Audience share for
the season overall for the Kraft Music Hall was 17.5 pushing the show down to
twentieth position in the ratings. Bing’s absence for several
months had obviously had an impact. The top evening show for the season is
Fibber McGee & Molly with 30.8.
With
Ken Carpenter, The Charioteers, Eddy Duchin and Frank
Morgan.
*Aren’t
You Glad You’re You
with
The Charioteers
Where Or When
Eddy Duchin
(piano)
*I
Can’t Begin To Tell You
with
Eddy Duchin (piano)
Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief
The Charioteers
It Might As Well Be Spring
Eddy
Duchin (piano)
*Personality
*These
Foolish Things
with Perry Botkin (Guitar) & Chorus
The Crosby style
provides for a final thirteen week, smash semester for the Groaner on Kraft
Music Hall, after which he’s privileged to talk terms with anybody but latest
reports have it, that it is strictly within the realm of possibility that
Crosby will be back again on the Kraft bandwagon, next season with the sponsor
taking a cue from Texaco, willing to toss in a couple of cheese factories or
anything his heart desires which would appear to be to Kraft’s advantage. Make no mistake about it,
Crosby’s still got what it takes. It was
demonstrated, last Thursday, when he moved in on Kraft with a naturalness that
belied the months-old, bitter entanglements.
Introduced as a guy just back from vacation, he bantered and sang his
way through the Kraft session with the same casualness, ease and showmanship
that have trademarked his picture-radio career, in recent years. ‘Aren’t You Glad You’re You’; ‘I Can’t Begin
To Tell You’; ‘Personality’(from the Crosby/Bob
Hope/Dorothy Lamour ‘Road To Utopia’ pic) and ‘These
Foolish Things’. With his knack for
keeping the palaver rolling, here were the sock
ingredients for a ‘boff’ Crosby turn.
As presently set
up, however, the Kraft showcase is top heavy with talent and not without its
imperfections. For instance, there is
Frank Morgan who’s been holding down the spot since the start of the season;
he’s committed to Kraft until June which takes him right through the thirteen
week period with Crosby. It’s strictly a
clash in personalities, there’s a discordant note about his brashness that
isn’t attuned to the Crosby tempo.
Fortunately, the scriptwriters were not over-sensitive in minimising his
contribution. On the other hand, Eddy Duchin, also a regular on the show, since his recent return
to civvies, blended harmoniously into the stanza. In fact, the Crosby/Duchin
parlay shapes up as a natural, this season, next season, with or without the
Kraft auspices. His pianistics
on ‘Where Or When’ and ‘It Might As Well Be Spring’
was top drawer and complemented the Crosby mood. The Charioteers and John Scott Trotter’s
Orchestra gave an assist that was all in the show’s favour and Ken Carpenter is
still turning over those Kraft commercials, smoothly”
(“Variety”
13th February 1946)
With
Ken Carpenter, The Charioteers, Eddy Duchin, Les Paul and Frank Morgan.
*Let It
Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow (a)
Time On My Hands
Eddy
Duchin (piano)
It Had To Be You
Eddy
Duchin (piano)
*It’s
Been A Long, Long Time
(b)
with
Les Paul (Guitar)
Didn’t Old Pharaoh Get Lost
The Charioteers
*I
Can’t Believe That You’re In Love With Me
with Eddy Duchin (piano)
*In The Land Of Beginning Again
(c)
Notes:
(a) Spokane 6 - “Bing Crosby - Happy
Holiday”
Vintage Jazz Classics VJC-1017-2
(CD) - “Bing Crosby - The Christmas Songs”
(Both the issues shew date as 14th February 1945.
The CD issue shews the source as “Philco Radio Time”!)
V-Disc 646-A
This track was augmented with accompaniment by The London Symphony
Orchestra and included in the album "Bing at Christmas" Decca 083768
(b)
American Masters CD - Bing Crosby Rediscovered: The
Soundtrack
(c) V-Disc 646-A contains a rehearsal version.
Bing Crosby will
wrap up a special Valentine’s Day greeting for his NBC-WMBG show at 9 p.m.
Frank Morgan sends the comic Valentine with musical hearts and flowers offered
by the program regulars, Eddy Duchin and John Scott Trotter’s orchestra.
