May 2, 1903, Mrs. Catherine Crosby of Tacoma/ Washington gave birth to a beautiful bouncing set of ears. Harry Lillis Crosby, known to most of the world as Bing Crosby was born into a Irish Catholic family, brought up by two loving parents and surrounded by siblings and friends. Who would have known that the star high school football, baseball and basketball player would one day be the richest man in California? Bing Crosby was not only a great entertainer, but a national treasure.
Bing first got the itch to entertain while in grammar school, participating in the school plays and glee clubs. His interests blossomed even more in high school were he played the drums for a band. (Bing never did learn how to read music, so he was safe on the drums.) By the time Bing arrived at Gonzaga University his mother had her heart set on Bing either becoming a priest or a lawyer needless to say Bing had different ideas. Along with his buddy Al Rinker, Bing said goodbye to college and Washington, and decided if he wanted to make money as a singer he would have to go where the action was, Hollywood.
Bing and Al arrived in Hollywood in 1925, they stayed with Al's sister, Mildred Bailey who was a jazz singer. The boys were fascinated with their new surroundings, especially the speak easy where Mildred was a head liner. After a few weeks Al and Bing finally got around to putting an act together. With their talent and a little help from Mild red) the boys started to get some consistent billing, this opened the eyes of Paul Whiteman, a band leader who hired the pair for $150 a week. They then picked up Harry Barris and became the Rhythm Boys. After touring with Whiteman's band Bing especially received more attention, people liked how he stood out from the rest without being too dominant. His strategy was that of Al Jolson, have the audience eating out of your hand the first 8 bars. Bing was different than other singers of Vaudeville. Instead of belting out lyrics, he manipulated the microphone, he crooned his songs gently, the audience leaned into him, hanging on every word. Bing became so popular, that Mac Sennet, creator of the Keystone Cops signed Bing to a contract. He was now making $400 a week. After the success with Sennet, Bing and Al broke up and Bing's brother Everett became Bing's manager full time.
Bing's new agent went to work right away, Bing was signed to CBS and the Paramount Theater in New York where he first aired on the network air waves on September 6, 1931. His weekly salary had jumped to an amazing $4,000 a week; so much for being a lawyer. After seeing Bing at the Paramount theater, top heads of studios started calling about starring roles. Radio brought Bing into 20 million homes ever week. (The One and Only Bing, Bob Thomas, Associated Press) Yet in 1934 his radio show for Woodbury soap was a failure and his sponsor fired him before the end of his 39-week contract. This was probably Woodbury's biggest mistake because just one year later Bing signed with the Kraft Music Hall, and stayed at the top with Kraft for twenty years.
Bing was not, however a great showman to start out with. He was stiff and refused to do any ad libbing, even though that's when his true personality came out. But after constant egging on by his friends and producers, Bing would permit the occasional ad lib and of course it would come off with out a hitch. Jack Mass) a music publisher, once said, "Bing, if he hadn't been a singer or a actor, could have been a great writer. Bing has always had a great command of the English language. It was uncanny the things he could say and write. He's a man that knows many things about many things."(Bing, Charles Thomas) It was once reported that Bing carried around a Thesaurus and was constantly brushing up on new words he could fit in to any conversation.
Bing was able to use his talent of ad libbing with his partner for many films, Bob Hope. Lines like, " You know, Bob, from the rear you look like a sackful of cats being carried to the river." Bob Hope would come to the Kraft Music Hall and Bing would visit Bob's show armed with one liners that the writers came up with. Many people thought that Bing and Bob's insults were sometimes meant not to be funny, but Bing said. "It was easier for our writers to write abusive dialogue than any other kind. When our Hatfield -McCoy routine became a byword with the public , we did nothing to derail it. We developed and expanded it, and pitched in merrily to think of insults to hurl at each other."(Thomas)
Bings popularity sky rocketed during World War II, especially with Irvin Berlings "White Christmas". Bing gave his talent to the war effort by making tours that sold $14 million in war bonds. He continued to broadcast The Kraft Music Hall, from places like, England, France and Germany. He later remarked that his tours of World War II were,"the most satisfying and rewarding experience in my career." (Thomas)
At the end of WWII, Bing was clearly the king of the entertainment world. After winning an Oscar, releasing one top record after another, and receiving top billing in his movies Bing felt confident that he would have no problem with changing his radio show. Bing wanted to record his show. Since the beginning of network radio, everything went out live. Not only were all the major programs heard instantly as they were performed''they also had to be presented twice, for the Eastern and Western time zones. (Thomnas) He also thought that by recording a 45-minute show and then going back and splicing were a joke bombed or where it was slow, he could produce a top quality 30-minute show. But Kraft and NBC did not buy it, so Mr. Crosby decided to take his voice elsewhere. Philco decided to sponsor him and on October 16, 1946, "The Bing Crosby Show" made it's debut over ABC. (Thomas) Needless to say the show was not a tremendous hit. Both listeners and critics had doubts of the quality of the recorded broadcast. The Crooner's voice was not coming over the air waves as clear as before. The ratings began to drop, but Bing stood his ground. Bing said' "I had confidence that a recorded show would be just as satisfactory entertainment wise as a live show, better in many ways. But everybody was against the idea-the networks, the sponsors, the agencies. They thought it might hurt the network financially. They felt if entertainers were allowed to record, they could sell to individuals stations instead of networks. The way it worked out, it didn't seem to hurt the net works . " (Thomas )
Bing was determined to make the recorded show work. One of his engineers at Bing Crosby Enterprises, John Mullin, had brought back German tape machines after the war. The Germans had developed a machine which recorded on tape, in turn eliminated the surface noise of records. Bing used his new way of recording on October 1, 1947, and the results were fantastic. "The other networks and the ad agencies caved in. Every radio star wanted taped shows, and live primetime programs vanished, except for sports and news. Eventually videotape became standard in the television industry" ( Thomas )
Bing's radio show ended in 1955. When asked about television Bing said," Anybody who allows himself to appear on television once a week is out of his mind. Exposure like that devours you."(Thomas) Although Bing did have a short lived "Bing Crosby" show he did stay away from too much exposure. He would make appearances on Bob Hopes specials, The Jack Benny Show, and of course the Hollywood Palace. Bing would also have his own Christmas Television show. Bing did these Christmas shows up to 1977. After taping for two weeks with his family in England, Bing decided to go to Madrid, Spain for a golf vacation. While walking off the 18 th green, Bing Crosby fell dead from a massive heart attack. After hearing the news President Carter issued the statement: "For all the roads he traveled in his memorable career, Bing Crosby remained a gentlemen, proof that a great talent can be a good man despite the pressures of show business. He lived a life his fans around the world felt was typically American: successful yet modest; casual but elegant."(Thomas)
1. Thompson, Charles. Bing,The Authorised Biography. London: W.H. Allen, 1st Ed. 1975.
2. Thomas, Bob. The One and Only Bing. New York: Grossset & Dunlap, first printing, 1977.