Promotor Cultural: Video hit Bing Crosby

joi, 26 decembrie 2013

Video hit Bing Crosby

Bing Crosby - I've Got a Pocketful of Dreams

The neat trio of Bing Crosby, Fred MacMurray, and Donald O'Connor perform I've Got a Pocketful of Dreams in Sing You Sinners (1938).

Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby, Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation.

A multimedia star, from 1934 to 1954 Bing Crosby was a leader in record sales, radio ratings, and motion picture grosses.

His early career coincided with technical recording innovations; this allowed him to develop a laid-back, intimate singing style that influenced many of the popular male singers who followed him, including Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, and Dean Martin. Yank magazine recognized Crosby as the person who had done the most for American G.I. morale during World War II and, during his peak years, around 1948, polls declared him the "most admired man alive", ahead of Jackie Robinson and Pope Pius XII.

Also in 1948, the Music Digest estimated that Crosby recordings filled more than half of the 80,000 weekly hours allocated to recorded radio music.

During the "Golden Age of Radio", performers often had to recreate their live shows a second time for the west coast time zone. Through the medium of recording, Crosby constructed his radio programs with the same directorial tools and craftsmanship (editing, retaking, rehearsal, time shifting) being used in motion picture production. This became the industry standard.

Crosby won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Father Chuck O'Malley in the 1944 motion picture Going My Way, and was nominated for his reprise of the role in The Bells of St. Mary's opposite Ingrid Bergman the next year, becoming the first of four actors to be nominated twice for playing the same character.

In 1963, Crosby received the first Grammy Global Achievement Award.

Crosby is one of the 22 people to have three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (a star for motion pictures, radio, and audio recording).

Personal life

Crosby was married twice, first to actress/nightclub singer Dixie Lee from 1930 until her death from ovarian cancer in 1952.

They had four sons: Gary, twins Dennis and Phillip, and Lindsay. The 1947 film Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman is indirectly based on her life.

After Dixie's death, Crosby had relationships with model-Goldwyn Girl Pat Sheehan (who married his son, Dennis Crosby in 1958) and actresses Inger Stevens and Grace Kelly before marrying the actress Kathryn Grant in 1957.

They had three children: Harry Lillis III (who played Bill in Friday the 13th), Mary (best known for portraying Kristin Shepard, who shot J. R. Ewing on TV's Dallas), and Nathaniel.

Kathryn converted to Catholicism in order to marry the singer.

Crosby was also a registered Republican, and actively campaigned for Wendell Willkie in 1940 against President Roosevelt, arguing that no man should serve more than two terms in the White House.

After Willkie lost, Crosby decreed that he would never again make any open political contributions.

His last concert was in The Brighton Centre four days before his death, with British entertainer Dame Gracie Fields in attendance. Although it has been reported that Crosby's last photograph was taken with Fields[citation needed], he was photographed playing golf on the day he died.

At the conclusion of his work in England, Crosby flew alone to Spain to hunt and play golf. Shortly after 6 pm on October 14, Crosby collapsed and died of a massive heart attack on the green after a round of 18 holes of golf near Madrid where he and a golfing partner had just defeated two Spanish pros. It is widely written that his last words were "That was a great game of golf, fellas”.

The lyrics:

I'm no millionaire but I'm not the type to care