I should start this off with some important information.

From when I was very young I have been a fan of Bing Crosby.  His music and movies are some of my favorites.  At a very early age he became my idol.  In fact, I’d even go so far as to say that Bing Crosby is the father of American Christmas music.  I believe that all of the Christmas music that we listen to today, all of the artists that record Christmas albums are all a result of what Bing did with Christmas music beginning very early in his career.  His Recording of “White Christmas” for many years was the highest selling single of all time.  In fact it appeared in the top ten on the charts around Christmastime, almost twenty years in a row, Bing was the only artist to achieve such a fete.  It appeared in the top ten on the British charts as recently as 1998.

I had the opportunity to have a conversation with Bing’s wife, Kathryn Crosby this week and may I say it was one of the biggest thrills I’ve ever had.

She is vibrant and positive, as upbeat and cordial as I remember her on those many Crosby family Christmas specials that were an absolute tradition and event in our house as I grew up.  It was not an interview, but rather felt like I was chatting with an old family friend.  It’s not an uncommon occurrence for Mrs. Crosby, to have someone feel as if she’s an old friend, because she has selflessly shared herself and her life with Bing with all of us in ways that we could never thank her enough for.  She’s written three books about her life with Bing.  The first, “Bing and Other Things” published in 1967.  Next was her book “My Life with Bing” in 1983 and finally “My Last Years with Bing” in 2002. 

As Mrs. Crosby writes, one can truly feel how much she loved Bing and how much he loved her.  As I spoke with her a full thirty years since Bing passed away on a golf course in Spain, it is still clear that she loves him as much, if not more and that she still misses him dearly.  The reverence with which she describes Bing is heartwarming and in many ways humorous.

She shared a story with me where she was actually auditioning for Bing, something that Rosemary Clooney thought she was crazy for doing.  She sang the song from “Peter Pan” that the character of Peter sings about flying.  At the end of the song she asked Bing what he thought, he said, “hey you’re pretty good at that!”  Wanting further information Kathryn asked Bing what his favorite part was.  In typical Bing fashion he answered, “I really loved the way you crowed!”

Bing was a master.  He made everything he touched turn to gold and made it look effortless.  He moved audiences in ways that artists today could only dream of.  Mrs. Crosby described what she saw as one of the reasons. “It’s the songs!  A fine melody, a meaningful lyric” and an artist in touch with the material, those are the secrets.  Bing had that secret down to a science.

One of the things I was most interested in is what the Crosby Christmases were really like.  We as the audience had seen for many years in a row, the gorgeous family all talented and dressed in their Sunday best!  You could see the love that the children and Kathryn had for Bing, Mary Frances in particular.  She beamed at him, arms draped around his neck.  Mrs. Crosby explains in her book that Mary Frances was quite an expert entertainer even at that tender age.  While she loved her Dad, and the feelings we saw were genuine, she’d also figured out that the camera was on Bing for most of the time, so if she was snuggled in next to him, arms around his neck she’d be on camera too!  I wanted to know what the real home Christmases were like!  Mrs. Crosby said that “for us, Christmas could happen at anytime of the year.  We filmed the show at different times of the year and always had the true Christmas spirit.  I remember one year we filmed in Sun Valley, Idaho in April and had all the real snow we could stand!”  She described the Christmases that the family shared in their Hillsborough, CA home as large affairs with as many as sixty guests, all Crosby’s and Grandstaff’s (Mrs. Crosby’s maiden name).  She fondly recalled decorating their Christmas trees with homemade ornaments made from Styrofoam with family pictures glued to them.  And every year, Alan Fisher, longtime Crosby butler, would hoist Mary Frances by the ankles to the top of the tree to place the star.

Bing was truly a man’s man.  He loved hunting and fishing and all things that the great outdoors had to offer.  I remember in the early seventies watching ‘The American Sportsman” on ABC.  Bing and his longtime friend Phil Harris were bird hunting.  Bing seemed so real!  So down to earth!  So incredibly humble and unimpressed with his stature in the entertainment world.  This may have been why we loved him so, his cool and reachable nature, and his everyman persona.  Bing lived everyday of his life, even till his last.  Mrs. Crosby details a conversation that he had with his doctor a short time before he died.  Somehow Bing knew what was coming, and asked his doctor to take care of Kathryn and the kids.  Rather than be afraid to leave the house Bing lived and lived big.  On the day he died, he played a full eighteen holes of golf even beating some of the club champions.  One of his foursome described him favoring his left arm a little but that they had no warning of what was to come.  Bing lived until that moment when he died.  If I could pick the way to go when it was my turn, it would not be any different.  Doing what I loved, living the good life until it was time to go.

I spoke earlier of Mrs. Crosby’s unselfish sharing of her life with Bing.  Currently, with Mrs. Dolores Hope as producer, Mrs. Crosby is rehearsing a one woman show that she will be performing next week at North Hollywood California’s El Portal Theater.  They describe it this way:

 Dolores Hope Presents:“Holiday Memories of Bing with Kathryn Crosby”A Music and Video Celebration ConcertWith Musical Director Edward Sayegh at the PianoNovember 20-25 at the Historic El Portal Theatre, 8pm5269 Lankershim Blvd, North Hollywood, CA Relive your fond memories of those classic Christmas television specials with Bing and Kathryn Crosby and hear classic songs: Pennies From Heaven, I’ll be Seeing You, You Made Me Love You, Blue Skies, and, of course, White Christmas. $100 Premium Seating in the first four rows includes champagne and birthday cake reception$35-$50 Standard Seating

Call 1-866-811-4111 or 1-818-508-4200 for tickets, or visit their website:  www.elportaltheatre.com/events.html”

While Mrs. Crosby is in town rehearsing and performing the show, she is staying with Mrs. Dolores Hope, wife of Mr. Bob Hope.  Mrs. Crosby explained that “after Bing died, Bob and Dolores just about adopted me”.  They are still the dearest of friends!  Mrs. Hope is still well and sharp at the age of ninety-eight.  In fact, Mrs. Crosby said that she is so sharp “that she beat me for eleven dollars last night playing gin rummy!”

Mrs. Kathryn Crosby has recently launched a new website through Bing Crosby Enterprises, www.BingCrosby.com.  You can keep up with all things Bing, and get a real glimpse at the great man that Bing was!

To have the opportunity to talk about Hollywood’s greatest star with someone who knew him so well was a dream come true.  And to have the chance to “meet” Mrs. Crosby was a fantastic experience as well.  Don’t be surprised if you run into her around our little Christmas home!  She truly is “one of us” in terms of the love she has for Christmas, well, after all, she was practically married to Santa Claus himself!

11/16/07

Jay Isherwood