Does anyoned know if there is any news about a follow up to Gary Giddens biography of Bing Crosby. Seems a long time coming his biography of Bing,"A Pocketful of Dreams was published in 2001.
name='bhowells']Does anyoned know if there is any news about a follow up to Gary Giddens biography of Bing Crosby. Seems a long time coming his biography of Bing,"A Pocketful of Dreams was published in 2001.
I couldn't find any info on a sequel to the first book .... but if you contact GG via his website, he may be able to tell you himself!
LINK: Gary Giddins - Author and Jazz Critic - Natural Selection out now!
Since Bing's death, a lot has come out about him--how he treated his children by Dixie Lee Crosby (didn't two of his sons from his first family commit suicide?). Bing certainly did a lot of filandering--but people just wouldn't believe a bad word about Father O'Malley!
When he married the much-younger Katherine Grant, things changed. She wasn't a Dixie Lee--and Bing treated his three children of his second family much better, although he was reportedly very tight-fisted with his money.
All that being said, I still like Bing Crosby. Good singer, a good actor, both in comedy and in drama.
I'm afraid for me he's damaged goods. I was never that taken with his vocal style but do appreciate its influence and significance. He could on occasion be a very snappy dresser, albeit strictly casual ! Lots of "not very nice people" do produce great work.
His partner Bob Hope was also a serial philanderer.He however remained married to his wife throughout his life.The first biog of Crosby was "The Hollow Man" which i read when it came out of his death.Lets face it anyone who drives his wife to drink and 2 children to suicide must have a lot wrong with him.How can it not affect ones perception of him.Particularly when his private face was so different from his public one.
name='orpheum']His partner Bob Hope was also a serial philanderer.He however remained married to his wife throughout his life.The first biog of Crosby was "The Hollow Man" which i read when it came out of his death.Lets face it anyone who drives his wife to drink and 2 children to suicide must have a lot wrong with him.How can it not affect ones perception of him.Particularly when his private face was so different from his public one.
Bob Hope might have converted to Catholicism during the latter years of his life, but his wife, Dolores, was a devout member of that Church. She put up with him for the sake of her faith.
The late actress Barbara Payton 'dated' Hope for some months. There is a very long write-up about her on the Internet in which Hope is prominently mentioned. Barbara was a gourmet cook but it was probably more than her cooking that turned Hope on. Her story was one of those horror stories that befall Hollywood's talents when they abandon themselves to sex, booze, and drugs--and I know I'm moralizing, but it's true.
name='batman']I couldn't find any info on a sequel to the first book .... but if you contact GG via his website, he may be able to tell you himself!
LINK: Gary Giddins - Author and Jazz Critic - Natural Selection out now!
Thanks for this Bats I will contact Gary Giddins.
B.H.
Then again you can't believe everything you read in the papers...
Article: Uncovering the Truth - Bing Crosby
In all the interviews, books, and articles I have read, I could not find a solid piece of evidence that definitively established Bing Crosby as a child abuser. Crosby’s close friend Bob Hope, and even Crosby himself, admitted to being strict with their children. That’s just the way it was. Society and child-rearing has changed a great deal over the years.
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