Discovering Bing Crosby (2014) - full transcript

MAN: Bing was the first
multimedia entertainer.

He was big in movies,
big on radio, big on records.

He was damn good.

Oh, I wished I'd have said that.

BING: * I'm no millionaire

* But I'm not the type
to care *

MAN: At his height,

he was singing
to 50 million people a week.

MAN: He had more number one
records than anybody in history.

Certainly, more than
the Beatles or Elvis.

WOMAN: Every woman in the world
wanted to marry Bing Crosby,



whether they were married
already or not.

* Wealth on Wall Street

* For a road
where nature trods *

MAN: He made everybody feel
that they could sing

just as good as he could,

and they couldn't.

WOMAN: And he made it look
effortless.

Whether he was on stage
or in front of the camera,

everything was very authentic
and very who he was.

No one has ever done so much
with so little

for so long for so much.

[Audience laughs]

MAN: He was singing in a style
that laid the groundwork

for Sinatra
and everybody that came after.



Any modern singer, whether
they've heard of him or not,

owes him a debt of gratitude.

But history doesn't see Bing
that way.

History sees him as the guy who
comes out every year

and sings "White Christmas."

MAN: Nobody would dream
that Crosby would fade.

He was not only one of the most
important voices

of the 20th century, he was
incredibly entertaining.

WOMAN: I assumed that people
remembered

how much they loved him.

BING: Some guy come up,
and he said,

"Didn't you used to be
Bing Crosby?"

MAN: Was he really
the easygoing guy

that you see on the screen?

Yes, he was.

That wasn't an act; that was
part of the real guy.

But it wasn't all
of the real guy.

* I can live in luxury

* 'Cause I've got
a pocket full of dreams *

Let's take a song like, um,
"Moonlight Becomes You."

The way the sheet music
is written...

* Moonlight becomes you

* It goes with your hair

Bing would sing it...

* Moonlight-becomes-you...

* It goes with-your-hair

BING: * You certainly know
the right thing to wear *

FEINSTEIN: It becomes
conversational,

but he also changes
the notes.

Songwriters never complained
about the way that Bing

would change the melody because,
in some cases,

it really made
the song seem better.

* What a night to go dreaming

* Mind if I tag along?

What Bing created
was the art of intimacy.

He sang very quiet
and very understated.

He just realized,
you don't have to, you know.

You're singing
to someone's eyes,

you're singing to
someone's ears,

and you don't have to push.

* Moonlight becomes you so

FEINSTEIN: It's about phrasing,
but it's also about

seeing how far you
can go playing with a melody,

but somehow staying within
the confines of the song.

Bing evolved that, and it came
from jazz,

it came from Louis Armstrong,

but it also came from this
innate ability that he had

that was truly his own.

* Although

* Moonlight becomes you so

As Artie Shaw said, he was
the first hip white person

born in the United States.

MAN: Bing gets the call from
this high school kid, Al Rinker,

who's, I think, 17 at the time.

And Al Rinker's got this little
band called The Musicaladers,

and they've lost their drummer.

RINKER: Somebody told us about
Bing Crosby had a set of drums,

and he was pretty good.

So we had him come over
to my house.

He played and he hit the cymbal,
and he sang a couple things.

And he said, "Oh boy,
this is great!"

* How do you like
a Bugle Call Rag? *

* You like it played as a waltz
or a Dixieland shag? *

* I'll take the words right out
of your mouth *

* I've got to play it the same
as the sound *

* In New York or any town

* Where the band
swings out lowdown *

BING: I imagine I always was
singing a little

around the house and in
the grade school choral groups.

But I think I really went at it
seriously when I was about 12.

He'd been educated in
the popular songs by his father,

who had a big record collection.

MAN: The father was Happy Harry,
later known as Hollywood Harry.

Played the mandolin, sang,
rarely had a decent job.

WOMAN: He was the life
of the party,

but not so good in terms of
taking care of business,

and that that
was Catherine Harrigan,

who had all these kids
and ran the show.

NARRATOR: Harry Lillis Crosby
was the fourth of seven children

born into an Irish Catholic
working class family

on May 3rd, 1903.

Bing, what's the origin
of the name "Bing"?

That wasn't on your birth
certificate.

-No.
-It was Harry.

Harry, Harry Lillis.

No, there was a comic strip
when I was a little boy

called "The Bingville Bugle."

And I used to go around saying
"Bingo, Bingo,"

so they hung
the name on me, Bing.

NARRATOR: Obsessed with
vaudeville, sports, and girls,

Crosby attends virtually
every stage performance

that comes through town.

BING: I just wanted to be
connected with show business.

I just wanted to be part
of that scene,

to be on the stage,

to be around people who were
entertainers.

I didn't have any idea I'd be
an important singer,

if I am one.

NARRATOR: By 1925,
Rinker and Crosby

feel they've outgrown Spokane.

RINKER: I said, "My sister,
Mildred Bailey,

is living down in Los Angeles,

and I know she's singing in some
clubs down there.

Let's get the old car and get
out of town."

NARRATOR: They arrive on
November 7th, 1925,

and quickly start booking dates
in and around Los Angeles.

Less than a year later,
they come to the attention

of the most popular bandleader
in the country, Paul Whiteman,

who asked to meet the duo.

BING: He was seated on a massive
bed, looked like a giant Buddha,

and he had a pound of caviar
in his lap

and a bottle of very
important champagne

on his breakfast table.

I thought, "This is really
the ultimate in luxury

and attainment to have reached
the stage

where you can have caviar
and champagne for breakfast."

Well, we toured all around with
Whiteman, Johnny,

and we joined
him in Chicago.

And then we toured all around,
you know, Cleveland, Cincinnati,

those places, for about
10 weeks, and we did very well.

In fact, I think we were
a smash.

We went into New York,
the New York Paramount,

and laid a sensational omelet,
just nothing.

Absolutely an egg.

He had to take us off the bill
after the second or third show.

NARRATOR: Stage microphones were
virtually non-existent

at the time.

When Rinker and Crosby got
in front of the band,

they were barely audible in the
cavernous 3,600-seat theater.

An embarrassed Whiteman was
considering

sending his proteges home, when
Crosby and Rinker were rescued

by an introduction to a wildly
kinetic singer and pianist,

Harry Barris.

MAN: He pulls out this song
called "Mississippi Mud."

And they start working on it,
and then they ask Whiteman

to come hear it,
they knock his socks off.

He puts them on the stage
doing that.

And suddenly, the Rhythm Boys
are "it" in New York.

* Look at my doorstep,
look at my doorstep *

* Look at the blue birds,
look at the black birds *

* Look at the good bug,
Look at the bad bug *

* Look at the good luck
and the bad luck there *

* I never saw blue birds mingle
with black birds *

* I never saw blue birds
doing things backwards *

* Never knew good luck
ever could perch with care *

FEINSTEIN: The Rhythm Boys had
something that converted jazz

into pop music and people went
crazy for these guys.

They were superstars
of their time.

MAN: Now they're the toast
of New York.

He can't walk into a speakeasy
without people

offering to buy him drinks,
so he starts drinking a lot.

NARRATOR: During production
of The King of Jazz,

Crosby is arrested after
almost driving his car

through the lobby of
the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.

BING: Came up in front of
the judge

and he looked at the complaint
and said, "Here, I see HBD."

I says, "What does that mean?"
He said, "Had been drinking."

I said, "Oh, yes, I had a few."

He said, "Well, don't you know
that there's a Prohibition Law

in the United States now?"

"Oh," I said, "nobody pays
any attention to that."

He said, "Well, you'll have
30 days

to pay some attention to it,"
and clang, you know?

MAN: Whiteman famously said
he wasn't hard to work with.

He was hard to find, sometimes.

RINKER: We were a little drunk
with power, yes.

What we wouldn't do, we wouldn't
learn any new songs.

We just wouldn't get together
and rehearse, that's all.

And we had about 12 songs, and
then we wouldn't learn any more.

So Whiteman says, "Hey, what's
going on here, you guys?

You're out playing golf,
you're out chasing girls,

you're not
doing me any good this way."

NARRATOR: Whether
the Rhythm Boys were fired from

or quit Whiteman's band is
a matter of interpretation.