(Richmond
Times-Dispatch, 14th February 1946)
No. 375 21st February 1946
With
Ken Carpenter, The Charioteers, Eddy Duchin and Frank Morgan.
*Doctor,
Lawyer, Indian Chief
with
The Charioteers
Penthouse Serenade
Eddy Duchin (piano)
It’s Only A Paper
Moon
Eddy
Duchin (piano)
*Symphony
One More Dream (And She’s Mine) (a)
The
Charioteers
*I
Can’t Begin To Tell You
with
Eddy Duchin pPiano)
*I’m Always Chasing Rainbows with Chorus
Note:
(a) Jasmine CD JASCD 714
"Swing Low, Sweet
Charioteers"
Frank Morgan, teller
of tall tales, stars with Eddy Duchin and Bing Crosby at 9 p.m. on WLW.
(The
Cincinnati Enquirer, 21st February 1946)
With
Ken Carpenter, The Charioteers, Eddy Duchin, Martha Tilton and Jerry Colonna.
*Let It
Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow
(d)
If I Loved You
Eddy
Duchin (piano)
Why Do I Love You?
Eddy
Duchin (piano)
*It Might As Well
Be
Spring
(a)
Come To Baby, Do
Martha
Tilton
*There’s
A Small Hotel
(b)
with Eddy Duchin
(piano)
Caldonia
(c)
The Charioteers
*Day By
Day
with
Chorus
Note:
(a) Sepia CD 1224 "Bing Crosby in the Hall"
(b) V-Disc
700-A contains a rehearsal version as does the Primary Wave Music CD "Bing Crosby's Christmas Gems".
(c) Jasmine CD JASCD 714 "Swing Low, Sweet Charioteers"
(d) Primary Wave Music CD "Bing Crosby's Christmas Gems" contains a rehearsal version.
Bing Crosby plays host
to Bob Hope’s friend and foil, Jerry Colonna, and talented songstress, Martha
Tilton at “Music Hall.”
(The
Cincinnati Enquirer, 28th February 1946)
“The Charioteers really
explained why ‘Caldonia’s’ head was so hard on the
Crosby show, last week (28th). The group
made a production of the number by giving it a beat and prying previously
undiscovered melody and harmony from it, with a background of hot ‘geetar’ and trumpet which screams for preserving on
wax. One of those
‘pip’ combinations of arrangement and rendition which ‘just happen’ every so
often. And the Crosby bunch knew
what they had, evidenced by their ‘spotting’ it, next to the closing. It was that solid!”
(“Variety”
6th March 1946)
With
Ken Carpenter, The Charioteers, Eddy Duchin and Lina Romay.
*Doctor,
Lawyer, Indian Chief
(a) with The
Charioteers
Symphony
Eddy
Duchin (piano)
The Man I Love
Eddy
Duchin (piano)
*Welcome
To My Dream
with
Chorus
Personality
Lina
Romay
*I’m
Always Chasing Rainbows
(b) with Eddy Duchin
(piano)
No Soup
The Charioteers
*Wait And See
Notes:
(a) Bing encounters what he describes as “a small lyrical trouble”, during this item, when he sings, “....neither, Lawyer, Indian or Doctor Chief, could love you etc....” He continues, “....There’s a barrel of fish in the ocean, There’s a lot of little birds in the blue....” and asides, (“Got that right!”)
Sepia CD 1224 "Bing Crosby in the Hall"
(b) As a further example of his somewhat ebullient mood, in this
show, Bing deliberately tinkers with the lyrics of the song, when he sings, “...I always
look and find the rain, Some fellers make a winning sometime..” Then he manages to squeeze in the line, “I
haven’t had a horse finish better than fourth, in so long, it’s getting to be
an awful pain...Believe me, I’m always.....”
On The Air OTA101978 (CD) - “Great
Moments With Bing Crosby And Friends From The Radio Shows”
Lina Romay, famed
for singing of Latin American songs joins Bing Crosby on “Music Hall.”
(The
Cincinnati Enquirer, 7th March, 1946)
With
Ken Carpenter, The Charioteers, Eddy Duchin and Frank Morgan.
