Bing Crosby

Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby born May 3, 1903 in Tacoma Washington was his own unique 'triple threat' when for the period between 1931 to 1954 he was the leader in record sales, radio ratings and motion picture grosses. In 1948 he was labeled the most admired man all over the world. In 1944 he won the coveted Academy Award for best Actor for the film Going My Way playing Father Chuck O'Malley which he reprised the following year with Ingrid Bergman in The Bells of St. Mary's wherein he was nominated again for best actor.

Deeply religious inspired by his mother Bing went to Gonzaga High School run by the Jesuits. It was here that he thought his avocation would be as a lawyer. That quickly changed to music when he purchased a phonograph and found his inspiration Al Jolson. Curiously his nickname came from a comic strip the Bingville Bugle. The newspaper published in Boston about a mythical town was a favorite of the young Harry Crosby and it was how he obtained his famous moniker. 

In the 1920’s he found himself playing drums and singing with a group called the Musicaladers. Later he would split off from them and with his partner Al Rinker they headed to LA and the two became a popular vaudeville act. The duo released a few singles and added a few backing players and labeled themselves The Rhythm Boys. They even wound up in one of Bing’s first films 1930’s King of Jazz. Soon after Bing was on his own. Landing on radio in 1931 his audiences would swell to 50 million listeners and last 30 years. 

Linked to another famous icon Bob Hope the two met outside the Friars Club in NYC in 1932 and later that year were onstage at the Capitol Theater which set the ball rolling for their 7 Road pictures the first of which premiered in 1940 and the last in 1960. Their first picture titled The Road to Singapore teamed them with the beautiful Dorothy LaMour. Always trying to one up each other Hope and Crosby would often adlib half of the films dialogue. Their iconic scene atop the Bactrian camel in The Road to Morocco helped make their song and movie a tremendous hit with moviegoers. 

When it came to the big screen Bing was not your typical leading man. He was lean, with big ears but he had the extraordinary musical talent and a mellifluous speaking voice.  He won audiences over in films like 1934’s Here is My Heart and 1936’s Anything Goes and Pennies from Heaven that same year which yielded a #1 hit from the title song.  In the 40’s he and The Andrew Sisters had a very successful collaboration with hits like Pistol Packin’ Mama and Don’t Fence Me In. Later in a remake of The Philadelphia Story paired with Frank Sinatra in 1956 in the retitled High Society they sang Did You Eva. 

Interestingly enough with all the pop stars of the late 20th Century and today and the gizmo loaded technology available the biggest selling single still today is Crosby’s White Christmas. It has sold over 50 million copies in all forms and there are some estimates have that number much higher pegging it at 100 million.  And the song remarkably reached #1 three times in 1942, 1945 and 1947. Bing had 41 number 1 records has 3 Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame one for radio one for film and one for music. He has sold over 1 billion records, tapes, CD’s and digital. 

Bing married first wife Dixie Lee in 1930. Dixie’s film career included Night Life in Reno, 1931, Love in Bloom featuring George Burns and Gracie Allen also Redheads on Parade with the future Tin Man Jack Haley both in 1935. Dixie bore him 4 children. They remained married until her death in 1952 from ovarian cancer at age 40. Bing would not marry again until 1957 to the beauty pageant Queen Kathryn Grant. She also starred in films opposite major stars such as Jack Lemmon, Jimmy Stewart and Tony Curtis. Bing would sire 3 more children with Kathryn and she would stay married to him until his death almost 20 years later. 

After his death his son Gary penned a defamatory 1983 book called He Did It His Own Way describing Bing’s verbal and physical abuse of his sons. The siblings were divided on the account. The controversy didn’t last long as the legacy of Bing Crosby was just too great besides some said that if Bing was so brutal why didn’t Gary come forward while his father was still alive. 

After his film career began to wane Bing concentrated on the small screen with shows like The Hollywood Palace and The Bing Crosby Show but neither lasted with the networks. Undaunted Crosby and family would appear in a Christmas show in the 70’s and in 1977 recorded in London just weeks before his death Bing made headlines singing a cross duet with popular icon David Bowie. The Little Drummer Boy (Bing) and Peace on Earth (David). Interesting side note Bowie didn’t want to appear on the show but his mother loved Bing Crosby and so he agreed. The show aired after his death and the song has become a holiday classic.  Crosby also appeared on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and The Carol Burnett Show and he even sang a duet with Flip Wilson on his show. He also tried his hand at producing. His own show failed but success followed with Ben Casey and Hogan’s Heroes both in the 1960’s. 

After recovering from a lung infection in 1974 he began anew with concert appearances and records. The end was near however with Hope in attendance Bing fell off a stage in March of 1977 rupturing a disc. Later that year after a round of golf his last words were “Let’s get a coke” he collapsed just 20 yards from the clubhouse entrance from a massive heart attack he was only 74. His friend Bob Hope would make it to age 100 and pass in 2003. 

Bing Crosby a unique icon to our Golden Age library.  

