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Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams--The Early Years 1903-1940

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Gary Giddins has pealed away the mendacity that has surrounded Bing Crosby in published literature since his death. Bing was pilloried in books by his son Gary, and painted in other biographies as a philandering, cold-as-ice misanthrope. Finally Crosby fans can embrace a book which contains much positive information on one of the greatest and most influential Americans icons of the 20th century. Bing's brilliance has been inexplicably eclipsed since his death. Hopefully, this book will introduce the Crosby magic to those who have never been exposed to it.

Without Bing Crosby, popular music would not sound the way it sounds today, it's that simple. When he first started singing with Paul Whiteman's band in the 20's as a member of the Rhythm Boys, all vocalists sounded the same: weak-kneed tenors warbling through megaphones, ala the insufferable Rudy Vallee. Bing's mellifluous, effortless baritone became the standard by which every other singer strove to emulate: Sinatra, Como, Dean Martin and every other singer initially copied Bing.

Giddins correctly emphasizes Bing's influence on 20th century pop culture. He was a vocal innovator par excellence and his jazz phrasing, timing and cadence remains unmatched. Giddins also explores in great depth Crosby's numerous affairs, his tortured marriage to the alcoholic Dixie Lee, and brings out some interesting gossip: did you know Bing smoked pot regularly with Louis Armstrong in the early 30's? No more Mr. Goody Two Shoes!

I've loved Bing Crosby all my life and have waited a lifetime for an intelligent and readable biography. Gary Giddins is an excellent writer and researcher and he has created a minor masterpiece. This is an essential addition to any Crosbyphile's bookshelf.

Gary Giddins has presented us with a masterful biography of the musicology of Bing Crosby. This volume is the early years through 1940, and it minutely follows Bing's evolving musicianship from his early days with the Rhythm Boys, through his early jazz days, to films and records. The author critiques a staggering array of songs and arrangements.

What struck me early on was the instant recognition of Bing's ability by the big names as well as his peers. Though he was not a dependable, responsible youngster (early 20's), he still was instantly sought after. His voice was so extraordinary; it paved the way for him. I particularly enjoyed reading of his early days with Bix Beiderbecke and Frankie Trambauer, their escapades as well as their music. In less than a year, Bing was well known in musical circles and played with Paul Whiteman (whose patience with Bing was saintly!). There's no denying Bing was lucky as well as gifted. Never have I read of a guy who was in the right place at the right time more than Bing.

Bing, apparently at the behest of wife Dixie, did a turnaround in attitude and consumption of alcohol (and probably marijuana as well) and became an incredibly hard working solid citizen. Alas, this left little or no time for his marriage and sons, for when Bing was not on the job, he was an obsessive golfer, outdoorsman, and competitor. One thread that carries over everything he did was he didn't like to lose. It is hard to comprehend just how one man could be as continually successful at whatever he turned his hand to. His positives were he never forgot an old friend, his modesty, generosity, and delightful cool sense of humor. His negatives were his total detachment, a dogged stubbornness and lack of forgiveness. You never got a second chance with Crosby.

This is a remarkable biography. It contains a discography, filmography, endnotes and index. I admire Mr. Giddins' avoiding any trace of attempting to psychoanalyze his subject. However, I wouldn't have minded an occasional opinion as to the "why" of some of Bing's actions, but Mr. Giddin's resolutely sticks with his Joe Friday persona. The book is lengthy and requires close attention, but is well worth your while.
-sweetmolly-Amazon Reviewer

Bing Crosby's reputation has not fared well in the years after his death. His screen image of an easy-going, ordinary guy seemed to ring false, especially with the publication of a kind of "Daddy Dearest" book by one of his sons. Moreover, his singing seemed unlikely to undergo the kind of revival of popularity that Frank Sinatra's has.

Gary Giddins is out to change much of that. He convincingly argues that Crosby was one of the key figures among American singers -- or even entertainers in general -- in the 20th century. Giddins argues that Crosby was the first to fully understand the change caused by the widespread introduction of records and to adapt his technique accordingly.

This book is extremely well researched, but Giddins is such a superb writer that he never allows the details to bog down the narrative, a fault common to academic biographers who seem to be incapable of leaving out the smallest detail about their subjects. Moreover, Giddins has extensive knowledge about popular culture of the period that allows him to put in Crosby in the perspective of his time.

