15/6/2015 4:15 pm  #1


Bing Crosby and the humble Donkey

Most of us Crosby fans know that Bing has a couple of signicant connections with the Doneky:
1) Bing paid tribute to the nobility of Donkeys in audio recordings of both stories and songs a few memorable times; and...
2) The Donkey has been associated with Christmas even longer and as inseparably as Bing has. 
On the second point, think of the Christmas play presented by children in "The Bells of St. Mary's"--true, their donkey was only a sawhorse decorated with ears and tail, but it was essential.  Did you realize that no Donkey is actually mentioned in the four books of the Gospel?  The story of Joseph saddling a donkey to take Mary with him to Bethlehem is only in apocraphal Christian scriptures, yet it is a commonplace detail of the Chrismas story for nearly all believers.

I have begun wondering about how the association between Bing and the donkey might be continuing in this period of Bing's legacy?  Why would I wonder this?  Well for one thing, I'm a Bing fan, and for the past almost eleven months I've been the owner of a donkey named Oscar.  While I've had some experience caring for horses and mules, donkey owning has had me turning to the internet for advice and the council of others more experienced in these unique creatures.  Any person ambitiously researching the subject soon finds that the pre-eminent international organization devoted to the care and welfare of donkeys, The Donkey Sanctuary, was founded in and is headquartered in the UK.   Hmmmm?  The pre-eminent organization of Bing Crosby fans, The International Club Crosby, is also headquartered in the UK.  Who can discover those two tidbits and not wonder how many Crosby fans are also Donkey fans?  I certainly cannot!  When I finally found an internet forum for donkey owners, can you guess what country most of the members live in?  The UK, of course.  Perhaps there are even donkey lovers among this forum's membership or readership.

With a little bit of internet searching I found a couple of links with possible current-day Crosby-donkey connections, and there may be many more to be found:
-- This blog includes articles about a donkey named Bing:
http://www.mooseriverfarm.com/2015/04/growing-up-donkey.html
-- And did you ever hear of a "Crosby Hill Farm" that raises donkeys among other things?
http://www.crosbyhillfarm.com/crosbyhillfarm/Welcome.html

I don't know if Oscar has heard any Crosby music.  I need to upgrade what passes for an audio system in the barn and do a better job of Bing promotion there.  But as you can see, Oscar has been waiting all ears!





 

 

15/6/2015 4:49 pm  #2


Re: Bing Crosby and the humble Donkey

Okay, here it is, verification that the full name of the donkey named Bing is "Bing Crosby" and his companion called Frankie is "Frank Sinatra."  It sounds like something made for some 1940-50s radio or TV variety show on which both Bing and Frank appeared, a string of jokes unspooling from their comparison to a pair of "donkey crooners"!  Among equines, donkeys especially are known for their vocal abilities.
http://www.mooseriverfarm.com/2012/12/operation-donkey-drop.html
 

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