Richard Widmark

Our Star for August in an interview in 2002 at 87 still sharp of mind with Michael Shelden recalled vividly his costar Marilyn Monroe from his work with her in 1952’s Don’t Bother to Knock. He said  ‘I liked Marilyn, but she was God awful to work with. Impossible really.” That long screen kiss was pulled off magnificently in true Hollywood fashion but Richard was nonplussed and knew there was nothing chemical between them. Widmark recalled that she would hide in her dressing room and refuse to come out on the set, she was nervous and he surmised she was like a wounded bird, insecure and self-destructive. The interview gave me the insight that this actor who would often portray the most sinister of parts conveyed a geniality and reserve that belied the roles he played. Unlike many of his contemporaries Richard Widmark traveled in the slow lane and avoided controversy and made sure he steered clear of scandal. He was the proverbial antithesis to his big screen persona. 

Richard was born in Minnesota to Ethel Mae and Carl Henry Widmark on Boxing Day 1914. His father of Swedish descent and his mother was of English and Scottish ancestry.  Claiming to have loved movies since he was 4 years old, Richard was particularly struck by the 1931 films of Frankenstein and Dracula. He was very impressed by Boris Karloff.  Who knows if these two horror films helped him craft some of the maniacal roles he was destined for? The movies were not his first intention as a career choice however as he was going to become a lawyer or so he thought. Richard excelled at public speaking and while at college he won a role ironically called Counselor at Law. After his degree at Lake Forest College he stayed on as Assistant Director of Speech and Drama but by this time the acting “bug” had gripped him and when he eventually quit he headed to New York and landed on radio and distinguished himself in 1938’s Aunt Jenny’s Real Life Stories. By 1943 on stage in Kiss and Tell his portrayals were milquetoast from the tough as nails men that were to come.  

Widmark trying to answer his Country’s call attempted to enter the Service three times but was rejected each time because of a perforated eardrum. He went to ear specialists but to no avail. He would later joke that he had a hole in his head. Instead he became an air raid warden stateside and entertained the troops via the “American Theatre Wing”. Widmark would star in quite a few War flicks however like Halls of Montezuma 1950, The Frogmen 1951, Destination Gobi 1953, and Take the High Ground that same year.  

After WWII it was the role Richard Widmark is most remembered for 1947’s Kiss of Death. As the thug Tommy Udo poised at the top of the landing he pushes poor Mildred Dunnock who is strapped in her wheelchair down a full flight of stairs as Widmark’s character gleefully giggles in his malevolent deed. Audiences were shocked and horrified but yet drawn to the violence nonetheless and for the role Richard garnered an Oscar nomination in a supporting role. His infamous line: “You know what I do to squealers? I let ‘em have it in the belly, so they can roll around for a long time thinkin’ it over.” Widmark thought he overplayed the part but Daryl Zanuck thought otherwise. The director also had misgivings he said Widmark looked too much the intellectual so they added a wig to make him look more hard-boiled.  

Married to his high school sweetheart Jean Hazlewood in 1942 their marriage would last 55 years until her death in 1997 and the couple would have one child Anne now in her fifties.  Richard speaking about Jean in the interview from 2002 he said that his wife was highly intelligent and that the last 5 years of her life was most painful as she suffered from Alzheimer’s. 2 ½ years later he would marry Susan Blanchard until his death in 2008 at 93. He unlike other Hollywood men didn’t wed women half his age, as Susan was 71 at the time. Susan was the late spouse of Henry Fonda and helped steward his children Jane and Peter after their father’s death. She also starred in three films herself in 1947.  

Richard Widmark carved out a great career at Fox from 1957 until 1964 where he made 20 films. Afterward he went to on to star as Jim Bowie with John Wayne in The Alamo then with James Stewart in Two Rode Together and as the U.S. prosecutor in Judgment at Nuremberg.  In real life against violence and guns Widmark’s roles were an anomaly to the man himself.  

A liberal Democrat in one of his roles No Way Out in 1950 opposite Sidney Poitier he plays a bigot tormenting the young doctor hurling racial epithets unmercifully at him. So embarrassed Richard felt he had to apologize to Poitier after every scene. As fate would have it he would receive the D.W. Griffith Award in 1990 and the presenter was Sidney Poitier.  

Richard Widmark died in Roxbury, Connecticut on March 27th 2008. Susan initially didn’t provide details of his death but later it was found to be as a result of a fall as the autopsy revealed a fractured vertebra. Richard Widmark began to loathe the bad guy roles and was moving away from that image but one role that he just couldn’t say no to was the film noir Pickup on South Street in 1953 directed by Sam Fuller. Here as Skip McCoy he played on of the first anti-heroes. As a slick pick pocket at odds with the detective hell bent on putting him back behind bars McCoy turns hero burying his pal Moe Williams played by Thelma Ritter (Winner of the Academy for supporting Actress here) and falling in love with a determined prostitute loyal to the end and preventing microfilm from being passed to the Communists. 

Richard Widmark was a fire on the screen and warm milk in real life.