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, . . with the “Bing ring” in his voice, the warmth of Italy — coiner, Perry Como
BY ELSIE JANIS
of “If I’m Lucky”
AS I sat opposite him in the Fox Studio commissary, it was hard to believe how many years I have been “Como Conscious.” He must have started singing with Ted Weems’s band before he voted. He looks about twenty-one now but, as he has a son six, that would make him a bit precocious even with his Italian background.
“Do you mean you used to listen to me when I was singing with Weems’s band from Catalina?” said cautious Como.
“Indeed I did, and with a sort of happy resentment. Yours was the first voice I had ever heard that had the ‘Bing ring.’ ”
Como smiled. The teeth are just what you would expect, white and shining, no doubt polished by the traffic in mellow tones passing through.
“I resented you a bit for daring to sound like Bing, but I resented more the fact that they didn’t even bother to tell the listeners your name, and that I had to stay up until nearly midnight to hear you sing one chorus of a song.”
“I loved Catalina,” said Como dreamily. He was apparently enjoying a meander through memories of the days when he was nobody.
Como is as calm and placid as the lake of the same name in New York State, but in his voice and
handclasp is the warmth of Italy, which can now brag about a couple of charming Comos. He has never been to Italy. “I had such plans,” he said. “I was going to take Mother and Father back to see the old home as soon as I could afford it. Well — ” he lowered his voice (he does it when saying anything he deems important), “you know how it is. As things began to break for me I got too busy. Father passed away last year.” Sadness crept into his voice.
So we spoke of his voice — of the “Bing ring.” It took Como years to get over being embarrassed when he is called a second Crosby.
“There is no second Crosby,” says Como and means it. “There probably never will be. Other singers, yes! And I’m proud to be one of the singers folks seem to like. A second Crosby!” Placid Puss almost risked a frown. “I’d like to follow in his footsteps in every way but there is only one Bing. What a guy!”
I asked him if he would like to follow the paternal pattern of mass production Crosby, the subtle suggestion of poker politics in his “Four of a kind.”
He laughed and said, “Well — in that line I might stand a chance. My father produced thirteen Comos. Speaking of the paternal Crosby,” ( Continued on page 90)
Like father, six-year-old Ronnie barbers. Perry’s proud of having been a barber