Road to Morocco had definately the best music, Bing's favorite I think was Road to Utopia. Road to Singapore and Road to Rio would also be considered (at least by me) canditates for the finest of the series.

High Society should have been included many years ago. Bing's films were neglected by the AFI in general for many years, and I do hope that the fact that the only Golden Age films to be included this year were Der Bingle's means that there have been substantial lobbying efforts with the muscles perhaps of Primary Wave (they have already done miracles with Bing's streaming figures in Spotify). 

I am very glad about White Christmas but I do think that the historic importance of Holiday Inn that introduced White Christmas is superior. Yet White Christmas is partly owned by Bing's estate while Holiday Inn exclusively by Universal.

Last edited by Pantelis Kavouras (26/4/2026 10:55 am)

Primary Wave is the company that bought a share in Bing's catalogue, name and likenes from Kathryn Crosby and her children signing a deal with HLC Properties in 2021 for about 30 or 50 million dollars depending on the source. Therefore Primary Wave now handles all operations for what we call "BCE" Bing Crosby Enterprises. Primary Wave is a music publishing and artistic managment company that in addition to Bing, ownes or manages the catalogues of artists like Prince, Bob Marley, Harry Chapin, Whitney Houston, Olivia Newton-John, Glenn Gould, Henry Manchini, Jimmy Van Heussen and many others. All the new releases, and Bing's marketing is handled by them.


Oh Ian, I do so much agree about High Society, not only because it is my first Crosby film. As you noticed it belongs to the end of the studio era as so many gems. My Fair Lady is a masterpiece that unfortunately I have seen only once yet I remember it clearly. Gigi has so many nice tunes, do you have any favorites from both films? 

Ian I must admit I am more curious than you. I would have loved to seen Bing and Bob once more on the road. I think that Hong Cong was not that bad, in fact I always thought they had their magic still. Teamwork was a wodnerful start for that picture, many songs were good, the comedy was first-rate in the airport scenes, and Bing delivered some very clever lines when he negotiated a deal with Collins for the formula. If you see the scene in isolation of the context you can easily seriously imagine Bing in a straight role as an international spy. 


Based on the original contract Bing co-produced  White Christmas (1954) with Irving Berling and Paramount Pictures. Bing owned 25% of the final movie receiving millions from the box office receipts, and royalties from television and other releases. At the time of Dixie's death in 1952 Bing's fortune was not very large, Dixie's estate, the trust formation and the inheritance taxes were a lot. Primarily thanks to White Christmas, Bing Crosby Productions Electronic Division and smarter investments Bing was richer than ever at the end of the 1950s. 
Reading Day by Day I formed the impression that Bing earned more money in the 50s than his entire career. He reached his peak at the 1930s and dominated the 1940s yet by 1952 he had faced financial troubles in periods, and in the early 40s if he had stop working he couldn;t maintain his style of living or provide for his children. Many of his projects cost him money, he made bad investments, and the taxes took away most of his earnings. After Dixie's death Bing was forced to sell many of his assets to stay afloat and pay the inheritance taxes. 

White Christmas made $32M when it was released and 8M of them went to Bing. $8M in 1954 are equal to $103M in 2026. The movie was a main pilar of Bing's wealth. Bing with help from Basil Grillo re-organized his empire and was one of the richest men in Hollywood before the end of the decade being able to semi-retire in style for the rest of his life and to provide for his family forever after.

White Christmas is still partly owned by HLC Properties, as the Primary Wave press release stipulated in 2021 and the family has been involved with all it's releases in DVD, Blue Ray etc. Kathryn and Harry Crosby with Gary Giddins and others even narrated a small documentary to promote the film several years ago. Based on some press statements I also think that Bing's estate partly ownes The Bells of St Mary as well, and receives fees for its frequent television screenings.
Here are Kathryn Crosby, Harry Crosby, Garry Giddins and others about the picture White Christmas
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4Fm7d4Ln-o
 

Last edited by Pantelis Kavouras (02/5/2026 7:30 am)