{"id":24557,"date":"2021-12-24T12:37:23","date_gmt":"2021-12-24T17:37:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=24557"},"modified":"2021-12-24T12:37:27","modified_gmt":"2021-12-24T17:37:27","slug":"bing-crosby-the-voice-of-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=24557","title":{"rendered":"Bing Crosby: The Voice Of Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Portrait of Bing Crosby circa 1945<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Welcome to our regular music and entertainment guide, brought to you by Paddy McCarthy for your reading enjoyment<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would not be Christmas if I did not include the man who is known as the \u2018Voice of Christmas\u2019. For the last seven generations Bing Crosby has been top of the charts with his famous rendering of \u201cWhite Christmas\u201d. Last week I featured Mariah Carey another Irish-American who also has a Christmas hit song since 1994 with \u201cAll I Want for Christmas is You\u201d. The reaction to last week\u2019s issue of The Irish Examiner USA was just fabulous. So that is why I am following up on again one of the greatest crooners in history, Bing Crosby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crosby recorded \u201cWhite Christmas\u201d, a song that was written by Irving Berlin and became a hit song for Crosby in 1942 as the film also won Academy Award for best original song. We should all be very proud as again he\u2019s an Irish-American. There\u2019s no stopping us now, so here we go with a nice history on Bing and you will also read how he got his nick name Bing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crosby was born in\u00a0Tacoma, Washington, in a house his father built at 1112 North J Street. In 1906, his family moved to\u00a0Spokane\u00a0in\u00a0Eastern Washington state, where he was raised. In 1913, his father built a house at 508 E. Sharp Avenue. The house sits on the campus of his alma mater,\u00a0Gonzaga University. It functions today as a museum housing over 200 artifacts from his life and career, including his Oscar. He was the fourth of seven children: brothers\u00a0Laurence Earl \u2018Larry\u2019, Everett Nathaniel, Edward John \u2018Ted\u2019 and\u00a0George Robert \u2018Bob\u2019; and two sisters, Catherine Cordelia and Mary Rose. His parents were Harry Lowe Crosby, a bookkeeper, and Catherine Helen \u2018Kate\u2019 (n\u00e9e Harrigan). His mother was a second generation\u00a0Irish-American. His father was of\u00a0Scottish\u00a0and\u00a0English\u00a0descent; an ancestor, Simon Crosby, emigrated from\u00a0England\u00a0to\u00a0New England\u00a0in the 1630s during the\u00a0Puritan migration to New England. Through another line, also on his father\u2019s side, Crosby is descended from\u00a0Mayflower\u00a0passenger\u00a0William Brewster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On November 8, 1937, after\u00a0Lux Radio Theatre\u2019s\u00a0adaptation\u00a0of\u00a0\u201cShe Loves Me Not\u201d,\u00a0Joan Blondell\u00a0asked Crosby how he got his nickname: You\u2019re going to love this when you read all about it here the words from Crosby himself : \u201cWell, I\u2019ll tell you, back in the knee-britches day, when I was a wee little tyke, a mere broth of a lad, as we say in Spokane, I used to totter around the streets, with a gun on each hip, my favorite after school pastime was a game known as \u2018Cops and Robbers\u2019, I didn\u2019t care which side I was on, when a cop or robber came into view, I would haul out my trusty six-shooters, made of wood, and loudly exclaim\u00a0bing!\u00a0bing!, as my luckless victim fell clutching his side, I would shout\u00a0bing!\u00a0bing!, and I would let him have it again, and then as his friends came to his rescue, shooting as they came, I would shout\u00a0bing!\u00a0bing!\u00a0bing!\u00a0bing!\u00a0bing!\u00a0bing!\u00a0bing!\u00a0bing!\u201d Blondell replied: \u201cI\u2019m surprised they didn’t call you \u2018Killer\u2019 Crosby!\u201d Now that was from the lips of the man himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As it happens, that story was pure whimsy for dramatic effect; the Associated Press had reported as early as February 1932\u2014as would later be confirmed by both Bing himself and his biographer Charles Thompson\u2014that it was in fact a neighbor\u2014Valentine Hobart, circa 1910\u2014who had named him \u2018Bingo from Bingville\u2019 after a comic feature in the local paper called\u00a0The Bingville Bugle\u00a0which the young Harry liked. In time, Bingo got shortened to Bing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1917, Crosby took a summer job as property boy at Spokane\u2019s Auditorium, where he witnessed some of the acts of the day, including\u00a0Al Jolson, who held him spellbound with\u00a0ad-libbing\u00a0and parodies of\u00a0Hawaiian songs. He later described Jolson\u2019s delivery as \u201celectric\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crosby graduated from Gonzaga High School (today\u2019s\u00a0Gonzaga Preparatory School) in 1920 and enrolled at Gonzaga University. He attended Gonzaga for three years but did not earn a degree. As a freshman, he played on the university\u2019s baseball team. The university granted him an honorary doctorate in 1937. Today, Gonzaga University houses a large collection of photographs, correspondence, and other material related to Crosby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a leader in record sales, radio ratings, and motion picture grosses from 1926 to 1977. He made over 70 feature films and recorded more than 1,600 songs. His early career coincided with recording innovations that allowed him to develop an intimate singing style that influenced many male singers who followed, such as\u00a0Perry Como, Frank Sinatra,\u00a0Dean Martin,\u00a0Dick Haymes,\u00a0Elvis Presley, and\u00a0John Lennon. Yank\u00a0magazine said that he was \u201cthe person who had done the most for the morale of overseas servicemen\u201d during World War II.