I don't know how much effect this would have on the delay of the upcoming War Years book, or any book that would follow, whether to Bing's passing or some other point in his life, but I do remember there being some discussion about the delay due to the fact that the Crosby family had opened the archives of Bing's basement to Gary Giddens to augment his other research. Even if Mr. Giddens had basically finished his manuscript, there would be time needed to rewrite his manuscript based on these new details, not to mention how much time it took to rummage through everything, which I have heard is quite voluminous.  

I keep going to the Game Show Channel to see if they will ever rebroadcast some of the newer, syndicated  "What's My Line" shows from the 1970's when I appeared on one of their airings. I just happened to catch the very end of a show from 1956 which identified the mystery guest as Gary Crosby. The show was over except for the signing off. As John Daly and each of the panelists said goodnight, Bennet Cerf, the last to speak, said he thought that Gary Crosby sounded more like Billy Daniels than his famous father. Does anyone know what the conversation was after the panelists had guessed, or had Gary Crosby's identity revealed to them?

I recently purchased the DVD of "State Fair", 1945 version , in a batch of other DVDs. I wasn't particularly interested in this DVD, but thought I would give it a look see. I was pleasantly surprised to get a little bit of Bing in the film. Very early in the film, Jeanne Crain is singing "It Might As Well  Be Spring" as she packs in her bedroom. She goes downstairs to help her mother and then goes into the backyard on a big swing and reprises the song with some different lyrics. She is daydreaming of "a man she has yet to meet" and describes him as a combination of Ronald Coleman, Charles Boyer, and Bing. I guess it is good that Bing rhymes with spring. We then hear Ronald Coleman speak, then Charles Boyer speak, and then we hear Bing sing one line of the song, then a little boo-boo-boo, and finally some classic Bing Whistling. This must have been specifically recorded for this film. Does anyone know any more details than that.

I understand that Bing charted in England with "Tie A Yellow Ribbon 'Round The Old Oak Tree", I guess in 1973. I presume that would have been his last chart record anywhere in the world. Does anyone know what the highest position on the charts that recording hit?

Richard, that was a really thorough obit of Bobbe Brox, much more than I had ever seen. I had already bought a DVD of "The Hollywood Revue of 1929" because I knew the Brox Sisters were in it.  A lot of big names in that one and a few scenes in color toward the end. It had some great dance routines, but overall I would not rate it as good as the "King of Jazz".

According to Gary Giddens book, "A Pocketful of Dreams", the altercation between Bobbe and Bing was about his drinking, and it was not the first time they were at odds about that. A couple of pages later in the book, Bobbe states that she could not stay angry with Bing and that they were good friends for a long time.

Bing had what I believe is a singular distinction of making a full feature film with three different singing sister trios and also recorded at least one commercial record with each of them. That would be, of course, the Brox, Boswell and Andrews Sisters. Bing also had the Lennon Sisters on one of his TV shows (I think a Christmas show) and I have a record where he introduces the Lennon Sisters before they sing a song without Bing, but I do not know if he sang any songs with them that were not released, or if they were a quartet or trio at the time. Finally, Bing had the Bell Sisters on a few of his radio shows and sang a number of tunes with them, but they were only two sisters. Still, that a lot of Sisters acts to have performed with.

Quoting page 124 from the book.

"Crosby and the Brox Sisters were at the studio on Saturday, November 2, for a rehersal of "A Bench In The Park". Crosby had a drink or two before arriving and triggered a fight with Bobbe Brox, then walked to the Lodge to join a party celebrating the completion of the first week of production. "They had decorated the club building completely a la Halloween, with corn, and pumpkins and straw and scarecrows with lights inside" , Herman Rosse wrote. "Whitman's orchestra played the music with solos by visitors, the 'Rhapsody in Blue' and so on. As far as parties go it was not a bad party but you know how much I care about parties."

Driving a woman home to her hotel after the party, Crosby crashed into another car, and was arrested. The next morning, James Dietrich found Paul Whitman rushing through the hotel lobby ---"Where can I get $500.00? One of our boys is in the can and needs bail" After the trial the following week, Crosby arrived at the court in fashionable golfing attire, gave a snide response to the Judge's questions about his familiarity with the 18th amendment, and was sentenced to sixty days for drinking. The studio managed to get Crosby transferred to a Hollywood jail, and after two weeks of negotiating, he was given a police escort from jail to the studio each day.

The Herman Rosse quote is credited to: Herman Rosse, undated letter to family, translated from Dutch, Herman Rosse collection, Williams College.

The James Dietrich quote is credited to: James Dietrich, interview with Diane and Richard Kozarski, 1976.

If you want to learn some interesting behind-the-scenes info about the "Vacation Road To Minnesota" record, go to the "Steven Lewis' Bing Crosby Internet Museum" link, then click on "Discussion Archive" and look under 1999 and see the link for discussing this record. Also, the Oregon record I referred to above, is now on ebay as "Holiday in Oregon". I think I was wrong about Bob Hope being on that record with Bing, but it does refer to Mel Blanc and Jane Powell as on the record. It was issued by Pacific Northwest Bell.

