John continues -  - - -

I cannot say that I single-handedly accomplished the gathering of all the Bing material in my collection. Many friends and acquaintances, as well as numerous record dealers, have contributed to my collecting mania in many ways, both great and small. Many of the friends who are still with us will go un-mentioned, since I haven't asked for their permission to publish their names; but there were also good friends who have passed on and their own collections ultimately provided significant additions to my collection that I otherwise might never have obtained.

Two such friends, who many older Crosby collectors might have known, provided significant additions to my collection. I met both of these gentlemen back in the mid-to-late 1960's, initially through correspondence and telephone calls and later through personal visits. At the time we first met, both were already well-known among Crosby circles.

Howard Levine, a good friend who passed away several years ago, had an encyclopedic knowledge of all things Bing.  Howard worked at Decca Records in the days of Jack Kapp and, later, Milt Gabler, legendary record producers. Some of the "special" records in Howard's collection had been given to him during his years at Decca: Test pressings, Private recordings, et cetera, et cetera.
( Howard personally produced the "Bing In Hollywood" series of LPs for Decca many years ago, as well as the 2-LP set "For Collectors Only", in collaboration with another celebrated collector.)
About 10 years ago, during a telephone conversation, I happened to mention that I still "needed" several movie discs that Howard had in his collection.  While Howard wanted to maintain his complete collection of all of Bing's commercial records, he suggested that he'd be agreeable to allow me to buy whatever NON-commercial Crosby records I might want. I ultimately purchased several dozen of Bing's movie discs (all that he had), as well as scores of test pressings, many of which were used in producing the Jonzo series of CDs. - 

to be continued - - -

BUT  HERE ARE SOME IMAGES FROM JOHN'S IMPRESSIVE COLLECTION.
A poster for  The Big Broadcast -



A Special Brunswick record presented to Bing by Jack Kapp... as a gag or joke.
"Bill Williams" was the name of Bing's character in the film GOING HOLLYWOOD
Note that label has no catalog number.
The recordings, "After Sundown" and "Beautiful Girl" are the same as regular Brunswick issues.




A Brunswick Special "To The Gentlemen Of The Press" - A special signed presentation copy of "Star Dust" / "Dancing In The Dark" ...
25 Special pressings were prepared by Brunswick and signed by Bing, and were presented  to Press Representatives and those attending Bing's first coast-to-coast CBS broadcast - September 2, 1931.
The color of the label is actually bright red, and not the pink-ish tone that appears in the photo, and the original ink signature is slightly faded (both sides were hand-signed by Bing) . The combination of "glare" and the color have made the photo much more difficult than other labels.



Here's My Heart (sic) - a 16-inch Transcription for a HOLLYWOOD MOVIE PARADE program, a series of weekly radio broadcasts produced by Paramount Pictures to advertise and  promote their current and forthcoming film releases. This program, labeled as "HERE's MY HEART" (sic) was broadcast early-to-mid- December 1934.



To be continued  - -

 
 

Last edited by Richard Baker (03/10/2013 2:06 pm)

John continues - - - - 

Jack Souther was another legendary Crosby collector, having begun his collection in 1945. Jack's collection included many, many rarities that he'd gathered together in almost 60 years of avid searching for Bing material. Of course there were several dozen movie discs, but also all other imaginable types of Crosby records: Private recordings, test pressings, transcriptions, and so on.
Many of Jack's rarities also originated with record industry sources, including Bing himself. Some of the records in Jack's collection had originally belonged to Jack Kapp, while others had belonged to Joe Perry, known as "Decca Joe", A&R man for Decca during the 1930's and 40's, after following Jack Kapp from Brunswick in 1934.  Jack was also present at the Crosby Estate Sale in San Francisco during 1982, from which even more rarities found their way into Jack's collection.

Whatever went into Jack's collection, stayed in Jack's collection, although we occasionally did some trading over the years.  About 6 years ago I received a call from Jack one evening. He advised that he'd been diagnosed with a terminal and inoperable medical condition. He also advised me that he knew and understood the scope of my Bing collection, and wanted the Bing rarities that he'd so lovingly gathered to go "to a good home, where they'll be appreciated for what they are". ... We spent much time on numerous telephone calls, all concentrated upon Bing Crosby records. Ultimately, at least a dozen large boxes of records made their way from San Francisco to Delaware, all double-boxed for protection, and each and every box containing more rarities than the average collector might see in a decade of collecting.

