DER BINGLE 

Bing Crosby inspired Frank Sinatra, won an Oscar, sang a duet with David Bowie, is synonymous with Christmas, endorsed orange juice, had wholesome family TV specials and was apparently a bully with his first wife and eldest sons. 

I’m not a Bing Crosby fan – so stop reading here if you want only sweetness and light. 

There’s a couple of Bing Crosby autographs in my collection.  One of them is a form letter signed “Bing” which so many neophytes (or hustlers) sell as authentic.  It’s not.  It seems like it’s written in pen, but you can see multiple examples of the same letter signed in exactly the same way, stroke-by-stroke, letter by letter.  It perplexes me to no end why sellers refuse to acknowledge, even when presented with hard evidence, that what they’re selling is NOT an authentic signature.  Whatever. 

The Volpe print from his Oscar win in “Going My Way” is authentically signed by Bing.  And I’ve got quite a few of those Volpe sketches signed by Best Actor and Best Actress winners.  I’ve also got multiple complete packages of the Volpe set of winners from 1928-1961, which are quite collectible now. 

Back to Bing.  I’ve never seen “Going My Way”.  I’ve got no plans to.  There’s something about him that I find insincere and off-putting, but I can’t quite place my finger on it. Maybe I’ve squirmed through a “Road to …” movie or two and fast forwarded through “High Society” but I just can’t watch him at length for some reason.  

Perhaps his best acting was coming across as a nice guy, since apparently his first wife and oldest sons would tell a very different story. 

WIFE AND KIDS – BATCH #1 

Dixie Lee was Bing Crosby’s first wife – and the autograph you see here is rare signature.  Dixie was a beautiful starlet who bore Bing four boys, had a problem with the bottle, charged Bing with mental cruelty, experienced an accidental overdose of barbiturates, and died early of ovarian cancer at 43.  Hers was a sad, sad situation.  I find the handwritten, autographed note by Dixie to be very touching. It says "May you live as long as you want, and have everything you want as long as you live". I've paired it with a great vintage linen photo of her and a postcard of the house that she and Bing lived in. If only her inscription on the pick paper came true for Dixie.

“Smash Up: The Story of a Woman” (1947) starring Susan Hayward is supposedly based on her life.  Rumor has it that Bing Crosby was gung-ho about suing the producers and studio but thought better of it after realizing it would shine more of a light on his wife’s (and his?) problems.  Shown here is a great 11x14 movie ad for the movie signed by Eddie Albert (I’ll cover him, his son and “Green Acres” separately) 

Of the four sons that Dixie and Bing had together, son Gary Crosby wrote about a remote, emotionally unavailable, abusive, and sometimes cruel father in his book “Going My Own Way”. Yet, another of Bing’s biographical authors had disputed Gary’s veracity.  Children who say they were abused, especially by famous parents, are often questioned. Is it victim shaming or punishment for a perceived cash-grab?  Nobody knows except those who were there, so it always perplexes me when newer authors want to shine the altar. 

Bing’s youngest son, Lindsay, really went through the wringer.  His 8 months pregnant wife tried to commit suicide, their baby died one hour after delivery, Lindsay was hospitalized because of the psychological damage, went through divorces, drunk driving, and battery charges, and ultimately shot himself in the head with a rifle when he was 51.   

Bing’s middle two sons, Dennis and Philip were twins. Dennis Crosby was so distraught over Lindsay’s suicide that he himself committed suicide 2 years later also by gunshot when he was 56.  (Coincidentally, the shooting happened in Novato, about 30 minutes from my house in San Francisco, when I was 26 years old.)  Dennis had also gone through a messy paternity lawsuit, while married to his first wife, and ultimately had to pay child support for his daughter, who is Denise Crosby, from Star Trek Voyager.  Denise was 19 when her grandfather died, but she supposedly never met Bing. Not that she needed to.  Denise is probably booked with Star Trek conventions for at least the next 10 years. 

That. Is. A. BIG. Bucket. Of. Tragedies. 

