Crosby In Search Of Crosby, "Bing: The Truth Behind The Legend" - Trailer 

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Cousin..👏👏

Bull. X

Well, that would make your grandfather (or grandmother) Bing's first cousin. That makes your father (or mother) Bing's first cousin once removed. Therefore, that makes YOU Bing's first cousin twice removed.

Most have no clue about that. But the other part of it is the pre-recording element ---- that by pre-recording a show, it could be "heard-live" in all the time-zones (plus, it freed him up to golf). Still --- revolutionary.

@@utubeDaveutube Bing's investment in productising tape recording for time-shifting broadcasts was perhaps one of the final steps in a truly panoramic transition in the entertainment industries When recording of performances (onto disc at that stage) first became possible, the top artists of the day shunned it. Having got to preminent positions in entertainment solely via live performance, they feared that, if anyone could hear their best performances from a record at any time of the day or night, nobody would ever attend their live performances again. Nevertheless a few top artists from back then were eventually persuaded in those very early days to record their work "for posterity" rather than "for profit" - which is another way of saying that the artist was recorded for very little money and then the record producer would keep all the money from selling copies. But, as the early 20th century dawned, artists became more convinced that recording the right kind of things on records was a good way to draw more attendances to their live performances. The amazing successes of opera singer Enrico Caruso (the first man to sell a million records) actually brought more people to his live performances than anyone dreamed possible. And so, artists started to do deals for one off payments for a recording session but were content to let the recording company keep the record sales profits. During the 1920s and especially into the 1930s the shoe transferred to the other foot and artists came to see that making records was not just a loss leader for concert sales, but could in fact be a whole new income stream, if they agreed contracts in which they shared in the profits. The "pop" performers of the day lead the way in this respect but the more staid classical peformers soon followed on. By the 1930s, many performers attached just as great importance to making records as they did to touring their live shows. Of course the arrival of movies with sound from 1929 onward helped record sales enormously as audiences could relive seeing the movie through hearings songs from it on their very own record! Commercially minded artists and managements saw that the recording medium had become a powerful route to fame and fortune and embraced it wholly. British Ukelele Songster's business manager was his indefatigible wife. When asked if she thought that it was good for George's career to make records of his limited repertoire her response was "Of course, selling records means he can make money while he sleeps!" So between the late 19th century and the 1930s artist's attitude to recording technology went from outright distrust to full embrace. Bing's post war endorsement and full usage of recording for radio broadcasts was very much a continuation of this trend, showing that not only was recorded content more slick and conveneint for all involved but also that almost all in the audience were just happy to get the entertainment and didn't care it wasn't live and happening now. Of course, there was one final chapter in this whole sweep of change but that didn't play out until the mid to late 1960s when some of the biggest stars of that era (notably the Beatles, but also others) announceed that they would ONLY be making records and would stop appearing live at all.

My favorite, "Road to" Movie is "Road to Hong Kong."

Wish I could say I'd met Bob Hope..

My wife still dines out on having met with Bob Hope when she was a local reporter on the North Hertfordshire newspaper and she covered a "welcome home" dinner for Bob, given by his extended Family in Hitchin, Hertfordshire UK.

@@alanmusicman3385 Wow one of my all time favourite funny men ..think he was born in Broadstairs .UK but not sure.

Simply the best...

Jack where are you from?

If memory serves me correctly Bing and Elvis passed away within a few days of each other.

Yea it was awesome to see Olllie Hardy in regular street clothes without that little moustache and wearing his glasses.

Gods2ndFavoriteBassPlyr Bob Hope was about as genuine as a three dollar bill.

Born in 52...ya miss those guy's

I was born early in the next decade, but I still remember those guys. Every year when I was little I'd look forward to Bing and Bob's Christmas specials. I especially remember Bing's last one where he ended it with a reference like 'until next time' or something like that. As he died before it aired, I remember saying to myself feeling sad 'there won't BE a next time Bing.' I remember my father saying 'Bing's buh buh'd his last boo!'