*Aren’t
You Glad You’re You
with
Chorus
I Can’t Begin To Tell You
Eddy
Duchin (Piano)
April In Paris
Eddy
Duchin (Piano)
*Dear
Old Donegal
(a)
My Lord, What A Morning
The Charioteers
*There’s
A Small Hotel
(b)
with
Eddy Duchin (Piano)
*Shoo-Fly
Pie And Apple Pan Dowdy
(a) with
The Charioteers
*Oh!
What It Seemed To Be
Note:
(a) V-Disc 661-A contains the rehearsal version whixh is shown as ‘Back To Donegal’
The V-Disc version of ‘Shoo-Fly Pie And
Apple Pan Dowdy’ contains the line, (1st) - “Mama,
I don’t want cake”. None of the four broadcast
versions contain this difference. On
this programme
it was, (1st) - “Mama, I do not
want cake” and on the remainder, (1st) -
“Mama, cancel my cake”
(b) Sepia CD 1373 "Bing Crosby - Kraft Music Hall Time"
Frank Morgan will
play a guest call to Bing Crosby on the NBC-WMBG Music Hall at 9 p.m. Along
with “The Groaner” will be the magic fingers of Eddy Duchin, The Charioteers,
the KMH chorus and John Scott Trotter’s orchestra. Bing plans to pay special attention
to the coming of St. Patrick’s Day and will sing “Dear Old Donegal.”
(Richmond
Times-Dispatch, 14th March, 1946)
With
Ken Carpenter, The Charioteers, Eddy Duchin, Cully
Richards and The Slim Gaillard Trio.
*One
More Dream (And She’s Mine)
(a) with The Charioteers
Easter Parade
Eddy Duchin (Piano)
A Pretty Girl Is Like A
Melody
Eddy
Duchin (Piano)
Home In That Rock
The
Charioteers
*I
Can’t Begin To Tell You
with
Eddy Duchin (Piano)
Cement Mixer (Put-Ti, Put-Ti)
The Slim Gaillard Trio
*Wait And See
*It
Might As Well Be Spring
with
Chorus
Note:
(a) V-Disc 673-B
JSP Records CD JSP6705 - "Here's Bing Crosby!"
Bing Crosby will
bring the Slim Gaillard Trio to the NBC-WMBG Music Hall at 9 p.m…The Gaillard
Trio will play their recently recorded number “Cement Mixer.”
(Richmond Times-Dispatch, 21st March, 1946)
“I would stand in
line only to see Bing Crosby,” an out-of-town woman back of us was overheard to
say as we waited for NBC’s Studio B’s doors to open for Music Hall. I wonder if
she thought the same after the miserable performance he gave. Crosby didn’t
seem to be putting anything into his songs–not even good tonal quality at
times. He should keep two things in mind–the debt he owes the public for its
loyalty and the fact that one comes down hill much faster than one goes up. The
perfect spot on Music Hall was the song by the Charioteers. Eddy Duchin’s piano
playing was smooth, the comedy, mediocre. The Slim Gaillard Trio probably was
more interesting to see in action than it was to hear over the air. Its number
was novel, at any rate. There was a lack of warmth, a feeling of something
being missing from the Music Hall.
(Zuma Palmer, Hollywood Citizen News, March 25, 1946)
With
Ken Carpenter, The Charioteers, Eddy Duchin, Frank Morgan and Georgia Gibbs.
*Doctor,
Lawyer, Indian Chief
with
The Charioteers
The Very Thought Of You
Eddy
Duchin (Piano)
All The Things You
Are
Eddy
Duchin (Piano)
*Shoo-Fly
Pie And Apple Pan Dowdy with The Charioteers
I Can’t Begin To Tell You
Georgia
Gibbs
I Thank God I’m In His Care
The
Charioteers
*It’s
Only A Paper Moon
with
Eddy Duchin (Piano)
*Oh! What It Seemed To Be with Chorus
Frank Morgan tells
more of those high powered Morgan Family stories as he visits Bing Crosby at “Music
Hall.”
(The
Cincinnati Enquirer, 28th March, 1946)
With
Ken Carpenter, The Charioteers, Eddy Duchin, Frank Morgan and Georgia Gibbs.
