frans wrote:

Thank you very much, David. What a wonderful series! A somewhat audacious question, if I may: Are there any other Crosby projects you might be contemplating?
 

Hi Frans thanks for the kind comments. I have been wondering what else to do and have decided to continue my “Golden Years of Hollywood “ series that looks at various films from the 1930s, 40s and 50s. I’ve covered all of Bings films so I couldn’t include them but they would be classics from that era. Will take a while to get them made but hopefully by the end of the year. Not sure if there is anything else of Bings I could cover - his recording career and radio career is too extensive and I don’t have access to all the material. Also his tv career is again too extensive and I don’t have access to all the material. Cheers, Dave Duncan. 
 

Thanks for that information David. Sorry to hear Bob had a stroke. I hope he wasn’t too young not that having a stroke is better at any age. 

David Lobosco wrote:

dgmprod wrote:

I agree David it is a great film to watch and I believe the most financially successful of the Road films. It’s a pity Bing and the Andrew’s Sisters didn’t perform together in any other films but at least there’s this one. 
Cheers, Dave D. 

I'm always left wanting more of Jerry Colonna - I am friends with his son Bob and a few years back he filled me in on some interesting tidbits about the film.
 

Hi David that’s nice you’re friends of Jerry’s son. Any interesting things you can share? Always keen to find out behind the scenes stuff. 

I agree David it is a great film to watch and I believe the most financially successful of the Road films. It’s a pity Bing and the Andrew’s Sisters didn’t perform together in any other films but at least there’s this one. 
Cheers, Dave D. 

Hi all just to let you know that I will be releasing the final 4 episodes of Bing’s Hollywood series in June with a new episode each Sunday. The first 2 will look at The Early Years - 1930-1932 with the last 2 looking at The Later Years - 1958-1974. Just finished the first 2 episodes and will start work on the final 2 this coming week. Hope they are found to be entertaining. Cheers, David Duncan. 

Thanks Colin for that information. I of course had noted many times the small writing on the 78s saying “not for broadcast “ but I dismissed them not really thinking about it. I assumed of course they could be played but only once permission was granted. It makes sense then that singers like Bing really depended upon radio to promote their current releases. 

Theses kind of listings annoy me as they defy logic and facts. To not include Bing in the top 10 or at least top 20 shows the ignorance of the people who are compiling the list. It’s the same with the Top 100 movies listings. There are so many films left off that should be included. Anyway I tend to ignore these listings as they are not really important. The only time I was really annoyed was when the Guinness Book of Records placed Elton John’s 1997 Candle in the Wind as number one best selling single. In previous listings it was estimated that Bings White Christmas had amassed sales in excess of 60 million so to suddenly be bumped off the top of the list because Elton’s recording made 33 million was just not logical. I noticed the next year they had changed the title to “biggest selling single in the UK” but I remember that the following year they put Bing back in the number one spot. It’s funny how history and facts can change depending upon the writers. 

Hi David yes I am looking at doing 2 more episodes to cover the extra years. One being “The Later Years” covering 1959-1972 and the other covering “The Early Years” covering the 1930-1931 period. Now that I’ve got into the swing of things I’ve got to keep myself busy! We are finally travelling again in January which will be nice so will get onto it once we get over the festive season in February. Christmas Cheers to all. 

Hi all. The last episode of my series on Bing’s films deals with the 1957 film Man on Fire and it’s interesting to see that at one point Bing says to his teenage son “get your little bucket but over here”. This made me think back to Gary’s book “Going my own way” where he mentions that Bing used to call him names like bucket butt. It was implied in the writing that it was said as an insult and in a cruel way but I think that Bing would have most likely said it in the same manner as he does in this film - as a light hearted jibe very similar to the “insults” that Bing and Bob Hope used to trade back and forth. It goes to show that when reading something it can be taken one way but when heard within the context of a conversation it can have a totally different interpretation. Gary may have taken it as an insult at the time but it may not have been intended that way. Of course we don’t know as we weren’t there so we can only read about Gary’s take on the situation but hearing Bing say the same phrase in this film does give us a different take on the event. 

Well with Avatar 2 about to be released and all the motion capture technology going on it would be possible to create a realistic Bing virtual reality wise but the problem I think is that Bing had an extraordinary career but an ordinary life (dramatically speaking unless you look at his relationship with Dixie and the boys). I wouldn’t like them dramatising his personal life and again dragging his name in the dirt for the sake of making money. I look forward to the 3rd volume of Gary Giddins book before I get too old to read it (and he gets too old to write it!!). 

Hi all just letting you know that if you’re interested the first episode of series three in my series on Bing which deals with 1950 will be available to view from this Sunday 30th October 3pm Sydney Australia time. 
Cheers, Dave Duncan. 

Hi Ian and Jeremy (and others). I’d be more than happy to burn a DVD of the 1936 Anything Goes for you as long as you cover postage charges. The blank DVDs only cost me about 50 cents each and I’ve got heaps of them. Let me know. Cheers, Dave.