high stool with
legs outstretched one moment, standing hand in pocket and tapping his toe the
next, his song is uninterrupted by tension or strain. Often he’ll mugg for his
audience, or toss a crumpled paper their way, or even dance a little jig—all
without the slightest effect on the continuity.
As the other artists perform,
Bing will stroll leisurely into the control room, always emerging on cue.
Interspersed through his speaking lines are some never intended for the air,
such as the announcement of the following week’s guest in which he will name
the local burlesque queen.
Finally the ‘dress’, then the
break until 4:15 when the ‘dress’ is repeated. The secret of Crosby’s success:
He knows how to work hard and take it easy at the same time.
May 11, Friday.
Bing records GI Journal show #94 with
Mel Blanc and Andy Devine. Dick Aurandt conducts the AFRS Orchestra.
May 13, Sunday. VE Day.
(9:30-10:00 a.m.) Bing appears on The Chapel
of the Air hour on the Mutual Network talking about finding time for
prayer. This is the first of Father Patrick Peyton’s Rosary broadcasts and it
achieves nationwide coverage as it is a national day of thanksgiving following
the end of hostilities in Europe, as well as being Mother's Day.
Crosby said that the Family
Rosary was recited at his home every day, that he wanted his four boys to love
their country, God and their home, that he wanted to believe in the efficacy
and practice of prayer both at home and in church. Through daily family prayer,
continued Crosby, all children and all adults will come closer to God. Crosby
had a simple but perfectly phrased script which he read superbly.
(Variety, May 16, 1945)
BING SINGS PRAISES OF THE DAILY ROSARY
Dedicated to
encouraging the practice of the daily family Rosary, an international radio broadcast
was staged at New York featuring an address by Bing Crosby, movie and radio
star. The program was broadcast over the facilities of the Mutual Broadcasting
System and was short-waved to members of the armed forces.
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas F. Sullivan of Waterloo, Iowa, parents of
the five Sullivan brothers who were lost at sea early in the Pacific war,
recited the Rosary over the air, while a commentator explained each of the five
Glorious Mysteries as the prayers were recited.
Bing Crosby spoke from Hollywood and asked that “on this day of
days, Mother’s Day” he might enter American homes and talk as a father.
“Just like all parents everywhere,” he said, “I want my
children to become honest, useful citizens in an honest, peace-loving world. I
want my four boys to love their country, love their home, love their God. I
want my children to pray because I know the deep and all-moving power of
prayer. I know that power, not as a member of the clergy, but just another
father, just another parent - just like you. I want my children to pray in our
home, as well as in our Church. That is why I want them to believe as I believe
in the true glory and true greatness and true significance of the family
Rosary.
“In our home we believe in the family Rosary as a great force
working for good, working for good and against evil. We believe that today as
never before this vital force for good is necessary if we are to fashion from
the holocaust of war the framework of lasting peace. As Christians, as
Americans, we believe in the power and necessity of family prayer in all homes.
As Catholics, we believe in the family Rosary to be the perfect family prayer.
We pledge ourselves to do everything in our power to spread the ever-growing
popularity of the daily family Rosary.”
(From The Catholic Weekly [an Australian Catholic newspaper], July 19, 1945)
(4:30–5:30 p.m.) Rehearses for an evening War Loan broadcast. (5:30–6:00 p.m.) Bing and Bob Hope star in the Seventh War Loan program which is broadcast on NBC.
Heralding the opening of the Seventh War Loan tomorrow, each of the
four major networks today will present their own special War Bond programs, all
of which are to be broadcast during the same half-hour period, from 5:30 to
6:00 p.m. PWT. What you will hear will depend of course, on the network station
your receiving set is tuned to. If you are on the KFO wavelength, you’ll hear
Bing Crosby and John Scott Trotter’s orchestra, in Hollywood, joining Bob Hope,
Frances Langford, Jerry Colonna, Vera Vaga (sic) and Skinnay Ennis’s orchestra
on an NBC hookup with New York where the Hope crew is currently stationed.
(Pasadena Independent, May 13, 1945)
May 16, Wednesday.
Bing takes part in the Seventh War Loan Drive show at Warners’ Wiltern Theater
in Hollywood with Paulette Goddard, the Andrews Sisters, and Rise Stevens. He
sings “You Belong to My Heart” and then duets with the Andrews Sisters on
“Don’t Fence Me In”. The show is broadcast on June 20 as The Walgreen Birthday Party as Walgreen Drug Stores sponsor the
show.
With a star-spangled bill of
fare, the Examiner-Theater Seventh War Loan “In Person” show played to an
enthusiastic capacity crowd at Warner’s Wiltern Theater last night. Staged with
the cooperation of broadcast networks, film studios, Music Corporation of
America and top flight artists of stage, screen and radio, the mammoth
amusement extravaganza helped toward the $100,000,000 goal of Examiner-Theaters
Southern California bond sales drive.
Highlighted by personal
appearances of such personalities as Bing Crosby, 1945 winner of the Academy
Award for the finest acting performance of the year in Going My Way, the spectacular, thrill packed show was coordinated
by Sherrill Corwin, vice chairman of the Examiner-Theaters drive.
Lou Abbott, of the hilarious
comedy duo of Abbott and Costello contributed his bit to make the performance
outstanding. Others participating included Paulette Goddard, Paramount star who
appeared in a dramatic skit; Rise Stevens, operatic mezzo-soprano, and the
Andrews Sisters, with their own inimitable interpretations of current song
hits. Don Wilson, genial master of ceremonies; Eddie (Rochester) Anderson,
colored comic of the Jack Benny air show; Carl Hoff and his 30 men of
melody—these and many others helped to make the show a memorable one for the
spectators.
It was a gala affair from
start to finish, real hit entertainment. But through it all was the realization
that it was part of an effort that is spelling victory over oppression. For
every person in the audience had earned his free ticket by purchasing war bonds
at motion picture theaters throughout the metropolitan area.
(Los Angeles Examiner,
May 17, 1945)
May 17, Thursday.
(11:00 a.m.–2:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m.–6:00 p.m.) Bing rehearses for his Kraft show.
(6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing’s Kraft Music Hall
show on NBC. Guests include Florence Alba and Eddie Heywood. A medley of songs
from the rehearsal is issued on V-Disc. Bing leaves the Kraft Music Hall radio program after this show, returning briefly
for one appearance on June 28.
Eddie Heywood, popular piano stylist, and Florence Alba, young lyric
soprano, who made a considerable hit in her initial bow with Bing Crosby on Kraft
Music Hall, will again be guest star tonight on KMH.
(The Capital Times, 17th May, 1945)
…Either way,
yes or no, at just about the same time (May 17, 1945), the host of NBC’s Kraft
Music Hall entered his Studio B, ambled up to his, RCA 44-BX microphone to
await his cue. He was as calm and as affable as ever. Just on six, he opened
his programme with a bit of his familiar theme song then shortly segued into
his first number, “Candy”. He greeted his guest, the opera diva Florence Alba
and, down the show, delivered a pitch for the Seventh War Loan Drive. He sang
seven numbers in all, more than usual. The last, “I Remember You”, had no
hidden meaning, but when he left the studio that evening and did not come back
for a month and a half, millions remembered him and wondered what happened.
What actually
happened was that Bing had invoked an ancient law available to all of us. He
quit. He ‘took a walk’, always the one powerful weapon against The System. The
‘Court Of Last Resort’ should never be convened lightly by any sensible person
and Bing knew it.
He had done it
before, again after serious consideration. In 1931, he refused to continue
singing at the Cocoanut Grove unless he was paid the kind of money he believed
was commensurate with his sudden popularity, which had begun to fill every
table night after night.
Now he did it
again. Had he grown tired of coaxing radio to change its ways or did he have an
alternative plan up his sleeve?
Someone in
print called it not just an early vacation but an unscheduled one. “We all
thought that it was an unprofessional thing that he did,” an announcer, at NBC
thought at the time. “But we figured he’d be back; He had to come back because
you couldn’t do that in radio and brag about it. Nobody was that big.” No
information has been located that Bing bragged about it. As a matter of fact,
he was the quietest of anyone. If he publicly spoke of his determination to
transcribe, how could he possibly return if he failed?
(Vernon Wesley Taylor, Hail KMH!, The Crosby Voice, February 1986)
May 25, Friday.
The film The Great John L is released
by United Artists.
A curious mixture of
excitement and tedious drama make up the picture The Great John L, which arrived at the Globe on Saturday, a
promising augury for the newly launched Bing Crosby Productions ... It is only
after he loses to Corbett and his wife dies that “Honest John” marries his
boyhood sweetheart and turns to the better life. But the process is overlong
and occasionally boring.
(New York Times, July 9, 1945)
In his first independent
production, Bing Crosby comes out with both fists swinging through a dramatization
of the life of John L. Sullivan. When the pic is released, it should be a great
day all around, for the Irish, as well as for the houses that run it. It’s
straight boff from start to finish.
(Variety, June 6, 1945)
The biography of the famous
heavyweight boxing champion of the world, John L. Sullivan, is pictured, as it
should be, with a vigorous punch. The fight sequences, both with and without
gloves, are some of the toughest I’ve seen, and provide a genuine thrill. Taken
from the ranks of the extras, Greg McClure makes an impressive debut as the
boastful, hard drinking, yet kind-hearted Sullivan, who is finally defeated by
Jim Corbett.
(Picturegoer, August 4, 1945)
May 26, Saturday. Press reports state that Bing is considering a sale of the Del Mar racetrack. Elsewhere, together with Bob Hope and Jerry
Colonna, Bing visits the patients in Vaughan General Hospital, Chicago. Later,
Bing and Bob Hope take part in an exhibition golf match at Tam O’Shanter
Country Club, Chicago, to raise money for the
May 27, Sunday.
(Starting at 2 p.m.) Benefit golf match at Acacia Country Club, Cleveland, with
Bob Hope in front of a crowd of 12,000. Bing and Bob golf with Gov. Frank
Lausche of Ohio and pro golfer Henry Picard. The benefit is staged by the
Cleveland District Golf association for the Press Heroes Homecoming Fund. The
match breaks up after nine holes as Hope and Crosby go to a local hospital to
put on a show for wounded soldiers.
May 28, Monday.
Bing and Bob Hope arrive at Union Station in South Bend, Indiana, by train at
5:30 a.m. They go to the Oliver Hotel for a few hours rest before undertaking
another golf benefit during the afternoon at South Bend Country Club. They play
nine holes in a fivesome with Morton Bright, Dick Snideman, and Jock Watson.
Bing and Bob go on to appear in the Notre Dame stadium at 6:00 p.m. in a
two-hour war bond show before 50,000 people. Bing sings four songs as well as
joining in a quartet with Bob Hope, Jerry Colonna, and Tony Romano to close the
show.
Bing has his soft,
sentimental moments, although he goes to great pains to conceal them. In 1944
we were playing a charity golf match together in Indianapolis (sic). Afterward I was to appear at a Bond rally in
South Bend in the Notre Dame Stadium before 55,000 people. Those of us who were
entertaining at the rally were scheduled to
enter the Stadium in jeeps, then circle around. While
I was playing with Bing in Indianapolis, I asked, “Why don’t you come over to South Bend with me and appear in this show?”
“I think I’ll just do that,” he said. When we
entered the Stadium, Bing was in the jeep behind me. The crowd didn’t know he
was going to be there, and when they saw him they went crazy. It was a nice
thing for him to do.
(Bob
Hope, This Is On
Me, pages 125-126)
Bing obliged with no less
than four solos. His rendition of “Sentimental Journey” so captivated some of
the younger members of the audience that he halted momentarily in the middle of
a song to remind the squealing bobby socksters, “Please, I’m an old man.”
(South Bend Tribune, May 29, 1945)
May 29,
Tuesday.
Bing and Bob play golf at the Chain 'O Lakes course in Wisconsin.
(9:00–9:30 p.m.) Bing makes an unscheduled guest appearance on Bob
Hope’s radio
show on NBC with Herbert Marshall and Frances Langford. The show comes from
Washington Hall at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend. Bing surprises
Hope with a birthday cake as it was Bob’s birthday and leads the audience of
servicemen in singing “Happy Birthday”.
Next day he went to Chicago while I stayed in
South Bend to do a show at the Navy installation there. It was my birthday and,
just before the finish of my show, Bing walked out from the wings with a
birthday cake in his hands. He’d flown all the way back to South Bend from
Chicago to give it to me.
