| NAME | MESSAGE |
| David Lobosco |
posted 08/07/04 02:20 PM Central Time (US)  contact the author directly
We are always talking about our favorite co-stars Bing starred with from Dorothy Lamour to Grace Kelly. However, does anyone out there have their least favorite of Bing's leading ladies. My choice by far would have to be Jeanmarie, the French ballet dancer in ANYTHING GOES(1956). How could Bing fall for her? I haven't seen the movie in awhile, but she seemed aloof too in the movie. She also starred opposite Danny Kaye in HANS CHRISTEN ANDERSON(1953). Anyone else have any choices... |
| John Walton |
posted 08/07/04 06:28 PM Central Time (US) contact the author directly
I agree with you totally about Zizi Jeanmaire. No doubt she excelled as a ballerina, but she didn't translate at all well to the 'silver screen'. I think 'Hans Christian Andersen' is a delightful movie to about half way through; where Danny Kaye's singing and acting are mesmeric. In the second half, there is a huge anticlimax as the movie becomes a vehicle for Jeanmaire's dancing. With this on her resumé, how was she ever cast alongside Bing and Donald O'Connor in 'Anything Goes'?! |
| Ron Field |
posted 08/08/04 01:24 PM Central Time (US) contact the author directly
David, I would have to say Franciska Gaal from 'Paris Honeymoon' could be the worst. Why he would dump Shirley Ross for her I do not know except that Shirl was a bit of a toff (moneyed, although he had girls in films the same way and ended up with them). A couple of good songs in the film - 'Juba juba jubali', I ain't got nobody' and wasn't 'I have eyes to see with' the tune he dueted with Shirl over the phone. Franciska gets my vote. |
| DEAN |
posted 08/24/04 01:51 PM Central Time (US)  no email address given
All I can say is that the women in Bings early films who had apparently been trained to sing in Gilbert and Sullivan productions who were allowed to screech across Bing's superb renditions of some of his best songs get my vote for the heave ho! If Kapp can be criticised for missing the plethora of great songs that emerged when Bing was in his glorious prime, then the people behind Bing's early films must shoulder the resposibility for allowing his singing (Which is what the audience turned up for) to be drowned by whining sopranos, would be tenors and, on one occasion, pigs! |
| Henry Zecher |
posted 09/23/04 07:20 PM Central Time (US) contact the author directly
How about Droopy, the Roller Skating Bear, in We're Not Dressing? |
| Stuart |
posted 09/24/04 06:26 AM Central Time (US) no email address given
Dean, I certainly agree with you on one occasion; listening to a clip of bing dueting on Straight From the Shoulder...(from I forget which mid-thirties film), his female partner basically made what should have been a lovely, piano-based effort into (partly) rather a dry, stodgy and dated number. Ok, she was competent enough, but her voice cut right through my head, and was operatic and old-fashioned (even for then). Bing started off really well on his own and finished nicely, but that spoilt it somewhat for me I'm afraid. Cheers Stu |
| Ronald Sarbo |
posted 09/24/04 02:57 PM Central Time (US) contact the author directly
Happy 94th Birthday to Miss Kitty Carlisle Hart who is so maligned in the above post. The film was She Loves Me Not and she also appeared with Bing in "Here Is My Heart" which when it is screened at the Donnell Library she will graciously appear with it. What must be understood here is that in the early 30s the crooning style of Crosby, Columbo, and Vallee was under savage attack from musical high-brows. It was not considered to even be "real singing". When Crosby crossed cadenzaa with Carlisle, or Frances Langford, or Rise Stevens, or Dorothy Kirsten he was seeking to bring legitimacy to his art. He succeeded to an extent but it was not until the emergence of Frank Sinatra that Popular Singing was considered an "Art Form" in its own right but Bing led the way. |
| DEAN |
posted 09/25/04 05:05 AM Central Time (US) no email address given
RONALD, I have to disagree with a couple of your interesting comments about Kitty Carlisle and the criticism levelled at her by me and Stuart. Kitty was perfect for the kind of light operettas and shows of that kind which were popular in the twenties and early thirties but she was burdened with the kind of stiff presentation of a song that she had been taught. She did what she was hired to do and she did it as well as she could. Unfortunately for her, Bing was in the process of blowing away all of that kind of rigid projection and only someone who had no idea of what people enjoyed in Bing's modern presentation could have paired the two in a song and partly ruined it. Most thirties directors that Bing worked for seemed to think that cinema audiences would get bored unless they had something else going on be it visual or on the sound track. I sometimes wonder how Bing ever made it through those early years when the mediocrities who surrounded him did their best to ruin him. They, and not Kitty Carlisle are the villains |
| Ronald Sarbo |
posted 09/25/04 07:43 AM Central Time (US) contact the author directly
Dean: Of course I see your point. But as Miss Hart is one of our last living links to that glorious age I am sensitive to any criticism of her. However who could have sung with Bing at that time with the same jazz feeling in the movies? Mildred Bailey would never have been offered a movie contract. I like the way Bing tries to heat things up with the prim and proper ladies of the 30s. I wish he would had a chance to croon to Jeanette McDonald perhaps with Nelson Eddy standing by grimacing but alas it was not to be. |
| DEAN |
posted 09/25/04 01:05 PM Central Time (US) no email address given
RONALD, Nice to get a sensible and restrained reply to someone with a slight difference of opinion. As you say, Miss Hart is to be valued as one of our last links to the golden age of music. It set me to wondering where Gary Giddins is going to get his information from as he continues to write his Biography of Bing. Those few that are left will probably remember him as a relatively old man and not as the charismatic young crooner. Biographies depend to a great extent on the memories of friends and enemies. They are the seasoning that spices up the bland plod through days of films and recordings. Most of what was available has been snapped up by his past detractors or apologists. He has my best wishes and sympathy. For one awful moment I thought you were suggesting s duet between Bing and Nelson Eddy!!! Beam me up Scotty. |
| David Foe |
posted 09/25/04 03:02 PM Central Time (US) contact the author directly
Kitty's movie career never really took off, but she's a great lady. Some CDs of her 1940s operetta recordings were recently reissued and she was gracious enough to sign a copy of one of them for me. Plus she was great on "To Tell the Truth"! Dave |
| Ronald Sarbo |
posted 09/25/04 03:21 PM Central Time (US) contact the author directly
Dean: I don't think Bing and Joan Fontaine had any "chemistry" in the Emperor Waltz just as she had no chemistry with Mario Lanza in Serenade. Joan just did not belong in a musical film in my opinion. |
| David Lobosco |
posted 09/26/04 09:37 AM Central Time (US) contact the author directly
Hi Dean. Regarding ANYTHING GOES (1956), I feel that you may be right, but Bing sleeped his way through many of his films of the early thirties more than the above film. Nevertheless, ALL of Bing Crosby's movies I am grateful for. Just like I am grateful for all British people despite their contribution to the music world...the Spice Girls! |