Bing Crosby on Radio, Pt. 6

Reprinted in the July, 2008, Old Radio Times.
(http://www.otrr.org/pg07_times.htm)

Bing Crosby – The Radio Directories
(out of print)
compiled by Lionel Pairpoint

In the search for details of Bing Crosby’s radio appearances, the Woodbury Soap programmes have proved more difficult to unravel than the secrets of the Sphinx. Three complete shows from the series plus an odd song, survive but despite countless hours, hunting through scores of reels of microfilm and approaching every possible source for information, the contents of a great proportion of the broadcasts remain unknown. Having sailed through the, relatively, few programmes, that comprised the ‘Music That Satisfies’ series, the reasons for this sudden paucity of data has been frustrating, to say the least but I still have the feeling that somewhere, perhaps some small town newspaper may hold those ‘lost’ secrets which have eluded us.

In my possession, is a yellowing clipping from an unidentified journal {the only indication of its source is a reference to ‘Stations WHAS and WKRC’ (Louisville? Cincinnati?) which furnished full details for Programme No.15}. It may be possible that these writings will access a larger audience than we have previously enjoyed and so, I make this appeal to readers in the USA to select just one or two dates for which we have drawn blanks and consult their local libraries. Do not be deflected by the footnotes to Programmes Nos.3, 70 and particularly, No.72 which suggest that Bing (if he had not already done so!) was ‘finding his feet’ professionally and was making his feelings known, in certain matters. The orchestra and other artistes might still have welcomed a set agenda for rehearsals! Meanwhile, it is hoped that it will be sufficient to say that it has been considered pointless to annotate the programmes, ‘details unknown’ or ‘further details unknown’. You can be assured that every scrap of information that, so far, has been uncovered is contained herein.

Authors Note –– Since writing the above, directly due to the kind offices of Wig Wiggins and Michael Feinstein, plus a little nagging from Malcolm Macfarlane and more particularly, with the gracious permission of Kathryn Crosby, to whom we are especially indebted, a quantity of further information has now come to light, in the form of scripts (some of them annotated in Bing’s own handwriting), together with timing sheets, details of some commercials and comedy routines.

A gross oversight must be corrected, immediately. The series for Woodbury had a title. This was, quite simply, ‘Bing Crosby Entertains’. Unfortunately, the compiler had been too bleary-eyed (or just plain dumb!), to recognise the significance of a slogan that had stared him in the face, on several occasions, during years of perusing microfilm of the newspapers of the day.

But naturally, things are never quite as straightforward as they might appear. Puzzles and pitfalls lie in wait and at first sight, it might be considered fortunate that we have the benefit of being able to hear two complete shows that have appeared on microgroove issues and comparing them with these documents.

The first of these is the first show for the second season (No.34). This has been represented on two microgroove issues, (Spokane 1 - ‘Bing Crosby - On The Air’ and on Totem LP1008 - ‘Bing Crosby - On The Air’). There are no less than four scripts/cue sheets for this programme, all written by Claude Binyon. (Some indication of Binyon’s lengthy association with Bing Crosby can be checked by reference to Fred Reynolds’ book ‘The Road To Hollywood’).

These papers are dated up to six weeks before the actual broadcast and to the layman, the cues seem so painstakingly, explicit, as to border on ‘insulting’ to a thirty-one year-old singer with some 250 radio appearances behind him . For example, ‘Orchestral number with Bing singing only one chorus –– and that chorus should be followed by at least 32 instrumental bars to give Bing a chance to catch his breath before speaking’!

Had we not had the aural reference, the problem would have been that no titles are given to the orchestral items and there is no mention of the Boswell Sisters. Two of the scripts are virtually identical and for the musical items, Binyon has left gaps and merely typed ‘Number 1 - Song by Bing and Orchestra’ or ‘Number 4 –– Orchestra Number’ etc., and it obvious that, at this date, the scriptwriter had no indication that either the Boswell Sisters or Georgie Stoll Orchestra would be involved. A third, undated copy, is almost a complete rewrite that was not used.

However, the fourth script appears to have passed through Bing’s hands and we must surmise that the same disagreements, regarding the show’s theme song that arose in the first series, (See press quote from ‘Variety’ –– Programme No.3), surfaced again, in the new season.

The opening page, reads as follows: ‘MUSIC: Few bars of new theme –– Bing and Orchestra’. The words‘new theme’ have been ruthlessly (?) struck out and Bing has inserted, ‘Blue of Night’ –– ‘16 Bars’! It is possible that the sponsors might have preferred, ‘Beautiful Lady’, the number that was regularly played by the orchestra, as a lead-in to commercials. There is still no mention of Connie, Vet and Martha but the introduction for the Georgie Stoll Orchestra is written exactly as broadcast. That is, with exception of just one deleted line, ‘Listen to the boys who have been a sensation on the Shell Oil program’. No free plugs from the sponsors of Woodbury Soap!

Amid a confusing jumble of pencilled arrows and crossing out, the crooner was, apparently, also scheduled to sing, ‘Straight From The Shoulder (Right From The Heart)’ and ‘Someday Sweetheart’. It seems feasible that these songs were shelved to accommodate the Boswells’ appearances and both were to be used later, on Programme No.36. In complete contrast, the other complete show of which we have indisputable audio evidence is Programme No.60 (Microgroove issues on Avenue International AV.INT1018 - ‘Bing Crosby At His Extra Speciale’ and Spokane 12 - ‘Bing In The Thirties’). This is virtually word for word as scripted, excepting the deletion of a single page of excruciatingly, unfunny dialogue with guest, Charlie Irwin.

