Bing Crosby Tribute

Comprehensive versions of Bing's biography can be found elsewhere, and his life story, interesting as it is, is not what this page is about. It's about the legendary entertainer, the unforgettable performances that make him one of my favorites.

Did you know that a company Bing formed for his radio shows invented the now ubiquitous "laugh track" that migrated to TV?

How all that got started was a story in itself. Like all the others at the time, Bing's radio show was broadcast live, missed notes, mangled pronunciations and other mistakes included. When he insisted that his show be recorded and edited - like his movies - to make them more perfect, NBC dropped him. Fledgling ABC Radio was happy to have him, and the era of recorded broadcasts began.

Many of the shows are still available on record, and even cut and edited, they retain their spontaneity in conversations and performances with Louis Armstrong and other top jazz and pop performers of his day.

Not many of us were around when Bing invented "crooning," a style later followed by Frank Sinatra, Perry Como and Tony Bennet as well as current stars like Michael Buble. Beginning his career just when radio and the microphone were gaining popularity, he had freedom to modulate his tones, something top singers of the day, like Al Jolsen, weren't able to do because they had to belt songs out loud enough to reach the back corners of theaters.

His rich baritone turned out to be the perfect tool from bringing popular music into homes, on records as well as radios. 10 fo the top 50 songs of 1931 featured Bing Crosby. Just before his death in 1977, he recorded "Little Drummer Boy" with flamboyant rock star David Bowie. Never completely out of the entertainment limelight over fifty years of performing, this duet became on of his biggest hits, posthumously.

With well over a million tickets sold, Bing Crosby is the third most popular actor of all time, behind only Clark Gable and John Wayne, and that's not counting the many times people have enjoyed his performances on television. "White Christmas," his most popular, with Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Vera Ellen, grossed $30 million (or over a quarter-billion in today's dollars.)

There's a lot to like about "White Christmas," not the least being the title song. Vera Ellen and Danny Kaye's dance numbers are fascinating and modern, and any chance to enjoy Rosemary Clooney's performing with Bing is worth the time. The story is a bit creaky, two Army buddies becoming a popular song and dance team and meeting up with the girls on the way to rescue their beloved general from financial troubles, but it's so warmly sentimental, by the end, you don't care.

In both his Academy Award nominated roles as wisely gentle Father O'Malley, "Going My Way" and "Bells of St. Mary's," Bing gets to play the sort of laid back character he was in real life. In the first, he is sent to reinforce a failing senior parish priest, played by Leo McCarry, to help him finish his work. The older priest suspects him to be a rival for his job, and Bing responds with convincing modesty. In his second turn as O'Malley, Bing is called on to head a Catholic school where the mostly poor children are taught and cared for by a team of nuns, headed by Ingrid Bergman. Bergman fears that his authority will undermine her freer style with children. While a side plot with a developer who wants to tear down the school develops, Bing's O'Malley is forced to manage a critical situation with Bergman without being allowed to tell her the truth.

In "The Country Daughter," Bing plays a washed up alcoholic, a role not as far off type as you might think, married to the all-sacrificing Grace Kelly, which was completely off type. For his role, he earned another Academy Award nomination. They followed that up with "High Society," Kelly's final film before leaving Hollywood to become Princess Grace of Monaco. Kelly plays an ice queen, now divorced from Crosby, who is determined to get her back before she remarries. Frank Sinatra and Celeste Holm have major roles on assignment as gossip magazine reporters, but the flavor of the film is most enhanced by Louis Armstrong who shows up with his band for jazz festival Bing is hosting. Great music and some decent comedy to go with it.

Bing Crosby made seven popular "On The Road" movies with Bob Hope, and they were planning an eighth when Bing died. But I never became of fan of those, probably because I always found Hope at least as annoying as he was funny.

Here are my favorites, in order.