Bob Crosby

[LukeJB]

Does anyone know more about Bob Crosby?

[Maxwell]

Does anyone know more about Bob Crosby?

Here's some basic biographical information that I know about. If anyone knows more details, feel free to chime in, especially with things like dates.

Bob Crosby was Bing's younger brother. Sometime around the early to mid-1930s he moved to New York and was a vocalist with the Dorsey Brothers' Orchestra. His vocal style sounds a lot like Bing's, especially on these early recordings.

Around the time Tommy walked off the bandstand, the members of Ben Pollack's orchestra got pretty much fed up with him and fired him, forming their own co-op band with sax player Gil Rodin as president. They needed someone to front the band for them, and (whether it was with Bing's help or not) Bob Crosby was hired.

He was an employee of the co-op, even though the band was called Bob Crosby and His Orchestra. He was the primary male vocalist with the band, and he stood in front of it making like he was leading it. (I don't think he waved a baton, however.)

Although he recorded a lot of vocals, the band is best known as a "Dixieland" style big band, with such featured soloists (at various times) as Matty Matlock or Irving Fazola (clarinet), Eddie Miller (tenor sax), Yank Lawson and Billy Butterfield. Their bass player was Bob Haggart and the drummer was Ray Bauduc. These two wrote the band's most famous hit "South Rampart Street Parade." Guitarist Nappy Lamare was a novelty vocalist with the group.

Crosby left this group and enlisted (in the navy?) during WWII. After he was discharged he led various bands, acted, had an early live TV show, and, of course, was the "band leader" on Benny's radio show.

Later in life he would tour with a show where he'd front a band playing big band hits from the '30s and '40s. He'd hire people from the local musicians unions to play. I saw him in the '80s on one of these gigs at a shopping mall near in Evergreen Park, IL.

IIRC he had Alzheimer's near the end.

[LukeJB]

Wow thank you. At first I thought that Bob might have actually have been Bing. But then after looking through the net and this post I know better now!

[bboswell]

Wow thank you. At first I thought that Bob might have actually have been Bing. But then after looking through the net and this post I know better now!

They sound VERY VERY much alike, but take a look at Bob on Jack's TV show, they look TOTALLY different!

[Maxwell]

Wow thank you. At first I thought that Bob might have actually have been Bing. But then after looking through the net and this post I know better now!

They sound VERY VERY much alike, but take a look at Bob on Jack's TV show, they look TOTALLY different!

I think there is a slight family resemblance (then again, I've seen Bob in person but not Bing), but the speaking voices are very close. I think I mentioned that if you listen to Bob sing, he sounded a lot like his brother.

Bob Crosby had a bit of a movie career in the '40s, but you can check that out on imdb. Fans of the movie Holiday Inn might remember that the music for "specialty" numbers was provided by "Bob Crosby's Band."

In case anybody hasn't figured this out yet, I've been a huge fan of the Bob Crosby Band (and the smaller "band within a band" the Bob Cats) since I was a kid. I have several memories from my early childhood, and among them is seeing Bob Crosby on his TV show. This would have been during the same time period he was on Jack's radio show.

[Mike]

I have to disagree. I think Bob was a much better singer than Bing. I really do. While their voices are somewhat similar, there is enough of a difference to make them clearly distinguishable from each other. Bing's monotonic low bass voice gets on my nerves after a short while. Bob had a more modulated voice which was much more pleasant to listen to, in my opinion. I have no trouble discerning the difference between the two.
"Pennies fom Heaven" is my favorite song, but not Bing's original version! I wouldn't say I'm an absolute die hard fan of Bob, but he is definitely a preferred singer of mine. I have one or two of his 'Bobcat' albums, and I like them a lot.
Here's an interesting anecdote: When Gisele MacKenzie was hired to do Bob's radio show around '51 as a replacement for Jo Stafford, for some reason Bob had some kind of grudge against her and refused to speak to her for a whole year! I read this in an interview Gisele gave for a magazine in 1960. I think it had something to do with the fact that the sponsors were the ones who hired her and not Bob, as he would have preferred someone else.
Rejoice! Both Bob and Bing are alive and well on XM Satellite Radio! XM plays Bob's music sometimes and and Bing's a lot on their "40's" channel #4. (And XM actually answers emails)!
As well, here is a group you might enjoy that gets into the nitty gritty of male and female singers: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/songbirds
("Songbirds" Yahoo group).
Mike in L.A.

[Maxwell]

I have to disagree. I think Bob was a much better singer than Bing. I really do. While their voices are somewhat similar, there is enough of a difference to make them clearly distinguishable from each other. Bing's monotonic low bass voice gets on my nerves after a short while. Bob had a more modulated voice which was much more pleasant to listen to, in my opinion. I have no trouble discerning the difference between the two.
"Pennies fom Heaven" is my favorite song, but not Bing's original version! I wouldn't say I'm an absolute die hard fan of Bob, but he is definitely a preferred singer of mine. I have one or two of his 'Bobcat' albums, and I like them a lot.
Here's an interesting anecdote: When Gisele MacKenzie was hired to do Bob's radio show around '51 as a replacement for Jo Stafford, for some reason Bob had some kind of grudge against her and refused to speak to her for a whole year! I read this in an interview Gisele gave for a magazine in 1960. I think it had something to do with the fact that the sponsors were the ones who hired her and not Bob, as he would have preferred someone else.
Rejoice! Both Bob and Bing are alive and well on XM Satellite Radio! XM plays Bob's music sometimes and and Bing's a lot on their "40's" channel #4. (And XM actually answers emails)!
As well, here is a group you might enjoy that gets into the nitty gritty of male and female singers: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/songbirds
("Songbirds" Yahoo group).
Mike in L.A.