Ordinarily, I am fairly
nimble on my feet, no matter what happens, but this time I was so dumbfounded I
didn’t know what I was doing. I took the cake from him and
tried to hit him with it. I don’t know why. It must have
been that I was so churned up emotionally that I had to do something violent.
He ducked, the cake landed in the audience, and the Naval personnel threw it
back. It was a novel birthday celebration.
(Bob Hope, This
Is On Me, page 126)
May 30, Wednesday.Bing
and Bob check into a hotel in Indianapolis in the early hours of the
morning. Later that morning, they visit Billings General Hospital and
put on a 45-minute show on the open-air stage. At 1:45 p.m., at the
Speedway Golf Course, they put on
another forty-five minute show with Jerry Colonna and others, the last
fifteen
minutes being broadcast over local station WIBC. Bing and Bob then play
in a
13-hole charity golf match with Ed Dudley and local golfer Marion Smith
to raise funds
for the Indiana
June 2, Saturday.
Bing and Bob Hope arrive separately in Omaha, Nebraska, and receive the press in a room at
the Fontenelle Hotel during the late morning. They make a brief visit to Father Flanagan's Boys Town. Starting at 1:30 p.m., they put
on a short show for the crowd of 5,000 at the Omaha Field Club before taking
part in a golf benefit at 2:30 p.m. for the
Those frothy young men in the
goldfish bowl, Happy Hips Bing Crosby and Elephant Hips Bob Hope, learned about
Nebraska corn—and handed it back by the bushel—at the Omaha Field Club,
Saturday afternoon. Some five thousand spectators waded knee deep in the
corn—and loved it.
Not that it was a corny show this
Quipped the Governor:
“Nebraska is proud of her corn and today we welcome two kindred
souls fresh from the cob.”
That stopped Messrs. Hope and Crosby momentarily. But not for
long. When the Governor stepped away, Hope turned to Bing and asked:
“Who was that? What’s his racket?”
After that, the corn dribbled all over the premises, but the
press of trampling humans was too great to offer a general distribution of the
barbed chit-chat Hope and Crosby slapped at each other. Hope helped out with
his mimicry and pantomime. Der Bingle puffing solidly at a pipe most of the
way, responded briskly to his cues but generally was willing to let the
effervescent Hope take the lead in the clowning.
Glowering crowds and a kiting wind out of the northwest rode
herd on the exhibition all nine holes. Hope, for once sparing his adopted
California in any weather comparisons, tossed it off with this first tee
remark:
“Brrr! Turn off that fan.”
But the blasts couldn’t keep the faithful away and that five
thousand turnout, probably the largest ever to follow a golf match in Omaha,
was preponderantly feminine: at least two to one.
(Howard Wolff, Omaha World-Herald, June 3, 1945)
June 3, Sunday.
Bing and Bob tour the Winter Hospital in Topeka and after going around the
wards, they stage a show in one of the mess halls for the patients. Then
starting at 1:30 p.m., the two men put on a pregame show and play fourteen
holes of golf at the Topeka Country Club in front of a crowd of 8,000 to raise
money for the Shawnee County War Memorial Fund. They are teamed with Betty
Hicks (national women’s golf champion), Babe Freese, and Dick Metz. Eight
hundred patients from the Winter Hospital attend the golf match. Bing and Bob
both shoot sixty-threes. The two men then motor to Kansas City and check in at
the Muehlebach Hotel there.
In Topeka, Hope and Crosby
feuded their way around the course, playing excellent golf and making many
wisecracks. The score remained a mystery as four or five holes were missed, but
the two radio-screen stars averaged approximately forty each on the first nine
holes. Hope refused to accept the score, since there was no certified public
accountant present to audit the figures. All participants conceded on the eighteenth
green that the event had ended in a tie. . . .
Early in the match Bob did a dance and Bing yodeled for the
appreciative gallery. Hope grew tired after a few holes. Explaining that his
ball had gone “so far that I can’t see it,” he talked a highway patrolman on a
motorcycle into taking him to his next shot. He started out triumphantly on his
ride across the course only to find the “beautiful shot” was firmly imbedded in
a sandtrap. . . . Before the match, Hope and Crosby visited the patients at the
Winter General Hospital, and put on a show in one of the mess halls following a
tour of the wards.
“Hello men,” Hope announced, walking into one of the orthopedic
wards. “I’ve brought my father along and he wants to sing.”
Bing accepted the introduction and explained that he and Bob
were good friends. “There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for Bob,” he added.
“And there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you,” Bob replied.
“Yes, that’s the way we go through life,” Bing commented. “We
never do anything for each other.”
(Kansas City Times, June 4, 1945)
June 4, Monday.
Bing, Bob Hope, and Charles Luckman (president of the Pepsodent Company, Bob’s
sponsor) meet in Bob’s penthouse apartment in the Muehlebach Hotel just after
noon and go on for a private game of golf at 1:00 p.m. At night, starting at
8:00 p.m., Bob Hope hosts a bond rally at the Municipal Auditorium before a
crowd of 12,000 and Bing takes part too singing four songs and joining in
comedy routines. A total of $2,667,237 worth of war bonds is sold. Bing leaves
Kansas City during the early hours for St. Louis.
The approximately 12,000 bond
buyers who crowded into the Municipal Auditorium last night for the Bob Hope
Seventh War Loan show laughed for one and one–half hours and left the Arena as
one of the most hilarious crowds ever to see a war bond show in Kansas City. An
extra dividend for the bond buyers was the appearance of Bing Crosby on the
program. . . . Whether it was a surprise to the audience was a minor matter when
Hope mentioned the name of his coworker in films and partner of the golf
course, Crosby. The crowd broke into frenzied applause a few seconds later when
Bing trotted onto the stage. One of the high spots was the pantomime in which
Hope and Crosby gave their impression of “the meeting of two Kansas City
politicians.” Greeting each other with superficial smiles they immediately went
about the task of ransacking each other’s pockets. Then the familiar
Hope-Crosby banter began. . . Hope left the stage and Bing sang the favorite
“Accentuate the Positive.” He followed with “Sentimental Journey,” which was
met with screams from the feminine part of the audience. Then came another
favorite, “Too Ra Loo Ra,” which Bing sang in Going My Way. He won an
Academy award on that picture last year. A parody on “Don’t Fence Me In”
featured pointed remarks at Frank Sinatra.
Hope joined Crosby in a series of impressions, including Pepsi
and Coca Cola; Pepsodent and Ipana; two farmers, and two long lost brothers. .
. .
(Kansas City Times, June 5, 1945)
June 5, Tuesday.
Bing plays in an early morning private golf match at Westborough Country Club,
St. Louis, with local pro Johnny Manion against Elliott Whitbread and Jim
Benson. Bing and Manion lose four and three. Bing has a seventy-two. He goes on
to visit the Shriner’s Hospital for Crippled Children in St. Louis where he
sings songs from his recent films. He then catches a train for New York.
June 6,
Wednesday. The film Out of This World
has its New York premiere.
Imagine a shy young singer
with Eddie Bracken’s looks and the soothing voice of Bing Crosby and you have a
picture of the hero of this film. . . .
That trick of movie prestidigitation is the novel twist of the show and
is good for a laugh whenever Eddie opens his mouth and Bing’s warbling comes
out. To be sure, Mr. Crosby never shows up, but his four fair-haired youngsters
are on hand in one scene to represent the family and toss a few quips about
dad...Mr. Crosby sings three fairish songs amusingly. . . .
(Bosley Crowther, New York Times, June 7, 1945)
A unique stunt is having
Bracken play a croon-swooner, which he isn’t, with Bing Crosby’s voice dubbed
in to fit Bracken’s singing lip movements. Crosby isn’t seen at any point but
his four young boys, Gary, Philip, Dennis and Lin, appear in a bit shortly
after the opening and are responsible for a couple cute cracks when they hear
their father’s voice coming from Bracken. . . “I’d Rather Be Me” which is
reprised by Bracken at the finish, looks to be tops among the picture’s songs.
(Variety, June 6, 1945)
A dotty but likeable comedy, Out of This World offered Eddie Bracken
as a Western Union Messenger who delivers singing telegrams with so much talent
that he becomes a superstar crooner—and no wonder: he has Bing Crosby’s voice.
The dubbed-in dulcet tones coming out of Bracken’s funny face was the novelty
angle that made the picture talked about. It also gave cause for some satire on
the phenomenon of screaming, swooning teenagers . . . Bing lent the venture his
quartet of sons, Gary, Lin, Phillip and Dennis, as well as his own voice.
(The Paramount Story, page 174)
Meanwhile
at a lunch at the Hotel
Pennsylvania in New York, Bing is awarded the medal as
“Number One Screen Father for 1945”
by the National Father’s Day Committee for his work with the USO
overseas, bond tours and fine screen performances in 1945. Bing is said
to have arrived late at
the lunch. The event launches the Father Bond Drive of the Seventh War
Loan.
June 7, Thursday.
Bing has traveled to Montreal, Canada, and at 10:00 a.m. he visits the Montreal
Military Hospital to entertain the patients. He lunches at the RCAF Saraguay
Convalescent Home before golfing at Club de Golf Islesmere, Ste. Dorothee, near
Montreal, where the Canadian
…When his time arrived
to go golfing, he
came out in a hurry towards a temporary platform that looked more like a
beach-raft rather than a mini-stage. Once he was up there, where he belonged amongst his
dear public, the magic of Bing Crosby really began to work.
His smooth and
pleasant delivery, his
flashes of wit, his
natural easy-going manner and the funny friendly teasing concerning his
movie-pal Bob “Schnorkel” Hope - it was all there. Unfortunately my
understanding of English was rather rudimentary at the time and I missed most
of the punch lines. But so what! The great Mr. C was performing to the
entertainment of his boosted admirers and believe me it was top-class
entertainment.
After we
roared with laughter for a good ten minutes, his guitarist came out and sat
down in a straight chair a few feet away from Bing’s right side. A few introductory
bars, then Bing strikes up “Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral”. All of a sudden, the noisy surroundings
turned into dead silence. We couldn’t even hear the mosquitoes buzzin’ around. Bing’s magic got to work!
His superb rendition of Barry Fitzgerald’s “Me Mother’s Lullaby” will always stand out
in my memories of spring 1945.
Then there followed
the popular ballad of the same year “Sentimental Journey”. I can still
visualise Bing, left foot forward, tapping the plywood parquet with the
typically strict tempo of a fox-trot.
After this almost impromptu recital, he moved along to the first tee a short distance away. What I saw and heard then was quite a surprise. While he waited for his
turn to put his ball on the tee, instinctively he crooned, whistled and hummed
non-stop. All kinds of bits of songs and I try to figure
out which ones but “no can do.” Nevertheless, I knew for sure that there was no affectation on his part, he
was just doing what came naturally. He looked like the happiest happy-go-lucky soul in the world with “all his troubles wrapped
up in dreams.” His charisma was quite phenomenal - I needn’t say more. I quickly noticed
from his first drive that he was a pretty good golfer, a real semi-pro…
(Paul-Emile Corbeil, writing in BING magazine, August, 1994 [#107])
June 8, Friday.
(10:00 a.m.) Bing visits the St. Anne de Bellevue Hospital in Montreal and
stays on for lunch there. During lunch he is made a life member of Laval
Sur-Le-Lac Golf Club. At 3:00 p.m., he again golfs at Islemere Golf and Country
Club after giving a short concert. This time he plays only nine holes and is
partnered by Bert Barnabe and Albert Ayres.
“It’s easy to
see that the secret of Bing Crosby’s success lies in his universal appeal,”
said Lieut. Joseph Dolan, as we stood on the steps of the Montreal Military
Hospital together and watched people of all ages and of many different stations
in life gathering around the entrance to catch at least a fleeting glimpse of
the most popular man in the movie world today.
There were boys and girls In their early teens and there were men and
women in their seventies, there were women in their house dresses (who had
probably left the breakfast dishes in the sink) and there were women pushing
baby carriages, there were men in uniform and men out of uniform, all drawn
there for one purpose alone, to see in the flesh their idol of the silver
screen,
His first
greeting as he came towards me with a smile was, “How do you do? I’m Father
O’Malley,” and to tell the truth, it was as the carefree young priest of “Going
My Way” that I remembered him best. And no wonder since I saw it no less than
six times! As I asked him to write his autograph on an SSCA envelope, he
noticed my breviary which I had placed under the envelope for support and
remarked that he had carried one of those volumes around under his arm for
about two months while making his latest picture “The Bells of St. Mary’s”.
