CROSBY, BING (1903-77)
Price: $175.00
Description:Harry Lillis “Bing” Crosby Jr. American singer and actor.The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a leader in record sales, radio ratings, and motion picture grosses from 1930 to 1954. He made over 70 feature films and recorded more than 1,600 songs.
TLS – Typewritten Letter Signed, one page, December 1944, on his personalized letterhead. Excellent content to a fan. Mentions his next picture “Here Come the Waves”. Letter accompanied by original mailing envelope. We also have included an original 10″x8″ black/white glossy publicity still for “Here Come the Waves” starring Crosby, Betty Hutton and Sonny Tufts. The photographer’s stamp is on the reverse A.L. Whitey Schafer.
A.L. “Whitey” Schafer was a Hollywood portrait photographer who deserves accolades on a par with George Hurrell, Clarence Sinclair Bull, and other esteemed photographers. In a career that spanned 3 decades, he became the head of both Columbia Pictures’ and Paramount’s Still departments and photographed every major Hollywood star multiple times. His famous “Thou Shalt Not” portrait mocking Hollywood’s production code is one of the most recognized photographs in film history.
Crosby’s early career coincided with recording innovations that allowed him to develop an intimate singing style that influenced many male singers who followed, such as Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Dick Haymes, Elvis Presley, and John Lennon.
Yank magazine said that he was “the person who had done the most for the morale of overseas servicemen” during World War II. In 1948, American polls declared him the “most admired man alive”, ahead of Jackie Robinson and Pope Pius XII. In 1948, Music Digest estimated that his recordings filled more than half of the 80,000 weekly hours allocated to recorded radio music.
Crosby won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in Going My Way (1944) and was nominated for its sequel, The Bells of St. Mary’s (1945), opposite Ingrid Bergman, becoming the first of six actors to be nominated twice for playing the same character. In 1963, Crosby received the first Grammy Global Achievement Award.[9] He is one of 33 people to have three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, in the categories of motion pictures, radio, and audio recording. He was also known for his collaborations with friend Bob Hope, starring in the Road to… films from 1940 to 1962.
Crosby influenced the development of the postwar recording industry. After seeing a demonstration of a German broadcast quality reel-to-reel tape recorder brought to America by John T. Mullin, he invested $50,000 in California electronics company Ampex to build copies. He then persuaded ABC to allow him to tape his shows. He became the first performer to prerecord his radio shows and master his commercial recordings onto magnetic tape.
Through the medium of recording, he constructed his radio programs with the same directorial tools and craftsmanship (editing, retaking, rehearsal, time shifting) used in motion picture production, a practice that became industry standard. In addition to his work with early audio tape recording, he helped finance the development of videotape, bought television stations, bred racehorses, and co-owned the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team, during which time the team won two World Series (1960 and 1971).