*Sioux
City Sue
(a) with Chorus
Yours Is My Heart Alone
Eddy
Duchin (Piano)
Parlez-Moi D’Amour
Eddy
Duchin (Piano)
*All
Through The Day
On The Sunny Side Of
The Street
Georgia
Gibbs
Little David, Play On Yo’
Harp
The Charioteers
*You
Are Too Beautiful
with
Eddy Duchin (Piano)
*Welcome
To My Dream
(b)
with
Chorus
Note:
(a) V-Disc 685-A (This is a longer version than was heard in either of the broadcast versions used in the Kraft series and includes the chorus beginning, “Now, I’m admittin’, Iowa, I owe a lot to you…..”)
(b) Sounds of Yesteryear CD DSOY2147 "Bing Sings Burke and Van Heusen"
Frank Morgan will
bend Bing Crosby’s ear with another tall tale when he is guest of The Groaner
on the Music Hall program…Georgia Gibbs, popular songstress, also will sign the
guest register.
(The
Rock Island Argus, 4th April, 1946)
“Leo ‘Ukie’
Sherin, comic and writer with Bing Crosby, off the
Kraft Show after five years. He’ll rejoin The Groaner in the fall,
wherever he goes”
(“Variety” 10th April 1946)
With
Ken Carpenter, The Charioteers, Eddy Duchin, Marilyn Maxwell and The Les Paul Trio.
*Shoo-Fly
Pie And Apple Pan Dowdy
with The Charioteers
Love Walked In
Eddy
Duchin (piano)
They Can’t Take That Away From Me
Eddy Duchin (piano)
*Day By
Day
with
Chorus
(Back Home In) Indiana
The Les Paul Trio
Bye And Bye (When
The Morning Comes)
The
Charioteers
*It’s
Only A Paper Moon
with
Eddy Duchin (piano)
You Won’t Be Satisfied
Marilyn
Maxwell
*Oh!
What It Seemed To Be
(a)
with
Les Paul (guitar) & Chorus
Note:
(a) JSP Records CD JSP6705 - "Here's Bing Crosby!"
It’s now Prof.
Trotter, if you please. Music Hall’s plump and affable conductor is now
instructing a weekly class in radio orchestration at University of Southern
California. But he won’t let the dignity of his new title prevent his joining
Bing Crosby and Eddy Duchin in warm welcome to Marilyn Maxwell when the songstress
goes visiting at 9 p.m.
(The Miami Herald, 11th April, 1946)
Kraft Music Hall
(review), NBC, Thursdays, 9 PM, EST.
Well, Crosby’s back
and Kraft has got him--at least until May. After getting off to a somewhat
dispirited start, Bing has swung back into his free and easy method of
entertaining, with informality the keynote. He heckles the orchestra, the
announcer, the guests, and even makes fun of himself with well-timed ad libs that require more than casual listening to catch all
of the fun that goes on. His singing on the air has improved since his
vacation, even as it has on records; his backing from John Scott Trotter and
band isn’t as good as the Haggart, Heywood, etc. he’s
had on records, but he sounds as though he’s enjoying it and that produces find
Crosby singing.
Regulars
are the Charioteers who sing spirituals inoffensively, Eddy Duchin
who makes with a bit of comedy and some strictly unhep
piano solos, Ken Carpenter who plays straight man to Bing plus doing the
commercials (accompanied by remarks from Bing), and the fancy work of Les Paul,
who occasionally rounds up his trio for some really find plucking.
It’s too
bad if Bing is unhappy, as rumors riot, about a live
show; it doesn’t seem as though this spontaneity could be carried into a
transcription studio and come out equally merry. It’s anybody’s guess as to
Bing’s sponsor for next Fall, but with Crosby at his
best it should be mellow stuff.
With
Ken Carpenter, The Charioteers, Eddy Duchin, Trudy Erwin and The Kraft Choral Club.