* 'Cause I've got
those hap-happy feet... *

[Scatting]

MAN: Some people said that Bing
did everything wrong

to become a star by not turning
up on time

for recording sessions,

by wild partying, by going with
too many ladies.

And despite that,
he rolled uphill to success.

All the newspaper stories were
all about

"Dixie Lee Fox Starlet
Marries Singer."

MAN: Even the New York Times
gets his name wrong,

calling him Murray Crosey.

She's the one who has a career.

BOB: You couldn't
escape feeling

the love between
the two of them.

She was a wonderful woman.

A beautiful lady,

and she gave up a career
for Bing.

DIXIE LEE: * Tomatoes...

BING: * To-mah-toes, dear

DIXIE LEE: * But you're as cold
as yesterday's *

* Mashed po-tah-toes

BING: * Potatoes

MAN: Harry Warner
warned Dixie Lee

to stay away
from this gigolo

and said, "He's just a carouser,
he's a partier.

Yeah, he's got a decent voice,
but he'll be in your pocket

for the rest of your
professional career."

Just, you know,
just stay away.

BOB: He was amongst some of the
greatest drinkers in the world.

With Bix Beiderbecke
and Trumbauer,

and some of that group,
they had

the heavyweight belt
championship.

[Chuckles]

They were belters.

He drank and he drank too much,
and he became irresponsible.

WOMAN: Dolores Hope said,

"If you've missed Bing, go back
to the last place you were.

You might find him under
the table."

NARRATOR: One year into
the marriage,

Dixie is fed up
with Crosby's partying

and announces to the press
that she is divorcing him.

Crosby convinces her that he
will cut back, and they reunite.

Ironically, by this time,

Lee herself has developed
a serious addiction to alcohol.

MARY: From what I understand --

not from my mom,
but from Rosie Clooney

and from Dolores Hope --

is that Dad could handle it
and Dixie couldn't keep up.

And it got her.

NARRATOR: Between 1933 and 1938,

the couple have four sons --
Gary, twins Dennis and Phillip,

and Lindsay.

Always painfully shy, Dixie
retreats from public life

as her
drinking problem worsens.

BING AND DIXIE:
* This is a fine romance

The Rhythm Boys land a job

at the Cocoanut Grove nightclub
in Los Angeles.

Crosby is quickly singled out,

and soon after the release
of his first solo recording,

the group disbands.

* 'Cause deep down in my heart,
I say *

* "I surrender, dear"

When Crosby comes to prominence
in the 1930s,

all the other guys
are kinda square singers.

You can hear the difference in
three versions

of "Brother, Can You Spare
a Dime?"

* They used to tell me I was
building a dream *

* And so I
followed the mob *

FEINSTEIN:
You listen to Rudy Vallee,

Rudy Vallee is very straight,
kind of stentorian.

And then there's Jolson
who's the vaudevillian,

who's over the top.

* Say don't you remember

* Don't you remember they
called me Al? *

* It was Al,
Al all the time *

And here comes this guy who is
hip, he's doing jazz phrasing,

it's very modern
and conversational.

BING: * They call me Al

* It was Al all the time

* Why don't you remember?

* I'm your pal

* Say, buddy

* Can you spare a dime?

Nobody else would've been able
to phrase it that way,

nobody would've thought of
interpreting the song that way,

because he was already a good
decade and a half

in his singing style ahead of
what everybody else was doing.

Because of the invention of
the microphone,

your voice did not
need to be sung like this,

because the microphone captured
the intimacy.

* You came

* I was alone

* I should have known

* You were temptation

MAN: But that was only
the beginning.

His genius was that he began
to use it as an instrument.

He began to understand the way
it altered dynamics.

It meant all kinds of nuances
were possible.

It meant that you could bring
a song down almost to a whisper.

And that brings an eroticism to
music that simply did not exist

in any precinct of American
popular music.

* If it can never be

* Pity me

NARRATOR: In 1930, fewer than
a third

of American homes had radios.

By 1935, fewer
than a third did not.

MAN: The man who founded
CBS Radio, William Paley,

is struggling to get any
traction for the network

because NBC has two networks,

the Red and the Blue, and they
really own the airwaves.

Paley is on a cruise somewhere
in the Atlantic

and he hears a recording
of Bing Crosby,

and he wires back to people and
says, "Get ahold of this guy."

NARRATOR: Paley signs Crosby

to the most lucrative contract
in the history of radio.

MAN: So, of course, there's
a certain amount

of excitement building.

And Monday night comes
and Bing doesn't show.

Tuesday night, he's not ready,
so they just decide

to make the
premiere on Wednesday.

It was our announced intention

to present Bing Crosby's
initial program Monday night,

but a severe attack
of laryngitis

made it impossible for him to
appear until tonight.

The producer says,
"What do you think?"

And Paley looks down
at his shoes and he just says,

"I hope he's got it."

* Just one more chance

* To prove it's you alone
I care for *

* Each night I say
a little prayer for *

* Just one more chance

Bing!

Bing!

Bing!

NARRATOR: The response is beyond
anyone's expectations.

Almost overnight Crosby
is a nationwide radio star.

MAN: He was attacked at
a Sunday mass

by the archbishop of Boston
as a degenerate

because it was so sexual.

There were a number of divorce
actions brought in which Crosby

was named as a correspondent

because he alienated
the wife's affections.

She was spending all her time
listening to him on the radio.

* I surrender, dear

* Just one more word

NARRATOR: Crosby's success saves
CBS radio.

For the next 31 years he will
dominate the airwaves

as no other performer has done
before or since.

"Just One More Chance,"
Crosby's debut radio song,

was from a record produced
by Jack Kapp.

The son of a record store owner,

Kapp knew every facet
of the business

and had an infallible ability to
assess popular taste.

MAN: At the very depth
of the Depression,

Jack Kapp comes along
and decides it's time

to start a new record company.

Everybody thought he was
completely crazy.

He could only do it
with Crosby as collateral.

And Crosby said,

"Jack, wherever you go,
I will go with you."

BING: * And now, the purple dusk
of twilight time *

* Steals across
the meadows of my heart *

MAN: When Crosby was in
his heyday,

single records were released.

There was an A side
and a B side.

He made 600 singles, that's
1200 songs,

1200 sides -- that's
an enormous amount of material.

And there were so many of these
records that were on the charts,

it was unbelievable.

MAN: Jack Kapp said, "You are
a popular singer.

People want to
buy your records.

So let's give them every kind
of song we can think of."

He turned Bing into
the all-purpose singer.

And Bing went along with it.

NARRATOR: Crosby explored every
class of song,

from hymns and spirituals
to Hawaiian, Irish, French,

light opera, and R&B.

No other singer's catalog is
comparable.

Through Crosby, American popular
music came of age,

relaxing the prejudices that
isolated pop, jazz,

and every other idiom
he addressed.

By 1941, the deeply satisfied
Kapp would boast,

if he hadn't
diversified his talent,

he would have remained just a
popular singer of popular songs.

FEINSTEIN: As Bing gains
more and more fame,

his style of singing
becomes less and less jazzy

and more homogenized in a way
that made him iconic

and a household name,
but musically,

in some ways,
less interesting.

For all the trust Crosby put
into Kapp,

the relationship was
not without its tense moments.

KAPP: Come on, will ya, Bing?

After fighting with Kapp,
initially, he said, you know,

"Jack had these ideas and they
seemed to work,

and at some point I just said,
'Jack, whatever you want.'"

NARRATOR: Crosby will ultimately
record

23 gold and platinum records,
have 41 number one hits,

and to this day, is widely
considered

the most electronically
recorded voice in history.

* Out where they say

* Let us be gay

* I'm going Hollywood

NARRATOR: It wasn't long before
Hollywood came calling.

Sweetheart!

NARRATOR: Mack Sennett, the king
of silent comedies, was looking

for actors
with good voices.

A singer with comic timing was
a godsend.

Ow, ow, ow!

NARRATOR: Clearly the standout
performer in the eight shorts

he makes for Sennett, Crosby
begins to establish

his onscreen persona --
mischievous and unpretentious,

a unique combination of
sophistication and subversion.