\u00a0In 1948,American polls declared him the \u201cmost admired man alive\u201d, ahead of\u00a0Jackie Robinson\u00a0and\u00a0Pope Pius XII.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1948,\u00a0Music Digest\u00a0estimated that his recordings filled more than half of the 80,000 weekly hours allocated to recorded radio music. Crosby won the\u00a0Academy Award for Best Actor\u00a0for his performance in\u00a0\u201cGoing My Way\u201d\u00a0(1944) and was nominated for its sequel,\u00a0\u201cThe Bells of St. Mary\u2019s\u201d\u00a0(1945), opposite\u00a0Ingrid Bergman, becoming the first of six actors to be nominated twice for playing the same character. In 1963, Crosby received the first\u00a0Grammy Global Achievement Award. He is one of 33 people to have three stars on the\u00a0Hollywood Walk of Fame, in the categories of motion pictures, radio, and audio recording. He was also known for his collaborations with friend\u00a0Bob Hope, starring in the\u00a0\u201cRoad to\u2026\u201d\u00a0films from 1940 to 1962.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crosby influenced the development of the postwar\u00a0recording industry. After seeing a demonstration of a German broadcast quality\u00a0reel-to-reel tape recorder\u00a0brought to America by\u00a0John T. Mullin, he invested $50,000 in California electronics company\u00a0Ampex\u00a0to build copies. He then persuaded ABC to allow him to tape his shows. He became the first performer to prerecord his radio shows and master his commercial recordings onto\u00a0magnetic tape. Through the medium of recording, he constructed his radio programs with the same directorial tools and craftsmanship (editing, retaking, rehearsal, used in motion picture production, a practice that became industry standard. In addition to his work with early audio tape recording, he helped finance the development of videotape, bought television stations, bred racehorses, and co-owned the\u00a0Pittsburgh Pirates\u00a0baseball team, during which time the team won two\u00a0World Series\u00a0(1960 and 1971).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The biggest hit song of Crosby\u2019s career was his recording of\u00a0Irving Berlin\u2019s \u201cWhite Christmas\u201d, which he introduced on a Christmas Day radio broadcast in 1941. A copy of the recording from the radio program is owned by the estate of Bing Crosby and was loaned to\u00a0CBS Sunday Morning\u00a0for their December 25, 2011, program. The song appeared in his film\u00a0\u201cHoliday Inn\u201d\u00a0(1942). His record hit the charts on October 3, 1942, and rose to No.\u00a01 on October 31, where it stayed for 11 weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A holiday perennial, the song was repeatedly re-released by Decca, charting another sixteen times. It topped the charts again in 1945 and a third time in January 1947. The song remains the bestselling single of all time. According to\u00a0Guinness World Records, his recording of \u201cWhite Christmas\u201d, has sold over 50 million copies around the world. His recording was so popular that he was obliged to re-record it in 1947 using the same musicians and backup singers; the original 1942 master had become damaged due to its frequent use in pressing additional singles. In 1977, after Crosby died, the song was re-released and reached No. 5 in the UK Singles Chart. Crosby was dismissive of his role in the song\u2019s success, saying \u201ca jackdaw with a cleft palate could have sung it successfully.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1923 Crosby was invited to join a new band composed of high-school students a few years younger than himself.\u00a0Al\u00a0and Miles Rinker (brothers of singer\u00a0Mildred Bailey), James Heaton, Claire Pritchard and Robert Pritchard, along with drummer Crosby, formed the Musicaladers, who performed at dances both for high school students and club-goers. The group performed on Spokane radio station\u00a0KHQ, but disbanded after two years. Crosby and Al Rinker obtained work at the Clemmer Theatre in Spokane (now known as the\u00a0Bing Crosby Theater).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crosby was initially a member of a vocal trio called The Three Harmony Aces with Al Rinker accompanying on piano from the pit, to entertain between the films. Crosby and Al continued at the Clemmer Theatre for several months often with three other men \u2013 Wee Georgie Crittenden, Frank McBride and Lloyd Grinnell \u2013 and they were billed The Clemmer Trio or The Clemmer Entertainers depending who performed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In October 1925, Crosby and Rinker decided to seek fame in California. They traveled to Los Angeles, where Bailey introduced them to her show business contacts. The Fanchon and Marco Time Agency hired them for thirteen weeks for the revue\u00a0\u201cThe Syncopation Idea\u201d\u00a0starting at the Boulevard Theater in Los