As I watched
him at close range entertaining the patients of two of our military hospitals,
and saw how ready he was to put himself out in order to brighten up their lives
for a few moments, if there were ever any doubts in my mind they disappeared
completely, and I became a 100% Crosby fan for the rest of my life. He is so
completely relaxed at all times that you can’t help feeling at your ease the
minute you enter his presence. As he goes through the wards visiting those who
were too ill to be wheeled into the assembly hall, you can see the boys’ faces
light up as they reach out to grasp his hand. No one calls him anything else
but Bing and his actions, speech and gestures are so familiar to most people
that they feel at once as if they had known him for a long time…
My last
recollections of Bing Crosby in Montreal was in watching him go very much out
of his way to speak a word of comfort and encouragement to a young girl who
belonged to the WRENS and who was dying of consumption in one of the pavilions
of St. Anne’s Military Hospital. How can we possibly estimate the effects that
little act of charity had on the spirit of that dying girl? There we saw
standing at that bedside not Bing Crosby the actor and entertainer, but Harry
Lillis Crosby, the Catholic gentleman.
(“Chaplain”, The
Canadian Register, June 16, 1945)
June 9, Saturday.
Bing arrives in Boston at 8:00 a.m. and at 11:00 a.m. he is involved in the launching
of the heavy cruiser “USS Oregon City” at Fore River shipyard in nearby Quincy.
At 1:00 p.m. Bing gives a thirty-minute performance on Boston Common from the
Parkman Hands bandstand at the Seventh War Loan Bond rally in front of 30,000
fans. He helps sell $80,000 in bonds with the sale of his necktie bringing in
$2,500. Bing is accompanied by guitarist Tony Peters from the Hotel Statler.
Goes on to the Commonwealth Country Club where he entertains the spectators
with a short show before playing in an exhibition golf match over seven holes
with Governor Maurice Tobin, Jesse Guilford, and Fred Wright watched by a crowd
of 5,000 people. Bing wins the match. His day finishes up at the Cushing
General Hospital in Framlingham where he sings for the wounded in the Red Cross
Auditorium. Leaves by train for Washington DC at around 8:00 p.m.
Mobbed by bobbysoxers
wherever he went, Bing Crosby went through a grueling twelve hour schedule in greater
Boston, yesterday, to wind up as airy as ever at the bedsides of paralyzed
war-wounded, at 8 o’clock last night, ready with a song and a gag, despite the
fact that he had attended a ship launching, played a stiff exhibition golf
match, starred at a Bond Rally, signed (by actual count) 1754 autographs and
gone without supper so that he could sing for the wounded. A less durable
personality would have wound up halfway through the schedule with his nerves
dragging on the floor but Bing had to be told it was the patients’ bedtime at
Cushing General Hospital in Framingham to stop him and he went to take a train
to Washington where, today, he will be presented the GI Oscar award, at Walter
Reed Hospital, for his USO entertaining tours in Europe.
(Boston Sunday Post, June 10, 1945)
June 10, Sunday.
Plays golf on his own at the Chevy Chase club, Washington D.C. and cards a
seventy. (3:00p.m.) Goes on to receive a “GI Oscar” as “best actor” in open air ceremonies
at the Walter Reed Hospital in recognition of his wartime entertainment of
allied troops. Others honored are Rita Hayworth, Jennifer Jones, Leo McCarey,
and Eddie Bracken. Bing sings “Sentimental Journey” and a parody of “Don’t Fence Me In” at
the ninety-minute event which is emceed by Milton Berle and is attended by a crowd
of 10,000 as well as being broadcast over local stations. Film footage is
included in the Paramount newsreel of June 20.
Bing Crosby “best actor” and
biggest favorite with the crowd, was presented by Sergt. Lou Norulak, who lost
both legs in Europe. Der Bingle’s award for “sincerity of purpose” and for
“improving the morale of countless numbers of GI’s” was accepted as the boys
wanted it accepted—with songs. Bing gave them “Sentimental Journey” and a
number to the tune of “Don’t Fence Me In” dedicated to Frank Sinatra.
(The Washington Post, June 11, 1945)
June 12, Tuesday.
(2:30 p.m.) Bing attends the game between the Yankees and the Senators
at Yankee Stadium in New York as a guest of Del Webb. The Senators win
5-3.
June 13, Wednesday.
Golfs at Valley Forge and then entertains patients at Valley Forge General Hospital near Phoenixville and
at Philadelphia Naval Hospital.
I received a very warm letter
from Rose Mancini, who was a nurse at the Philadelphia Naval Hospital, now
retired. Mrs. Mancini had the pleasure of meeting Bing when he visited there in
1945 to entertain injured soldiers. Rose remembers that “Bing was taking
requests, and a soldier who had his left leg amputated requested
‘Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral’. It was the soldier’s mother’s favorite song. The
soldier also added that he hadn’t told his mother yet about losing his leg. I
was looking at Bing, and he sort of gulped and told the soldier how brave he
was before launching into the song. The soldiers as well as myself were
surprised when Bing left the room without saying a word after singing the song.
I went into the hallway and saw Bing leaning up against the wall in tears. I
got him a glass of water, and after a few minutes he went right back to
entertaining the boys.”
(Taken from David Lobosco’s
article “The Human Side of Bing Crosby” in BINGANG,
winter 2001)
June 14,
Thursday. (12:45 p.m.) Arrives at the Llanerch Country Club in
Philadelphia and puts on a fifteen-minute show for the crowd which
includes many wounded
veterans from Valley Forge General Hospital. Tees off at 1:02 p.m. to
take part
in the opening day of the Philadelphia Inquirer International
Invitation Golf
Tournament at the country club. His partners are Ed Dudley and Sonny
Fraser.
Bing then entrains for Salt Lake City.
The
guest golf star had no time for lunch and arrived on the scene gulping a malted
milk and munching a ham sandwich, which be shared with a wounded soldier from Valley
Forge General Hospital. Apologizing for his late arrival at 12.45 P. M., he
explained he had stopped off to see one of his horses that was dying – “First
time I ever had chance to see one of mine finish.”
To
the roaring approval of the crowd which Haverford township and Philadelphia police
could not keep from swarming over the open car, Bing cheerfully ribbed his comedian
competitors, Bob Hope and Frank Sinatra, “Who have a double date tonight in an iron
lung.”
He
doffed his hat, literally and figuratively to the latter in a parody of “Don’t Fence
Me In,” crooning, “If I could curl my hair, I’d give you competition!”
From
his motion picture featuring the Waves (“old salts in new shakers”) the star
sang “Ac-cenchu-ate the Positive,” and wound up his 20-minute program with “Sentimental
Journey,” which brought forth swoon sighs worthy of any Sinatra fan.
He
took time however to recall his golf exhibition match in Philadelphia in 1943
with Bob Hope, commenting on their deep friendship: “There’s nothing I wouldn’t
do for him; there’s nothing he wouldn't do for me. “That's how we go through life
- doing nothing for each other.”
In
a serious vein, “Der Bingle” of overseas camp shows urged the tournament crowd
to buy War Bonds, and the plea was emphasized by the sight of more than 100
veterans in the throng. 40 of them wounded soldiers and sailors and 60 of them acting
as marshals for the tournament.
(The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 15,
1945)
Crosby, after crooning four
songs to the throng estimated at 10,000 by tournament officials, went around in
83 strokes and a brilliant green shirt. His one-day appearance had brought some
of the spectators to the course by 8 a.m. and virtually every tree shaded a
picnic lunch party at noon.
(The Patriot, Harrisburg, June 15, 1945)
June 15, Friday. The Blue Network becomes the American Broadcasting Company (ABC).
June 16,
Saturday. Bing arrives in Salt Lake City and after practicing his golf shots at
Ogden Country Club, he joins Bob Hope, Gale Robbins, and Jerry Colonna at
Bushnell General Hospital where they tour the wards and recreation hall putting
on short shows in each location.
June 17, Sunday.
(1:00 p.m.) Golfs at Fort Douglas near Salt Lake City in front of a crowd of
3,500 to raise funds for the Bushnell Hospital Golf Course fund with Bob Hope,
John Geertsen, and George Schneiter. Crosby and Schneiter win five and four in
the fifteen hole match. At 6:00 p.m., Bing and Bob attend a dinner in their
honor with 450 guests in the Lafayette Ballroom at the Hotel Utah and at 8:30
p.m. they put on a two hour show at the University of Utah stadium in front of
21,000 people.
Leaving a trail of laughs
from the moment they hit Salt Lake City Saturday afternoon until they left
Sunday night, Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, abetted by raucous Jerry Colonna and
songstress Gail Robbins, accomplished their mission to Utah—funds for the
construction of a nine–hole golf course and club house at Bushnell General
Hospital. . . . But as was expected, Bob and Bing were the show. Introduced by
Hope variously as “Sinatra’s father,” “the singing jockey” and “the Groaner”
Bing replied in kind before guaranteeing with his voice his place at the head
of popular singers.
(Salt Lake Tribune, June 18, 1945)
June 18, Monday. Bing arrives in Elko and is met by his ranch manager, John Eacret. Elsewhere,
BING, INC.
America’s No.
1 star, Bing Crosby, has won more fans, made more money than any entertainer in
history. Today he is a kind of national institution.
When Bing Crosby walks into the NBC studios in
Hollywood to rehearse his weekly radio program, he usually looks as if he had
just holed out on the 18th green and had by-passed the locker room on his way
to work. No necktie is ever in evidence. His sport shirt airily overhangs his
slacks. His brown felt hat relaxes on the back of his head. He is likely to be
chewing gum and smoking a charred and potent pipe, caked black with primordial
ash.
Downstage, opposite the orchestra, he perches himself
on a high bookkeeper’s stool beside a microphone. While waiting for his cue he
hums or whistles contemplatively. From time to time he removes a pencil from
behind his ear, takes an interlocking grip on it and swings it like a mashie.
He wisecracks a good deal with musicians and sound engineers. If somebody asks
the piano for an A, Crosby may wait until several instruments start tuning and
then loudly volunteer an A flat, a B flat or a Bronx cheer. When the time comes
for him to sing, he shifts his gum into one cheek, clamps his pipe between his
rear molars and effortlessly exudes the velvety, faultlessly enunciated
baritone phrases that have made him the best-liked and best-paid entertainer in
the world.
The air of imperturbable composure which Crosby wears
at all times, in public and in private, stems from the inner relaxation of a
completely successful man. No performer in history has ever achieved such
ascendancy in so many media of expression. His films brought more money into
motion-picture offices last year than those of any other star. He topped all
polls of radio listeners as the most popular singer on the air. His recordings
have outsold all others by overwhelming margins for the last ten years. His
songs are heard daily in canned concerts and short-wave broadcasts, in juke
joints and private homes around the earth. Sailors in the Pacific and soldiers
in Europe have come to regard his voice as the voice of home. Today Crosby
transcends his profession. He has become, like Will Rogers a decade ago, a kind
of national institution.
In awarding its 1944 Oscar to Crosby for his portrayal
of the young priest in Going My Way, the
Motion Picture Academy bestowed artistic recognition upon talents which had
long been impressively acclaimed in dollars and cents. Computed financially,
Crosby’s artistry is stupendous. He is not only the No. 1 money-maker in
Hollywood, he is one of the great money-makers of all time. His contract with
Paramount calls for a maximum of three pictures a year at $150,000 apiece. His
weekly radio broadcasts net him $7,500 for each half hour’s work. The Decca
Record Co. pays him royalties of about 2 ½ cents a disk (the amount varies with
the price of the record), and this last year totaled $250,000. From three
sources alone Crosby thus derives an annual gross income of more than
$1,000,000.
Over and above his wages and royalties Crosby receives
income from assorted financial interests which approximate in diversity those
of Henry J. Kaiser. He owns real estate - including the Crosby Building on
Sunset Boulevard - throughout Los Angeles. He has a 10,000-acre cattle ranch in
Nevada and is part owner of another in the Argentine. He breeds and sells race
horses. He is president and chief stockholder of the Del Mar Turf Club, whose
$500,000 plant is now serving as an aircraft factory turning out wing-rib
assemblies (“Bing’s Wings”) for Flying Fortresses. A few months ago he
organized Bing Crosby Productions, Inc., and in his initial effort as a
producer begot The Great John L. which
is currently doing very nicely in theaters around the country. Crosby also has
an interest in several music-publishing firms. At various times he has owned a
baseball team and hunks of several prize fighters. His stocks, bonds and other
securities are held by the Crosby Investment Corp., income from which goes
mostly to his four sons. Discussing Crosby’s earnings, his friend Bob Hope
declared recently, “Bing doesn’t even pay an income tax any more. He just asks
the government what they need.”…
(Lincoln Barnett,
June 21,
Thursday. Misses his planned return to the Kraft
Music Hall show and this is stated to be due to illness while at his ranch.