Even his eldest son was supposed to have said he felt the unspoken love from his father. And if anything Bing was overly strict and overly protective of his boys, which is probably why they thought they were not given the freedom they wanted, because I have read that Bing was very concerned about kidnapping back in the day and even his son thought that maybe Bing had received threats at some stage. Maybe some of his rigidity with his son's were to keep them safe. They probably knew nothing of this until they were much older.

Wounds heal, scars are forever.

I understand that many a time Bob would just ad lib and send Bing way off his line ... I married a man who had those mischievous eyes and broad grin...xxxxxxxx 😍

Jews hyping Jews is all Hollywood is about.

T McGe Well and truly said!

George Foster You're a Jew- hating ASSHOLE. I'm a Christian, but I despise Jew haters! There's not a Jew that has ever lived or breathed that EVER did any wrong to you or your family! You hate them for no Godly reason at all...what a fucking stupid ass you are!

Frank Sinatra, Grocho mark?

Cobb Knobbler need more of that today might solve a few major problems

YEP..CHRIS CROSBY....FILM MAKER....PAL, TOO...8/2020..JE..WEHO

Thankyou.

Jerry Lewis ... pretty easy to hate.

NPC379111729 It’s ironic that both Bing and Jerry were “outed” by their sons as being abusive and unloving father’s. Neither had decent relationships with their sons!

Bob Hope said: Let's face it...Bing was an SOB.

@@raidencraig Not to build up Bing Crosby or anything, but I hated Jerry Lewis, too.

@@raidencraig Funny you say that yet in a book written by Bob Hope himself, he wrote the friendship he had with Bing was the best one he ever had and he thought he could do no wrong. This was after Bing had been passed for quite a while. I never believed that he said anything negative about his friend who he defended on numerous occasions. I'm sure there would have been some aspects about each other that irked them, but that is pretty normal in a friendship that spanned such a very long time. They had a very real and genuine affection for each other. Great men.

What difference did it make? He left the bulk of it to that young gold-digger 30 years his junior that he married! He was one of the richest men in Hollywood when he died. But that wasn't enough for her. She had to sell his mother's Bible instead of giving it to Bing's brother as she should have!

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-JARY7b8DbBA.html

I'm sure Bing beat the living shit out of him for that fuck up.

RetroGuy76 the same guy who put his sons inheritance in a trust until they were 65. 3 of the four sons committed suicide. Because he's an asshole is why.

wiseguy436 thanks for sharing your story 💖

Dan Tee correction. 2 of the 4, but nit really because of Bing. I think you'll enjoy watching the doc

IT IS SAD BING HAD SO MUCH TROUBLE WITH ALL THOSE BOYS...BUT HE WAS PROBABLY WORKING SIX DAYS A WEEK TO KEEP DIXIE AND THE BOYS COMFORTABLE... DIXIE WAS A CONFIRMED ALCOHOLIC SO THEY DID NOT HAVE A NORMAL UPBRINGING...NO PARENTS AROUND MOST OF THE TIME...

Two that suicided in their 50s and the others passed later. Suicides have been attributed to life choices and monetary problems, and very little if anything to do with their father.

@@mitzymoo3151 That is a very difficult argument to make. He beat Phillip with a plank (per Phillip) and Gary with a cane (per Gary). The other two sons killed themselves. There was a lot of abuse in the Crosby household.

His three children from his second marriage are all alive and well as of 2022.

The grandkids were just a generation REMOVED from him, thank God.

@@4Topwood His son from his SECOND marriage, Nathaniel stated, "When it came to raising children, he (Bing) didn't have a clue."

Mine as well! Especially my mother. She was like a Jekyll and Hyde. Beloved on the outside with tons of friends. VERY abusive and nasty once that front door closed!

Bob Hope said: Let's face it...Bing was an SOB.

@@raidencraigIn a book I've read written by bob he wrote that Bings was the best friendship he ever had and that Bob thought he could do no wrong. Look up Bings latest and best biographers talk about his book, this actually is mentioned and is interesting.

You can’t say a thing about those you don’t personally know, especially when the subjects are dead and we’re talked about after death. You bring up Crawford. Christina had it so bad that, even after multiple marriages, she chooses to carry and cash in on the Crawford name. She has zero credibility with most. Now I see why Joan left her out of the will

We shouldn't judge people. Overall, was Bing the best father? We probably can say from rumor that he wasn't, but fatherhood is quite difficult for some people (especially people in a bag marriage), so I can't personally say that he was terrible. Overall, may God help his soul.

