Ian,
Forgot to mention that in February 1977 Bing was recording with Fred. I took some info to the hotel about Noon asking if he had time to play go,f at my club in Reading.
About 3.00pm my office phone rang and on saying hello, the voice at the other end said - it’s Bing Crosby here. Couldn’t play as was on a tight schedule and didn’t bring his clubs. I nearly fell out of my chair.
Another little story. The wife of a fellow golfer was visiting her Mum at Stonebridge Park when a big limo pulled up next to her to ask directions. She poked her head in the window and Bing and Fred were in the back. She must have had a surprise look on her face as they said - yes,it is us. They were on their way to the recording studios.
In 1995/96 Denise Crosby came to Sydney. I rang her and spoke to her (I was about 40 mile away). She was performing in Sydney.
Anyway, Denise was the born out of wedlock child to Dennis but she never met Bing. Seems that Bing may have held her responsible, I don’t know. She died a couple of years ago.
I got to interviewDionne Warwick around the same time as she was at the Hilton in Sydney. Went to her room and we spokeforabout45 minutes. I played the interview on my radio programme. She gave me an autographed 10x8photo plus a CD. Also a seat in the dining room but no meal.
In England I met Douglas Fairbanks Jnr and in Peterborough Wilfred Hyde White.
Saw Vic Damon’s at the Palladium. Afterwards at the stage door I waited with others. A bloke had a plastic bags with LP’s in it. when Vic came out this bloke said to him - I’ve got all your records and I really hope you make it one day. Vic said Thanks a lot.

Graham Pascoe wrote:

Ian wondered when I first heard Bing sing. It would have been on radio during the war when I lived with my family in Melbourne and I was a primary school student. You could hardly avoid hearing Crosby records in those days although I can't recall the first one I heard. In 1947 I turned thirteen and each week in Melbourne we could listen to more than six and a half hours of radio programs which played only Crosby records. I became a Crosby fan in the early fifties when a friend introduced me to Bing's early thirties records.

Graham, that's incredible for someone of my age (52) to appreciate. To think at one time, "You could hardly avoid hearing Crosby records in those days …", is something I have never known. I became a fully fledged fan aged thirteen in 1982 when Bing in the UK was still being regularly and knowledgably played on national and local radio but not by then, to the extent you describe. With you becoming a fan via his early 'thirties records, if push came to shove, would you find yourself favouring that period of his recordings before any other?

Having recently subscibed to the "International Club Crosby" and it's wonderful "Bing" magazine (I'm currently in the process of purchasing many of its back copies), I'm throughly enjoying your regular, lovely, warm column on Bing from an Australian perspective, something that's new to me. Your article in the Spring 2021 edition has now made me determined to seek out (so far unseen by me) the 1956 film remake of "Anything Goes". I recently aquirred the 2004 CD re-issue of its soundtrack and you've now intesified my curiousity!

Last edited by Ian Kerstein (01/4/2022 10:43 pm)

Ron Field wrote:

Ian,
Forgot to mention that in February 1977 Bing was recording with Fred. I took some info to the hotel about Noon asking if he had time to play go,f at my club in Reading.
About 3.00pm my office phone rang and on saying hello, the voice at the other end said - it’s Bing Crosby here. Couldn’t play as was on a tight schedule and didn’t bring his clubs. I nearly fell out of my chair.
Another little story. The wife of a fellow golfer was visiting her Mum at Stonebridge Park when a big limo pulled up next to her to ask directions. She poked her head in the window and Bing and Fred were in the back. She must have had a surprise look on her face as they said - yes,it is us. They were on their way to the recording studios.
In 1995/96 Denise Crosby came to Sydney. I rang her and spoke to her (I was about 40 mile away). She was performing in Sydney.
Anyway, Denise was the born out of wedlock child to Dennis but she never met Bing. Seems that Bing may have held her responsible, I don’t know. She died a couple of years ago.
I got to interviewDionne Warwick around the same time as she was at the Hilton in Sydney. Went to her room and we spokeforabout45 minutes. I played the interview on my radio programme. She gave me an autographed 10x8photo plus a CD. Also a seat in the dining room but no meal.
In England I met Douglas Fairbanks Jnr and in Peterborough Wilfred Hyde White.
Saw Vic Damon’s at the Palladium. Afterwards at the stage door I waited with others. A bloke had a plastic bags with LP’s in it. when Vic came out this bloke said to him - I’ve got all your records and I really hope you make it one day. Vic said Thanks a lot.

