Later on, Bing asked me, Would you like to do this show with me in Las Vegas? Hed never done a show in Las Vegas. How was the experience working with director Otto Preminger? We traveled to Florence and Rome with a Jesuit priest, Father Brooks, and actually Dolores car had to break down in front of the Vatican because Father Brooks would not have been able to go in at that time since he was a Jesuit without permission from the Black Pope who was the head of his Order. Actress Patricia Neal (who herself at the time was having an affair with the married Gary Cooper) wrote in her 1988 autobiography As I Am about a trip on a cruise ship to England with actress Joan Caulfield in 1948: She [Joan Caulfield] was a lovely girl and we had some good talks. Bing Crosby married actress Kathryn Grant in 1957 and raised a second family. Kathryn Crosby: Yes. Ultimately, Crosby chose to end the relationship and to stay with his wife. After Crosby's death in 1977, he left the residue of his estate to a marital trust for the benefit of his widow, Kathryn, and HLC Properties, Ltd., was formed for the purpose of managing his interests, including his right of publicity. Billboard magazine used different methodologies during his career. His appearances, records, and radio work substantially increased his impact. Crosby married Dixie Lee in September 1930. 2014 Smashing Interviews Magazine. Mar. His first wife was actress and nightclub singer Dixie Lee, to whom he was married from 1930 until her death from ovarian cancer in 1952. He recorded nearly 2,000 songs during the course of his career but Kathryn says there are many more to be heard.The basements full of them! she laughs. He didnt win but costar Grace Kelly took best actress.It was four years before he and Kathryn married. Mrs. Crosby, how would you describe your married relationship with Bing? The film features the song Swinging on a Star, by Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke, which reaches Number 1 and wins an Academy Award for Best Song. [125] At about 6:30 pm, as Crosby and his party headed back to the clubhouse, Crosby said, "That was a great game of golf, fellas. [122] His first performance after the accident was his last American concert, on August 16, 1977, the day Elvis Presley died, at the Concord Pavilion in Concord, California. In his autobiography Don't Shoot, It's Only Me! (1928), with Harry Barris and, "Ev'rything's Agreed Upon" (1930), with Harry Barris, "Believe Me" (1931), with James Cavanaugh and, "You Taught Me How to Love" (1931), with H. C. LeBlang and Don Herman, "My Woman" (1932), with Irving Wallman and Max Wartell, "Cutesie Pie" (1932), with Red Standex and, "I Was So Alone, Suddenly You Were There (1932), with, "Love Me Tonight" (1932), with Victor Young and Ned Washington, US, no. "Bing was born on May 3, 1903. In On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio, John Dunning wrote about German engineers having developed a tape recorder with a near-professional broadcast quality standard: [Crosby saw] an enormous advantage in prerecording his radio shows. My mother got to go to one of the World Series games, and it was very exciting. Crosby hired Mullin to start recording his Philco Radio Time show on his German-made machine in August 1947 using the same 50 reels of I.G. Today he is a kind of national institution. He is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, having been inducted in 1978. He was 53; she was 23. Mar. Dec. 7 The Japanese attack Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. [63] The International Motion Picture Almanac lists him in a tie for second-most years at number one on the All Time Number One Stars List with Clint Eastwood, Tom Hanks, and Burt Reynolds. Were going up to Arrington. The Binglin Stable partnership came to an end in 1953 as a result of a liquidation of assets by Crosby, who needed to raise enough funds to pay the hefty federal and state inheritance taxes on his deceased wife's estate. I needed something to lift my spirits. It was quite a lovely experience. June 6 D-Day: The Allies invade Normandy, France. He loved strong women. "[109], The author of the most recent biography on Bing Crosby, Gary Giddins, claims that Gary Crosby's memoir is not reliable on many instances and cannot be trusted on the abuse stories. The book was I think an attempt of my dad to come to grips with some things in his life. Bing met Grace Kelly on the set of their movie The Country Girl in 1954, more than a year after his first wife's death and after he had already started dating his future wife, Kathryn Grant. He attended Gonzaga for three years but did not earn a degree. Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman (1947) is based on Lee's life. The Irving Berlin melodies linger on for Kathryn Crosby, especially those sung by her husband. Kathryn Crosby: Dr. Sullivan was my trustee, and he had a heart that did a tango. The 6.5mm ferric-oxide-coated tape could record 20 minutes per reel of high-quality sound. July The Del Mar Racetrack opens in California. [99][100][101][102][103], Crosby and his family lived in the San Francisco area for many years. In the wake of a solid decade of headlining mainly smash hit musical comedy films in the 1930s, Crosby starred with Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour in six of the seven Road to musical comedies between 1940 and 1962 (Lamour was replaced with Joan Collins in The Road to Hong Kong and limited to a lengthy cameo), cementing Crosby and Hope as an on-and-off duo, despite never declaring themselves a "team" in the sense that Laurel and Hardy or Martin and Lewis (Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis) were teams. Its not heavy. He took one more step and then fell dead. Sept. Relying on a retroactive amendment to the California Civil Code, Dixie's trust brought suit again, in 2010, alleging that Crosby's right of publicity was community property, and that Dixie's trust was entitled to a share of the revenue it produced. We did that, and then later on, Bing was hurt in a terrible accident at the Ambassador on his 50th anniversary show. Yet now, at 48, Bing's ambitious and determined widow finds herself at the center of a controversy that is reopening some old wounds in the oft-troubled Crosby family. In a poll of U.S. troops at the close of World War II, Crosby topped the list as the person who had done the most for G.I. [3][4][5], 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 Frank Sinatra,[6] Perry Como, Dean Martin, Dick Haymes, Elvis Presley, and John Lennon. It was a very good movie, and I loved living in Alabama during that time. In the years after Crosby's death, his eldest son, Gary, wrote