June 28,
Thursday. (11:00 a.m.–2:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m.–6:00 p.m.) Bing rehearses for his
Kraft show in NBC Studio B in Hollywood. (6:00–6:30 p.m.) Bing is back on the Kraft Music Hall for one show only. The
guests are Florence Alba and Carmen Cavallaro. Eugenie Baird is still resident
female vocalist. Press reports state that Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek has
asked Bing to wax an Auroratone recording of the Chinese National Anthem. Bing
is said to be coached in phonetic pronunciation by the Rev. Charles Meeus, a
Catholic missionary from Chungking.
Bing Crosby is finally returning to his duties as king-pin of the Music
Hall show tonight at 9 o’clock over WBEN. The Groaner, as he tags himself, has
been doing exhibition golf matches around the country on behalf of the Seventh
War Loan. With Bob Hope as his partner, Bing has done immeasurable good for the
USA, Tonight his guests will be the “poet of the piano,” Carmen Cavallaro, and
his own young singing find, Florence Alba. All in all it looks good for a very interesting
serving of music in the old Music Hall.
(The Buffalo News, June 28, 1945)
…The wrangling
went on. Even J. Walter Thompson brought in their own council, Sigrid Peterson
- still busily working at similar tasks in Los Angeles - to try and patch
things up. But Crosby and his corporation insisted that they wanted out and
fueled the flames by stating that money was also a part of the breakdown, if not
the whole reason behind it. Kraft, they said, had offered no new incentives to
their star who was now number one at the box office and thus had much greater
drawing power. They argued that if Kraft sales could rise, why not the salary
of the star who helped them to make the rise?
If KMH had been
evolved into a broadcast-vehicle built around Bing Crosby, why should they not
pay him more than the average host receives for the average radio series?
Then abruptly, Bing
returned to the programme six weeks after his departure. Now it was late June
and his being on hand to sign the show off until the fall would reduce the
unwanted attentions everyone was receiving. This outing (June 28) also had
Florence Alba as guest. Interestingly, there are several not-so-subtle
references to Crosby’s long absence, among them, his explanation that he had
been on a golfing exhibition with Bob Hope, to military hospitals. Ken
Carpenter also tells everyone Bing had also been on a number of bond rallies,
hospital shows and ‘free-style autographing’. As if these were not enough, and
to create humour in a touchy situation, Bing says that he had also been up at
his ranch at Elko, nursing a sick cow and suffering, himself, from a stomach upset.
Newspaper accounts at the time verify almost all these excuses, including his
stomach complaint!
When he
introduces Miss Alba, he coyly asks if she is now a regular on the show,
since she was his guest on his last broadcast, to which she responds with,
“Well, as regular as you are”. The audience roars. With our hindsight, these
reactions seem very obvious. Bing announces at the end the list of next week's
guests, including Perry Como, thus admitting, by omission, that he would not be
back.
Considering the
reality behind the very sick broadcast, it is a credit to Bing that he
permitted Carroll’s pen such free reign. (Carroll might say that Bing didn‘t
care.)
(Vernon Wesley Taylor, Hail KMH!, The Crosby Voice, February 1986)
June 29, Friday.
(4:30–7:30 p.m.) Records two songs with the Andrews Sisters plus the Vic Schoen
Orchestra.
Good, Good, Good—FT; V. Along the Navajo Trail—FT;
V.
With tunes tailor-made for their
singing talents, Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters indulge in a rhythmic
songfest for both of these sides. Both are entirely in their element for the
rumba-brushed “Good, Good, Good,” with Bing painting a Latin troubadour
expertly for this lively spinning. Tempo is geared to the slow blues for “Along the Navajo Trail,” blending
the hillbilly with the breakaway. For both spins, Vic Schoen provides a pert
rhythmic pattern. With both songs of major import, this number is a double
entry for the jukes, particularly potent for “Good, Good, Good.”
(M. H. Orondenker, Billboard, September 15, 1945)
July 1, Sunday.
Entertains and receives a Treasury Department distinguished service
citation at a war bond rally at the Terminal Island yards in Los
Angeles County when the S. S. Amarillo is launched.
July 2, Monday
(9:00–10:00 p.m.). Stars on The Telephone
Hour on NBC radio and sings no less than eight songs including “A Friend of
Yours” from the film The Great John L
which has just been released by United Artists. Bing’s fee for the show is
$7,500. Donald Voorhees leads the Bell Telephone Orchestra. Bing plugs The Great John L very effectively.
Apparently bowing
to the fetish that summertime cues audience demand, for lighter material, NBC’s
“Telephone Hour” this week (2) let down its long hair and, instead of a Heifetz
or Iturbi, brought Bing Crosby to the air. Der Bingle was in good form, groaning
his way through a long list of faves that ranged from Stephen Foster and George
M. Cohan to Irving Berlin and Jimmy Van Heusen. He sang with chorus and solo,
with gusto or nostalgia as occasion demanded, and was a boff asset being just
himself instead of trying to gear himself to the highbrow stanza. “Telephone
Hour’s” excursion into pop fare can be registered as a solid click.
(Variety, July 4, 1945)
What the
guesting of Bing Crosby means to a show is exemplified
in the 11.8 rating for “The Telephone Hour,” which tops the last figure by 5.9.
(Daily Variety, July 13, 1945)
July 3, Tuesday.
(5:00–8:05 p.m.) Records in Hollywood with the Andrews Sisters and the Vic
Schoen Orchestra.
Although the sisters spent a
lot of time in the recording studio with Crosby, their relationship was never intimate.
Patty once said: “I would honestly say that I don’t know Bing…When he’d walk in
the studio you’d get to know what mood he was in. I would look at him and if I
thought he was unapproachable that day I wouldn’t say anything to him and we
all felt that way.” Elsewhere, Patty said, “We had a happy marriage together…We
loved singing with Bing, just so much fun.” Crosby echoed her sentiments when
he succinctly told an interviewer, “I like singing with them…It’s fun.”
Vic Schoen, the sisters’
arranger, remembered the sessions with Crosby also: “We never had any problem
with Crosby. I never did. And I took some risks. I took a lot of risks in the
way I wrote for them. But he loved it, so I went on doing it. I never had any
indication to stop doing it or to change it. Schoen explained the way Patty and
Crosby worked together:
[Patty] didn’t have the
ability to improvise. I used to write parts [for the Andrews Sisters] even
though they couldn’t read it, but they could read the words, of course, and
those things that one would call improvisation were actually written for her
and the same for Crosby, except he would take what I wrote and enlarge on it
most of the time. The magic thing that happens there is that he took what I
wrote for him and added himself to it, which changed it. Sometimes it wasn’t
even what I had written for him, but what I had written gave him another idea.
(Harry Nimmo, The Andrews Sisters: A Biography and Career Record, page 165)
July 5, Thursday. In CBS Studio A on Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood, Bing records Command Performance show
#182. Bing acts as host and presents a tribute to the one-thousandth edition of
GI Jive. Guests include Tommy Dorsey
and Spike Jones.
July 6, Friday. (7:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.) Guests on the premier program of The Ray Bolger Show on CBS for the Rexall Drug Company and sings “Sentimental Journey” and “A Friend of Yours.” Again receives $7,500 for his services.
…What Friday night’s
opening show would have sounded like without Der Bingle’s contribution isn't
hard to conjecture. For the most part it would have fallen flat on its face. And
basically it's because Bolger remains an unknown quantity for radio. On the stage
the guy’s a natural. Come television and that Bolger buffoonery can’t miss.
True, he succeeds in conveying a feeling of ease and naturalness before a mike.
That's because he’s a born trouper. But radio's another story. To project those
comedic talents over the air requires definite characteristics, a particular
stock-in-trade, a line of comedy, individual idiosyncrasies that stand apart
from others. But thus far there’s nothing evidenced to stamp him as Bolger. He sounds
like just another comedian. What laughs there were on the show stemmed chiefly
from Crosby’s smooth, boff patter. If anything, it was via this contrast
presented by the Master of the Glib Tongue that Bolger suffered…On the vocal
side. Crosby wrapped up the whole show with his “Sentimental Journey” and “A
Friend of Yours” from his “Great John L.” pic.
(Variety, July 11, 1945)
July 11,
Wednesday. The Del Mar racetrack opens for racing again for the first time
since 1941. The forty-day meeting proves to be a real success with the handle
up to nearly twenty-four million dollars, over three times the 1941 total. To
make up for the three years lost during the war, the Twenty-Second District
extends the original ten-year lease and grants a new one for an additional
decade until December 31, 1959. Brother Ted has joined Bing’s organization
specifically to publicize Del Mar.
July 12–September 28, Thursday–Friday. Films Blue Skies
with Fred Astaire, Joan Caulfield, and Billy De Wolfe. The director is Stuart
Heisler with Robert Emmett Dolan as musical director. The film has a budget of
$3 million. When filming starts, Bing’s costar is Paul Draper but he is soon
replaced by Fred Astaire.
Joan Caulfield was an unknown
22-year-old actress when she got the call in 1945 to play the leading lady in Bing
Crosby’s motion picture Blue Skies.
Mark Sandrich, who was preparing to produce and direct the movie, discovered
Caulfield in the rushes of her first Paramount movie, Miss Susie Slagle’s. He was so impressed by her beauty that he
wanted to cast her as a song-and-dance star in the Crosby musical—if Joan could
dance. Joan let her enthusiasm overwhelm her honesty and assured Sandrich she
could indeed dance. She couldn’t. Sandrich sent her to Carmalita Maracci’s
dance school at her own expense in the hope that her role could be salvaged.
Sandrich died suddenly on March 4, 1945, at the age of 44,
before filming could begin. His replacements were much less sympathetic toward
Joan, especially since Crosby’s costar and choreographer, tap-dancer Paul
Draper, also wanted Joan out. He did not want a leading lady with two left
feet, even if they were pretty feet. Joan’s name disappeared from the cast
sheets and press releases. Meanwhile, Draper began auditioning other actresses
for Joan’s part.
Then, suddenly, Joan was reinstated, Draper was fired, the
script was rewritten and Fred Astaire was coaxed out of retirement to replace
Draper. Why were these extraordinary steps taken for an unknown actress?
(Joan’s first movie, Miss Susie Slagle’s,
would not be released until 1946.) Obviously, someone very powerful had taken
an interest in Joan and was determined to keep her in that movie. That someone
most likely was Bing Crosby, who had just won the Oscar for his role as Father
O’Malley in Going My Way. . . .
Most likely Bing met Joan late in 1944 during the filming of
Paramount’s all-star movie version of the radio show Duffy’s Tavern. Bing, Joan and the four Crosby boys all made an
appearance in this film. He and Joan became friends and were seen in public
together socially. They recorded the radio version of Bing’s movie Sing You Sinners for the Lux Radio
Theater on April 6.
That Joan and Bing had grown close was widely rumored around
Hollywood. Moreover, neither Blue Skies
nor Miss Susie Slagle’s had been
released when Paramount announced that Bing’s next movie, Welcome Stranger, would also costar Caulfield. Clearly a special
relationship had developed between the two. In 1954 Joan admitted to a
relationship with a “top film star” who was also a married man with children
who eventually chose his wife and children over her. That this “top film star”
was Bing Crosby was confirmed by actress Patricia Neal, who shared a boat trip
to England with Caulfield in 1948. At the time Neal was having her own affair
with a much older married actor, Bing’s friend Gary Cooper. Like Bing, Coop
eventually decided to stay with his family too. Neal wrote: “She [Joan
Caulfield] was a lovely girl and we had some good talks. She, too, was in love
with an older married man who was quite as famous as Gary [Cooper]. She
confided to me that she desperately wanted to marry Bing Crosby. We were in the
same boat in more ways than one, but I could not tell her so.”
(Patricia Neal, As I Am, Simon and Schuster, 1988, page
109) [All reproduced from the web
site of the Bing Crosby Internet Museum]
I had a phone message that I
was needed badly at Paramount for Blue
Skies with Bing Crosby. . . . There were many numbers in Blue Skies, as is always the case in a
Berlin picture. It took a long time to prepare and shoot it, especially with my
solo specialties to be done at the very end. Cros and I worked together a lot
and I enjoyed it all, especially our number “A Couple of Song and Dance Men.”