He is quickly signed to a
contract with Paramount Studios,

where he will remain
for over 25 years.

He killed the leading man idea.

Suddenly, you've got a guy who
looks very normal.

He had big ears, he was a little
overweight, he was bald,

he had to wear a toupee.

You got a nice face.

Thanks.
Take a good look at it.

I still think it's nice.

BING: Well, I weighed about 190
pounds in those days.

I used to give Chapman's
Ice Cream Parlor

in Hollywood quite
a beating.

We used to have quite a job
every morning

shoe-horning me
into those wardrobe.

I really looked like a piece of
southern knockwurst

gathered in the middle.

[Dog barks]

MAN: You had a whole country
that was in a depression.

It was Bing who depicted every
man's position.

[Dog barks]

He was just a good neighbor.

He was the kind of guy --

I'd love to have Bing Crosby
as a neighbor.

I know he'd be a wonderful
friend to have.

NARRATOR: The lavish lifestyle
of Hollywood stars

was old news by
the late 1930s.

But rather than begrudge Crosby,

his fans took vicarious
pleasure in his good fortune

as well as a measure of proof

that America itself

was not in irreversible decline.

* Just found a hole in my shoe

* And my stocking shows
through *

* Ho hum

* Ho-ho hum

NARRATOR: By 1940,
with 24 films under his belt,

Crosby's film career is
at a crossroads.

At 37, he does not possess
the manic energy

for screwball comedy,

and though he can ride a horse
better than any western star,

cowboy roles are not
an option.

Nor were detective, husband,
or father roles.

It becomes difficult to know not
only how to cast him

but who to cast him with.

JOHNNY CARSON: We had Bob on
last night.

Bob Hope was on last night,
and when did you first meet Bob?

Out in the Friars Club
in New York.

I met him around there, shot
some pool with him,

and he rolled me pretty good.

Then we worked
the Capitol Theater together.

CARSON:
Did you ever catch his act?

BING: I stood in the wings once.
CARSON: Did he have a good act?

No, it was awful.

HOPE: I was a master
of ceremonies

and Bing was a star.

We were doing these shows,
and it got a little boring,

so we started
ad-libbing together.

And we worked out a routine.
That was in 1932.

Then 1937, I came out to
Paramount

and Bing invited me
down to Del Mar,

and we did the same routine that
we did in the Capitol New York.

My partner and I, we give you
our impression

of two orchestra leaders meeting
on zee Boulevard.

Two orchestra leaders meeting
on zee Boulevard.

[Arguing loudly]

HOPE: And the audience loved it,
and there was somebody there

from Paramount -- he went back
to the studio and said,

"We gotta put these guys
together."

But the producers of Paramount
didn't know

that they had ever
even met.

They think they're making all
this shit up!

And they can't believe it!

They've just found these
two geniuses.

* When two guys pull together,
it's teamwork *

* In foul or sunny weather,
it's teamwork *

* What does it take to make
any business climb? *

* You'll find it takes
teamwork *

* Every time

BOB: He just loved getting into
this hokey stuff.

In fact, a lot of
the producers said to me,

"Boy, I'm sure glad you got Bing
doing low comedy,

'cause we never could get him
to do that."

And he loved it.

He loved to get laughs and he
loved to be in that kind

of an atmosphere.

MAN: There's a theme running
through these movies,

especially since most of them
were made during the war,

which is that America

is colonizing the rest
of the world with vaudeville.

Bing always gets the woman.

Bing always sells out Bob
in the cruelest ways.

He sells him into slavery,
he shoots him out of a cannon,

he puts him in a tank
with an octopus.

There was more betrayal in those
movies than anything since

Restoration drama.

Still, you're always rooting
for Bing,

and all of the comic
timing

that you've seen in bits and
pieces throughout the films,

going back
to the Mack Sennett shorts,

really begins to flower.

* Unless you got teamwork,
there's no team *

NARRATOR: Before James Bond,

the Road films were the most
successful franchise

in the history of cinema.

Launching Bob Hope
as a major star,

the series revitalized
Crosby's career by exposing him

to a younger audience

who marveled
at the onscreen irreverence.

Look!

MAN: They're parodying

the popular Hollywood movies
of the day.

Humphrey Bogart!

Boy, is he lost.

MAN: The fourth wall leads them
to complete absurdity and lunacy

and a kind of meta storytelling

that would become popular
in the '80s.

Come on, help yourself.
This is no sailboat, you know?

-I'm doing my share.
-Your share?

You look like an agent
standing there.

That fire's pretty important,
isn't it?

-Yes, it is!
-Makes the boat go, doesn't it?

-That's right.
-Supposing it goes out?

-Supposing it does.
-I'm ready.

Oh, well, that's...

Pardon me.

-Thanks.
-What do you do around here?

-Nothing.
-You in this picture?

No, taking a shortcut
to stage 10.

Bing and Bob are making all
these movies.

They're appearing on each
other's radio shows.

They're doing golf benefits
almost daily,

so they're
constantly together,

more than most married
couples are.

But they're only together when
there's a public watching them.

* Mmmm, mairzy doats
and dozey doats... *

MAN: They were two smart guys

who knew that hanging out

off the camera

and away from the business

could result in wrecking
what you had going.

And they were kind
of different type fellas

as far as
their home life went

and they didn't spend
any time together.

So when they arrived
at the studio,

when they arrived at the show,
wherever they were going,

it was all fresh,
it was all new.

They enjoyed seeing
one another again,

they enjoyed working
with one another again,

and off they went.

How are you feeling
this afternoon?

Oh, I feel very fine, Dumbo.

I was up at the crack of my back
this morning.

I passed your house
last night.

You passed my house?
Thanks.

MAN: Bing couldn't do a routine

without having a joke
about Hope, and vice versa.

All he had to do was mention
"ski nose"

and the insults, and it just --

Before he says the joke,
the audience is howling.

When Hope was over here
recently, did he do well?

Did he score?
Was he important?

[Audience laughs]

I know we just finished
a picture

called "The Road to Utopia,"
and...

I don't want to say
what part of him was dragging,

but it's the cleanest
Road picture we ever made.

[Audience laughs]

* You've got that something
in your voice *

* So right for selling cheese

* Put it there, pal

* Put it there

I think your jokes are great.

It's just that folks
are hard to please.

MAN: I can't think of another
fake feud that lasted that long.

This went on for 35 years.

* My colleague
* My crony

* My cohort
* My friend

* Companions
* Confederates

* Chums to the end

* Like meat and potatoes

* Or salt and tomatoes

* Boy, what a blend

* Don't put it in the paper

* Don't put it on the air

* Don't put it
on the shelf *

* Put it there!

ANNOUNCER: The Kraft Music Hall
with Bing Crosby,

John Scott Trotter
and his orchestra,

Marilyn Maxwell,
The Music Maids and Man, Ukie,

The Charioteers, and Bing's
guest this evening...

NARRATOR: When Crosby began
in radio,

he was ordered to sing
but not speak.

That was the announcer's job.

Slowly, he began to rebel.

He invited his friends
on the show,

he began to relax, and let
his great sense of wit

and word play come forward.

MAN: When he left CBS
for NBC Radio

to host the Kraft Music Hall,

everything changes because

he begins to sound like
your neighbor.

BING: Well, why can't people act
normal just like human beings?

FRED: Well, you cannot be
a human being in radio, Bing.

Not even the executives, they...

They run through the halls
on all fours.

[Laughter]

Today, if a network television
show is a hit,

you get about six
million viewers.

That is considered
a spectacular success.

Bing Crosby had 50 million
people

listening to his show
weekly.

Fifty million people!

He was the most familiar
and beloved voice in the world.

The popularity
of his radio show

during the '30s and the '40s
gave him

this intimate relationship
with the entire country.

And the power that, that he had

by having the popularity of
that radio show

was just incredible.

NARRATOR: Crosby's success gave
him the autonomy

to spread what he considered

nothing more than his
good fortune.

MAN: Men whose wives were
pregnant,

he would bring them
on the radio show,

he would give them bit parts,
but he really put himself

on the line for a number of
women whose careers

were at risk, and he made them
regulars on his radio show.

The first one was
Connee Boswell,

then it was Mary Martin,
Peggy Lee.