Almost all of the second series for Woodbury Soap is represented in the mass of papers, together with a few programmes from the first series. Details of these latter shows (Nos.21, 22, 26 and 27) should be the most authentic, having been compiled in retrospect, as timing sheets, either from a rehearsal or, more probably, from the actual broadcast.

To illustrate, here is an example from Programme No.22 of 12th March 1934:
MARCH 12/34ORCHESTRA: FANFARE, SHORT ANNOUNCEMENT, BLUE OF THE NIGHT 0:25
BING CROSBY: 8 BARS PIGGY 0:37
ANNOUNCEMENT: 0:50
CROSBY: LOVE LOCKED OUT (2:17) 3:07
ORCHESTRA: SPIN A LITTLE WEB OF DREAMS (3:03) 6:10
THEME AND COMMERCIAL (1:00) 7:10
CROSBY AND MILLS BROTHERS: NAGASACKI (Sic) (1:50) 9:00
ORCHESTRA: YOU OUGHTA BE IN PICTURES (1:45) 10.45
CROSBY: THIS LITTLE PIGGY WENT TO MARKET (2:50) 13:35
THEME AND DRAMATISED COMMERCIAL (2:15) 15:50
ORCHESTRA: MOONLIGHT ON THE WATER (2:35) 18:25
MILLS BROTHERS: HEAVEN ON A MULE (Sic) (1:25) 19:50
ORCHESTRA: SWEET MADNESS (:35) 20:25
CROSBY: SPINNING WHEEL (Sic) (4.45) 25.10
THEME AND COMMERCIAL (1:25) 26:35
CROSBY: CARIOCA (1:40) 28:15
THEME AND COMMERCIAL, BLUE OF THE NIGHT, CROSBY, TAG GOODNIGHT LOVELY LITTLE LADY AND CLOSING (1:15) 29:30

There is also a handwritten breakdown of aggregate times which reads as follows:CROSBY 11:32 MILLS BROS 3:15
ORCH 7:58
OPEN & CLOSE 2:05
THEME & COMM 4:40 29:30

A further analytical page is headed, ‘TYPICAL SETUP WOODBURY’S PROGRAM’ and offers the following summary:
BING CROSBY (3 songs of about 2:20-3:00) 11:00
BOSWELL SISTERS (2 songs of about 2:20-3:00) 5:30
ORCHESTRA (3 songs of about 2:00-2:30) 6:30
OPENING AND CLOSING 2:00
COMMERCIALS 4:3029:30

It should be pointed out that the times shown against Bing’s name would not, accurately, reflect his total contribution, as he would also have been actively involved, in the other four classifications, by way of introductions, ‘lead ins’ and dialogue with Ken Niles. Bearing this in mind, a timing sheet for the show of 16th April 1934 is marked, ‘WITH CROSBY ALONE’. The time allotted for Bing’s ‘singing’ chores, on this occasion, had increased to a shade under fourteen minutes and required him to sing five songs.

The Mills Brothers had bowed out on the show immediately preceding this and for the concluding broadcasts of the 1933/34 series, no evidence has come to light of any other guest appearances, suggesting that, apart from the usual couple of orchestral items, he carried these last seven programmes, without other support. Indeed, an edited version of the final broadcast of this first season (No.33), was issued on Fanfare Records LP-40-140 - ‘Great Singers Of The 1930’s - Live Broadcasts’ and the audio evidence contained therein reveals that, on this occasion, he was obliged to sing, six numbers.

Recalling the slight contretemps with the sponsors which was to occur later, in the Kraft Music Hall series, regarding the possible overuse of his talents, the feeling is that this ‘extra’ burden would not have sat too well with Bing and there were indications that he was pressing for ‘guests’ to share the workload. (Refer to quote from ‘Variety’ following Programme No.72) Significantly, none of the 39 shows that comprised the last season with Woodbury were aired without some form of additional, vocal or instrumental assistance.

It is also noticeable that for the last 16 of these programmes, Bing did not participate in the sometimes, lengthy, commercials. This duty was mainly taken over by Ken Niles and a ‘Miss Janet Parker’, who is variously described as being from ‘the Woodbury staff’ or, more grandly as, ‘Woodbury’s well-known beauty consultant’.

The specimen timing sheet reproduced above also illustrates the problems encountered by the researcher who may be attempting to identify the correct titles of the songs used. Casual abbreviation was the order of the day and is exemplified by the laconic, ‘8 Bars Piggy’. In this case, head-scratching is unnecessary as the full title is shown later. By-passing the misspelling of ‘Nagasacki’, we are then confronted with, ‘Heaven On A Mule’ (‘Goin’ To Heaven On A Mule’) and ‘Spinning Wheel’ (‘The Old Spinning Wheel’) both of which are likely to pose problems when consulting a purely, alphabetical song thesaurus. A few of the instrumental numbers have proved to be difficult to trace and the titles shown in the scripts have been taken, exactly as written.

Although there is still little or no knowledge of half of the programmes that made up the first series for Woodbury, this monumental and unexpected discovery must be considered, a landmark in the chronicling of Bing Crosby’s early career on radio.WOODBURY 1933-1934 SEASON

The show had a 25.1 rating for the season putting it in 14th. position for evening programs. The highest rated evening program as assessed by the Co-operative Analysis of Broadcasting for the 1933-34 season was the Eddie Cantor show (with a Crossley rating of 50.2) with Rudy Vallee coming in at 39.0.