I check for "Bing Crosby" on ebay regularly and see the "Road To Minnesota" record often. There is another, but considerably rarer, record promoting "Oregon"  that Bing Crosby and Bob Hope are on also. They are only two of a handful of celebrities on that particular recording, but if you out to collect these offbeat contributions Bing recorded, ebay is the way to go.

All times are EDT starting 8/3/2016 morning
6:00am Going Hollywood - 1933
7:30am Pennies From Heaven - 1936
9:00am Road To Hong Kong - 1962
10:45am Man On Fire - 1957
12:30pm High Society - 1956 (C)
2:30pm Connecticut Yankee - 1949 (C)
4:30pm Blue Skies - 1946 (C)
6:30pm Rhythm On The Range - 1936
8:10pm Going My Way - 1944
10:15pm The Country Girl - 1954
12:15 am Road To Morocco - 1942
2:00am Sing You Sinners - 1938
3:45am Robin And The 7 Hoods - 1964 (C)

Both Grace Kelly films, both Frank Sinatra films, what many consider the best and worst Road film, two of Bing's Best Actor nominations, Bing's first non-singing role, only 4 in color.

I am partial to "Pennies From Heaven" because it takes place in Union County, New Jersey, where I grew up, but there is  no Middletown in Union County, but there is one in Monmouth County, a little further south, close to where  my wife grew up. I also like "Blue Skies" a lot, great music (Berlin, of course), drop-dead gorgeous Joan Caulfield, Astaire, De Wolfe, San Juan in a great cast, and Bing playing a bit against type as a selfish, unfeeling cad, who comes to his senses at the end. Playing against type would prepare him for "Country Girl" and "Man On Fire" later on. "High Society" was just on TCM on Sunday, but I could watch that every day, as well "Going My Way".

 

I also received a copy for Father's Day and have completed my reading. Well written for the most part and a new, informative, and positive look into Bing's life from Nathaniel's perspective. There are many stories and anecdotes I've never heard before. Bing's involvement in the Pirates' signing of Vernon Law is priceless. Nathaniel is also very forthright in his contentions with his mother over the Crosby Pro-Am, after Bing passed away. It is a good look into relationships in general, notwithstanding that it is Nathaniel and Bing in this particular instance. Who else is there to write a book about Bing next? Howard Crosby?

I did get to the viewing at MoMa on June 14th. The restoration is really fantastic. I sure hope they make a DVD available to the public soon. When I walked into the lobby, I saw Gary Giddens standing there and quickly and briefly introduced myself as someone he met very briefly at Hofstra. Gary gave an enlightening and entertaining introduction to the screening. I guess I was expecting too much, because there were some disappointments for me. First, there were still some herky-jerky film flashes at the ends od some of the sequences. The additional footage seems to have been 1. longer version of the Fish Story with Jack White; 2. A new comedy skit with William Kent hiding in a closet (that I did not get); 3. All the nationalities being added to the Melting Pot in the finale, where only two are added in the version at large. I was also disappointed that there was a lot of laughter at much of the film that was not intended to be amusing. Many people at MoMA that evening did not seem to understand that, although this is far from current sate-of-the-art entertaining, what was on the screen was state-of-the-art when this film was made in 1929.

As I was riding the train back to the MetroPark where I left my car, I was rehashing the film as I had just seen it, in my mind. Since I had seen the film about 50 times myself, I was anxious to see what the audience reaction would be to some of the comedy skits. Then I realized that two skits that we have in the current version were missing entirely from the restored version. And the next day, I remembered a third comedy skit missing from the restored version. Perhaps James Layton or someone else can comment on what happened to those skits in the restoration.

If anyone would like to go back to Steven Lewis Bing Crosby Internet Museum and check out my writings about the King Of Jazz those many years ago, You will find I was quite the King Of Jazz groupie even back then. It is like an olive, once you get used to it you enjoy mo

For James Layton

I would like to know if DVDs of the newly restored "King Of Jazz" will be available for purchase.

Also, what is the content of the ten minutes in this version versus the 93 minute version.

Finally, when will the book be available?

Thanks, Jim Kukura

I have been very interested in the King Of Jazz since I first learned about it. I have viewed it dozens of times, but not lately. I really should watch it again, soon. I found that the more I viewed it, the more details I noticed that I had failed to notice the previous viewings. The version available on VHS and now DVD would be the 93 minute version. I read about a year ago that an original copy of the full film as released, which I guess is the 103 minute version, was found in Europe somewhere. They say the color quality is far superior to the VHS/DVD copies out there today, but that the film is very fragile and will need to be handled with care in restoring it. It could then be reissued, with brilliant color and the cut footage restored. It is supposedly in the hands of some film restoring organization, but no one seems to know when that version might be available to the viewing public.

It was made in a completely different time and culture, but I found that it is like an olive, the more you view it the more you get to like and appreciate it. Look for the youngest Walter Brennan you will ever see on film in some of the small comedy sketches. And then there is Jeannie Lang, cuteness personified. She is worth the price of admission even without Bing. There is so much more, but don't take my word for it, watch it yourself. VHS and DVD versions are on sale on ebay regularly.