Angeles and then on the\u00a0Loew\u2019s circuit. They each earned $75 a week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As minor parts of\u00a0\u201cThe Syncopation Idea\u201d\u00a0Crosby and Rinker started to develop as entertainers. They had a lively style that was popular with college students. After\u00a0\u201cThe Syncopation Idea\u201d\u00a0closed, they worked in the Will Morrissey Music Hall Revue. They honed their skills with Morrissey. When they got a chance to present an independent act, they were spotted by a member of the\u00a0Paul Whiteman\u00a0organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whiteman needed something different to break up his musical selections, and Crosby and Rinker filled this requirement. After less than a year in show business, they were attached to one of the biggest names. Hired for $150 a week in 1926, they debuted with Whiteman on December 6 at the\u00a0Tivoli Theatre\u00a0in Chicago. Their first recording, in October 1926, was \u201cI\u2019ve Got the Girl\u201d with Don Clark\u2019s Orchestra, but the Columbia-issued record was inadvertently recorded at a slow speed, which increased the singers\u2019 pitch when played at 78\u00a0rpm. Throughout his career, Crosby often credited Bailey for getting him his first important job in the entertainment business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following his recovery from a life-threatening fungal infection of his right lung in January 1974, Crosby emerged from semi-retirement to start a new spate of albums and concerts. In March 1977, after videotaping a concert at the Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena for CBS to commemorate his 50th anniversary in show business, and with Bob Hope looking on, Crosby fell off the stage into an\u00a0orchestra pit, rupturing a disc in his back requiring a month in the hospital. His first performance after the accident was his last American concert, on August 16, 1977, the day\u00a0Elvis Presley\u00a0died, at the\u00a0Concord Pavilion\u00a0in\u00a0Concord, California. When the electric power failed during his performance, he continued singing without amplification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In September, Crosby, his family and singer\u00a0Rosemary Clooney\u00a0began a concert tour of Britain that included two weeks at the\u00a0London Palladium. While in the UK, Crosby recorded his final album,\u00a0\u201cSeasons\u201d, and his final TV\u00a0Christmas special\u00a0with guest\u00a0David Bowie\u00a0on September 11 (which aired a little over a month after Crosby\u2019s death).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His last concert was in the\u00a0Brighton Center\u00a0on October 10, four days before his death, with British entertainer\u00a0Gracie Fields\u00a0in attendance. The following day he made his final appearance in a recording studio and sang eight songs at the BBC\u2019s\u00a0Maida Vale Studios\u00a0for a radio program, which also included an interview with\u00a0Alan Dell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accompanied by the Gordon Rose Orchestra, Crosby\u2019s last recorded performance was of the song \u201cOnce in a While\u201d. Later that afternoon, he met with Chris Harding to take photographs for the\u00a0\u201cSeasons\u201d\u00a0album jacket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On October 13, 1977, Crosby flew alone to\u00a0Spain\u00a0to play golf and hunt partridge. On October 14, at the\u00a0La Moraleja Golf\u00a0Course near Madrid, Crosby played 18 holes of golf. His partner was\u00a0World Cup\u00a0Champion\u00a0Manuel Pi\u00f1ero; their opponents were club president C\u00e9sar de Zulueta and\u00a0Valent\u00edn Barrios. According to Barrios, Crosby was in good spirits throughout the day, and was photographed several times during the round. At the ninth hole, construction workers building a house nearby recognized him, and when asked for a song, Crosby sang \u201cStrangers in the Night\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crosby, who had a 13\u00a0handicap, won to his partner by one stroke. At about 6:30\u00a0pm, as Crosby and his party headed back to the clubhouse, Crosby said, \u201cThat was a great game of golf, fellas. Let\u2019s go have a\u00a0Coca-Cola.\u201d Those were his last words. About 20 yards from the clubhouse entrance, Crosby collapsed and died instantly from a massive heart attack. At the clubhouse and later in the ambulance, house physician Dr. Laiseca tried to revive him, but was unsuccessful. At Reina Victoria Hospital he was administered the\u00a0last rites\u00a0of the Catholic Church and was pronounced dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On October 18, following a private\u00a0funeral Mass\u00a0at St. Paul\u2019s Catholic Church in Westwood, Crosby was buried at\u00a0Holy Cross Cemetery\u00a0in Culver City, California; his tombstone incorrectly identified his year of birth as 1904 instead of 1903. A plaque was placed at the golf course in his memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I finish this story about one of the biggest entertainers to ever grace the stage, films and television that will not be seen for a very long time to come, so I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed bringing it to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Merry Christmas to all our readers and I hope to see you back next week\u2026<\/p>\n

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