Oh wow, Ron! You are just the gift that keeps on giving!!!  Conversations and potential golf dates with Bing and a lady randomly popping her head into a car only to discover two of the biggest and most influential giants in the history of entertainment humorously acknowledging their identities. I don't know about falling off a chair, I think I would have fainted on the spot. Mr Astaire is another of my main idols. Loved your one liner about a seat but no meal from Ms Warwick. 

Mind if I ask under what were the circumstances you met Douglas Fairbanks Jr and Wilfred Hyde White? I remember reading a lovely story how that once in Hollywood the latter met Bing for the first time when our singer knocked on Wilfred's studio dressing room door and after answering who was outside, being told by a disbelieving Wilfred, "Oh don't bugger about!" - until the door was opened and all was revealed.

May I also ask (I'm wanting my money's worth today, aren't I?), was the guy at the stage door with Vic Damone's records in a plastic bag responding to something Damone had previously just said or done? I only ask because a previous music boss of mine once had a none too pleasant run in with Mr Damone,  just prior to a show he was giving in the UK. 
 

Lobosco,
Yes, see that she was born inNovember just a couple of months after I met Bing.
Once again I’m sorry that I input wrong info.
Ron

Ron, 

You did very well, in those explosive days, sneaking the recorder back in again after the mishap with the first show. I saw Dame Shirley many years later in Nottingham and she was spellbinding. I have never seen such a large orchestra play with a solo singer and the sound's balance, mixing, amplification and tone being so perfect to the extent that you could have been listening to some of her records. How did you find the sound quality at Bing's concerts?

With regard to your Damone anecdote, performers do sometimes have a lot to put with via their public, don't they? A record shop boss of mine from years ago who was helping promote a Stan Kenton concert in the 1970's, ended up standing inside the stage door with his mouth open in disbelief, while Stan Kenton, after a concert was happily signing autographs and chatting with members of that night's audience. One chap (a customer of ours) stepped forward with an album to be signed. Mr Kenton, freindly to a fault, politely greeted him and asked if he'd enjoyed the show. The man (still just as unaware when he told me the story himself, years later) responded; "Well to be honest, Stan I didn't. I was ever so disappointed. You see, I really miss the days when I thought you were at your best with your 'Peanut Vendor' and all your old hits. I'm afraid your modern stuff just doesn't do all that much for me".

As you say, Ron - probably not too bright!

Last edited by Ian Kerstein (02/4/2022 12:06 am)

Graham Pascoe wrote:

Ian asked when this Crosby fan first heard or saw Bing on radio or movies. When I was a lad in Melbourne I couldn't avoid hearing Bing on radio because his records were played so often. It would have been in the early 1950s that my best mate told me that he had heard Bing sing in the early 1930s and said 'Bing was really trying then'. So I listened more carefully and heard his recording of 'Beautiful girl' and was 'hooked'. No, I didn't see Sinatra but I have several of the 1950s LP albums and play tracks from them on my programs.

I must hunt down Bing's 1930's "Beautiful Girl" recording. I've never knowingly heard it. Coincidentally, one of the songs Tony Bennett sang during his two final concerts last year. I smiled at the " .. really trying" comment. Do you know if this was in reference to Bing's more romantically intense style and all those top notes during that period? By the way, I'm still thoroughly enjoying your articles in the "Bing" magazine and still in the process of purchasing as many back issue as I can (Treasurer Michael is very kindly facilitating this), so there's lots of catching up for me to do!
 

Last edited by Ian Kerstein (13/4/2022 4:53 am)

Oh that's wonderful! When I was growing up, it was Charlie Chaplin and Laurel & Hardy being projected. I've remained a fan of both acts and their films ever since. Lovely to think that it was Mack Sennett who originally gave film star billing to both Charlie and Bing (albeit nearly twenty years apart). What was the general reaction to the Mack Sennett shorts?