Is it just me, or does Bing's voice sound slightly off throughout?  I did notice the shortened break as well, as pointed out by Modern, which I believe was so the other singer could echo "listen" at the appropriate time.

I hadn't heard of them either, Carmela, but that's probably more of an indictment for me considering my age.

I would generally agree, Pantelis, that such "collaborations" (I don't know if that is the right word considering Bing in no way worked with this) can be rather poor, and that promoting an artist's legacy can be better accomplished in other ways.  However, I do find it rather touching that these artists would even want to do something like this, and shows that Bing's name does still hold some weight.  Also, even if only a couple more people came to appreciate Bing from this, I think that that would make this in some sense worth it.

Recently I've been delving into the work of Jolson.  I'd heard a couple songs of his before and thought they were okay, but not much else.  Now I'm really loving them, and can understand why Bing was such an admirer of Jolson.  Definitely a departure from parts of Bing's style, but not an unwelcome one.

I believe I have heard the story about Sinatra taking a sledgehammer to the place after Kennedy stayed with Bing.

Don't worry about not providing a link.  And yes, some of their radio duets were quite good.  Gone Fishin' has to be a favorite.  I hadn't seen the television bit, though.  Good stuff.

It's hard to rank some of those greatest composers.  Some of Bach's stuff is a bit too different for me to truly appreciate, but he certainly was important.  As a Lutheran, I can attest to how many hymn arrangements he put together.  Don't worry; I plan to continue lessons for a long while!

Didn't realize either, perhaps as an American, what extensive archives the BBC has.  I'll certainly have to look more into it.  I don't think anyone serious can not appreciate classical music as something valuable, and I'm glad that Bing recognized something in it.

Should we continue this by private message?  Are we the target of that admin post a few days back?

Welcome, and looking forward to chatting in the future!

I imagine that the path from Sinatra, and other younger singers, to Bing is a common one, now even more so than in '98.  Bing is gone from the public consciousness now, whereas Sinatra, or Dino, etc. still have some sway in the public eye, though even that is now quickly fading.  Did some particular song of Bing's initially catch your ear, or was he simply the next step back in time after Sinatra?

Completely forgot about that movie!  Lots of good songs out of there.  I always liked "Don't Be a Do Badder" because of its simple, cheery message.  You don't get too many of those kinds of songs now. Mr. Booze is always a fun one, and "Bang! Bang!" always made me laugh because its rather suspiciously upbeat song by a half-crazed man who loves shooting stuff.  Hmmm....

Okay, thanks to the both of you!  I'd heard of both, but I didn't know enough to pick out a parody of them.

Wow!  Coincidentally, I just listened to That Old Black Magic today.  Not because of our '70s talk, either, but because it was on a playlist of Halloween music.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bDxOD0Yn8UY
I guess it's the "black magic" part of it that's supposed to be Halloween-ish; other than that, it doesn't seem a particularly spooky song.

I actually hadn't heard September Song.  Too bad I just missed September to listen to it in.  It's definitely a good song, though I think that I need to avoid some of these more contemplative songs for a bit. I've been thinking a lot about college next year, and my future more generally, so at this point I'm bit tired of worrying about growing up.  At least I have the Headless Horseman to cheer me up:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nRJEvSyE3t0

And after relistening to Robeson here, I'm definitely in a bit of a downer mood!  Definitely a rendition that tugs at the heartstrings, especially the line "I'm tired of living, but scared of dying."  I believe Hammerstein wrote that, right?  What genius.

Yes, it is like that.  In fact, I don't know how other people are, but sometimes I can sit down and listen again and again to the exact same song for 45 minutes.

I didn't realize how much Bing, and Kathryn, continued to support the boys well into their adulthood.  Of course, I knew all the stories about Bing beating them black and blue were false, but I didn't realize how much their care extended in terms of doing things for the boys.

Any word in the community about when the third Giddins book will be out?  Or is all of that still up in the air?  It would be great to finally have the trilogy of Bing's life complete.

I suppose that considering most celebrity biographies are ghostwritten, then Hope's venture about Gary's wouldn't have been too much of a leap.  I didn't put two and two together there. Honestly, I'm a bit surprised more celebrities don't write their own books, seeing how most probably like to hear themselves talk.  Too lazy to actually to write one, but still wanting to put something out there for the publishers, maybe?

Well, any more versions of Ol' Man River by Bing that I'm missing?  All of them have been quite decent.  A good change of pace, though; for before that initial one I came across, the version that I was most familiar with was William Warfield's (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1K_qWV4yqQ0).  Definitely taken in a different direction than those of Bing.

As for the 70s, there are definitely some good songs from Bing there.  I know I mentioned The Good Old Times already.  That's What Life Is All About and There's Nothing That I Haven't Sung About are favorites.  I also recently listened to Bingo Viejo.  Nothing particularly stood out to me, but it was nice to hear Bing singing in a Spanish style.

Books seems like a good idea.  I second.

As both of you mentioned here, I'm glad that I'll hopefully have a long time left to help preserve Bing's legacy-which I didn't realize until late how bad of a shape it is in among younger people.  Recently I gave a short speech about him in my public speaking class, and nobody (other than my teacher) had even heard of him.  When I mentioned White Christmas, there were a couple of hesitant nods, but that was it.  Some also thought that I was saying Benny, at first, instead of Bing.  I hadn't expected any fans, but I at least thought they'd've heard the name.

To answer your questions, Mr. Kerstein, I mostly discovered him through Youtube.  I still mostly listen through there, as I don't have a lot of extra cash to spend on records, etc., but I do have several of his earlier movies on DVD and a few books (Giddins's two published works and Call Me Lucky).  I've also recently found use of other websites, mostly this one and the ones linked off of here.