It may be a matter of personal taste, but there is the little matter Bing being one of the first popular white male singers to incorporate jazz elements in his singing, which makes him somewhat of an innovator. I'm not going to get into a Bing vs. Bob argument here, though because I like them both, but Bing was the more original stylist and an icon in the history of popular vocal styling. Bob was his little brother, very good, but not great.

To put it another way, Como, Sinatra, et al. didn't start out emulating Bob. In fact, neither did Bob who started out sounding like Bing's clone.

[Maxwell]

I was just checking out Chuck Schaden's Nostalgia Digest web site,http://www.nostalgiadigest.com and what should I find but a show coming up on May 28th in honor of the 70th anniversary of Bob Crosby's big band, featuring several broadcasts by that band.

For anyone free on Saturday afternoons Schaden's show can be heard live via streaming audio at http://www.wdcb.org Saturdays from 1:00-5:00 p.m. CDT. (April 30th will be his 35th anniverasary show, which I've mentioned in another thread.) You can also hear the previous week's program the following Tuesday at the Nostalgia Digest web site.

[Gerry O.]

While I never cared for Bob Crosby as a Benny show regular (he just wasn't that FUNNY), he was excellent as the host of his own daytime variety show during the 1950's. I've seen kinescopes of Bob's daytime show, and it was a very pleasant mix of songs, conversation and studio audience participation games. He had a group of regulars (singers, etc.), and it was just a nice, enjoyable entertainment mix aimed at stay-at-home housewives. Bob was a very personable Art Linkletter-type host on that program, and I think that that type of program suited his natural talents a lot more than Jack's show did.

[shimp scrampi]

Bob Crosby, I think, also suffered from being under-written on the Benny show. He never developed any character 'hook' like the others. Mostly they gave him leftover Phil gags about the band, and a LOT of jokes about being hired because he was Bing's brother (probably not great for the ego!). As the end of the radio show was probably in sight when Bob came on board, I think there is a slight "why bother" sensibility from the writers in terms of coming up with some solid or unusual material specifically to boost Bob. I think he does a good job with the little he's given, and I think he did pretty much what he was expected to, be a subtle "patch" for the hole Phil left without overly disrupting the well-oiled formula.

[Mike]

While I never cared for Bob Crosby as a Benny show regular (he just wasn't that FUNNY), he was excellent as the host of his own daytime variety show during the 1950's. I've seen kinescopes of Bob's daytime show, and it was a very pleasant mix of songs, conversation and studio audience participation games. He had a group of regulars (singers, etc.), and it was just a nice, enjoyable entertainment mix aimed at stay-at-home housewives. Bob was a very personable Art Linkletter-type host on that program, and I think that that type of program suited his natural talents a lot more than Jack's show did.

That's interesting. Are any of those shows available anywhere from mail order catalogs or otherwise? Per the previous comments, Yes, it's a matter of personal taste. As for myself, I just LIKE Bob's singing voice better than Bing's! Mike

[bboswell]

Bob Crosby, I think, also suffered from being under-written on the Benny show. He never developed any character 'hook' like the others. Mostly they gave him leftover Phil gags about the band, and a LOT of jokes about being hired because he was Bing's brother (probably not great for the ego!).

I think Bob's character worked out really well as an "Anti-Phil." He was able to still do the band jokes, but more in a "what kind of band did I inherit" sense. He was a Bob Newhart-type straight man to the band's zany antics, whereas Phil would have been right in there with them.

Along these lines... did any of the boys in the band leave when Phil did? (I know both he and Bob were mostly front-men,) or did they all stay with Jack? From what I have heard, the Phil-Jack split was not exactly congenial.

[shimp scrampi]

I think Bob's character worked out really well as an "Anti-Phil." He was able to still do the band jokes, but more in a "what kind of band did I inherit" sense. He was a Bob Newhart-type straight man to the band's zany antics, whereas Phil would have been right in there with them.

That's a very good interpretation. Like I said, I like Bob Crosby and thought he did a good job, even if he isn't Philsie! It would have been a huge mistake if they cast a more forceful personality instead of Bob. He didn't try to be "zany", and the show clicked along pretty well.

[Roman]

I agree with shimp scrampi that Bob Crosby's part was hugely under-written. But he sure had a very likeable way about him. I wish Jack and his writers had better utilized Bob and given him more to do, particularly singing. No, he wasn't Bing's equal as a singer but he was plenty good in his own right. Given his minimal (and decreasing) role, I wasn't surprised that Bob was a no-show during most of Jack's last radio season. I would imagine that his daytime show (5 days a week?) was keeping him plenty busy during that time.

[JohnM]

I started from the beginning and listen to shows chronologically, and recently went through the transition from Phil to Bob. Phil was actually my least favorite regular, because his shtick was so broad and a bit one-note, but since Bob took over I've found myself missing Phil a lot. Some of that is realizing he was actually a good radio actor/comdedian, but mostly it's that my first impression of Bob was of a total stiff. I kept waiting for him to get funny, or develop a personality. I know others like his low-key style. He does sometimes have this bemused, detached, deadpan quality that occasionally shines through as a straight foil in loony situations, but these are far outnumbered by his dull, methodical, rote performances. It may be the material, which has been pretty uneven (I'm up to late 1954 now and just noticed the last couple of episodes got a lot funnier compared to the last several months worth). It may be his needing to play it very straight to the Remleys and Bagbys, drawn more broadly now than Phil. But actually, I think his not seeming to hit the mark (for me anyway) has to do with Mary's part being way diminished lately, and he needs to fill two gaps rather than one. Those are two big sets of shoes to fill, making up for Phil's departure and Mary's absence.