*Sioux
City Sue
with
Chorus
Time On My Hands
Eddy
Duchin (piano)
*It’s
Anybody’s Spring
Didn’t Old Pharaoh Get Lost
The Charioteers
*Easter
Parade
(a)
with
Trudy Erwin
O Sacred Head Now Wounded
The Kraft Choral Club
The Easter Carol Of The
Trees
The
Kraft Choral Club
*You
Are Too Beautiful
with
Eddy Duchin (piano)
*All Through The Day
Note:
Trudy Erwin, the
little gal who graduated from a quartet to become Bing Crosby’s regular soloist,
will visit him on the Music Hall tonight. The sponsor’s choral (sic) will sing
Easter music.
(The
Pittsburgh Press, 18th April, 1946)
25th April 1946 - Bing did not appear in this
programme.
With
Ken Carpenter, The Charioteers, Eddy Duchin, Joe Frisco and Peggy Lee.
*Shoo-Fly
Pie And Apple Pan Dowdy
with The Charioteers
The Man I Love
Eddy
Duchin (Piano)
Someone To Watch
Over Me
Eddy
Duchin (Piano)
Home In That Rock
The
Charioteers
*It’s
Anybody’s Spring
I Don’t Know Enough About
You
Peggy
Lee
*Beautiful
Love
with
Eddy Duchin (Piano)
*All Through The Day
(a)
Note:
(a) The orchestral introduction for this item is interrupted by
an unscheduled and unannounced appearance by Bob Hope, bearing Bing’s birthday
cake. Hope leads the studio audience in
singing “Happy Birthday To You” and the subsequent presentation of the song is
virtually ruined, as Bing stumbles through the lyric, accompanied by laughter
from the audience, alternately chuckling and making asides - “That’ll cost us
plenty later! - All through the day, I dream about the night - Get That cake outta here!....All the fire
extinguishers....John! My cake!....All through the day, I dream about my cake....until the
time when I’m here with you....Dow-own falls the sun, I....the song or the
cake?....Where am I?....Just a minute....evening mist melts away....”
“Bing Crosby, celebrating his
birthday on the Kraft Music Hall over NBC on Thursday night (2nd), came up with
one of the most hilarious shows in the soon to be concluded series. Evidently, ad-libbing most of the way, Crosby
broke up the show several times with aside remarks to the studio audience and
his guest stars, Peggy Lee and Joe Frisco.
The hilarity was topped during the last five minutes when Bob Hope
appeared unexpectedly with Bing’s birthday cake and the two let go with some
unmatched witticisms. Sore spot to some
listeners occurred however, when the crooner went off the deep end with a gag
line to Eddy Duchin - “Fan your fanny over to the pianny and waft some music this way”. It might have been better if Crosby,
heretofore, lauded for the cleanness of his shows and for ‘priest’ roles he’s
portrayed in pictures had remembered that some parents object to their kids
listening to such stuff on the radio”
(“Variety”
8th May 1946)
Bing was always so
protective and so sensitive during my early days of nerves and
self-consciousness. Just before air time on one of my first Kraft programs, he
found me standing rigid outside the studio at NBC and asked me what he could do
to help. I managed to say, “When you introduce me, would you please not leave
me out there on the stage alone? Would you stand where I can see your feet?”
From then on he always casually leant on a speaker or piano to give me the
support I needed to learn about being at ease on stage. You have to love a man
like that. He offered everything—money, cars, his own blood, and even
volunteered to babysit with our little daughter, Nicki,
while David was so sick in hospital.
(Miss Peggy Lee—An Autobiography, pages
105–106)
With
Ken Carpenter, Eddy Duchin, Spike Jones and his City
Slickers and Dorothy Claire.
*It’s
Only A Paper Moon
with
Eddy Duchin (piano)
*They
Say It’s Wonderful
The Coffee Song (They’ve Got An Awful
Lot Of Coffee In Brazil) Dorothy
Claire
The Very Thought Of You
Eddy
Duchin (piano)
All The Things You
Are
Eddy
Duchin (piano)
I Dream Of Brownie With
The Light Blue Jeans Spike
Jones & his City Slickers
*Swanee
River (The Old Folks At Home)
with
Chorus
The last
airing (May 9) was a surprisingly subdued, if not to say mild, offering. No
fanfares, no frills, no balloons going up, no bells. After all those hundreds
of others, the listener might have expected something more appropriate than
(Ken): “Well, Bing, this is getaway night on the old Kraft Music Hall”: (Bing):
“That’s what it is, Ken.”