We threw everything but the doormat into that one.
(Fred Astaire, writing in his
book, Steps in Time, page 282)
July 12,
Thursday. (4:00–6:15 p.m.) Bing records “It’s Been a Long, Long Time” and
“Whose Dream Are You” with Les Paul and his Trio. “It’s Been a Long, Long Time”
spends two weeks in the No. 1 spot in the charts and has 16 weeks in the
Billboard Best-Sellers list in all.
“It’s Been a Long, Long Time”
Bing Crosby Decca 18708-A
This is a honey of a tune, and when done in slow, easy-goin’ style as
only Bing can do it, comes off in great shape. It’s a take-homer for Crosby
fans, and a juke box must. Der Bingle does it again.
(Billboard, September 29,
1945)
The most enduring record was “It’s Been a Long, Long Time.”
The lyricist Sammy Cahn had been writing with Jule Styne since shortly after Pearl
Harbor, and they perfected the wartime ballad with “I’ll Walk Alone,” “I’ve
Heard That Song Before,” “I Guess I’ll Hang My Tears Out to Dry,” “Saturday
Night (Is the Loneliest Night of the Week),” and more. Their first coming-home
song was “The Vict’ry Polka” in 1943, wishful thinking and a big hit for Bing and
the Andrews Sisters. According to Cahn, after VE Day he said to Styne, “What do
you think of this for a title? ‘Kiss me once and kiss me twice and kiss me once
again, it’s been a long, long time.’” Cahn later realized, “When I gave him the
title, I gave him half the song, because it’s a sixteen-bar song, half a normal
song, but it sounds like a full thirty-two-bar song.” Their publisher Buddy Morris
gave it to the song plugger Sam Weiss, who handed it directly to Bing, who
chose to record it with Les Paul’s guitar instead of an orchestra. Bing saw immediately
that the lyric worked equally well as the entreaty of Odysseus to Penelope or
Penelope to Odysseus.”
It was a turning point for Paul, who idolized Crosby
and had wanted to work with him for years. Just out of the army and engaged in
booking musicians and other artists for AFRS shows, he approached him with
puppy eyes, self-assurance, and undoubted brilliance, and they hit it off. Although
he and his side men (rhythm guitarist Cal Cooden and bassist Clinton Nordquist)
were paid scale and no royalties, Bing gave him an equal presence on the recording,
playing continuous obbligato and a full-chorus solo, handled superbly, every
phrase spare and melodic; jazz for people who think they don’t like jazz. Paul’s
first signature performance on record secured him a place in the higher echelon
of Hollywood players.
(Gary
Giddins, Swinging on a Star, page
554)
July 17, Tuesday.
(6:00–9:00 p.m.) Records with John Scott Trotter and his Orchestra in Hollywood,
including his second version of the song “Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral.”
July 18,
Wednesday. Records Mail Call show
#154 with Johnny Mercer and Marilyn Maxwell. Alvino Rey conducts the AFRS
Orchestra.
July 21, Saturday.
Bing and his family are scheduled to attend the 101 Ranch Wild West Show at the
Coliseum.
July 24, Tuesday. It is announced that Bing has accepted an invitation to serve as
national chairman of the Sister Elizabeth Kenny Institute’s $5 million fund
campaign. Sister Kenny, a former Australian nurse, is noted for her successful
treatment of infantile paralysis in her native country and the U.S.A.
July 30, Monday.
Records “Ave Maria” and “Home Sweet Home” again in Hollywood, this time with
Victor Young and his Orchestra.
No review of vocal recordings
would be complete without reference to Bing Crosby, whose popularity seems
quite ageless. ‘Ave Maria’, sung with choir and orchestra, is a good example of
the reasons for his universal appeal, and to back it up ‘Lullaby’ - Brahms’
Cradle Song, helps to make a pair of outstanding merit (Brunswick 03874).
(The Gramophone, May, 1948)
July 31, Tuesday.
Records GI Journal show #105 with
Frank Sinatra, Claudette Colbert, Mel Blanc, and Andy Devine at the Hollywood
Canteen. Alvino Rey conducts the AFRS Orchestra.
August 1, Wednesday. Press reports indicate that Bing may not return to the Kraft Music Hall until 1946 at the
earliest.
Looks Like Bing’s Scram is McCoy (Front Page Headline)
The Bing Crosby Kraft Music
Hall situation continues in a state of flux and there’s a strong possibility
that Der Bingle will not return to the air next season. If he does, it’s likely
that it won’t be until January or even later. There’s one Coast report that
Crosby has a terrific peeve on with the Kraft agency, J. Walter Thompson but
this has been vigorously denied by JWT executives who acknowledge, however,
that when the fall season rolls around, The Groaner may be conspicuous by his
absence from the air lanes. In view of the generally recognized, top quality
programming of the Edward Everett Horton summer replacement show it’s
considered likely that the show will stick through the fall and winter if
Crosby stands pat on his decision to scram out of radio.
(Variety, August 1, 1945)
August 5, Sunday.
Bing golfs with Frank Borzage, Randolph Scott and boxer Jimmy McLarnin in the
Frank Borzage Motion Picture Invitational at the Rolling Hills Country Club and
has a seventy-five, taking fourth place in the competition. Bing’s handicap is given as five. Over 2,000 attend and the
proceeds from the event go to the Hollywood Guild Canteen.
August 6, Monday. An atomic bomb destroys the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Meanwhile, Bing takes part in Music for Millions, a transcribed
fifteen-minute radio show.
August 7, Tuesday. Bing writes to Lieutenant H. F. Cross at USNR regarding delays in the filming of Blue Skies which will frustrate his plans to entertain troops in the South Pacific.
(6:00–7:30 p.m.) Records “I Can’t Begin to Tell You” and “I Can’t Believe That
You’re in Love with Me” with Carmen Cavallaro in Hollywood. “I Can’t Begin to
Tell You” tops the charts for six weeks and in all spends 20 weeks in the
Best-Seller lists.
...As I anticipated, and as is often the case with these ponderous
productions, “BLUE SKIES” has encountered several serious set-backs. For instance,
after three weeks work with Paul Draper he was found unsuitable, removed from
the cast and all the work in which he figured must be done over with Fred Astaire
who was engaged to supplant him.
I have been going over the schedule thoroughly with the
Director, and it appears impossible, even if no more trouble occurs, to finish
me in the picture before the end of September. As I am due back on the air in October,
a South Pacific tour can hardly be arranged...
I Can’t Begin to Tell You—FT; V. I Can’t Believe
That You’re in Love with Me—FT; V.
The Carmen Cavallaro piano,
aided by the rhythm section, makes for some sparkling Steinway fingering, but
with such backing, Bing Crosby fails to whip up any real vocal enthusiasm.
Nothing wrong in the selecting of I Can’t
Begin to Tell You and the evergreen I
Can’t Believe That You’re in Love with Me, which spins at a bright tempo.
However the Bingle takes both ballads in stride most matter-of-factly, giving a
listless rendition of both lyrical refrains. In spite of the two big names on
the same label, it will be hard to stir up any real phono interest in these
sides.
(Billboard, December 1, 1945)
Easily the best of the four
numbers given by Bing Crosby this month is “I Can’t Begin to Tell You” from the
film The Dolly Sisters in which he is
ably supported by the orchestra of Carmen Cavallaro which is perhaps best known
for the brilliant playing of its leader. Here he combines with Bing to make a
really effective recording.
(The Gramophone, July 1946)
August 8,
Wednesday. Records the AFRS Christmas
Jubilee Show with Count Basie (broadcast December 1945).
August 9, Thursday. An atomic bomb destroys the Japanese city of Nagasaki. Elsewhere, in Hollywood, Bing
records “Save Your Sorrow for Tomorrow” and “Baby, Won’t You Please Come Home?”
with Eddie Heywood and his Orchestra.
August 14,
Tuesday. (9:00 a.m.) Bing is on the Paramount lot and films a scene set in a
hospital room for Blue Skies.
(10:30–10:45 a.m.) Bing guests on New York based Phil Brito Show on the Mutual network and is interviewed in
Hollywood by Paula Stone to plug the film
The Great John L. This may have been recorded in advance. Later while still
on the Paramount lot, Bing hears the news of Japan’s surrender and he is asked
to paint a ceremonial cross over a picture of a Japanese soldier’s helmet at
the studio. Gord Atkinson, later a noted Canadian broadcaster, is there as a
young serviceman.
It seemed that everyone at
Paramount headed for the studio square, site of a war bond billboard with large
images of Hitler, Mussolini and Tojo. A big letter “X” had been painted over
the first two caricatures. Suddenly voices began calling for Bing, which
eventually broke into a chorus of “Crosby, Crosby, Crosby.” A few moments later
Bing appeared carrying a bucket of black paint and a brush. A ladder was put in
place and Bing began climbing towards the billboard. . . . With two sweeps of
his brush, Bing placed an “X” over the image of Tojo, and the crowd let out
with a loud cheer—and took off in every direction to celebrate.
(Gord Atkinson, Gord Atkinson’s Showbill, pages 20–21)
(7:30-8:30 p.m.) Bing goes on to record a Command Performance Victory Extra radio show at the CBS Radio Playhouse at 1615 North Vine Street, Hollywood for broadcast on August 15, VJ Day. Bing is the MC and many stars take part. Transcriptions from earlier AFRS shows are also employed.
…Crosby, who sang three songs in terrific voice, traded quips with Frank Sinatra and handled the introductions, providing
a necessary note of average-Joe understatement in stark contrast to the mannered oratory of such actors as Edward G.
Robinson, Loretta Young, and Robert Montgomery. The show begins as the announcer, Ken Carpenter,
proclaims the Victory Extra to prerecorded shouts, applause,
and the strains of “Over There." Crosby introduces
himself: "What can you say at a time like this? You can't throw your skimmer in the air. That's for a run-of-the-mill holiday. I guess all anybody can do is
thank God it’s over."
…Given
the radio revolution Crosby soon initiated, this gala, transcribed on “the first
day of world peace” (in Carpenter’s phrase), surely confirmed Bing’s belief
that prerecorded shows were the wave of the future.
(Gary Giddins, Swinging
on a Star, pages 527-528)
August 15, Wednesday.
Films a scene set in the office of the ‘Top Hat’ for Blue Skies.
August 17, Friday.
Bing records “That Little Dream Got Nowhere” and “Who’s Sorry Now” with Eddie
Heywood and his Orchestra. The second track is rejected. Later, Bing is one of
the guest judges on Al Jarvis’s Can You
Tie That? along with Rep. Gordon McDonough and Barry Ulanov, editor of
Metronome.
August 20,
Monday. Bing films the “Everybody Step” scene for Blue Skies. (8:15-8:30 p.m.) Bing deputizes for Hedda on Hedda Hopper’s Hollywood radio show on
CBS. He plugs the film The Great John L
and sings “A Friend of Yours”.
August (undated). Paramount films the short Hollywood
Victory Caravan; Bing sings “We’ve Got Another Bond to Buy” accompanied by
the US Maritime Service Training Station Choir from Avalon.
August 21,
Tuesday. Makes a short film at Paramount for the War Activities Committee
asking high school students to return to school instead of continuing to work.
This is incorporated in the Paramount newsreel of September 1. (6:00-8:00 p.m.)
Bing, Orson Welles, and Lurene Tuttle record Oscar Wilde’s The Happy Prince. Victor Young and his Orchestra provide the music.
If you’ve been getting
smothered lately in record stores with scads of children’s’ albums by everybody
from Artie Shaw through Ronald Colman by way of Gene Kelly, try this one on
your small son. It’s the Oscar Wilde fairy tale with a Bernard Herrmann score,
and in very much better taste than anything else being turned out for the
Christmas rush. (Decca DA420)
(Downbeat, November 4, 1946)
August 22,
Wednesday. Meets W. F. Lochridge of the J. Walter Thompson agency regarding
Bing’s wish to transcribe the Kraft Music
Hall show.
August 23, Thursday.
Bing films the “Blue Skies” song scene for his film Blue Skies.
August 29,
Wednesday. Records “Give Me the Simple Life” and “It’s the Talk of the Town”
with Jimmy Dorsey and his Orchestra. “Give Me the Simple Life” charts briefly
in the No. 16 spot.