Think Bing was half Irish

The boys were lovely but they weren't angels. They have to take responsibility for their own actions in life.

@@mitzymoo3151 I think that was the OP's point. They weren't angles, true. They had a lot of problems. But it was because they were badly damaged by their childhood!

@@retroguy9494 They were spoilt rotten, I think the biggest issue was they had a father who made it so big for so long they could never live up to other people's expectations. So many stories of Hollywood kids from that era and after having the same issues as Bing's kids. At least Bing and Dixie tried hard to give them everything.

@@mitzymoo3151 Actually, if you read credible sources and some interviews with people who knew the situation, it was quit the opposite. I mean, sure they lived in that big house in Holmby Hills. But that was for Bing, not necessarily for the kids. Bing and Dixie were both very strict parents. Those kids were hardly spoiled. Bing would beat his kids for the slightest infraction. Because Gary was chubby as a kid, Bing used to call him 'bucket butt.' All 4 became alcoholics like their mother. Gary called the house a 'prison cell.' Lindsay had manic depression and was in and out of hospitals until he killed himself. They had such inferiority complexes from when they were children, 3 of them couldn't even really find careers. Instead, they lived most of their adult lives off their inheritance. Not from Bing because he didn't leave any of them a dime. It was their mother's money they lived on. Although they all made a stab at it, none of them really had a career performing. And no one really expected them to either! Although Dennis had a nice voice and was a great dancer.

She was kepts away from him by her family.

AHH, DENISE..JE

Denise was a niece, not grand daughter. BTW, she is fairly disruptive and difficult herself. Not a stable person.

Kenjoneslee He definitely got second chance with his second wife, she set him straight on how you treat your kids and their memories are a total 360 from what Gary wrote in his book

Could you really be that dumb?

Not really....my IQ is 115 based on a battery of testing over the course of my life

@@kenjoneslee Bings son even said that he thought that Gary's book had nothing to do with a "Mommie Dearest", as written about Joan Crawford. Bing was brought up in a generation where you treated young son's as men from an early age (eg: shake hands instead of hugging). Kathryn taught the kids to crawl all over him and for him to hug them instead of the hand shaking. Kathryn did not suffer from the problems of the beautiful Dixie and was much more available and stable to their children as was infact Bing who had mostly retired by this stage and spent vastly more time with his second group of kids. I like the stories in Kathryn's book about Bing's time with the kids when he was looking after them (while she was away), he clearly spoiled them as he has been said to have done with the first four boys as well. He clearly regretted his time away from his first family and the strictness and disipline he set up in his first marriage, he learnt from all of this. He loved all of his children as evidenced from his ongoing concern and help he provided to all of them through the years.

@@jennifersman7990 Not quite, from his second family Nathaniel stated that Bing was distant, uninvolved father who couldn't express affection, describing his mother as a "golf widow". The kids were all sent to boarding schools during the year and to a work ranch to spend their summers. He stated, “As far as raising kids, he didn’t have a clue.”

@Jim McCracken as we all do dont ya think?

@Jim McCracken I do! Lol you are all guilty but I am guilty to .....

There s a difference between shortcomings and being a plain old bastards.

Having imperfections is one thing. The way he handled his kids. All of them, is a bit more than that.

@Margaret Gust that's an understatement. I met the second wife : Katherine in Colo springs. Jesus. He had to be on drugs- alcohol or both. She was a total fake

Bloqk-16 Interesting, to know this zwas 30 years before she existed. It' easy to malign the dead. Dixie lee had talent Mary Crosby did not.

mitzi moo, perfect bovine name. How approptiate.