FEINSTEIN: With Garland, he felt
a very special affection,

and when she was fired from MGM,

he rallied by her side when very
few others would.

He had her on his radio program,
and she was sick.

She had tried to kill herself.

MAN: She was standing in
the wings trembling with fear,

She was almost hysterical.

She said, "I cannot go out there
because they're all gonna be

looking to see if there's scars,
and it's gonna be terrible."

And Bing said,
"What's going on?"

I told him what happened,
and he walked out on stage

and he said,
"We got a friend here,

she's had a little trouble
recently,

you've probably heard about it.

Everything is fine now.

She needs our love,
she needs our support.

She's here.
Let's give it to her, okay?

Here's Judy."

And she came out and that place
went crazy.

And she just blossomed.

BING: * And what's more
I've lost my appetite *

JUDY: * ...velvet gloves

* There is nothing
you can take... *

BING: * ...used to twinkle
in the sky... *

JUDY: * To relieve
that pleasant ache... *

BING: * ...are twinkling
in my eyes, I wonder why *

JUDY: * Just in love

BOTH:
* Just in love

* So in love!

[Applause]

* Be careful

* It's my heart

* It's not my watch
you're holding *

* It's my heart

KATHRYN: Irving Berlin
was a friend of Bing's,

and he wrote some
beautiful songs for him.

Holiday Inn had many,
many beautiful songs.

FEINSTEIN: Berlin thought that
"Be Careful, it's my Heart"

was gonna be
the hit from the film.

But "White Christmas" came along
at a time

in our country's history that
nobody could have predicted,

with the start of
the Second World War,

and then a resonance is attached
to the song

that is very, very deep.

No one knew it was gonna become
iconic, not even Berlin

who was a very canny judge
of his own work.

BING: There was a verse to it,

and we had quite a struggle at
the time

between Berlin and the producer,

because the producer wanted to
use the verse,

and it was a very
peculiar verse -- it was long.

* The sun is shining,
the grass is green *

* The orange and palm trees
sway *

* I've never seen such
a day *

* In Beverly Hills, L.A.

LUCILLE: I'm glad you
didn't use it.

BING: Berlin was right.

Maybe if we'd used the verse,
it might've killed the chorus.

You never know.

NARRATOR: By the summer of 1942,

the record began to take off.

Servicemen demanded
"White Christmas"

and Decca shipped
thousands of copies overseas.

Within months,
the song became an anthem.

It was a big, big record
at that time, a single record.

I was in France and Germany,
I could tell you that, you know,

hearing "White Christmas,"

you talk about a lump in the
throat every time you heard it.

* I'm dreaming

* Of a white Christmas

* Just like the ones

* I used to know

* Where the tree tops glisten

* And children listen

* To hear sleigh bells

* In the snow

* I'm dreaming

* Of a white Christmas

* With every Christmas card

* I write

* May your days

* Be merry

* And bright

* And may all

* Your Christmases

* Be white

MAN: Crosby's work during the
war is really quite astonishing.

He is at camp shows.

He's constantly on tour.
He's doing benefits.

If he put his head out
the window

and there were audiences
screaming,

he would sing a couple of songs.

He just really put himself out.

And the servicemen
appreciated that.

BING: I was reluctant to sing it

because it would put a rather
sad note on the proceedings.

Some of them, you could see
tears in their eyes.

It reminded them of home
and mother and the family,

and the fact that they were so
many thousand miles away

in the middle of a terrible war.

It had a poignant value,
I guess,

that it wouldn't
otherwise achieve.

FEINSTEIN: The way Bing sang it
with such depth and connection,

people felt in that
interpretation

more than was there.

And it became about the loss
of our loved ones,

about separation,

about a certain mythology
that we all yearn for.

* And may all

* Your Christmases

* Be white

MAN: It secularized Christmas
in a way

that was pretty nervy
at the time.

And that's what Berlin, who's,
of course, a Jew, did with it.

It not only secularizes it,
but it Americanizes it.

"White Christmas" was his,
and it became an annuity

because he
became the Christmas man.

NARRATOR: Between 1942 and 1962,
"White Christmas"

was on the Top 40
every single year but one.

To this day, it remains the best
selling record of all time.

* Oh, I'm packing my grip

* And I'm leaving today

* 'Cause I'm taking a trip

* California way

* I'm gonna settle down

* And never more roam

* And make
the San Fernando Valley *

* My home

MAN: At the end of the war
when Yank magazine did a poll

of who had done the most for
GI morale, Crosby came in

number one over Eisenhower,
MacArthur, Hope, the Pope,

because all of these
hundreds of thousands

of returning servicemen really
are returning

with a certain love for him.

BENNETT: Bing Crosby taught
America how to live.

Everybody said, "That's it.

Let's walk away from all
this anxiety.

You know, let's just relax.

Let's just spend a nice day
in the country.

Let's play a little golf."

MAN: Dad loved playing golf
pretty much every weekend,

or waking moment.

Of course Roone Arledge and my
dad, along with Arnold Palmer,

collectively was a significant
factor

when television first came
to exposing golf

to the general public.

I won the Burlingame
Club Championship

and he called my mom and said

it was the happiest day
of his life,

which I'm sure
she didn't appreciate.

MAN: Throughout the war,
Bing had been making shows

for the Armed Forces
Radio Service.

These were on transcription
discs.

He thought if the transcription
discs are good enough

for these troops, why can't
we do it on radio?

HARRY: He had to do two radio
shows a day.

He said, "Both for my voice
and for the fact

that I'd like an afternoon off,
I want to try and record this."

NARRATOR: NBC is adamant that he
continue to do two live shows,

and Crosby
goes on strike.

The matter goes to court

and a judge declares his
contract indentured servitude.

Now a free agent, he quickly
signs with Philco

as his new sponsor on the ABC
radio network,

who are willing to let him
pre-record his shows.

FEINSTEIN: Recording technology

changed dramatically in 1946
after the Second World War

when the Allies bring tape
recorders back from Germany

and the technical quality
was extraordinary.

It was high fidelity
for the first time.

MAN: And he realized then
the possibilities of tape.

He could take bits out that
didn't work.

If a particular gag didn't work,
he could cut it out.

He could even dub in audience
applause if there was a gap.

FEINSTEIN: He recognizes that
this is going to change

the face of show business,
and he becomes

one of the investors to start

a commercial manufacturing
of tape recorders.

NARRATOR: By 1947, a medium

that had been entirely live
the year before

was now almost completely
pre-recorded.

Crosby's investment and
promotion of the new technology

paved the way for multi-track
recording, video tape,

and data storage.

For once in your life, you can
give up, can't you?

-Give up?
-Give up!

Who the hell sent you here?
Sinatra?

No, no, no, no. Sinatra had
nothing to do with this.

And I wouldn't talk that way
about Sinatra if I were you.

I don't mean to malign
Mr. Sinatra 'cause I'm

a great fan of his,
of his private and public life.

And furthermore, singers like
Sinatra come once in a lifetime.

Why did he have to come along in
my lifetime?

* Saturday night is
the loneliest night *

* Of the week

* I sing the song

* That I sang for the memories

* I usually see

Nobody had challenged Crosby
from the moment he became

an important recording artist.

And then Frank Sinatra arrives

who deepens the interpretation
of lyrics,

something that Crosby
sort of started,

and brings a kind of
a soulfulness to singing,

personalizing it.

MAN: When Sinatra really bursts
upon the scene,

the press is creating all this
rivalry between the two guys.

NARRATOR: In fact, the only true
rivalry that existed

was between the fans.

MAN: Crosby was so secure
with who he was.

And even though Sinatra had
tremendous fame,

Crosby had already seen a lot of
guys come and go.

* Don't dance all night
with me *

* Till the stars fade
from above *

* Fade from above

* They'll say

* It's all right with me

* People will say

* We're in love!

MAN: Air raid!

[Laughter and applause]

BARNES: I think Sinatra was
the first popular singer

to really appreciate
the importance of accompaniments

and how they would help him in
what he wanted to do.

You can't say the same about
Crosby's arrangements

from the
'30s and '40s.

Bing was never involved
with the accompaniments.

He turned up and sang the song.