September 2, Sunday. (6:00-6:30 p.m.) Links an AFRS VJ show with Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, and Dinah Shore which is broadcast on all networks. Bing sings “White Christmas” at the end.
In equally good
taste, too, was Sunday night’s half-hour Army Forces Radio Service show beamed
to U. S. fighting men throughout the world and carried by the four networks and
independent stations. It was an eloquent expression of thanksgiving by the
people of show business, with the “Marconi handshake across the two oceans” emceed
by Bing Crosby - who pointed up the radio industry’s outstanding wartime contribution.
Other contribs were by Dinah Shore, Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Frances Langford, Orson
Welles and others, with a cut-in to Washington for President Truman’s tribute
to the men in uniform.
(Variety, September 5, 1945)
September 5, Wednesday. Records “I’ve Found a New
Baby” and “Who’s Sorry Now” with Eddie Heywood and his Orchestra. The film
version of Duffy’s Tavern is
released.
Who’s Sorry Now—FT; V. I Found a New
Baby—FT; V.
The Crosby pipes get a good workout
on “I Found a New Baby,” one of his most terrific sides in a long time. Eddie
Heywood supplies top piano backing for both sides. Crosby is also tops for
“Who’s Sorry Now?” and gives out with a slick one and one-half chorus version
in slow swing. With this one, the groaner has another top money-maker.
(Billboard, April 27, 1946)
Bing Crosby and a chorus of
assistants, including a likely assortment of studio “names,” do a very amusing
parody of “Swinging on a Star,” which finishes a Robert Benchley recount of the
high points in Bing’s career. . . Take it for what it is, a hodge-podge of
spare-time clowning by the gang, including a large hunk of Archie, and you’ll
find Duffy’s Tavern fair enough.
(Bosley Crowther, New York Times, September 6, 1945)
Robert Benchley tells the
four Bing Crosby children a fantastic Horatio Alger story of the boyhood of
their father, with Bing, Barry Fitzgerald and Dorothy Lamour [as his parents]
enacting the idyll, the scene segueing into a takeoff of the “Swinging on a Star”
sequence from Going My Way, with Der
Bingle using a dozen Par stars as his “kid choir.”
(Variety, August 22, 1945)
There isn’t much to the story
itself, which merely offers an excuse for bringing in such topflighters as Bing
Crosby, Betty Hutton, Paulette Goddard, Dorothy Lamour, Eddie Bracken, Veronica
Lake, to name but a handful, so that they may do their bit in the manner of
guest stars. Most of the big names are introduced at the end in a benefit show
staged to raise money to permit Victor Moore to reopen his record factory and
put a lot of nice guys back to work.
(Film Daily, August 20, 1945)
September 6,
Thursday. Bing records “Sweet Lorraine” and “A Door Will Open” with Jimmy
Dorsey and his Orchestra. The latter title is rejected.
Sweet Lorraine / The Things
We Did Last Summer / Among My Souvenirs / Does Your Heart Beat For Me /
September Song / Temptation
If you have any doubts that
Bing is both losing his voice and getting increasingly sloppy about his singing listen to these six sides
and come away a little sick at the residue (relatively speaking) of a good
binger. “Lorraine” is extremely nasal in its opening chorus of phrasing,
“Things” is dead and unimaginative. “Souvenirs” is better though the top tones
wobble (“rest” for example). The tenor sax solo (Russ Morgan accompanying) is
for the books, “Me”, written by Morgan has long been identified with him.
“Song,” a reissue, is the one that will really stop the stoutest Crosby fan in
his tracks. He just has no tone in it, is consistently off pitch, and fades to
nothing on high tones. Bing is a comparatively young man - losing his voice at
his age is a result of either incorrect over use or complete sloppiness while
making these records.
(DownBeat, January 29, 1947)
September 10, Monday.
(5:30-8:30 p.m.) Bing records three songs from the film The Bells of St. Mary’s with John Scott Trotter and his Orchestra. Decca issues them on a 78rpm album and this reaches the No. 3 position in Billboard's best-selling popular albums chart in April 1946. The song “The Bells of St. Mary’s” charts briefly, peaking at No. 21, while
“Aren’t You Glad You’re You” reaches the No. 8 spot during a nine week stay in
the lists.
The Bells of St. Mary’s—FT; V. I’ll Take You
Home Again, Kathleen—FT; V.
After sitting on everyone
else’s session, Bing Crosby cuts two of his own. With John Scott Trotter
providing the usual rich and melodic musical bank, Crosby is his own self for
two standard songs, taking liberty with the tempo to give full expression to
each. “The Bells of St. Mary’s” is brought back again as the theme for his new
flicker, and “I’ll Take You Home Again, Kathleen” gets full meaning and
expression in Crosby’s song. While the sides do not spin bright for the music
boxes, the picture association will attract attention to “The Bells of St.
Mary’s.”
(M. H. Orondenker, Billboard, December 15, 1945)
September 12, Wednesday. (6:00-6:30 p.m.) Bing’s sons guest on Frank Sinatra’s opening show of the series titled "Songs by Sinatra", sponsored by Old Gold.
It was difficult
to get a line on the actual value of Frank Sinatra’s initial show for Old Gold
cigarets due to the fact that the singer pulled a lulu of a stunt by coming up
with Bing Crosby’s four
young sons as guests. What the Groaner’s (that’s what they called him) kids and
string-bean Sinatra did to the radio audience in just a few minutes completely
overshadowed anything before and after, spreading a glow over the entire show that
precluded the possibility of criticism. It was difficult to determine whether Crosby’s
youngsters were reading a script, or ad libbing, so easily and naturally did they
deliver. Whether they were or not makes no difference. They were all slinging
some fast material. Handling of one of their opening bits, when Sinatra asked
whether they were fans of Sinatra and down the line was repeated, “I am” until the
youngest cracked through with perfect timing on “I’m not” was a cinch to
deposit a lot of bodies on living-room floors in N. Y. or Squeedunk. They wrapped
the show up and took it with them when they left.
(Variety, September 19, 1945)
September 13,
Thursday. During the day, Bing records his contribution to the Command Performance Christmas show with
Bob Hope, Dinah Shore, Johnny Mercer, and Judy Garland. (4:45–6:05 p.m.)
Records “Day by Day” and “Prove It by the Things You Do” with Mel Tormé and his
Mel-Tones with accompaniment provided by an instrumental quartet led by Buddy
Cole on piano. “Day by Day” charts briefly in the No. 15 spot.
Hollywood
— (UP) —It was almost 100 in the Hollywood shade today, but as far as two dozen
top screen stars were concerned it was Christmas. So—in wilted blouses and
shirtsleeves—they got together to record the fourth “Christmas Command
Performance” for the boys overseas.
There
was a million dollars’ worth of talent on one stage—and twice as much
confusion. Everybody got there late so they were all rehearsing at the same
time. And a noisier babble you never did hear.
The
busiest man in the bunch was master of ceremonies Bob Hope. He was the funny
man of the act. But he was also the official rounder-upper.
“All
they want me to do is get Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Dinah Shore, Judy Garland,
Herbert Marshall, and Jimmy Durante here on time,” he moaned wiping his brow. “Not
to mention Ginny Simms, Johnny Mercer and the Pied Pipers, Ed Gardner, Frances
Langford, Harry James, Kay Kyser, and Cass Daley.”
He
finally managed it—an hour before show time. Twenty minutes before curtain time
the stage was swarming with actors and singers, each one practicing his song, rehearsing
his gag, or warming up his trumpet, etc.
Jimmy
Durante, in horn-rimmed spectacles and a big black tie, was off in one corner
going over his lines with Herbert Marshall. Crosby, wearing a bored expression
and a pink shirt with green checks and a flapping shirt tail, kept missing his
cues because he was kidding with an impromptu audience of bobby-soxers…
(Virginia
MacPherson, September 19, 1945)
In 1945, my Mel-Tones and I
walked into Decca recording studios in Hollywood to cut our very first record
with Bing. We didn’t know what to expect. Bing Crosby. A terror? Haughty?
Difficult? When he walked in, grinning, relaxed, and friendly, we relaxed as
well and proceeded to make what I feel was a very good record. Bing treated us
as though we were old friends, making, not forcing, suggestions. There were a
few solo spots for me, and I sang them hesitantly. Bing encouraged me to “sing
out” and egged me on during the actual making of the record.
(Mel Tormé from his book, My Singing Teachers, page 19.)
A recent biography of Bing
painted him as a cold, thoughtless, sometimes cruel man. I can only say that
every encounter I ever had with this idol of mine was memorable, warm,
instructive and above all filled with fun, banter, and great good humor. He
treated me and the group as equals, helped us, even took suggestions, and in
general was the perfect pro.
(Mel Tormé from his book, It Wasn’t All Velvet)
September 14, Friday.
(4:30-5:30 p.m.) Bing records “Symphony” with Victor Young and his Orchestra.
The song spends 12 weeks in the Billboard
charts with a peak position of No. 3. Again appears in the Music for Millions war bond radio show and sings three songs
including ‘We’ve Got Another Bond to Buy’ with John Scott Trotter and the
Orchestra. The show has been recorded.
Symphony—FT; V. Beautiful Love—W.
V.
Falling easily on the lobes
like balsam, Bing Crosby approximates downright purring with his dreamy and
relaxed word slinging for both of these nostalgic melodies. With Victor Young
accenting the soft strings and celeste tinkles in his accompanying orchestra,
Crosby chants Symphony at a
moderately slow tempo. It’s free spinning for the singing of the once familiar Beautiful Love, the lovely waltz memory
belonging to Wayne King and Victor Young. For the phonos, the popular
“Symphony” will attract the coin attention.
(Billboard, January 19, 1946)
...On the other side, we have
Bing singing ‘Symphony’, but here the orchestra is that of Victor Young and
although the style of playing is quite different, it is almost equally
effective (Brunswick 03624).
(The Gramophone, July, 1946)
September 20, Thursday. Bing sends a telegram to Sister Kenny via Western Union.
Sincere birthday felicitations.
Campaign building up highly satisfactorily and with many top Americans aiding
believe goal will be easy.
Bing
September 22, Saturday. Appears at the Hollywood Bowl in a major benefit concert “Music for the Wounded” to finance the entertainment of the wounded. Jack Haley is the host and other stars featured include Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Dinah Shore, Bette Davis, Jack Benny, Bob Burns, Jerry Colonna, and Leopold Stokowski who conducts the Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra. The finale is a medley of songs from Porgy & Bess performed by Bing, Dinah Shore and Frank Sinatra with John Scott Trotter conducting the orchestra.
With
one of the largest attendances in Hollywood Bowl this season, a cluster
of stars from Hollywood's firmament last night presented, in widely
different forms, a benefit program, "Music for the Wounded." The Bowl's
19,700 seats were sold out by show time and more than 300 stood around
the rim …The audience by
its applause singled out the trio of Bing Crosby, Dinah Shore and Frank
Sinatra
for leading honors in the second part. They sang excerpts from
Gershwin’s “Porgy
and Bess,” accompanied by 150 musicians conducted by John Scott Trotter.
(The Los Angeles Times, September 23,
1945)
September 29, Saturday. Makes a film short Road to Home with Bob Hope for the Navy. It is a propaganda film designed to persuade sailors not to “jump ship” prematurely following the end of World War II. Bing is in severe pain whilst making the film.
Crosby Ends All 1945 Engagements To Enter Hospital
Terminating all
his professional engagements for the remainder of 1945, Bing Crosby will enter
St. John’s Hospital, Santa Monica, tomorrow morning for treatment of a
gallstone infection, his brother Larry announced yesterday. The crooner also
has suffered from an arthritic condition of the back. Crosby said he will go to
his 10,000-acre ranch at Elko, Nev., following his release from the hospital.
His wife, the former Dixie Lee, and their four sons will remain in Hollywood.
The crooner has just completed front line tours covering more than 75,000 miles
for the U.S.O.
(Los Angeles Times, September 29, 1945)
September 30, Sunday. Enters St. Johns Hospital, Santa Monica, for a thorough checkup and
rest. He is also to receive treatment for a back injury. Later press
speculation suggests that he had gallstones removed. Another rumor is that he
had treatment for a kidney ailment.
October 1,
Monday. Larry Crosby, president of the Crosby Research Foundation, announces
that a defense against the atomic bomb has been developed. Leading scientists
refute the claim.