a highly critical account of his time with his father in 1983 . After it began broadcasting, the station was sold within a year to Northern Pacific Radio and Television Corporation. They didnt like delivering babies on airplanes back then. June The film Robin and the 7 Hoods is released, with Bing starring alongside Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. Sept. The Bing Crosby Show sitcom premieres on CBS. I didnt know that he owned the Pittsburgh Pirates, a big baseball team. I said, What? Bing had decided to do a show to help a foundation sponsoring music scholarships for young people. Crosby graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1955 and two years later became the second wife of the legendary bass-baritone crooner Bing Crosby, being about thirty years his junior. In 1957, he married Kathryn Grant, a young actress and singer he had met on the Paramount lot. "Well, Bob Hope worked all the time. But NBC and CBS refused to broadcast prerecorded radio programs. The game was one of the most famous in baseball history, capped off by Bill Mazeroski's walk-off home run that won the game for Pittsburgh. It topped the charts again in 1945 and a third time in January 1947. That was so sad. The trust, tied to high-performing oil stocks, folded in December 1989 following the 1980s oil glut. Bob Hope memorably devoted one of his monthly NBC specials to his long intermittent partnership with Crosby titled "On the Road With Bing". Mullin's 1976 memoir of these early days of experimental recording agrees with Crosby's account: In the evening, Crosby did the whole show before an audience. [2] He made over 70 feature films and recorded more than 1,600 songs. I like horses. I didnt know he had built Del Mar racetrack (laughs). He also signs a contract with Decca Records for five years at $60,000 per annum plus a percentage. Belmont, California: Wadsworth. Im terribly proud, says Kathryn, his champion down the years. [83] They also established the Binglin Stock Farm in Argentina, where they raced horses at Hipdromo de Palermo in Palermo, Buenos Aires. Melissa Parker (Smashing Interviews Magazine): You had a role in 1959s Anatomy of a Murder, groundbreaking during that time because it was one of the first films to address sex and rape in fairly graphic terms. [85] The Bing Crosby Breeders' Cup Handicap at Del Mar Racetrack is named in his honor. They had 3 children, Harry (64), Mary Frances (63) and Nathaniel (61). June Bings autobiography, Call Me Lucky, is published. His last TV appearance was a Christmas special, Merrie Olde Christmas, taped in London in September 1977 and aired weeks after his death. Harry Lillis " Bing " Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 - October 14, 1977) was an American singer and actor. "[57], Critic Henry Pleasants wrote in 1985: [While] the octave B flat to B flat in Bing's voice at that time [1930s] is, to my ears, one of the loveliest I have heard in forty-five years of listening to baritones, both classical and popular, it dropped conspicuously in later years. Bing said, Yeah. Bing wins Best Actor for Going My Way at the Academy Awards. [52] Paul Whiteman's hiring of Crosby, with phrasing that echoed jazz, particularly his bandmate Bix Beiderbecke's trumpet, helped bring the genre to a wider audience. Im sure youre okay. Bing said, But I cant walk. It had swollen so much, he couldnt walk. Nov. Bing starts work in his first film, King of Jazz, a musical revue starring Paul Whiteman. Mar. [62] The single "White Christmas" sold over 50 million copies according to Guinness World Records. In 1937, he became a founding partner of the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club and a member of its board of directors. He competed in both the British and U.S. On June 16, 1963, Crosby received her nurse's cap, signifying her becoming a registered nurse after studying at Queen of Angels Hospital in Los Angeles. Bing Crosby was married to Dixie Lee for 22 years, and Kathryn Grant for 20 years. He was not out to be vicious, to beat children for his kicks. That was very good. Melissa Parker (Smashing Interviews Magazine): You continued your acting career after you and Bing married? As music critic Henry Pleasants noted in The Great American Popular Singers, something new had entered American music, a style that might be called "singing in American" with conversational ease. Since Bing Crosby's death in 1977, she has taken on a few smaller roles and the lead in the short-lived 1996 Broadway musical State Fair. June Just One more Chance reaches Number 1. [12] He is one of 33 people to have three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame,[13] in the categories of motion pictures, radio, and audio recording. In the summer of 1966, he spent a week as the guest of Lord Egremont, staying in Cockermouth and fishing on the River Derwent. I understand what he's trying to prove. He matured as a performer and was in demand as a solo singer.[40]. Oct. White Christmas, written by Irving Berlin, reaches Number 1 for the first time and stays for 11 weeks. Mar. [47] It has since become a staple of holiday radio and the final popular hit of Crosby's career. The following day he made his final appearance in a recording studio and sang eight songs at the BBC's Maida Vale Studios for a radio program, which also included an interview with Alan Dell. Now the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the tournament is a staple of the PGA Tour, having featured Hollywood stars and other celebrities. Amateur championships, was a five-time club champion at Lakeside Golf Club in Hollywood, and once made a hole-in-one on the 16th hole at Cypress Point. The Recording Industry Association of America did not institute its gold record certification program until 1958 when Crosby's record sales were low. Kathryn Grant and Bing Crosby were married for 19 years before Bing Crosby died, leaving behind his partner and 3 children. In autumn 1977 he was here making his fi nal album Seasons, a Christmas television special that featured his unlikely duet The Little Drummer Boy with David Bowie, and a session for the BBC.There were also concerts, including two weeks at the London Palladium.We sang as a family, with the children and also with Rosemary Clooney, with whom he sang lots of wonderful duets, says Kathryn.We visited friends and then he went off to Spain with pals to shoot some grouse. All the jokes, all the remarks to each other. Kathryn Crosby: He was shy, but not with me. Television production was mostly live television in its early years, but Crosby wanted the same ability to record that he had achieved in radio. 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