NARRATOR: Not until
the early 1960s

would Sinatra finally begin
to out-sell Crosby.

MAN: Bing said he really
respected him as an artist,

and he always said the best
thing he ever did in the movies

was "Did You Evah?",

the number with Frank
in "High Society."

[Scatting]

* We sing...

* We sing...

* So rare...

* So rare...

* Like old camembert

* Like baba au rhum

* Ba, ba, ba bum

* Don't dig that kind
of croonin', chum *

You must be one of the newer
fellas.

* Have you heard
it's in the stars *

* Next July we collide
with Mars *

* Well, did you evah?

* What a swell party,
a swell party *

* A swellegant, elegant

* Party this is!

Good morning.

Excuse me,
but could you tell me

where I'd find
St. Dominic's Church?

Eh?

I'm looking for
St. Dominic's Church.

Why?

I'm gonna work there.

What's your name?

Father O'Malley.

Charles Francis Patrick
O'Malley.

At this point, Crosby is money
in the bank.

That's why they didn't want him
to do anything too controversial

and that's why they fought
against him

doing the priest film.

-Say hello to the Fat'er.
-Hello, Fat'er.

Hi, fellas.

BING: Leo McCarey, a director,
a very fine director, too,

came to me and said he wanted me
to play a priest

and I thought he'd
flipped his whole top.

I couldn't imagine me
being believable

or acceptable as a priest,
but he convinced me,

and it was
a very lucky decision.

I was going to ask you
something.

Oh, yeah, what made me become
a priest?

No, no, no, no,
about young Tony.

What was it the police
accused him of?

Stealing.

Stealing?
Stealing what?

Turkeys.

[Boys chorus singing]

* Would you like to swing
on a star *

* Carry moonbeams home
in a jar *

* And be better off
than you are *

* Or would you rather be
a mule? *

MAN: At one point, Paramount
backers offered to buy the film

if they could destroy it
rather than release it.

They thought if he fails
in that,

they will have killed their
famous musical comedy star,

nobody will want to see
him again.

* And you'll be swinging
on a star *

COOPER: The winner
for the Best Acting Performance

of 1944

is the one and only Bing Crosby.

[Applause]

BING: Well, we're not allowed to
make any speeches.

HOPE: You better say something,
brother.

[Laughter]

BING: If Leo McCarey can take
a broken down crooner like me

and take me by the hand and lead
me through a picture

so deftly that I come up
with this happy crockery here,

why, there's a chance
for anyone.

All you have to do is get
Leo McCarey, I guess.

Now if he could just find me
a horse

to win the Kentucky Derby,

it'll be the greatest parlay
in history.

[Applause]

Do you think you deserved
an Oscar for "Going My Way"?

Not really, no.

I think there was
a lot of better performances.

I think it was sort
of a sympathetic thing.

I had a lot of big records
at that time

and there wasn't any
real competition.

Most of the good actors were
away at war or something.

NARRATOR: Despite his modesty,
Crosby was encouraged

by the success of
"Going My Way"

and attempted to broaden
his range.

This rare screen test,

filmed late at night behind
guarded soundstage doors,

shows an unrecognizable Crosby
as humorist Will Rogers.

All I know is what I read
in the papers.

The film would eventually be
made in 1952,

starring Will Rogers, Jr.

How does this sound to you,
Dusty?

"All I know is what I read
in the papers.

There's been a heap of talk
about establishing

an air route
from Alaska to Siberia.

It's vital to our national
defense,

but Congress ain't
interested.

That's only natural, though.

There ain't any votes
in Siberia.

* Everybody step to
the syncopated rhythm *

* Let's be going with 'em
when they begin *

NARRATOR: Crosby had become

a cultural phenomenon
in the United States,

the first multimedia star
of the 20th century.

He ranks number one in film,
radio, and record sales

for most of the 1940s.

He owns a racetrack,
a baseball team,

and creates the first national
pro-amateur golf tournament.

Quintessentially American,
cool and upbeat,

never pompous, never smug
or superior,

he had become our
most authentic icon,

mirroring successive eras,

through Prohibition, Depression,
war, and affluence.

He was humble and steady.

He was family.

* Wait till you see my little
sweetie and me, step, step *

* Step, steppin' around

MAN: And yet, by the late 1940s,
Bing is having trouble.

First of all, his trouble with
Dixie because of the drinking.

There's also trouble 'cause
Bing is never home.

There's also trouble 'cause
the kids are getting of an age

where they're acting up and he
can't control them --

they're kids.

WOMAN: I think Dennis and
Phillip were victims

of fetal alcohol syndrome.

You know, it wasn't something
that was even known about

at the time or could be helped.

Dolores Hope taught me.

She said, "We just drank.

They just drank.

There was nothing wrong
with that.

Everybody just drank."

MAN: I was an alcoholic
from the time I was born.

As far back as I can remember
in my lifetime,

the earliest childhood memory
that I have,

I don't remember a time when
terror, bewilderment, anxiety,

and despair weren't
on my shoulders constantly.

Six years after Bing's death,
his first son, Gary,

publishes a memoir that would
forever tarnish

the public's perception
of Crosby.

Some, including Gary's brother
Phillip,

would refute the severity of
the abuse detailed in the book.

MAN: He always said he didn't
want any "Hollywood kids"

in the house, that was one of
his favorite phrases.

He was frightened to death that
we were gonna become

what his
idea of rich kids were.

BING: Being part of a family
that produces some

worthwhile children who will
become useful citizens,

that's the most
gratifying thing in life.

Knowing that some children have
resulted from your marriage that

are gonna be worthwhile people
and good people

and useful people.

WOMAN: There's an Irish myth,

"Praise a child
and shame the devil."

You'll just be terrible if
you're told

how wonderful you are.

MAN: He was the greatest letter
writer you've ever seen.

He could write love in a letter,
like to my mother,

like you couldn't believe.

He could write chastising
letters to me that were --

they were chewing me up,
but, boy,

they were just masterpieces
of the English language.

BING: Letter to Gary Crosby.

"Dear Gary, Once again I hear
very bad news

about you and your weight.

You're 14 years old now

and you should've acquired

a little judgement,
a little brains,

and a little common sense.

I'm not going to have you grow
up into

a fat, unattractive slob.

If there's anything I can do
to prevent it,

you can be sure I
will do it."

MAN: I don't think my father was
acting much different

than any
other fathers of the time.

The rules were there, they were
laid down,

they were expected to
be obeyed.

If they weren't obeyed, certain
punishments were assigned,

and those were the punishments
that took place,

and you never had
a side to the story.

MAN: I am so tired of hearing
about people

who say that they're
shocked

that Crosby spanked
his children or hit them.

Crosby was the most candid
performer you can think of.

If you ask him a question,
he tells the truth.

And for 40 years,
he kept talking about

the way he
disciplined his kids.

He's put it in his book,
it is all there.

But people didn't believe it.

People believed the persona
of Crosby

more than they believed him.

And then years later,
wen the Crosby myth

has begun to dissolve,
they start to look

at the persona differently
so that you hear people say

how cold he is.

Nobody thought he was cold

when they were watching
the films when they came out.

[Playing lullaby]

* A greyhound who had lots
of speed *

* Was surely bound to fail

NARRATOR: His home life is
unraveling

as Dixie deteriorates further.

MARY: It got so that she didn't
leave the house

and she would pass out.

And the kids would come home
and she would be,

you know, on the floor, and...

I think that that's
permanently scarring

on just
about every level for anybody.

MAN: He would put out the money
to have the head psychiatrist

at one of the major hospitals
in this town come to our house

every day, two hour sessions
with my mother.

And my mother would
white-knuckle it.

She'd go to the session,

she wouldn't drink
and do anything else,

and Dad would leave town and it
wouldn't be a matter of a day,

the guy wasn't coming anymore
and mom was drunk.

It used to infuriate him.

I remember him talking
in the car.

He wasn't talking as much to me
as he was to himself.

And he was saying,

"I pay for that psychiatrist
to come to that house every day.

He's the best there is.
And, God, nothing works."

He couldn't figure it out.

It's inconceivable to him

if you're doing something that
hurts yourself,

why you don't stop doing it.