Crosby turns out to be a better person than many might think. He seems to have lacked any racial prejudice; he was a great admirer of Louis Armstrong and worked to get in him into films when black entertainers were either shunned or forced into Uncle Tom roles. He was, if anything, excessively modest about his own abilities, giving the credit to others for his success. He was for the most part easy to work with in the studio or on a film set, only balking when his reasonable requests were ignored. He was generous to people he had known in the past who had fallen on hard times.

Yet Giddins is careful not to ignore Crosby's faults as well. As friendly as he could be, he did not open up to people, even those he had known for years. His first marriage slowly turned into something of a disaster as his wife developed drinking and other mental problems. (Several people are quoted as saying that the drinking problems were the result of helping Crosby break his own drinking problem, but I'm not sure I understand the logic of that and Giddins is no help on this point).

For all of that, Crosby comes across as an admirable person. Perhaps this book and its successor will spur a greater interest in Crosby the singer. Whether this happens or not, anyone interested in American entertainment in the last century will want to read this book.

When I first picked this book up I wondered "700+ pages on Bing Crosby?" Tho a Crosby fan (more of his early work than later), I wondered if there was enough material for 700+ pages, and that just in the first volume. There is, tho with some judicious editing it could have been cut down a bit. (There is some repetition in the book, especially the author's emphasizing again and again that "Bing made great contributions to American Music", as though we in the younger generations really had to be convinced.)

What I didn't like was the author's putting down some of Crosby's contemporaries. He was relatively kind to Russ Columbo, but scathing on Rudy Vallee. I'm not particularly a Vallee fan, but you have to credit the guy's popularity, and his longevity in show business as a big name. He had a wild, faddish vogue in the early part of his career, which was bound to fade when a more talented performer like Crosby came around, but he stayed in show business as a name to be reckoned with until the mid 60s. And tho he was portrayed as a blowhard and boaster, Vallee at least had enough of a sense of humor to mock his own image in movies like "The Palm Beach Story".

Also the author puts down John Boles, a popular actor of the 30s, who beat Crosby out of an important number in the early musical "The King of Jazz" (it was Crosby's own fault). Again, Boles is nobody in comparison with Crosby when it comes to fame or importance, but he had a decent film career, and before I saw "The King of Jazz", I mainly knew him from films like "Frankenstein" and "Stella Dallas", and when I first saw "The King of Jazz", I was impressed that he could sing at all. Boles was famous enough to be part of a gag on a Leave It To Beaver episode--when June told of getting in trouble in school for trying to impress her friends by telling them that John Boles was her uncle!

Also, as a footnote, the author relates the story of a talent contest run in Spokane as part of a Bing Crosby homecoming celebration, noting that one of the winners was Janet Waldo, and not saying much more than that. Janet Waldo did make some movies, never becoming a film star, but she did later become one of the more durable voice artists in radio and television, specialising in teenage girls (famously as Corliss Archer and Judy Jetson-and in one particular episode of I Love Lucy) into what must have been her old age-sort of a female Arnold Stang (I hope that isn't an insult!) I thought this successful part of her career was worth a mention, especially since Hollywood talent contests of the time seemd to be mere publicity stunts, and that winners were usually given a bit part in a b-film and shipped straight home to obscurity.

One other thing that bothered me was the author's apologising for Big Crosby's being a Republican (a rather mild one at that). Maybe the author is a Democrat or liberal, but that's his business. The assumption that everyone reading this book is a democrat and will be offended by Bing Crosby's conservatism is a bit overbearing.

But for the most part, I enjoyed the book very much. It was well written, well researched, and gave more information than you knew existed on Crosby's recordings and his movies. As someone who knows almost nothing about the more technical aspects of music, such as chord changes and harmonies, the technical descriptions of Crosby's singing went over my head and I didn't quite know what the author was talking about, but I guess that stuff is for the jazz buffs amongst the readership, and my ignorance is not the author's fault. The book was also especially good on one Crosby subject I had always been curious about: the break-up of the Rhythm Boys, and Crosby's subsequent relationships with Al Rinker and Harry Barris. I knew from seeing Crosby's films that Barris frequently had small parts in them, and figured they were probably favors from Crosby to an old pal. His split with Rinker was sadder, but from the descriptions in the book, probably inevitable. (I was so dumb on this subject that I never knew Mildred Bailey was Al Rinker's sister!)

