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IF you managed a star whose income was just about the biggest thing in the entertainment field, you'd be pretty happy, wouldn't you? And if you were his friend, you'd sit back and smile and think it was pretty swell.
That is, you would if you didn't manage Bing Crosby or weren't his friend. But if you did or if you were, you'd never know a moment's peace. Life then would be like sleeping on the edge of a grumbling volcano.
For Bing Crosby, unspoiled, devil-may-care, lovable Bing, is radio's unfettered rebel, a rebel whose generosity, unswerving loyalty to old pals, and devotion to his principles of right and wrong, lands him into more tough spots per week than a Hindu wrestler or a brigade of Marines could get out of.
Hollywood is littered with examples of the iron willed determination of Bing Crosby to be independent. Of times when his whole career has hung in the balance while his family got the jitters and had to go to bed. Because, as any star will tell you, it's not achieving stardom that's tough, it's staying there on top that's really hard to do, and to do it you've got to mind your P's and Q's. Or at least, everyone but Bing does.
There was, for instance, the recent tempest that broke about the unperturbed head of Bing Crosby in regard to the matter of the radio program known as the California Hour.
The California Hour was a program presented by the chain stores of the West Coast to fight against proposed anti-chain store legislation. It was such a partisan issue that amateur talent was used, because naturally no star wanted to become identified with it.
For every listener approving, there was bound to be one equally disapproving.
A friend of Bing's not thinking of the consequences, asked him to guest star on The California Hour. "Sure! Glad to," Bing responded cheerfully. Remember, he wasn't to receive a penny for his services. It was a case of friendship, pure and simple. But what a storm broke about Bing's head when it was announced! Five independent merchants who are tenants in Bing's office building threatened to cancel their leases. His radio sponsor, whose product is handled by thousands of independent merchants as well as by chain stores, protested bitterly. Literally thousands of letters and telegrams came in. Bing's brothers, Larry and Everett, pleaded and cajoled — in vain!
"I said I'd do it and I will!" the star insisted.
Finally, the friend who had asked him to appear realized the consequences that would ensue, and he himself asked Bing to forget the promise, releasing him from his obligation.
Then there is the matter of Jimmy Dorsey's band. In the profession and out of it everyone admits Dorsey has about the best swing band there is. But — it isn't the band for
BING CROSBY, THE UNFETTERED REBEL OF RADI WOULD RATHER LOSE HIS STARDOM THAN GO BACK ON HIS WORD— AND IT'S POISON TO HIS CAREER
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