* So concentrate

* And clear your mind

* Of schemes that never last

* Or you'll wake up someday

* And find your chances

* All have passed

* You've been running around

* In circles

* Running around

* In circles

* Getting nowhere

MAN: It terrified him.

He didn't know how to sit her
down and say,

"What's going on?
Why are you drinking?

What is it about?
Can I help?"

There was just a big, long
silence

up at the other end of the hall
for many, many years.

NARRATOR: In 1952, at the age
of 40,

Dixie is diagnosed
with ovarian cancer.

KATHRYN: It was so sad because
Dixie was very ill

and there was no real
treatment for it.

And it was a very sad,
lonely way to die.

NARRATOR: The doctors decide
it is best

not to tell Dixie that her
cancer is terminal.

Crosby is scheduled to shoot
the film

"Little Boy Lost" in Paris.

MAN: If he'd have said, "No,
honey, I'm gonna stay home,"

she would have known in an
instant something was wrong,

so he had
to go to do that movie.

NARRATOR: Dixie dies
on November 1, 1952.

MAN: And then there was
the funeral,

which was a friggin' circus.

Cameramen and newspaper people
and stuff, climbing all over

the limousine
and all over the church,

got out to the graveyard

and was standing on other
people's headstones

trying to shoot down
into the grave.

And through it all, man,
he was just looking down.

He was sitting and his face
was down, his head was down,

and he was crying.

And it was like he was alone.

It was like there wasn't anybody
else there.

BING: They got an act together

and they toured around
for a while.

And they quarrelled
and quarrelled.

And they had several agents
and they quarrelled with them,

and they quarrelled
with their employers

and they quarrelled
with their wives,

and they had some
miserable years.

MARY: They were called
The Crosby Boys.

And, I don't know, they got
furious

at Gary and threw him out.

And they had to do
The Bing Crosby Show,

and dad just jumped
in and filled in

and was the fourth Crosby boy.

* Joshua, Joshua, Joshua,
Joshua, Joshua *

* He went to Jericho,
He went to Jericho *

* He went to Jericho,
He went to Jericho *

* He went to Jericho,
He went to Jericho *

* He went to Jericho,
He went to Jericho *

* Joshua fit the battle of
Jericho, Jericho, Jericho *

* Joshua fit the battle
of Jericho *

* And the walls came
a-tumbling down *

MAN: He was always calling his
lawyers and his accountants

and trying to help them out.

BING: A letter
to John O'Melveny.

"It grieves me a great deal
that the boys

are causing you so much
trouble.

The incident where you made
an appointment to meet them

and none of them showed up is
certainly a clear indication

of how irresponsible they are.

I'm having a lot of problems

trying to get Denny set
for next fall.

As you know, he flunked out
of Washington State College.

He's not a bad kid, Jack.

The thing that concerns me is
what is to be done with Lindsay.

Is it possible to have him

confined in the psychiatric ward
at St. John's?"

WOMAN: There were decades
of cleanup.

There were decades of marriages
and divorces

and illegitimate children
and car crashes and fires

and drunk and disorderly
and hotel rooms trashed.

It's a tragedy.

BING: "There'd been some
brain damage

because of some chronic
alcoholism.

I have a slight inclination to
believe he might be

on some kind
of a hallucinatory drug.

As time goes by, I am
increasingly embarrassed

by the amount of trouble,
concern, and worry

that my boys have given you."

* And the walls came a-tumbling,
the walls came a-tumbling *

* The walls came
a-tumbling *

* Down!

[Applause]

MARY: After Gary's book
came out,

we were having lunch and he felt
a need to talk to me about it.

I didn't bring it up.

And he said, "You know, it
didn't really go down that way.

I just -- they said it would be
a good idea

and it would sell
a lot of books."

And I just remember looking
at him and thinking,

"You fuck, how could you --

how could you do that
to your dad,

to your family, to his legacy?"

And as a family, we just figured
the more we left it alone,

the sooner it would go away.

And, of course, in retrospect,

that was a huge, incredible
mistake

because it's one of the things
that people think of

when his name comes up.

Not this incredible legacy of
good deeds and beautiful music,

but, "Oh, he's the guy
who hit his kid."

NARRATOR: Plagued by years

of substance abuse and mental
health issues,

Lindsay would commit suicide
in 1989,

as would Dennis in 1991.

Both Gary and Phillip would die
of natural causes

a short time later.

MARY: On one level, dad had
no clue how to fix it

and didn't fix it.

And I think he felt, always,

that he had failed them.

* When I'm worried

* And I can't sleep

* I count my blessings

* Instead of sheep

* I fall asleep

* Counting my blessings

MAN: "White Christmas" was made
the year after Dixie died

when Bing was talking about
possibly

walking away from his career.

It had some great songs
and he also got

to work opposite
Rosemary Clooney,

whom he liked very much.

MAN: She was a true confidante
for him.

He recognized her extraordinary
intelligence

and loved her singing,

and he trusted her in a way that
he trusted very few people.

When Rosemary Clooney had
a nervous breakdown

in the late 1960s, she was
so ill

that most people never thought
she would ever return.

Bing calls her and asks her
to do a show with him,

and then he starts taking her
on the road with him

as he starts touring.

She adored him for doing that.

CLOONEY: I think perhaps
Bing Crosby

is responsible for my career

because people had such trust
in him.

It was as though he would say,
"This is an okay person."

People trusted me because
of Bing, I'm sure of it.

MAN: Well, I think
Rosemary Clooney

was his favorite partner because
their range was so similar.

His generosity really comes out

when he's working
with another performer.

He loved singing the second
part, he loved harmonizing.

He liked to play up the costar.

* If you're worried

* And you can't sleep

* Just count your blessings

* Instead of sheep

* And you'll fall asleep

* Counting your blessings

FEINSTEIN: With Bing Crosby,
Rosemary Clooney,

and particularly Danny Kaye,
the three of them

were such incredibly smart,
brilliant people.

They knew that they weren't
filming Shakespeare.

Crosby later expressed privately

that the film could
have been better.

BING: Letter to John O'Melveny.

"Dear John, 'White Christmas'
is making money,

but it's not near the picture it
should have been

because story-wise it was weak.

With that title and that music
and the cast involved,

it could have been

one of the all-time musical
classics of the screen

and could have almost doubled
its intake.

I've said it before,
but this time I mean it.

I'm not gonna get involved in
a picture that there is not

genuine indication of hit
possibilities."

What's this?

BING: I suppose it must be
pretty apparent

to anyone who goes to
the movies much

that throughout a career of
around 60 some-odd pictures,

I've always played one
character, Bing Crosby.

But when Perlberg and Seaton
came to me with

this Country Girl proposal,
it was obvious at once

that the old routine
just wasn't gonna do,

because Frank Elgin, my part,
was a wholly different guy,

and I must say that I had some
serious qualms about my ability

to accurately limn him.

NARRATOR: Directed by
George Seaton

and costarring Grace Kelly
and William Holden,

Crosby portrays an alcoholic
actor trying to make a comeback.

GIDDINS: Seaton was afraid,
initially,

to ask Crosby to even be in it.

He thought it was too close
to home,

but Crosby read it and he
said, "Of course I'll do it."

He was anxious to do it.

BING: They were pretty thorough
rehearsals,

two weeks of them,
ten hours a day,

and this fellow Seaton just
driving me like a topkick.

Never known two weeks on
dialogue and characterization

and reactions and bits
of business.

Where and how to spot a look,
a nuance,

an expression that would
help motivate the thing,

tie it all together.

How do they expect me to make
these fast changes like this?

What's the matter,
haven't I been doing it right?

You've been doing it all right,

but I want you out front
watching my performance.

Give me the dickey, come on.

I can tell from here, Frank,
you're doing just wonderfully.

I am not, and you know it.

Oh, why don't they get me
a dresser?

For the money they're paying me,
they could afford a dozen.

Do you want me to talk to Cook
about it?

Yes, and while you're at it,
tell them to stop

that understudy
from snooping around backstage.

I come off just now and he's
hovering there like a vulture

just waiting for me to cave in.

I'm sure if you talk to
Mr. Dodd --

You talk to him, tell him to
keep that guy out front!