Well, from what I've read on the subject and the documentaries I've seen on the subject, Dixie did not start to drink until she realized Bing cheated on her repeatedly. I don't know or perhaps I don't remember if their children were born when she discovered this, but its food for thought. But she depended on alcohol for the rest of her life as Bing was no comfort to her. On the day she found out she had cancer and was going to die, Lucille Ball had driven to Palm Springs because she heard Desi was there with a woman and wanted to catch him cheating. Desi was not there. However, Lucy encountered Dixie Crosby alone at the bar in the restaurant they all used to hang out at drinking heavily. When Lucy asked her what was wrong, Dixie told her she just found out she was going to die and she had to go home and tell Bing. So the first person Dixie told was NOT her husband, but Lucille Ball!

I read that Eddie had suffered from throat problems and was advised to have a tonsillectomy to rectify this ongoing problem. Sadly he passed away when he had this procedure and Bing was beside himself with grief, but stayed loyal and supportive to Eddie Lang's wife for many years after this.

No. Lang died from com0lications of a tonsillectomy which Bing encouraged him to get. Bing anonymously supported langs,wife,for the rest of her life.

@@aweinsteinuft p

Well, at least by all accounts he did things right with his 'second' family after he married that young chickie 30 years younger than him! Who sold his mother's Bible after he died instead of giving it to his brother as she SHOULD have done! That's pretty low if you ask ME!

Good point, but there's one thing you forgot to mention, not all of his children despised him. They refuted anything bad some of the other siblings had said. ulterior motives were at play to sell books and make a movie.

@@WintersWar Tell your same story to the children of Bing Crosby and Henry Fonda. Read THEIR stories, then get back to me.

@@tiffsaver it's not my story. I'm presenting facts you didn't want to hear. There are two sides to the issue, I acknowledge both, you choose to omit one.

@@WintersWar I never fail to "acknowledge" a damned thing. Every child is a separate entity, and are all treated differently. But when you see how their children eventually turn out, the real truth of their childhood traumas eventually come out, something that apparently YOU fail to acknowledge. A fellow actor even berated Henry Fonda for the "despicable" way he treated his own son, a story that precisely mirrored Peter's own words later in his life. If you need further proof of my claims, just look at how many children of big stars commit suicide - from Gregory Peck's son, to Mary Tyler Moore's son, to Marie Osmond's son, to Marlon Brando's son, and so many others that by now it's nearly cliche. So just continue to believe the fairy tale Hollywood family stories you want to, because I'm not buying it.

​@@tiffsaver You're now making the subject tangential. I thought the discussion was Crosby and his sons? Anyway, I flied in the gap YOU, left out, regarding the fact there's more than one side to the issue. Point driven home. Done.

You met the great Bing, how lucky you are...

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-JARY7b8DbBA.html

Bing was a better singer than frank , and frank knew it …

​@@rouman7 That is an opinion, that I very much agree with.

I saw Bob Hope open a concert with demeaning jokes about the locality. Very insulting. You could have heard a pin drop. What a punch in the gut for thousands of adoring fans who paid premium price to see him. I will never understand. He definitely had a mean side to him.

Yes it is. I was surprised too!

heres another fine mess you got me into

Duh....😋

Sorry....it takes time to do closed captions and load on Amazon Prime .......should be up and running by Feb.28th......I,m new at this....Chris Crosby

Malcolm Macfarlane You won't be disappointed. Very educational and compelling. Thanks for your interest Malcolm. Please subscribe and encourage friends also. Chris will be adding titles to Amazon Direct!

8thhouseproject.com For beautiful original music And just look up. Chris Crosby - Love Has No Substitute. on RU-vid for a great original song he composed as well as music to be featured in a futuristic Rock Opera. Links coming soon!

I appreciate that, Chris, as I'm deaf. :) :) And, yes, the captions are not an easy thing to do...very time consuming, but, considering the fact that many baby boomers and beyond will be watching this, it will worth it!

But Bing's very best years were the late 20s and early 30s though. Which is in between the end of the best decade and the beginning of suffering. The 50s is r&b and rock n roll, 60s is soul, 70s is rock and disco. Jazz really lost itself in the 50s; it split into too many subgenres and everything turned into a mess. It just wasn't the same.

@@eustace8520 Bing's best years were actually in the 40s when he dominated movies, music and radio. Though he was very successful early and later than this, the 40s is when he ruled.