Overall, very well worth buying and reading if you are interested in the history of American music, films or popular culture in general in the 20th Century.

Amazingly, no one had written a serious Crosby biography since 1948 - when Bing was a household name - until Gary Giddins gave us this incredible first volume of what promises to be the definitive study of the man of whom it used to be said, "the voice of Bing Crosby has been heard by more people than the voice of any other human being who ever lived."

"Pocketful" is a thorough, heavily researched evaluation of the first half of Crosby's life and career, and his cultural significance. As such, Giddins covers not only the landmark moments and achievements, but also the minutiae. To me, this is not a drawback. The subject is worthy of such intellectual scrutiny. It isn't a gossip-laden Hollywood tell-all, so if that's what you're looking for, look elsewhere.

Bing Crosby personified everything Americans of his generation found admirable: he was self-assured, easygoing, intelligent, quick-witted and athletic, yet modest and self-effacing. Possessing a relaxed manner and a mellifluous and universally appealing baritone voice, he was adored by women and admired by men, and was the nation's most beloved entertainer throughout the Great Depression and the Second World War. The across-the-board nature of his of fame and longevity - he was simultaneously the world's top singer, actor AND radio star for a number of years, and he remained popular to the end of his life - is almost unfathomable in this age of perpetually divergent trends in entertainment, and disposable celebrity.

The cold, hard facts of Crosby's career, laid out for us by Giddins, are staggering:

* He had sold 400 million records by 1980.
* He charted more records (368) - and scored more #1's (38) - than any other recording artist in history, including Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, the Beatles, and Michael Jackson.
* His rendition of "White Christmas" is the most popular single ever, and the only one to make the American pop charts 20 times.
* He dominated the medium of radio for over 30 years with his top-rated programs, regularly attracting 50 million listeners in his peak years (about 1/3 of the population of the U.S. at the time!).
* His "Road" films with Bob Hope were the highest grossing comedies of their time.
* He was the #1 box office movie star for five consecutive years (1944-48), a streak which still hasn't been topped.
* He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor three times, and won it in 1944.
* "Going My Way" became the top grossing film in the history of Paramount Pictures. A fluke you say? The next year "Bells Of St. Mary's" became the top grossing film in the history of RKO!
* He was a key figure in the development and popularization of audio- and videotape.
* He started the first celebrity/pro-amateur golf tournament, which raised millions of dollars for charity over the years.

After Bing's death in 1977, his reputation diminished to the point that he was almost forgotten, or simply dismissed, in part due to a hyped-up hatchet job of a book by his eldest son. This straightforward, factual effort by Giddins has begun to turn the tide back in Bing's favor. Since the publication of this essential work, a reassessment of Bing Crosby's life and career has taken place in many circles. A scholarly conference entitled "Bing Crosby and American Culture" was held at Hofstra University in 2002, and last year his alma mater, Gonzaga University, celebrated the centennial of his birth with a three-day event.

Giddins understands that to know about Bing Crosby is to know about American culture from the 1930's through the early 1950's, because Bing WAS American culture during those years.

Poor Bing. What do people really remember him for these days? I mean, really? Sure, there's the standard "White Christmas"..."The Bells of St. Marys"...and maybe those dopey orange juice commercials he did before he talked to the angels. Yep, Bing's a forgotten man these days. And that's why Giddins book is such an authoritative revelation! Chronicling his life up until the early WWII years, it tells a very readable tale of how Bing came to dominate radio, film and recordings for well over twenty years.

You can see why Sinatra gets all the attention these days. While both men put out an impressive body of work, Sinatra tended to take more chances. Bing generally stuck to more "safe" movie roles over his career which haven't travelled well and didn't challenge himself in more dramatic roles like "The Country Girl" like he could have. He also let his managers make many of his song choices and gave up his earlier 30's jazz stylings for a more mainstream sound.

But all and all, this is an illuminating look at all the man accomplished and with Giddins' access to family papers, it's head and shoulders above any other book done to date. Can't wait for part two to see how Giddins deals with his later career. A must! Also, if you have the cash, pick up the Bing box "The Legendary Years" as a companion piece which has just about every track you could ever want.