And get me some new tissue,
that stuff is murder.

I will right after rehearsal.

Frank, I'm sorry I stepped on
your line in the depot scene.

Well, that's all right, think
nothing of it.

Just was I was so nervous.

Nervous?
What's to be nervous about?

It's just another show.

Where would you ever find
another star as sweet as that?

What a wonderful guy.

NARRATOR: The film was nominated
for seven Oscars,

including Best Actor.

Crosby would lose
to Marlon Brando.

The following year, he would
reteam with Grace Kelly

and costar with Frank Sinatra
and Louis Armstrong

in "High Society,"
a musical remake

of The Philadelphia Story.

GIDDINS: A reporter
asked Crosby,

"Who influenced you the most?"

He said, "American music begins
and ends with Louis Armstrong."

FEINSTEIN: Crosby absolutely is
captivated by the style,

the phasing,
the ethos of Louis Armstrong.

In 1936, he's making
Pennies From Heaven

and he wants Louis Armstrong
in the movie.

And, of course, the execs don't
want Louis Armstrong

in a film because
he's a black guy.

MARY: They weren't gonna give
Louis

any billing at all,
as far as I know,

and Dad said, "Well, I'm gonna
go golfing,

and when you figure it out,
you come get me."

He basically got the first
equal billing

for a black person
in a white movie.

And I just --
I'm so proud of that.

Though a lifelong Republican,

Crosby staunchly opposed
Joseph McCarthy,

the Vietnam War,
and Richard Nixon,

and avoided being
photographed with politicians

at all costs.

What if one of the kids
smoked marijuana?

I don't think that's any
great sin.

WALTERS:
That wouldn't bother you.

Unless they abused it and got on
it continuously.

I think it should be legalized.

WOMAN: He had no issues with
drugs or color or sexuality.

It was about who you were
and it was about music.

Hey, Pops, you want
to come up here

and take a little and leave
a little?

Yeah, daddy, yeah.

* If you sail

* Sailin', sailin'!

* Over the sea

* Oh, will you wait for me?

* Take my tip

* They're all molto hip
in Italy *

* Oh, well, arrivederci!

* As for France...

* Oh, they zigs the beat?

Yes, believe it or not.

I do believe, I do indeed.

The Frenchmens all prefer
what they call le jazz hot!

Follow me there!

* Take a plane

[Louis scatting]

* Go to Siam

[Louis scatting]

* In Bangkok today
'round the clock *

* Well, they all like to jam!

[Louis scatting]

* Indians on

[Louis scatting]

* The Amazon

[Louis scatting]

* Take one bar,
and all of them are *

* Ah, well, gone, man, gone!

* From the equator

* Up to the pole

* Everybody wingin',
wing-ding-ding-a-lingin' *

* That rock, rock, rock,
rock, rock and roll! *

* From the North to the South

* East to the West

* Jazz is king 'cause jazz
is the thing *

* That folks dig

* Best!

* Bop-bop-bop-bop-bop!

And that's jazz.

[Applause]

MAN: Bing didn't like
mushy songs,

so one of the things that we
used to have to avoid

was the declarative statement,
"I love you."

In almost every love song we
wrote for him,

there was no "I love you"
out and out.

It was off the cuff.

* Love is wonderful

* The second time around

* Just as beautiful

* With both feet
on the ground *

* It's that second time

* You hear
your love song sung *

* Makes you
think perhaps *

* That love, like youth

* Is wasted on the young

KATHRYN: I was walking onto
the Paramount lot

with my seven year contract.

I had a horsehair petticoat on,
as everyone wore in those days,

and I heard a voice behind me.

It said, "Hi, Tex,
what's your hurry?"

And I stopped dead.

It was Bing Crosby.

He invited me
for a cup of tea.

And we had tea, and I looked
into his big blue eyes

and about 15 minutes later,
I realized I was in love.

He was Hollywood royalty,

and for him to date
this little girl from Texas

didn't make any sense
to anyone

with real knowledge
of the world.

He was getting stacks of mail
saying, "Leave her alone!"

BING: We were gonna get married
three or four times

and I'd lose my courage.

I just thought, I was wary or
fearful that the difference

in ages would be too much
of a handicap.

And I thought there'd be a lot
of criticism.

Actually, that shouldn't bother
anybody too much.

If you know what you want to do
and you think it's right,

you should go ahead and do it.

KATHRYN: After the fourth
proposal and the fourth regret,

I finally realized that
I could --

I could get along without Bing.

And, God bless him,
Bing realized

that he couldn't get
along without me.

NARRATOR: Crosby and Kathryn
were married in Las Vegas

on October 24, 1957.

By 1961, the couple have
three children --

Harry, Mary
and Nathaniel.

LUCILLE BALL: You know, it just
occurred to me, Bing,

that you have been granted
the rare privilege

of having two families to raise
a generation apart.

BING: Uh-huh.

BALL: Do you think that you will
profit

by any of your previous
experience?

BING: I think so.

I think I've learned some things
that I'll try

and put to good use raising
these little ones.

KATHRYN: He started shaking
hands with Harry

when Harry was four.

I said, "What are you doing?"

He said, "Well, he's a big boy,
we shake hands."

I said, "No, you don't,
you hug him.

When he's 105,
you will hug him."

NATHANIEL: He wasn't
a cuddly guy,

but at the same time he was very
expressive,

and there were many ways
to show affection, and he did.

MARY: Mom just taught us to
crawl all over.

It's like a dog that's not used
to being petted.

They're not entirely comfortable
with it,

but they end up loving it.

NARRATOR: The family moves
to suburb of Hillsborough

in the San Francisco area.

He could have moved anywhere.

I think he really wanted to kind
of push the reset button,

and, with our family, move

in an area that was more of a --

I don't want to say "normal"
environment.

He was available for us, but it
wasn't so much of,

"I'm gonna be
at home for my children."

It was more of like, you know,

"I'm gonna do this, and you can
come along for the ride."

BING: I think I'm with them
a lot more, yeah,

'cause I'm not working
that much.

And when we do travel, we take
them with us

'cause Kathryn has
a teacher's certificate

and she takes their schoolwork
with us

and has a little session
every day with them.

And they've been all over
the world with us.

MAN: We were given independence
along with the responsibility

of not
getting into trouble.

I think we were blessed that way
because we had parents

who were somewhat structured,

but they were also open-minded
and wanted us to run

as far and as fast as we could.

There was a generation of
performers who went through

everything from vaudeville to
radio to movies to television.

And generations knew them,

but he's one of those figures
at this point.

He's one of those people that
your parents know,

but rock and roll has changed
everybody's perspective,

and so he's beginning to seem

not so much cool
as grandfatherly.

* My dear

* Since I can't remember

BING: The age, of course,
limits the roles

that I'm able to play,
but still people like Stewart,

Fonda, and many others of
similar age seem to be working

all the time and in good films.

I know everywhere I go I'm
mobbed by all kinds of people.

I'm stopped on the street
constantly.

There doesn't seem to be any

appreciable decrease in the name
value that I formerly had,

and still they're not able to
get me a job in a film.

Nothing but the gravest
emergency is going to drive me

into television.

The more I watch it, the more
I'm convinced that these people

who are doing television
indiscriminately

are killing
themselves with the public.

MAN: Every year, the newspapers
would have

a feature about the 10
highest paid Americans.

And starting in the late '30s,

Crosby begins to appear
on the list.

And by the early 1940s,
he's routinely in the top five.

And yet, for all the money
he's bringing in,

he's constantly in
trouble with the IRS,

in part because he invests so
much money into his horse farm

and part because he wagered
a lot of money and usually lost.

And when Dixie died, the IRS
came after him.

And for Bing to pay, he had to
start selling some properties.

So, while he amassed,
ultimately, a terrific fortune,

he played it pretty close
to the limit.

KATHRYN: But he said,
"TV eats people.

It eats you up in just a couple
of years.

If you perform often and you do
your best numbers,

you've given them away."

MAN: Bing Crosby opening,
take two.

[Band plays]

* Life's great

* Life's grand

* Future's all planned

* No more clouds in the sky

* How am I ridin'?