@@mitzymoo3151 The 40s were Bing's most successful years. But he was at his very best in the 30s. There are no other times where he sings like in the following songs: "Just One More Chance," "Learn To Croon," "May I?," "My Kinda Love" (his solo take), "Where The Blue Of The Night Meets The Gold Of The Day," "Shadow Waltz," and "Star Dust." Every song in the early 30s Bing sounded his best. He was good later on too. I'm just saying he was at his peak during 1929 through 1934.

His son was a penniless , drug addicted alcoholic. He was paid a flat fee for that book, and that payment would have been based on the type of stories in it. It would have been made quite clear to him that the more "shocking" the book, the greater the fee (literally tens of times more). Such books are not good witnesses to history.

@@OfflineSetup Did you ever wonder why he was a "drug addicted alcoholic"?

@Sam Houston A 'long record of insane mayhem' also indicates something radically wrong with the parenting. This usually happens in families where there is no father or an absent father.

@@aucourant9998 Bing was an absentee father for large periods of time (due to work) and apparently Dixie (whilst a wonderful woman, who loved her family), suffered with her own drinking problems, and was either unavailable to her boys, or a strict disciplinarian herself. When unavailable the boys were watched over by hired carers (who administered their own harsh punishments), which Dixie was unaware of and who she sent packing when she caught them out. But she was also warm and affectionate when she was ok. A beautiful woman who struggled with life. Apparently Bing and Dixie were strict and overly protective but were also said to have spoilt the boys rotten. And I have read where Bing had the boys and Dixie all together on a movie set with him and the boys were running riot, whilst Bing and Dixie doted on them. If you believe the story one of the crew commented that Bing was going to have a lot of trouble with the boys when they got older, judging by what they were doing that day. True or Not.....Just what I have read.

From what I read...in his 1st marriage...Bing was a "horrible" father..strict...cruel..and his sons suffered greatly. In his second marriage...Bing either changed or mellowed and was a kinder father...I "feel" for the sons in his 1st family...

Rudy Wilson their mother was an alcoholic who drank herself to death and attempted suicide multiple times, you can’t put all the blame on bing.

Fetal alcohol syndrome from the mother?

@@cmcb09 Actually, Wilma (a/k/a Dixie Lee) passed away from ovarian cancer on November 1, 1952, the eve of her 41st birthday.

@@Juliaflo she was also an alcoholic which didn't help look it up

If your father was of Bing's generation, then you must be up there in years because that would make you around MY father's age and he's in his 90's! I have to tell you, it was Bing's OWN father who was a big influence on Bing being an abuser. I saw a documentary on Bing which covered some of that. It really had nothing to do with Catholicism but rather a LOT to do with being Irish. Bing's father was an old school Irishman who was aloof and punished corporally. It may interest you to know that I'm Catholic and so is my father as were HIS parents before him. They didn't have any of these issues. My father was one of FOUR male children and none of them were treated in this manner. My grandmother went to Mass daily. In fact, no one I know who's parents were of Bing's generation and Catholic really spoke about these kinds of experiences being a part of growing up Catholic. Sure the Catholic Church always laid guilt trips on you over certain things. But I never heard of them condoning abuse in the home. Only in Catholic schools! LOL Of course, when I say 'abuse' I mean nuns hitting the palms of hands with rulers, etc.

Didn't she say in an interview that they came close to arranging a meeting before Bing passed.

@@mitzymoo3151 , again, she never met him...he died when she was 20. He had 20 years - close doesn't cut it. Sad for him b/c she seems like a nice person.

@@projectkj7643 And yet Gary's stepson in an article I read wrote really complimentary things about Bing. How do you know it was Bing that distanced himself in this situation, it may have been outside factors, not just Bing.