October 4, Thursday. Bing leaves hospital and goes to his Nevada ranch for a vacation having cancelled all screen and radio engagements. During his vacation, he is joined by Gary Cooper and Clark Gable and they go hunting for pheasant in Ketchum, Idaho (near Sun Valley). Joan Caulfield and her mother also visit.
…Business booms when Bing comes. More mail, more phone
calls when the line isn’t down. All seats filled around the stove. So the folks
are mighty glad to see Montana’s reins dropped down out in front, to know that
Cowboy Crosby’s back in town.
They always count on him to come and go hunting, and in
the summertime, to go fishing for rainbow trout in the creek that runs right
through his ranch. But his last trip out had ‘em worried at first. As it did
everyone who knew that he was ill. Worn-out he was and feeling a shade slow
from a back infection when he finished “Blue Skies” at Paramount, and so Bing’s
physicians ordered him to the ranch to rest. “Ordering” Bing to the ranch is
like ordering a kid to an ice cream store. Just give him his boots and saddle
and don’t fence him in. He’s perfectly at home on the range where the deer and
the antelope roam. And where Bing “roams” farther than all of ‘em. As pals of
his who visit him there and try to keep pace with him walking or riding soon
find out.
He started feeling better when he got within sight of
the brown six-room ranch house that nestles on the slope of rolling sage
foothills that look down on the vast stretches of Independence Valley, a goodly
part of which he owns. “A little crowded, but it’s homey,” says Bing, of the
9,700 acres that make up his front yard.
After a few weeks at the Quarter-Circle-S, Bing had all
the old bounce back, felt better than he has for years. Under Chinese Charley’s
solicitous eyes he ate venison steaks, deer liver, hot biscuits, put away a lot
of solid chow. He went hunting in the hills back of the ranch and bagged his
quota, including one buck that dressed out at 208 pounds.
His
horse, Montana, and his dog, Bullet, a Labrador retriever given him by a Sun
Valley friend, are his constant companions around the ranch. Bullet’s a bird
dog, but usually runs interference for Bing as a deer dog too, barking into the
aspen thickets on the hills and flushing the deer out…
October 7,
Sunday. Bing as national chairman of the 1945 Sister Kenny Foundation Fund
Campaign appoints various state chairmen. The goal of the drive, which gets
underway on November 22, is to raise $5 million. Amongst the show business personalities selcted are Harold Lloyd,
Guy Lombardo, Harry James, Carmen Cavallaro, Earl Carroll, Michael Todd, John
Golden, Eddie Dowling, Johnny Weissmuller and Wally Westmore.
October (undated). Representatives of Kraft Foods state that Bing’s contract with them still
has seven years to run.
October 18,
Thursday. The twenty-minute short film Hollywood
Victory Caravan made at Paramount for the U.S. Treasury is released.
The film has a definite
story, recounting the inability of a young girl to get a train reservation from
Hollywood to Washington to meet an invalid G.I. brother. Pity for her plight is
appreciated by a bevy of screen stars, members of the “Hollywood Victory
Caravan,” bound for the nation’s capital, and, to make room for her on the
train, Bob Hope agrees much against his will, to share a bunk with Bing Crosby.
These sequences are potent laugh-makers . . . Crosby and the U.S. Maritime
Service Training Station Choir introduce the Victory Loan song, “We’ve Got
another Bond to Buy,”—and it’s rousing stuff.
(Film Daily, October 18, 1945)
October 24, Wednesday.
Press reports suggest that Greta Garbo is being approached to star with Bing in
a forthcoming film—Emperor Waltz—which
will be directed by Billy Wilder. Ultimately, Miss Garbo remains in retirement.
October 27, Saturday. Bing is in Twin Falls, Idaho for the start of the pheasant shooting season and has breakfast at Scotts.
November 3, Saturday. Bing announces, through one
of his brothers, that he is going to sell his share in the Del Mar racetrack.
The sale is completed in April 1946 with Pat O’Brien and Charles Howard selling
their shares too.
The nearest I ever came to
being a millionaire was when Bing Crosby, myself and others organized the Del
Mar racetrack. The stock became fabulous, but by that time I had long since
sold mine. Those were fine times—gay, wonderful, sunny days at Del Mar, the
baby Saratoga of the West. . . . As I’ve said, I sold my stock to avoid being a
millionaire. At the time Bing Crosby made his exit from the venture. It made
sense: he’s out, I’m out. Actually, he was forced to make this move because the
law was, and is, you can’t own a race-track and be the owner of a baseball club
at the same time. So Bing’s affiliation with the Pittsburgh Pirates
automatically forced his disinheriting himself from the Del Mar race track. But
I didn’t know that, and denuded myself of the stock and lost a fortune. We kept
our home on the beach and it was always a grand vacation spot for the children
and ourselves.
(Pat O’Brien, writing in his book The Wind at My Back)
November 5, Monday.
In Elko, Bing writes to his brother Ted about the proposed reissue of Ted’s
book about Bing.
Dear Ted,
I
haven’t sent you the
foreword you requested for two reasons. First: I haven’t been able to
think of
anything suitable or in good taste. Second: I think I should see what
you have
done with the material and find out what your publishing arrangements
are
before writing anything. I’m leaving here on the 21st for New York, and
I’ll be
at the Waldorf from November 24. I suggest you phone me before the end
of the month, and you can run up here. We can discuss these matters.
Naturally I want to help you in any way I can, but, as you know,
someday I want to write some sort of autobiography, and I've discussed
this many times with Simon, Schuster and others. I don't want anything
to prejudice this proposed book.
I wonder if you could find something out for me while you’re in
Washington. The army has a type of vehicle, described as a “Weapons Carrier”
which would be most useful here on the ranch. Could you visit the offices of
the Surplus Property Division, and find out for me where and how I can go about
purchasing one of these cars? Naturally we want to get it as soon as possible
and any reasonable price is agreeable.
Save for a couple of short snow flurries we are having a
beautiful Indian summer here. Freezes every nite and warm sunshiny days. The
deer are plentiful, very fat and highly edible this year. If the game warden
ever came by I fear he’d hit us with the book. But after all, we must protect
our range.
I’m sorry to hear of your domestic estrangement. I’m in
something of a spot myself, but there seems to be nothing I can do about it. I
don’t know whether we Crosby’s expect too much or give too little.
See you in New York.
Ted had recently separated from his
wife Hazel, and Bing makes a point of sending a check for $300 to Hazel Crosby
at Christmas time for the next ten years.
November 11, Sunday. The songwriter Jerome Kern dies in New York.
November 12, Monday.
A note is sent out under Bing's name giving a summary of field
bulletins for the Sister Kenny campaign. No doubt prepared by the National Field Director of the campaign.
November 21, Wednesday.
Bing leaves Elko for New York. He changes trains in Chicago.
November 22, Thursday. Bing's announcement of the start of Sister Elizabeth Kenny Foundation national appeal receives nationwide coverage.
November 24, Saturday.
Bing is staying at the Waldorf Astoria in New York. He also has a room at the Gotham Hotel under the name of “Harry Lillis.” During his time in New
York, Bing goes to the christening of Eddie Condon’s daughter, Liza, and
becomes her godfather.
November 29, Thursday. Bing heads the list of celebrities at a one-third-of-a-century celebration of the comic strip Bringing Up Father honouring cartoonist George McManus at a huge luncheon in the grand ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Others present are Nanette Fabray, Morton Downey and Dorothy Jarnac. The event is organized by the Banshees, a club comprising some of the country's leading writers, editors and publishers.
December 1,
Saturday. Bing is in Philadelphia for the opening night of a musical comedy in
two acts set in 1889 and called Nellie
Bly, starring Victor Moore, William Gaxton, Marilyn Maxwell, and Benay
Venuta. Frank Sinatra, George Raft, and Claudette Colbert are also in the
audience at the Forrest Theater on opening night. The play is produced by Eddie
Cantor who has also provided a substantial amount of the finance for the show.
Bing is also said to have invested $150,000 in the venture. The songs for the
show have been written by Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke and musical
supervision is by Joseph Lilley. The show receives poor reviews and continues in
Philadelphia until December 13. Meanwhile, Decca issue a 78rpm album called "Merry Christmas"
which consists of ten songs (including "White Christmas") on five
78s. This remains available in one form or another until the 21st
century.
December 3,
Monday. Goes to the Metropolitan Opera House, New York to see Patrice Munsel rehearsing for her role in
Romeo and Juliet.
December 4,
Tuesday. Records “Mighty Lak’ a Rose” and “The Sweetest Story Ever Told” with
Ethel Smith (organ) and Lehman Engel and his Orchestra in New York. Bing goes on to address a luncheon session of Paramount field
advertising representatives at the Hotel Astor. He speaks about the studio’s developing new young talent. .In the evening, back in Hollywood, the
Hollywood Women’s Press Club seeks votes for their Golden Apple award for the
most cooperative film player. Their Crab Apple award goes to the least
cooperative. They state that the awards are open to all film players except
Bing who has been given up as a problem child and relegated to a class by
himself!
The Sweetest Story Ever Told
Here is one of those real
Decca production jobs. The artful blending of Bing’s piping with the Song
Spinners’ neat harmonizing and that smooth Smith organ plus handsome backing by
Lehman Engel gang makes this a cinch retail topper. May be a little too much
production for the average juke location, but should go big right up and down
the line. Disk jockeys will love it as it will give their shows that real
production touch. All in all, a can’t-misser. And if you flip it over to
“Mighty Lak a Rose” you’ll find another winner (same super production efforts,
but with quality much like Bing’s “Too ra loo ra loo ra.”)
(Billboard, February 9, 1946)
December 5,
Wednesday. (8:00-8:30 p.m.) Bing emcees a half-hour radio show That They Might Walk on the Mutual Network for the Sister Kenny
Foundation in New York. Jimmy Dorsey, Dee Parker, and Patrice Munsel are in
support.
Bing Crosby, missing from
Kraft Music Hall this season, came back to the mike, last week (5th) when he
sang and emceed a special show on Mutual in support of the Sister Kenny
Foundation. The Groaner is Chairman of a fund campaign to help Infantile
Paralysis victims through the Kenny method. So, he put his heart, as well as
his best showmanship into a well-paced half-hour that made good listening. To
back him up, he had Jimmy Dorsey’s band. To complement his style he brought Dee
Parker. To garnish the stanza with something classical, he put on Patrice
Munsel, in an aria from “La Traviata,” assisted by Sylvan Levin’s longhairs.
Der Bingle kept his Polio Fund plugs, brief and pointed, though with that kind
of line-up, how could the show, That They
Might Walk, be bad.
(Variety, December 12, 1945)
December 6,
Thursday. Bing’s film The Bells of St.
Mary’s has its world premiere at Radio City Music Hall.
The film goes on to be the top box office attraction in the U.S.A. for 1946
grossing $21 million and taking $8 million in rental income in its initial
release period.
“The Bells of St. Mary’s” is
box-office for all situations. Warmly sentimental, it has a simple story that
hits home, is leavened with many laughs and, on all counts, bears comparison
with “Going My Way,” last season’s b. o. winner.
…It’s all done with the natural ease that is Crosby’s
trademark. . . . Picture is packed with many simple scenes that tug at the
heart and loosen the tears as directed by McCarey and played by the outstanding
cast…Crosby’s singing of “Adeste Fidelis,” the title song and “O Sanctissima”
with a children’s choir, and his solo work on “Aren’t You Glad You’re You” and
“In the Land of Beginning Again” is another bright spot.
(Variety, November 28, 1945)
. . . In planning this
project, however, Leo McCarey, who also planned Going My Way, yielded too much to the temptation of trying to copy
a success. He followed too closely the pattern of his previous delightful film,
with the basic exception of including a character of genuine scope. Father
O’Malley is generally consistent (and played by Bing Crosby, what else could he
be?) but Sister Benedict has not the veracity of her counterpart character
which was played by Barry Fitzgerald. She is much too precisely sugar-coated,
too eagerly contrived, and she goes in for certain gymnastics which are just on
the edge of being cheap. As a consequence, “The Bells of St. Mary’s,” although
a plenteous and sometimes winning show, lacks the charm of its predecessor—and
that comparison cannot be escaped…And the whole story-line developed toward the
wheedling of a building for the school, with Henry Travers as the landlord who
is wheedled, is unconvincing and vaguely immoral...As Father Chuck, Mr. Crosby
is—well, you know—the same easy confident Bing, tossing off slangy jokes and
soft-soap with the sincerity of a practiced hand. His penchant for gags in this
picture—snappy sayings—is a little more pronounced. Maybe his truck with Tin
Pan Alley after writing that hit song is to blame. It is noticeable that he
hovers in the background a little more than he did in Going My Way...
