If anyone has any copies of the CDs in this series available, I'd be interested. I bought a couple of them new on eBay, but don't want to pay high amounts for other volumes.

I just noticed this old programme is available on iPlayer - it was repeated on Radio 4 Extra a few days ago.

Bing Crosby Meets
Archive on 4

Ken Barnes - Bing Crosby's record producer - explores how this beloved American crooner also maintained a high profile radio career. One out of four Americans tuned into his Kraft Music Hall.

For 30 years, Bing Crosby was the King of Radio, hosting over 4000 broadcasts - including singing and speaking with stars like Louis Armstrong, Groucho Marx, Judy Garland, Ella Fitzgerald and Bob Hope.

Producer: Caroline Barbour

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2001.

Release date: 29 December 2001
Available now

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09jvgph

This has been posted elsewhere but I didn’t see it before I wrote this. See the Announcements forum for further discussion.

Has anyone portrayed Bing on film, television, stage or radio? I don’t think there’s been a biopic, and I can’t find any trace of him as a character in someone else’s story. IMDb have a character name search and there’s no results. I’d be curious to see someone playing him. I don’t think his story is dramatic enough for a biopic film but maybe another format.

I did see a stage play about Rosemary Clooney in London a few months ago, at the Wimbledon Studio. It was a two-hander with the male actor playing her psychiatrist doubling up as figures from her past, including Bing.

Nothing new for collectors, but Univeral Music Group have issued these albums as digital downloads with the original Decca covers. Holiday Inn has the 78rpm album cover, and White Christmas the 78/LP cover.

http://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/holiday-inn-fred-astaire-bing-crosby/0060255785019

http://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/selections-from-irving-berlins-white-christmas-bing-crosby/0060255743169

One interesting snag: Holiday Inn has the film soundtrack version of Easter Parade, not the Decca 78 recording. This is presumably because they've cloned the download album from the 2002 CD release on Universal. Reviews on Amazon and Allmusic point out that producer Ken Barnes substituted the Decca version, on which Bing had a cold, with the film soundtrack version. The latter is about thirty seconds shorter, and has a more "film-like" arrangement and sound. A bit shoddy to use that version and have the Decca cover, which doesn't represent what was on the original album set.

I was under the impression that the CD box set was a collection of the number one best-selling records of the period, and therefore, those tracks you listed were all number one on this chart. I think the book is now deleted, but there's more information here: http://www.missingcharts.co.uk/ I didn't buy it because a) I wasn't keen on the idea of re-creating historic charts from an unverified source, and b) it was rather expensive, as you say. Apparently the late Colin Brown had data from the record companies showing their sales returns. I think he had data going beyond 1952, which is after the NME started the "official" chart, which would be an interesting comparison to make, though the book stops in that year! It's quite possible that all those Crosby records were #1 in a given week. Many of them are rather obscure now, but then so are many "official" UK #1 hits post-1952.

The major difference between this "Missing Charts" book/CD set and "Britain's First Number Ones" is that the latter is based on contemporary published sheet music charts. I highly recommend the book "First Hits", written by Colin Morgan and Brian Henson (the latter a former member of the ICC) published by Boxtree in 1989. It covers the sheet music charts from 1946 to 1959. The sheet music charts actually go back to 1937, but data is patchy. This chart is of songs though - no performer or recording artist is given, just the song title. "Galway Bay" holds the record for most weeks at #1 on the sheet music chart, with 22 at the top. "First Hits" lists the various recordings available for each song, of which there were usually multiple artist versions. So "Galway Bay" was undoubtedly very popular in Britain at this time. Common consensus is that Bing's version was most popular and well-known. The fact it was also - according to "Missing Hits" - a record best-seller, would confirm that. The compilers of the "Britain's First Number Ones" sets used the recordings thought

Judging by the discography, it seems the Mosaic set includes the commercial 78 takes plus alternate version used on on:
GRP GRD-603 Bing Crosby, Bing Crosby and Some Jazz Friends

If a title is shown as unissued this means that the performance does exist but it is not included in this package because of damage to the original disc or because of space limitations has forced us to include only the most exceptional alternate take.

Take your pick from either of those reasons - damage, or lack of space. It's a bit confusing because of their lack of quote marks, but unissued, master no longer exists is noted where that is the case. 

I notice that Richard Baker is interested in Bing's chart performance, so I thought I'd post an addition to his "official" UK chart hits (from 1952 onwards as published by Guinness). Other magazines compiled their own charts, and it wasn't until 1969 that the record industry settled on one "official" chart. So Bing's 1950s hits are from New Musical Express, who launched the UK chart in 1952. The 'official' chart states that Bing didn't have any UK hit records from Around The World in 1957 until That's What Life Is All About in 1975. However, you may (I say may, as I doubt there's much you all don't know) not be aware that during the 1960s, two other magazines listed another hit for him in their charts:

Disc Magazine 28 Dec 1963 Do You Hear What I Hear? (Capitol CL 15326) #23, 2 weeks on chart
Melody Maker  04 Jan 1964 Do You Hear What I Hear? (Capitol CL 15326) #49, 1 week on chart

Interesting to know he did register on the pop charts with a single during those 18 years!

Quite a good price for Rhian's set, £92 for the lot. I bought one of the volumes from VIP Music. It's unfortunate that they don't have the other twenty - presumably sold out? I'm interested in one they don't have for sale.

Having now heard the "rejected" take, I've found a more noticeable difference (the line "I'd bet-ter let 'er know" is too forensic for me to discern for sure!). 

At about 1:20, listen to the way he phrases the lyric "I'm just a country boy, and any country boy..." on both the "rejected" take and the 16 Original World Hits version. The way he sings the word 'country' the second time is notably different on these. He seems to sing 'count - ry' on the rejected take, whereas on the new Alt, I can't hear any pause in the syllables of that word. I'd also say that at about 1:55 the line "gonna quit the rodeo" he seems to pause slightly more before 'rodeo' on the rejected take. The two versions are almost identical and I'd be slightly inclined to think it could be pitching differences or transfer speeds, but like Richard, I can hear these very subtle differences. I also think that on the very final note in the outro he seems to waver/tremble on the "oh..." on the 'rejected' take, whereas it sounds smoother on the new 'alt'. I would concur that this new Alt is most likely another 'rejected' take from the earlier session. I imagine that MCA simply used the first master they found of the song on the 1989 CD.

Ah, I thought the discography might have been a long-standing ICC one. Maybe Wig's printed one has more detail. I await any further thoughts from your investigation! I remember a friend of mine (a member of the ICC) had the track on an LP. Could have been the same as the CD, or maybe it's a better source for the commercial take.

I believe that in the pre-tape era, the discs used on recording were "glass masters". I believe they are also often metal. Therefore Bing's recordings up to the late 40s usually sound very "clean" and clear on "official" MCA/Universal releases, as those masters are a superior source to commercially pressed shellac 78s. There is noticeable surface noise on dubs of commercial 78s in most cases.