Saturday, May 29, 2010

DOING THE BING

Here is a cute number that Bing sang and danced to on his tv special of 1962. The video is not perfect, and Bing looks tired in the clip...but it is pure entertainment... clip courtesy of Martin Knight

Sunday, May 16, 2010

MAMA DON'T ALLOW NO GUITAR PLAYING

Here is a very different Bing clip. It is mostly spotlighting Jose Feliciano and his guitar work. He is a great guitar playing but not the best singer. Bing does his usual best to jam with Jose. This is from a Bing Crosby special of 1968...

Saturday, May 15, 2010

BING CROSBY ON TCM

Unfortunately the next few months on TCM does not have much Bing Crosby scheduled. With the month of May being the birth months of both Bing Crosby and Bob Hope, you would think there would be more scheduled: JUNE 7TH - THE ROAD TO BALI - 7:45AM JULY 17TH - ROAD TO MOROCCO - 8PM

BING CROSBY AND BETTY HUTTON - 1944

When you think of Betty Hutton...you think of loud singing and dancing antics. Here is a more reserved Hutton singing with Bing from HERE COMES THE WAVES(1944). They actually sing with love song pretty good together...

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

IT HAD TO BE YOU - 1953

Here is a great clip of Bing Crosby singing the classic "It Had To Be You". This is from one of Bing's first TV specials on CBS. Buddy Cole is seen on the piano as well...

Monday, May 10, 2010

THE ROAD TO HOME - 1945

In honor of Bing and Bob Hope's birthday in May, here is a short they did in 1945 called THE ROAD TO HOME. The short also featured clips from their Road movies they had done...

Monday, May 3, 2010

A BING CROSBY TRIBUTE

On what would have been Bing's 107th birthday, I wanted to feature something different. Here is a beautiful tribute to Bing...

Sunday, May 2, 2010

HAPPY 107TH BIRTHDAY!

With the birthday of Bing Crosby around the corner, I figured it would be interesting learning about his early life... Crosby was born in Tacoma, Washington, on May 3, 1903, in a house his father built at 1112 North J Street.His family moved to Spokane, Washington, in 1906 to find work. He was the fourth of seven children: five boys, Larry (1895–1975), Everett (1896–1966), Ted (1900–1973), Harry 'Bing' (1903–1977), and Bob (1913–1993); and two girls, Catherine (1904–1974) and Mary Rose (1906–1990). His parents were English-American Harry Lincoln Crosby (1870–1950), a bookkeeper, and Irish-American Catherine Helen (affectionately known as Kate) Harrigan (1873–1964). Kate was the daughter of Canadian-born parents who had emigrated to Stillwater, Minnesota, from Miramichi, New Brunswick. Kate's grandfather and grandmother, Dennis and Catherine Harrigan, had in turn moved to Canada in 1831 from Schull, County Cork, Ireland.[11] Bing's paternal ancestors include Governor Thomas Prence and Patience Brewster, who were both born in England and who immigrated to what would become the U.S. in the 17th century. Patience was a daughter of Elder William Brewster (pilgrim), (c. 1567 – April 10, 1644), the Pilgrim leader and spiritual elder of the Plymouth Colony and a passenger on the Mayflower. In 1910, Crosby was forever renamed. The six-year-old Harry Lillis discovered a full-page feature in the Sunday edition of the Spokesman-Review, "The Bingville Bugle." The "Bugle," written by humorist Newton Newkirk, was a parody of a hillbilly newsletter complete with gossipy tidbits, minstrel quips, creative spelling, and mock ads. A neighbor, 15-year-old Valentine Hobart, shared Crosby's enthusiasm for "The Bugle," and noting Crosby's laugh, took a liking to him and called him "Bingo from Bingville." The last vowel was dropped and the name shortened to "Bing," which stuck. In 1917, Crosby took a summer job as property boy at Spokane's "Auditorium," where he witnessed some of the finest acts of the day, including Al Jolson, who held Crosby spellbound with his ad-libbing and spoofs of Hawaiian songs. Crosby later described Jolson's delivery as "electric." In the fall of 1920, Crosby enrolled in the Jesuit-run Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, with the intention of becoming a lawyer. He sent away for a set of mail-order drums. After much practice, he soon became good enough and was invited to join a local band made up of mostly local high school kids called the "Musicaladers," managed by Al Rinker. He made so much money doing this that he decided to drop out of school during his final year to pursue a career in show business.

BING CROSBY AND PEGGY LEE

This clip is way too short, but it highlights the chemistry that Bing and the great Peggy Lee had together...