@@mitzymoo3151 , he was a freakin' adult. I do think there are good things about him - no one is all bad - but 20 years and living in the same area...I blame him. And, truth be told, I am aware my thoughts/opinions mean squat in this situation. It's just a sad situation, all around, b/c no one is saying he was a saint. :-/

His son and the young lady's mother were also adults and would have had years to work on and establish relationships, why is it all Bing's fault, just because he was the well known personality. I never thought Bing was a saint, but he seems to be on the receiving end of blame that could easily be distributed amongst other decision making adults. I'm not saying Bing couldn't have done more to meet his granddaughter, but we don't know all of the decisions and reasoning made by all of the adults in this situation. I agree with you about all of our opinions probably being worth diddly squat, but it surely is interesting to read them don't you think? And I actually find your thoughts quite interesting and applaud you for standing up for what you perceive as an unfair situation, even if I may see the same thing in a different way. Cheers...

Why it was important to get them then. All the compiling can happen later.

Bing died 43 years ago. Anyone that knew him is probably gone or nearly there. So, of course, the interviews would be from long ago.

Wear your sunscreen when you are young. It's UV sun damage.

Because their idiots !

@@RPMac That's ironic. They're idiots!

Go to an article 'Redeeming Bing Crosby' 2017, just for a starter. It is quite interesting what it says about his eldest son being re-interviewed about his book in later years. There is also other interviews, articles and information available to read that challenge some of the claims made in his son's book. He did spank them (bing always admitted this freely), but mostly it has been said that he was an absentee father and at times distant and remote. He made his sons work on his farm for the same paycheck the other hands received to show them the value of an honest days work for an honest days pay and he admits he had strict early curfews in place to keep a check on where his boys were, but even his own son has said that he was probably no different to a lot of the other fathers of the day. Bing has been accused of a great many horrid things since his passing, quite a few of which are now being disproven.

close to 37k views Hooray!

125,000 views to date

After reading about him, Bing had people coming to him all of the time for assistance in some form or another (and lots of people who never asked for help), but who Bing assisted because he was generous or he wanted to pay them back because of his gratitude). Amongst the many people who Bing met would have been people who used and expected things from him (in other words the users and phonies). I have read he had no time for these people. Can't blame him. I suppose if you get bitten often enough you would find it hard to forgive and forget.

You're certainly right about that: Who actually knows the truth? But one thing we do know, two of his sons put guns in their mouths. I can't think of a better way to give your father the finger.

jx14aby 3 of his sons committed suicide.

Two of his sons committed suicide, well after Bing had passed, and shortly after their trust money had gone awry, after providing for them for many, many years. Both boys had long histories of marital relationships gone wrong, drinking and in one boy's case mental health issues (bi-polar was mentioned on one occasion but whether this is true or not I am not sure). I think with Linny the money was the last straw and with Denny the pain of losing his baby brother and the other issues led to his suicide. Phil defended his father to the end, Linny said many many nice things about his father and said he had a good childhood (after the book came out) and Denny was quoted as saying he couldn't remember any of the harsh whippings his older brother had described and that he had a good childhood and was happy to be who he was. Gary's ex-wife is quoted as saying that he had never mentioned anything about whippings to her and the book didn't sound like him and that he had said it was not the same book that he had written. There is a quote from Linny's ex-wife that says he was a good father to Linny, Bing's daughter has said that Gary admitted to her what he wrote wasn't really the way it happened and there are many instances of friends and family members saying that it wasn't the way it was described in the book. Also there is another family member who said there were actually two versions of the book, the original was submitted and was sent back as there was not enough juicy details to make it financially successful, hence the second version. For me it was also reading that his son was planning to release a tribute album to his father (not long before he died), that makes me think that certain elements of his book had been embellished. Others will believe what they want, this is only my opinion, but if you like to read about Bing and everything he has been accused of since his passing, a vast majority of these just do not seem to be true.

That Bing spanked his boys was something that Bing himself freely admitted to, it is just to the extent of these spankings, that has been called into doubt. In those days, as many have pointed out, spanking was a common instrument used for discipline (even Bing said he had been disciplined exactly the same way), now we know that it was the wrong way to deal with children. He regretted this in an article published long before he passed away, in which he said he gave his boys way to much discipline, money and not enough time and attention (during his hardest working years), and that he had let his boys down, but that he and Dixie had done their best. That he loved his children was never in doubt, but it is sad that he and many men like him were unable to express their love in more demonstrative ways.

RetroGuy76 he did hit the boys. Gary had cause to complain accirding to Chris, the Godson and nephew of Bing