* I'm ridin' high

NARRATOR: But the lack
of film roles

coupled with the demise of radio

ultimately did lead Crosby
to television,

which he quickly embraced,
leading to a series of specials

where he could duet with some
of his favorite performers.

* Row, row, row your boat,
gently down the stream *

* Merrily, merrily, merrily,
life is but a dream *

* Row, row

* Row your little boat

* Row, row

* Gently down the stream

* Row, row

* Very merrily

* Life is just
a pretty little dream *

* The sleepless nights,
the daily fights *

* The quick toboggan
till you reach the heights *

* I'm glad I'm not young
anymore *

* But think of this!

* The furtive sigh,
the blackened eye *

* The words "I'll love you till
the day I die" *

* I'm glad that I'm not young
anymore *

* Think of that confusion

* That morning-after surprise

* And the self-delusion

* That when you're telling
those lies, she isn't wise *

* Why, it's good old reliable

* Nathan, Nathan, Nathan,
Nathan *

* Detroit

* If the size of your bundle
you want to increase *

* Why, he'll arrange that
you'll go broke *

* In quiet and peace

* In a hideout provided
by Nathan *

* Where there are no neighbors
to squawk *

* It's the oldest established,
permanent *

* Floating crap game
in New York *

* Yes, it's the oldest
established, permanent *

* Floating crap game

* In New York *

[Applause]

MAN: By the late '50s
into the early '70s,

it's television where Americans
know him,

and one of the places a lot
of Americans know him

is the Christmas shows.

* Jingle bells, jingle bells,
jingle all the way *

Oh, my goodness, I was not happy
in the Christmas shows.

I was trying very hard not to be
animated,

or to smile, or to show any
enthusiasm

or spirit for fear that I was
gonna be razzed at school.

I think if you look in
retrospect and you go,

"Oh, my God,
this is not great art.

This isn't even decent music.

This is just someone who
is fantastic

who wants to share his
family."

* In a one-horse
open sleigh *

* Oh, we'll have
a lot of fun *

MARY: I think my brother was
the only one with talent, Harry.

He could play guitar and piano,
and the rest of us were sort of

staggering around
and singing badly.

* In a one horse open sleigh

* Our finest gifts we bring

* Ba rum pum pum pum

* Rum pum pum pum

* Rum pum pum pum

* Peace on earth

* Can it be?

MAN: We had decided that we
wanted them to do a duet

of "Little Drummer Boy,"
and when we told Bowie

about the number, he said,
"I won't sing that song."

And we said, "Why?"
He said, "I hate that song."

He said, "If I have to sing
that song, I can't do the show."

And he said,
"Also, I'm doing this show

because my mother
loves Bing Crosby."

MAN: We decided the best way to
salvage the arrangement

was to do a counter melody

that would fit in between
the spaces

and maybe write a new bridge
and see if we can sell him that.

And it all happened
rather rapidly.

I would say within an hour,
we had it written and were able

to present it to him again.

* We'll see the day of glory

* I played my best...

* See the day when men
of goodwill *

* Live in peace

* Live in peace...

MAN: Bing loved the challenge,

and he was able
to transform himself

without losing any of
the Crosby-isms

that relaxed the feeling
and the atmosphere

that he would always create
whenever he was on camera.

* Can it be?

That's a pretty thing,
isn't it?

FEINSTEIN: In the 1960s,
he talked about

how he was gonna stop singing
and he said

his voice didn't sound so good,

and yet in the 1970s, it's like
there's some magic elixir

that comes into his voice where
he is singing

with such authority and depth
and musicality

that it's fantastic.

* I fell in love with you
first time I looked *

* Into them there eyes

* You've got a certain
lil' cute way of flirtin' *

* With them there eyes

* They make me feel happy,
they make me blue *

* No stalling, I'm falling,
oh, in a great big way for you *

* You're overworking

* And thirst is a-lurking
in them there eyes *

* You better watch 'em
if you're wise *

* Oh, they sparkle,
they bubble *

* Gonna get you in
a whole lot of trouble *

[Scatting]

* In them there eyes!

[Applause]

GIDDINS: He was shooting
the celebration

of his 50th anniversary
in show business.

It was an all-star evening.

The producer

had him on a riser.

BING: The stage goes down
to the basement

and they put the band on the
stage and then they raise it up.

* Just one more night

BING: I had just finished
the last song,

and I stood out in front
and thanked everybody

and said my goodnights and,
flushed with success,

turned to make my exit
stage right into the wings

and there was no stage.

I stepped right off
into space.

MARY: It should
have killed him.

It didn't, but it should have.

He decided that he wanted
to go back

and do some songs and go
back to the theater.

And I remember going into
his dressing room

before opening night

and he's reading the paper,
and he's drinking

a Carnation Instant Breakfast,

and I said,
"Dad, aren't you nervous?"

And he looked at me over the
paper, and he said, "Nervous?

What's there to be
nervous about?"

And that was real.

NARRATOR: Crosby takes the show
to the London Palladium

for what is to be
a multi-city tour.

* Nothing but blue skies...

CLOONEY: The last concert at
the Palladium,

something interesting
happened.

They were standing
on the chairs.

At one point, he put his arms
around the audience in a gesture

and mouthed, "I love you."

And it's the first time I'd ever
heard him, or saw him,

say that to anyone, because
he did not say that easily.

But he really, really meant it,
and it was mutual.

* When you're in love

* My how they fly

MAN: Dad had decided,
you know, strangely,

not to continue with
the tour.

It wasn't apparent that he
didn't feel good, he just said,

"I just don't think
I want to do this."

So, he was invited on a trip
to Spain.

He wanted me to go with him
and play golf.

And I informed him that I was

enrolled and attending college
in London and couldn't leave.

* Nothing but blue skies

* From now on

[Camera shutters clicking]

Evidently he died of a massive
heart attack

and that he was in only
momentary discomfort, if any.

He might never have known
what happened to him.

He told me that they had played
18 holes at a golf course,

I don't know the name of it,

and that, um,
that Bing had a very good round.

I'd like that to be said.

[Camera shutter clicking]

The two choices we had

as a family were to have, like,
an incredible, extraordinary,

over-the-top production, because
everybody in the world

would want to be there,

or we could follow his wishes
of "under the radar"

and do it at six
in the morning

with just the very few
dearly beloveds.

And that's what we chose to do.

KATHRYN: He went out on top
of his game.

He was wonderful.

And he was with friends
and doing what he loved.

* Where the blue of the night

* Meets the gold of the day

* Someone...

MAN: It was the combination
of that face, that voice,

that personality, that peculiar
way of talking...

-How am I doing?
-Great.

That's him, all right.

MAN: He was an institution
unto himself.

FEINSTEIN: There is an absolute
timeless quality to what he did.

Great art survives the ages,

and Crosby's ability to
communicate in a song

remains undiminished.

GIDDINS: He's one
of the absolutely crucial,

indispensable,
essential, and still utterly

imaginative and satisfying
voices in American music.

WALTERS: If you were writing the
book and it said "Bing Crosby"

and then you had to do a couple
of lines afterwards

to describe this guy in show
business, what would you say?

I'd say he sang a fair song
and in tune most of the time,

that he could read lines
pretty good,

had a good sense
of comedy timing,

a fair vocabulary...

and not a bad fellow
all around.

That's about it.

Wanna call it a day?

There's still enough light
outside for some baseball.

-Let's sing some more, Father.
-Yeah, let's go ahead.

[Murmured agreement]

BING: * Just wrap your troubles
in dreams *

* And dream your troubles
away *

* Castles may tumble

* That's fate after all

* Life's really funny that way

* No use to grumble

* Just smile as they fall

* Weren't you king for a day?

* Just remember that sunshine

* Always follows the rain

* Wrap your troubles
in dreams *

* Dream your troubles away

[Whistling]

* Whistle and dream
your cares away *

* Castles may tumble

* That's fate after all

* Life's really funny
that way *

* Sang the wrong melody

* We'll play it back

* See what it sounds like

* Hey, hey

* They cut out eight bars

* The dirty bastards

[Laughter]

* And I didn't know which eight
bars he was gonna cut *

* Why don't somebody tell me
these things around here? *

* Holy Christ,
I'm going off my nut! **