In addition to these departed friends, who are sorely missed, there were many other record collecting adventures that added to the collection. A number of years ago, while visiting a flea market in the Los Angeles area, I happened to start chatting with an elderly fellow who was looking through a stack of old records. Our conversation soon divulged that he was retired from Paramount Pictures. Naturally, I asked if he had ever come across any Paramount discs featuring Bing...

The answer was "yes", he had some discs in his garage that had been given to him by Ellsworth Hoagland, who was film editor on "Holiday Inn"... A week or so later, a package arrived containing a group of Paramount play-back discs from both "Holiday Inn" and "Birth Of The Blues", all because of a chance encounter 3,000 miles from home. ... Another interesting experience occurred a few years ago when I noticed a couple of scarce Paramount discs on ebay. I sent a note, asking if the seller happened to have any others of this type. He sent back a telephone number, and when we spoke, I learned that he had a number of great Paramount Studio records. He told me that he had attended an estate sale, and the owner of the home had been the daughter of Nat Finston, who was musical director at Paramount from about 1930 through 1935 or so. ... He had a stack of these records, many featuring Bing, and he read the titles over the telephone.  We arranged a sale then and there, and shortly afterward a couple of parcels arrived containing some wonderful records.  I found it very interesting that I was holding Nat Finston's personal copies of Paramount discs from the early 30's.

Amazing...

All of this, of course, is merely a recounting of the highlights of many years of mundane searching, much of which is fruitless, but nevertheless occasionally produces wondrous things. From time to time I still miss my departed friends, but I also look forward to meeting "new" friends, who are also avid Crosby collectors. ... If possible, scheduled in advance and with time available, I generally welcome visitors, most of whom might spend a few hours immersed in listening to Crosby rarites.

AND HERE ARE SOME MORE  IMAGES FROM JOHN'S IMPRESSIVE COLLECTION.

An original poster for Bing's short, "Just An Echo"... which I believe to be among  the rarest of Crosby movie posters.


"To Jack" - Original pressing of the recording for/from the MGM Party at Marion Davies beach house, following filming of GOING HOLLYWOOD...
 This disc originally belongedto Jack Kapp, and was given to him by Bing (see inscription on label). It contains the "song"  "Rollicking Rockaway Raoul"
 ?? Perhaps in return for the Special Brunswick record that Jack Kapp had made for Bing containing two songs from GOING HOLLYWOOD, but with artist name on the label as "Bill Williams" (Bing's character's name in the film) ??





 

Last edited by Richard Baker (05/10/2013 10:52 pm)

In the previous post there is reference to "Rollicking Rockaway Raoul" 

The reference is to Raoul Walsh, the film director.

You can download and listen to Bing singing the song here -

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3vneCRh1nRHd2Vwcl9zUHBLYlk/edit?usp=sharing

and you can read the story behind the song (and see a transcription of the words) here -

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Rj2uMkfjDAgC&pg=PA146&lpg=PA146&dq=%22rockaway+raoul%22&source=bl&ots=bNocS6aT3v&sig=uat1wPmdom1J4I-0hmU7JYsntKk&hl=en&sa=X&ei=0S9VUqevK8ayhAfRxYDQBw&ved=0CD8Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=%22rockaway%20raoul%22&f=false

 

Thank you for posting this fascinating overview of John Newton's collection, Richard. He, Jack Souther, and precious few others are, as you say, to be treasured by all of us. Acquiring rarities of any kind was a much more daunting undertaking even twenty years ago than it is today. Thanks to those in the pre-internet era with the fortitude to seek out scarce, historically significant recordings before they were relegated to oblivion (or worse, destroyed), and preserving them for posterity, we now all benefit. We are, as Mr. Newton's namesake famously said, standing on the shoulders of giants.

This thread has had a higher viewing rate in a short time than any other, and has been one of only three threads that has generated e-mails direct to me off board, which show a strong appetite for more. Would that were possible.

A very positive reaction to a fascinating collection.