A fascinating
variety of articles awaits you in this issue. Greg Van Beek has
provided our
front cover and the back cover originated from Arthur Blood who sadly
passed
away in January.
The main
talking point in recent months has been the wonderful new book from Gary
Giddins and we have a number of reviews of this. Gary has promoted his
masterpiece
very heavily indeed and I do hope the sales are going well because we
badly
want a volume 3. Have you got your copy yet?
In this issue David
Lobosco examines Top O’ the Morning,
a film that has not been reviewed in Celluloid Crosby before, probably
because
of the difficulty of actually seeing a copy. Thankfully TCM showed it
in March,
the first time it has been seen on TV since 1998.
In an article I
found in the archives, I recall the memorable time that Bing’s butler,
Alan
Fisher, visited our Leeds meeting in 2000 and Ken Crossland discovers
how
Crosby collectors shared their recordings in years gone by. Martin
McQuade has
contributed several diverse articles and Graham Pascoe continues to
amaze me
with his knowledge of the Australian scene.
Richard Baker has
had a struggle to find new Bing releases but at least he does have the
excellent “Holiday in Europe” CD to consider this time. We
owe a huge debt to
Richard Tay of Sepia Records for his ongoing efforts to issue Crosby
CDs at a
time when CD sales everywhere are falling. Streaming has become the
norm for
younger folks but this development helped the Crosby cause around
Christmas
time because it resulted in Bing appearing in the best-seller charts
again.
Do please read
Michael Crampton’s report carefully because we shall need to take
decisions for
the future of the club later this year. Jeremy Rose and I have had some
success
in raising some funds for the club from the collections of Gwen Harvey
and John
Norris Wood but it was very hard work and not something we should like
to
repeat too often.
This 56
page glossy magazine continues to be essential reading for the
serious Crosby supporter and order your copy of the magazine now by calling Wig Wiggins on
(703)
241-5608 or by e-mailing
the
Editor.
To see
details of earlier issues, click here.
CONTENTS OF THE SPRING ISSUE
Editorial
Secretary / Treasurer's report
750+ Visitors at
the Bing Crosby Theater
Bing back in the charts
Bing,
The Early
Years
Going
My Way in
Warrington
The Kathryn
Crosby Stakes at Del Mar
London Palladium honours stars
with wall of fame
Bing in
lyrics
A Bel Canto Baritone Named Bing Crosby
“Tenderly: The Rosemary Clooney Musical”
Maybe Bing deserves a Spokane birthday bash
250,000
Americans won’t be home for Christmas
The Crosby
Building
The Harasen
Line
Trading
Post
Books ‘N’ Bing
The Swinging Star
Nothing but blue skies
Conversations
with
Gary Giddins
Der Bingle
Dialogues
Celluloid
Crosby
How I learned to love ‘White
Christmas’
Fleeting Glances
On the road with Paul Whiteman
Forgotten verses
Metronome
One
Sweet Letter
from You
Ken Crossland’s
Crosbyana
Bing: An American Institution
A Note from Australia
Bing on the
Box
Once in a While
The Way We
Were
Keeping
Track
…………………