A bit later,
Duchin tells Bing, “I want to wish you a happy vacation and - no kidding -
thanks for everything.” At the moment before the close, Bing speaks directly to
his audience. “I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your
tolerance and loyalty for this show.” This time, the applause runs on and on,
then under Ken’s sign-off. Trotter’s orchestra carries all of it into yesterday
with a few bars of the swing arrangement of HAIL KMH!
(Vernon Wesley Taylor, Hail KMH! The Crosby Voice, February 1986)
Bing Crosby
appeared as the guest on two more programmes which were hosted by Al
Jolson. Details as under:
No. 386 16th October 1947
(a)
With
Lou Bring and his Orchestra and Chorus, Ken Carpenter and Oscar Levant.
For Me And My Gal
(a) Al Jolson
Piano Concerto No. 1 B Flat Minor
(Tchaikovsky) Oscar Levant
(piano)
Peg O’My Heart
(b) Al Jolson
*The Whiffenpoof Song
(b) Bing Crosby with Chorus
Gershwin
Medley:
(b)
Rhapsody In Blue
Oscar
Levant (Piano)
*Swanee
Bing
Crosby
The Man I Love
Al
Jolson
*Oh!
Lady Be Good
Bing
Crosby
Somebody Loves Me
Al
Jolson
*Embraceable
You
Bing
Crosby
I Got Rhythm
Al
Jolson
*It
Ain’t Necessarily So
Bing
Crosby
Concerto in F
Oscar
Levant (piano)
Summertime
Al
Jolson
*Strike
Up The Band
Bing
Crosby & Al Jolson
Note:
(a) The complete programme was issued on
Totem 1017 - “Bing ‘N’ Al” - Volume 6”
(b) Sepia 1053 (CD) – “Bing Crosby Meets Al Jolson – The Complete Radio Duets”
Bing Crosby will join Al Jolson on his program
Thursday night when he will be greeted by Oscar Levant and Milena Miller. With
the aid of Crosby, Jolson will sing “For Me and My Gal” and the balance of the
show will be devoted to “A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody”, “Peg O’ My Heart” and
“I Only Have Eyes for You”. Crosby is paying Jolson back for several guest
appearances the famous black-face singer made on the Crosby program last year.
(Tom
O’Connor, The Tampa Tribune, October 12, 1947)
No. 387 15th January 1948
(a)
With
Lou Bring and his Orchestra and Chorus, Ken Carpenter and Oscar Levant.
Toot, Toot, Tootsie
Al Jolson
Malaguena
Oscar
Levant (Piano)
Waiting For The
Robert E. Lee
Al Jolson
Mighty Lak’ A Rose
Al Jolson
*Sleepy
Time Gal
(b) Bing Crosby & Al Jolson
*Carolina
In The Morning
(c) Bing Crosby & Al Jolson with Oscar
Levant (Piano)
*But
Beautiful
Bing
Crosby
*Beautiful
Dreamer
(c) Bing Crosby & Al Jolson
Notes:
(a) The complete programme was issued on
Totem 1017 - “Bing ‘N’ Al” - Volume 6”
(b) Bing sings one line only.
(c) Sepia 1053 (CD) – “Bing Crosby Meets Al
Jolson – The Complete Radio Duets”
Once again, the “Groaner” and the “Mammy Singer” pair it off for an
evening of song and patter on “Music Hall” over CBO at 9:00 o’clock.
The last time the two singers got together in October Bing arrived first
and took over the “Music Hall” before Al was able to get to the studio. By the
time Jolson arrived, Crosby was back at
his old job of singing “Blue of the Night.” It didn’t take Al long to remind
him that he was now the “boss”. If Bing had any doubts he was assured that when
he received his check he would be convinced.
Since then Bing Crosby has been selected as the number one
"draw" at the box-office among male movie stars during 1947. With
this in mind Bing will have something new to bring up to the “freshman” boss of
the hall. He hopes it will have some influence on his reception.
(Claude Hammerston, The Ottawa Citizen, January 15, 1948)
Go to Kraft Music Hall indices