(Bosley Crowther, New York Times, December 7, 1945)
Bing Crosby acts even better
than he sings as Father O’Malley, while Ingrid Bergman tempers dignity with
understanding and humor as Sister Benedict.
(Picture Show, September 21, 1946)
(5:00 p.m. start) Bing makes four
Irish records with Bob Haggart and his Orchestra plus the Jesters in New York,
including “McNamara’s Band.” This song spends four weeks in the charts with a
peak position of tenth. Meanwhile, in front of a crowd of 10,000 at Madison
Square Garden, the New York Newspaper Guild announces that Bing has been
honored with a “Page One Award.” Bing is not present to receive it. (11:35 p.m.
to midnight) Bing stars in a special Victory Bond radio broadcast over ABC with
Joan Edwards and Gene Kelly. He is accompanied by Paul Whiteman and his band.
Bing’s album, despite his
usual graceful ease of interpretation, lacks his old fullness of voice. If
Crosby is going to keep on making records with his evident sloppiness and lack
of interest, it would be better if he would stop now and let his millions of
fans remember him by his older and far better discs.
(DownBeat, March 26, 1947)
December 8, Saturday. Bing’s recording of “It’s Been a Long, Long Time” reaches number one in the Billboard charts.
On December 8, Crosby’s
recording of “It’s Been a Long, Long Time,” which already topped Variety’s computation
of “best sellers on coin machines,” hit Billboard’s more decisive
number one spot. It would coast in that vicinity for four months,
competing neck and neck with a more dramatic version by Harry James that
featured Kitty Kallen and included the verse, strings, a
Willie Smith alto-saxophone solo, and a brassy reprise. By contrast,
the Crosby performance—voice, solo guitar, rhythm guitar, and
bass—was a study in emotional composure, forever lyrical and as
informal as a cider party before a winter fire. It expressed the unspoken
temper of the day and demonstrated the convalescence of Crosby’s voice, coming after
a string of recordings that had inclined a few longtime fans, notably
the critic George Frazier, to consign him to memory lane. “Crosby
sounds tired, disinterested, and incidentally, badly advised not
to rest his caravan,” Frazier wrote of recordings made before and after “It’s
Been a Long, Long Time.” He incurred the wrath of loyalists, but he had a
point. Bing needed to record fewer and better songs.
(Gary Giddins, Swinging on a Star, pages 551-552)
December 9,
Sunday. (4:30-5:30 p.m.) Sings “I’ve Told Every Little Star” and “More and More” in a radio
tribute to the late Jerome Kern on CBS with Judy Garland, Dinah Shore, and
Frank Sinatra. The show is hosted in New York by Patrice Munsel and in
Hollywood by Nelson Eddy. At night, Bing visits the Monte Carlo club with the actor John Conte.
December 10,
Monday. (9:00-9:30 p.m.) Bing is the MC on a radio program called “We
Helped” on ABC which dramatizes
the experiences of those who went abroad to entertain the troops. The
show is a celebration of the 4th anniversary of the USO Camp Shows.
December 11,
Tuesday. Thought to have recorded a Special Forces radio program.
December 13,
Thursday. A 9-minute short - Screen
Snapshots - is released by Columbia and features a charity golf match with
Bing, Linda Darnell, Ray Bolger, John Carroll, Danny Kaye, Leo Gorcey, Ken
Murray and Bonita Granville. (This
may have been the Frank Borzage Motion Picture Invitational - see August 5,
1945). In New York, Bing takes Joan Caulfield to the Metropolitan Opera House to see Ezio Pinza in "Don Giovanni".
December 14, Friday. At night goes to the Plaza Theatre with Vic Hunter to see the Danny Kaye film Wonder Man.
December 15, Saturday.
“I Can’t Begin to Tell You” is the next Bing record to become a
number one hit. Meanwhile, Bing goes to see "Carousel" at the
Majestic Theatre with Joan Caulfield, Betty Caulfield and Vic Hunter.
December 17,
Monday. Bing visits a twelve year old boy—Michael Lenson—in Bellevue Hospital,
New York. The boy has spent most of his life in an iron lung because of
infantile paralysis.
December 18,
Tuesday. Bing records three songs with Camarata and his Orchestra, in New York,
including “We’ll Gather Lilacs.”
I’ll Be Yours—FT; V. We’ll Gather
Lilacs—FT; V.
The Crosby pipes have been
heard to better effect in just such pash lyrics as “I’ll Be Yours,” but this
time the tempo is on the sluggish side and the French chanson requires more of
a lilt than a dragging sob. “We’ll Gather
Lilacs,” the turnover tune, is handled more skillfully but here again, the
tempo is too slow for the song and Crosby’s voice is heavy and too deadly
serious. Both tunes are imports and require more gaiety than Crosby gives them.
Carmorata (sic) backs Crosby with his band, but doesn’t show off much
brilliance because of the awkward beat. Crosby’s name will catch the nickels,
but he won’t be able to draw many repeats.
(Billboard, April 20, 1946)
On his second disc, Bing
couples “We’ll Gather Lilacs” from Perchance
to Dream with “Beautiful Love”. The former I found disappointing—perhaps I
expected too much of Bing. The latter is much the better of the two and well up
to standard and also includes some very fine violin work from Eudice Shapiro.
(The Gramophone, July 1946)
Bing then travels to Boston and sees
the opening night of Nellie Bly at
8:30 p.m. at the Shubert Theater. Eddie Cantor speaks to the audience at the
end of the performance and receives warmer praise than the play itself. Bing
stays at the Ritz-Carlton.
December 18–January 5, 1946. Tuesday–Saturday. The Nellie
Bly play is at the Shubert Theater in Boston. The reviews are again poor.
December 19,
Wednesday. Variety magazine states
that Kraft has served notice on Bing to reappear on Kraft Music Hall in January. Bing is adamant that he will not
return unless he can transcribe the show.
December 21, Friday.
(5:30–8:00 p.m.) Bing and Vic Hunter host a cocktail party for Barney Dean at
the Stork Club.
December 22,
Saturday. (11:30 a.m.–12 noon) Bing emcees another New York radio show, the NBC/
Bing Crosby sparked the NBC/
(Variety, December 26, 1945)
December 27,
Thursday. Bing records “Sioux City Sue” and “You Sang My Love Song to Somebody
Else” with Bob Haggart and his Orchestra and the Jesters. “Sioux City Sue”
reaches No. 3 in the hit parade and spends 16 weeks in all in the Billboard Best-Sellers
list.
December 29, Saturday.
Bing’s recording of “White Christmas” reaches number one in the charts
where it
remains for two weeks. Bing and Vic Hunter go a matinee
performance of the play "The Voice of the Turtle" at the Morosco
Theatre. Later Bing attends a party for Patrice Munsel at the
Caulfields' home and they all go on to see Ms. Munsel in "Lucia di Lammermoor" at the Metropolitan Opera House.
December 30, Sunday.
A report is circulated that Dixie Crosby has been injured in a fall at her
home. Bing, who is still in New York, checks by phone that she is all right. He goes to see The Bells of St. Mary's
at the Radio City Music Hall during the afternoon. It is later
reported that Dixie has been in St. John's Hospital for three days with
influenza. She goes home on New Year's Day.
December 31,
Monday. Records “All Through the Day”, “I’ve Told Ev’ry
Little Star” and “Ol’ Man River” with Camarata and his Orchestra in New York.
The songs form part of a 78rpm album
of Jerome Kern's songs.
Album Reviews
Bing Crosby—Jerome Kern Songs (Decca 485)
With the forthcoming of the
new movie keyed to the music of Jerome Kern, there is more than casual interest
in this packaging of eight melodies by the master, some of which had been
issued earlier as singing sides. Attention is also directed to two of the eight
sides Bing Crosby had the missus, Dixie Lee, joining him vocally. Mr. and Mrs.
Crosby share the lyrics for the ballads A
Fine Romance and The Way You Look
Tonight with Victor Young providing the musical background. Album plays
down Mrs. Crosby, which is easy to understand once the sides spin out. Much
more effective are the other six sides that has the groaner giving out in his
usual easy and relaxed style, bearing out all the expression and understanding
of the Kern songs. All ballads, and spinning mostly in tempo, selections
include such favorites as Till the Clouds
Roll By, which serves as the cover illustration, Ole Man River, I’ve Told
Ev’ry Little Star, Dearly Beloved,
Long Ago and All Thru the Day. Booklet included with the package includes
copious notes on the singer and the composer. Toots Camarata accompanies five
of the six solo sides with John Scott Trotter’s music for Long Ago. Movie association will heighten the merchandising appeal
of this slap-together set.
(Billboard, December 21, 1946)
Later, Bing meets Vic Hunter, Joan and Betty Caulfield at the Sherry-Netherland Hotel and they go on to a party at the Pocantico Hills Estate (near New York) hosted by Winthrop Rockefeller.
I was having lunch with Win (Rockefeller)
in New York, where business had taken me in 1946, just after Christmas. “You
know what we ought to do this New Year’s Eve? “Instead of going to a café and
letting people throw confetti at us and blow horns in our ears, and stomp on our
toes and push us around, we ought to throw our own party.”
He warmed up to the notion as he talked
about it. “We can go up to my grandfather’s estate, open
the house and get in some servants.
You bring your gang from show business and I’ll bring my
friends. We’ll have a band and we’ll hire some entertainers. I’ll supply the drinks and food. It should be fun.”
“Hmm,” I said doubtfully. “But your gang has probably never been
exposed to my kind of a gang.”
“I don’t care,”
he said. “Bring anybody you want to. We’ll meet
in front of the Sherry-Netherland about four or five New Year’s
Eve afternoon. I’ll have a chartered bus there with a bar installed
in it, and I’ll stock it with sandwiches and we’ll drive out. We’ll be
out there in time for a swim in the indoor pool. Then we'll have drinks, dinner, a big New Year’s Eve dance, spend
the next day and come home in the evening.”
I
talked some of my pals in show business into going. Among
them were such blue-blood Back Bay types as Phil Silvers; the song
writers Johnny Burke and Jimmy Van Heusen; Barney Dean,
an ex-vaudeville knockabout comedian; Jack Clark, a song
plugger; and Rags Ragland, a magna cum
laude graduate from burlesque.
Some of the married fellows brought their wives
and there were
some extra unattached lovelies,
too. I held a meeting with my group before the take-off and begged them not to get gassed or start any fights or make
flip observations about the clothing
or mannerisms of our host or his friends.
They promised solemnly that they
wouldn’t, and they did pretty well in the bus. After reaching Tarrytown we drove through a vast stone gateway and a succession of parks, then more gates and more parks and more
gates, with watchmen at each gate. Finally we pulled up before a tremendous pile of brick and masonry, and I heard
a whispered question from one of
my pals, “Is this the rumpus room?” I silenced him with a reproachful
glare. Then we got out of the bus and started up the fifty or sixty
stone steps leading to the main entrance.
We were halfway up when Barney Dean stopped and said, “Wait.”
“What’s the matter?” Win Rockefeller asked.
“I can’t go in,” Barney replied.
I asked, “Why not?” I should have known better.
“I forgot my library card,” Barney said.
The head butler assigned us to rooms and told us that we
could do anything we wanted to do, we could swim or play table tennis or indoor
tennis on a regulation-sized court. There was everything anyone could want for
recreation or amusement. We opened one door and there before our bugged eyes
were long gleaming bowling alleys with pin boys waiting, their arms folded
across their chests. We opened another door, and there was Dorothy Shay, the
Park Avenue Hillbilly singing songs to entertain us. Behind another door, a
band was holding sway, thumping and blaring.
We were watching a tennis game from the gallery above
the indoor tennis court when one of Win Rockefeller’s dowager friends popped
her head in and asked, “Has anyone seen Millicent?”
We stared at each other blankly. Then Barney Dean said
helpfully, “Maybe she’s upstairs playing polo.”
After that the atmosphere grew a little tense, but following
a highball or two, the chill thawed. We played the piano and sang and danced,
and everyone became bosom friends. All in all, it was a memorable party.
(Call Me Lucky,
pages33-35)
Bing’s royalties from records in 1945
are $400,000 and during the year, he has had seventeen records that have become
chart hits. He is again named as the top U.S.A. movie box office star in the
annual poll and he also receives the Look
magazine “Film Achievement Award” for 1945.