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Thread ID: 89526	2008-05-03 05:06:00	Honouring Bing Crosby....	Terry Porritt (14)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
665296	2008-05-03 05:06:00	.......born 105 years ago on 3rd May 1903, singer extraodinaire, jazz singer, pop singer, film star, entertainer, died playing golf in 1977. His first solo vocal recording with Paul Whitemans Orchestra in 1927 Muddy Water (www.jazz-on-line.com) was like nothing that had come before, the rest as they say, is history. "Yet consider this: in 1946, three of the five top-grossing Hollywood pictures (''The Bells of St. Mary's,'' ''Blue Skies,'' ''Road to Utopia'') were Crosby vehicles; for five years running (1944 to 1948), he was No. 1 at the box office; his radio programs (1931 to 1962) attracted at their wartime peak as many as 50 million listeners; he recorded nearly 400 hit singles, an achievement no one -- not Sinatra, Elvis or the Beatles -- has come close to matching." Bing Crosby The Unsung King of song (query.nytimes.com 63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1)	Terry Porritt (14)
665297	2008-05-03 06:22:00	Damn :( Great Man, Great Work.	beeswax34 (63)
665298	2008-05-03 06:44:00	And also a bloody good golfer.	Richard (739)
665299	2008-05-03 11:19:00	Bling who?	Greg (193)
665300	2008-05-03 17:39:00	I generally sortta agree with the singing and acting aspect, but as a father and family-person, he was a total looser . His kids (Bob, especially . . as he was the worst picked-on) tell tales of his nasty behavior and poor parenting skills that has scarred them for life . He (Bing) was forced by his stage-door-mama to sing and dance, fulfilling her dream of a child of hers performing where she could not . . . in the public eye . The family memoirs tell of her insistent prodding and the mind games she played with her kids . . . and that is very likely what caused young boy to seek stardom and accolades . Be careful with citation of his grandiose ventures however . Many stories about him are as suspect as they are about Abraham Lincoln or George Washington, as there has been a lot of re-spinning historical "accounts" of them . . . . all postmortem . <ex: "School lore says he once pushed a piano off the top of a dormitory, a story that is apocryphal, since he left school the year before the dormitory was built . " WIKI> < . . . . and another ex: "Next to Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley, Bing Crosby is considered one of the greatest voices (and biggest pricks) of the twentieth century . He is also most commonly associated with the season of Christmas . Alternatively, he is well known for the abuse he gave towards the children of his first marriage . Bing Crosby was born Harry Lillis Crosby in Tacoma, Washington, on May 3, 1903 . He had no birth certificate, and his real birthday was not disclosed until after his death . Bing himself celebrated May 2, 1904 as his birthday . That makes him a liar too . "> That last example was perhaps a little rough at the end . . . but it mirrors the general sentiments for the guy since he died and the truth of his wayward ways with the ladies and the abuse to his family has come out, to say it mildly . Most US fans are quite disturbed by the things that have been learned about him . Too bad . . . but it seems to me that most of the performer-types who make it anywhere in their field(s) are also poor examples of decency . There are exceptions, but they are few and far between . To those who don't make it so large, the truth of their personages will likely not make much press, as they aren't that large in the public's eye . Has anyone noticed that most performers are either short, psychosis-rife or just borderline 5150? Your great artists in the graphics (oil painters, sculptors, designers) are all somewhat on the 2% side of society . . . . and "Der Bingle" was no exception . His yearning to achieve success was driving him to perfection . . . at the cost of those who lived around and with him . His one greatest advancement was when he gave an early production model of an AMPEX tape recorder to Les Paul, who went on to master over-dubbing and reverb with it by looping the tape thru multiple heads . Bing had bought into the company at it's early conception, and it just "growed like Topsy" from that point . Jimi Hendrix, BB King, Mel Torme, Frank Sinatra and the whole plethora of musical effects by guitarists, vocalists and other types of musical talent owe a great amount of respect (and possibly a lot of $$) for that one significant insightfullness by Bing . Some further notes from "findadeath . com" ibid: "Six years later . . . " (after the death of his father, Bing) " . . . Bing’s son Gary wrote the book Going my Own Way . It shocked the world . Gary detailed the years of physical and emotional abuse from his father, from his nickname of "Bucket Butt", weekly weigh-ins, and beatings that drew blood . Gary said in his book that to endure the pain, he would dream up ways to kill his father . Gary’s brother Lindsay supported the charges in the book, stating, "I hope it clears up a lot of the old lies . " Bing’s second family was outraged at the book, but Gary said he wanted the truth to be told . It was a completely different view of Father O’Malley . It is a great book, if you are able to find a copy . I do not intend to disrespect Bing’s memory, but I am going by what the book said . <edit:excise> Bing left money for all of his children, with a catch . It was left in a blind trust, until