Did you know that Bing Crosby started out as a Law Student, or that he "bombed" at the New York Paramount Theatre in his first appearances there with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra, or that Hollywood glued his ears back because they were too "big" on screen, or that he credits Louie Armstrong for heightening his awareness of phrasing a song and scatting? Gary Giddens has researched interviews and archives to bring the beauty of "Bing", to our attention again in this book. Photographs are included and reveal this multi-talented, multi-faceted, gifted entertainer, singer and movie star. He was suave, swinging, affable, an acknowledged "nice" guy. Much more that just an echo in the valley, he was a pioneering jazz vocalist capable of delivering and commanding every kind of music: spiritual songs, blues, western ballads, Irish lullabies. Remember those delightful "On the Road" films with Dorothy Lamour and Bob Hope? While you are reading this book, listen to Bing's CD's; especially, "Bing Crosby- His Legendary Years 1931-1957". He is just too marvelous for words, and according to author Gary Giddins, dramatized pop and played a central role in American cultural history.

Having read every review of this book I could find on the internet and in magazine stores & newspapers, I was surprised to find only two MILDLY negative reviews out of a total of about twenty-five - all the rest of the reviews were ecstatic. Then I read the book and discoverd the reason for this statistic: This is a remarkable book. First of all, the book does a superb job of placing the youngster Harry Crosby in his place & time in the early years of the century. As a life-long Crosby watcher, I was amazed that there could still be new things for me to learn about the man (& boy), but Giddins keeps the facts, observations, and trajectory of the story going at an absorbing clip. But the real fascination for me comes once Bing enters his professional years: Giddins' delineation of Bing's works - records, films, broadcasts - is nothing short of awesome. This single volume does more to create the atmosphere of a particular era in our nation's culture and history (as reflected in it's popular entertainment) than any other book I've ever read (and I've read most of 'em!) Along with this, Giddins continues with the story of Bing's life. Not as much of the sadness in the story as some folks seem to be clamoring for, but that's just the way it was: these were Bing's happiest years, and the later volume will, no doubt, explore some of those other aspects of Bing's life. The greatest thing about this book, I think, is that it serves as a rediscovery of what one critic (McDonough in the "Wall Street Journal") claims we should have known all along - that Bing Crosby was the most important performer of the first half of the last century. As such, it's fitting that he is now the subject of one of the all-time great in-depth studies of a performing life.

I devoured this book the first time I read it and am now reading it for the second time after discovering for myself a lot about the man, Bing Crosby, and his music and films. I wasn't much of a fan before I read Gidden's book, but am now. A facinating and detailed examination of the early life and career of an extremely talented and complex man, much loved during his long career and judged extremely harshly by many after his death. Too bad they forgot about all of the good he accomplished in his lifetime.

Gary Giddens' treatment of the early years of Bing Crosby's life began to draw me from the first time I saw it on a shelf. Perhaps it was the inviting cover photo. Nonetheless, I first resisted, then finally succumbed. Boy, am I glad I did. Gary Giddens is a hypnotic writer, with a prose style that draws one into the narrative. But then his subject is the most popular entertainer of the 20th century. Bing Crosby was a media sensation during his life--he was huge in recorded music, of course, but he was also huge in radio and on the screen--and Giddens tells it all about the first 37 years of Bing's life. I am not much of a reader of biographies, but this book makes me hunger for the sequel, which I suppose will be entitled The Later Years, 1941-1977. I cannot say enough good about this book, but I was especially enchanted with Giddens' description of the genesis of the Crosby-Hope relationship in the last chapter. The book is divided into 26 chapters in two parts. The first part--Bingo from Bingville--recounts Bing's life from birth to his debut in radio. The second part--Everybody's Bing--examines his transformation into the beloved treasure he became and concludes with an analysis of the impact of the first of the Road movies. Giddens, an important jazz critic for The Village Voice, wrote this book to help modern audiences understand the impact Bing Crosby had on popular music (his influence has no parallel)and the presentation of that music on radio and in movies. So, this book is not just for those who enjoyed and even revered Bing Crosby while he was alive, it is also a book for those who would like to put the contributions of musicians like Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, the Beatles, and Madonna in proper perspective to say nothing of modern radio personalities and movie actors. Do yourself a favor--read this book.