Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams--The Early Years 1903-1940 - Hardcover

Giddins, Gary

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0316881880 ISBN 13: 9780316881883

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company, 2001

Synopsis

From Bing Crosby's early days in college minstrel shows and vaudeville, to his first hit recordings, from his 11 year triumph as star of America's most popular radio show, to his first success in Hollywood, Gary Giddins provides a detailed study of the rise of this American star.

About this title

About the Author:

Long time music critic of Village Voice Gary Giddins is an award-winning critic and author. His previous biographies have included works on Louis Armstrong and Charlie Parker. He lives in New York.

From Publishers Weekly:

Jazz critic Giddins's latest subject will probably surprise those who think of Bing Crosby (1903-1977) as "a square old man who made orange-juice commercials" and sang "White Christmas" every year on TV. Giddins reminds us that, in the 1920s and '30s, Crosby was a very jazzy singer indeed: "the first white performer to appreciate and assimilate the genius of Louis Armstrong." This sober, comprehensive biography lacks the thematic breadth and action-packed sentences that made Giddins's Visions of Jazz so memorable, but it's a perceptive portrait of Crosby as a man, a singer, a radio personality and a budding movie star in the loose, creative years before he hardened into a monument. Giddins's account of Crosby's middle-class, Irish-American youth in Washington State astutely stresses this singer's years of Jesuit schooling, which made him unusually well educated for a performer and grounded him in values that contributed to the modesty, reserve and self-confidence American audiences found so appealing. Tracing Crosby's rise through vaudeville, Paul Whiteman's band, short films and radio shows, Giddins also offers a mini-history of technology's impact on popular music, most notably Crosby's famous ability to use a microphone to create a more intimate singing style. There's a bit too much background on minor characters and on forgettable films before readers arrive at The Road to Singapore, which launched Crosby's epochal partnership with Bob Hope. But Giddins amply makes his case that Crosby "came along when American entertainment was at a crossroads [and] showed it which road to take." Photos not seen by PW. (Jan.) Forecast: Giddins has long been popular among serious jazz fans, and his name recognition jumped after Visions of Jazz won a National Book Critics Circle Award in 1998. The first volume of a multipart biography, this book will be further boosted by advertising and an eight-city author tour, including an appearance on Ken Burns's PBS documentary, Jazz, airing in January.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0316881880
• ISBN 13: 9780316881883
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 736