they turned 65 . Reminds me of an old joke . How do you know Bing Crosby was uncircumcised? There was just no end to that prick . " (Sorry for that, but I am quoting the blurb intact . . er, pardon the pun) <continuing> " . . . Gary Crosby died of lung cancer at 62, on August 24th, 1995 . Dennis and Lindsay both died by suicide from self-inflicted gunshot wounds, Lindsay in 1989, and Dennis in 1991 . Phillip is a nightclub owner, living in Woodland Hills now, and vehemently denies that Bing was a bad man . I don’t believe him . August 2000 - Findadeath . com friend Tara Akinlose writes in: "One of the kids from Bing Crosby's second family is named Mary Crosby and she was on the TV show, Dallas, as Sue Ellen's younger sister (as I recall) . It was her that shot JR and she ended getting killed off soon after . She's really gorgeous . I don't think she's done a lot of acting since then (I guess when you're family is that rich, you don't have to do too much to survive) . She's really good looking, she must look like her mom . I saw her on Entertainment Tonight after that book about Bing written by his son came out . She denied all the allegations and said he was a great father . " Thanks Tara! September 2000 - Findadeath . com friend Glen Ivory writes in: "In regards to the children from the second marriage of Bing Crosby, his son Harry took up acting and appeared in the original Friday the 13th film, in 1980 . His character copped an arrow in the eye . Also The Private History of a Campaign that Failed and Hollow Venus; Diary of a Go-Go Dancer . He later became an investment banker and was working at Credit Suisse First Boston in New York City . " Thanks, Glen . October 1, 2000 from Findadeath . com friend Donna Leaf: Nathaniel, the third of Bing's kids with second wife Kathryn Grant, filled Bing's golf shoes after Bing passed on . For several years, while still in his teens, Nathaniel ran the Pebble Beach tournament founded by his dad . He was the 1981 U . S . Amateur champion, traveled on the European golf tour for 3 years, and most recently (1998) joined the Orlimar Golf Company as executive vice president . His recording and movies made him a truly larger-than-life household name, but there are caveats to it all . Please consider the following accolade to his successes from the WIKI again: "Career statistics Bing Crosby's sales and chart statistics place him among the most popular and successful musical acts of the 20th century . Although the Billboard charts operated under a different methodology for the bulk of Crosby's career, his numbers remain astonishing: 1,700 recordings, 383 of those in the top 30, and of those, 41 hit #1 . Crosby had separate charting singles in every calendar year between 1931 and 1954; the annual re-release of White Christmas extended that streak to 1957 . He had 24 separate popular singles in 1939 alone . Billboard's statistician Joel Whitburn determined Crosby to be America's most successful act of the 1930s, and again in the 1940s . For 15 years (1934, 1937, 1940, 1943-1954), Crosby was among the top 10 in box office draw, and for five of those years (1944-49) he was the largest in the world . He sang four Academy Award-winning songs — "Sweet Leilani" (1937), "White Christmas" (1942), "Swinging on a Star" (1944), "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening" (1951) — and won an acting Oscar for Going My Way (1944) . He also collected 23 gold and platinum records in his career, according to Joseph Murrells, author of the book, "Million Selling Records . " It should be noted that the Recording Industry Association of America did not institute its gold record certification program until 1958, by which point Crosby's record sales were barely a blip, so gold records prior to that year were awarded by an artist's record company . Universal Music, current owner of Crosby's Decca catalog, has never requested RIAA certification for any of his hit singles . In 1962, Crosby became the first recipient of the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award . He has been inducted into the respective halls of fame for both radio and popular music . His overall music sales are estimated at between 500,000,000 (five hundred million) to 900,000,000 (nine hundred million) . Bing is a member of that exclusive club of the biggest record sellers that include Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, and The Beatles . " There's more dirt and truth to tell . . . but he wasn't saintly or kindly liked in many reviews and certainly is not one to be admired for his parenting skills . . . . . . . besides, I think Dean Martin was WAY better!	SurferJoe46 (51)
665301	2008-05-03 22:45:00	Well, I didn't know any of the stuff that SJ quotes, but I have two main memories of BC, both of them negative. One is the dreary 1950's Sunday midday request shows on 3ZB where he figured prominently, droning away for what seemed like hours on end. Secondly, afternoons at the flicks watching the Road movies that he "starred" in with Bob Hope. They were mildly amusing until either or both of them decided to burst into song, thus ruining the movie. Boos and hisses and groans from the cheap seats at the kid's matinees, and much jaffa rolling down the aisles ensued at those points. He was almost as bad as Gene Kelly...	John H (8)
665302	2008-05-03 23:27:00	There is no such unpleasantness in Terries life,you achieve this by ignoring it,so you might like to take a lesson.	Cicero (40)
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