WIFE AND KIDS – BATCH #2 

Bing decided on Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows for his second marriage-go-round, and married starlet Kathryn Grant (covered here under “The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad”) Bing and Kathryn had 3 kids.  I knew all about them when I was a kid, because they were just a bit older than me and lived about 20 minutes from my parents’ house in an 11-bedroom Chateau mansion in exclusive Hillsborough.  As teenagers, we’d drive by and look at the “rich people” houses and Bing’s was primo.  Plus, I had friends that went to school with Mary and Nathaniel; apparently Mary was an affected mean girl and Nate was sweet.  But you know how teenagers talk. All I know is that the second wife and batch of kids was always presented with Bing as wholesome, happy, and liking orange juice.  Their Minute Maid commercials started in the 60’s and it’s fun to look them up on YouTube, but I like this one because it has Bing in it and daughter Mary sipping and looking at him adoringly at the end … awwww 

Mary Crosby later had a bright moment of fame for being unveiled (after several months and 3 episodes following the previous season’s finale cliffhanger) as the person who shot J.R. on “Dallas”.  Perhaps it was during this hiatus that I wrote to her and got these photos signed.   

Harry Crosby is Bing’s eldest son with Kathryn and I didn’t even realize that he was in the original “Friday the 13th”.  The son of an All-American Crooner wielding a machete at Crystal Lake (to kill a snake) – thank you Michael Augustine-Reed. 

"He ain't heavy; he's my brother!" I almost forgot that I also have the autograph of Bob Crosby, Bing's 10-year younger brother. Not a huge star, but he had a pretty decent career as a bandleader, singer and on television. Bob had a laid-back public demeanor, like his brother and although they share some physical characteristics, Bob's a little easier on the eyes IMO

Oh - the family house in Hillsborough ... it recently sold for $25 million dollars (after they lowered the price from $40 million). Check out this clip of the home which we all used to drive by and see the grand interior and furnishings. Time capsule!

CROSBY CO-STARS 

Now a quick word about a few of Bing’s female co-stars.  Since I literally have not watched ANY of his movies all the way through, all I can say is that I have movie stills which reminded me that I have autographs of his “White Christmas” co-star Vera-Ellen (I’ll talke about Kaye and Clooney separately) and his “Pennies from Heaven” co-stars Madge Evans and Edith Fellows. 

Vera-Ellen is someone whom I’ve always considered cute and perky but not familiar enough with her work to call her a favorite star.  That’s what I get for not being a fan of musicals.  Regardless, I have a much older friend who was pen pals with her and he gave me a couple of her signed Christmas  or religious greeting cards, which you see here.  Her most famous movie arguably being “White Christmas”, she was an avid sender of Christmas cards.  I love how she hand-addressed her own cards; this one is from 1975. Ok, Mrs. Rothschild. 

Bing's co-stars in "Pennies from Heaven" included Madge Evans and Edith Fellows. Madge Evans is one of those names where I’d see her picture and name in old magazines, or come across some fan photos, but never really knew WHAT made her famous.  At least I’ve got some nice pix and her autograph in my collection. 

Edith Fellows autograph however was a result of one my teenage fan-letters and a phone call (back when we had the white pages). My interested was triggered (as per usual at that time) by a mention made by Richard Lamparski or an autograph newsletter.  I wrote to so many people as a teen that I literally had NO IDEA what they were famous for.  You can see by what Edith sent me that she was very moved by my approach and generous in her response, although I wish she had signed the photo of her as a child star.  Not sure why she sent it to me and didn’t sign it. 

Separately, I’ll cover his frequent co-stars Bob Hope (with whom I have a personal tie) and the lovely, fan-friendly Dorothy Lamour.  Until then, just remember: “Life is a bowl of cherries” Let’s just hope they’re not Bing.  Ba dum. 

But to end on a sweet Minute Made orange juice note, I will say that I DO love his definitive version of “White Christmas” and this one clip doing a Cole Porter song with Sinatra. 

Oops. Scratch that.  I was just going to insert the YouTube clip and realized that I do NOT like the “Did You Evah!” collaboration.  My orange juice has too much pulp and seeds. 

Norm and Cathy Lee, I haven’t forgotten you … coming up.