Scan barcode
A review by jamietr
Bing Crosby: Swinging on a Star: The War Years, 1940-1946 by Gary Giddins
5.0
I'd been looking forward to this book for 17 years, and it did not disappoint. I read it slowly, highlighting many passages along the way. I think there were two parts to the book that I especially enjoyed. The first was the behind-the-scenes look at the movie business in the 1940s. I really enjoyed the chapters that covered the making of movies such as Road to Morocco and Going My Way. The second was Crosby's tour through Europe during the war to cheer up the troops.
I try to take things from books like these, and two things about Crosby really stood out:
1. He was an incredibly hard worker, and if there is any lesson to take from his example, it is always come to the job prepared. Most of his costars, and others who worked with him spoke of how hard he worked, but also how prepared he always was for whatever it is he was doing.
2. He maintained a sense of empathy that often brought him to tears, especially when visiting the men overseas during the war. He made sure it was the enlisted men who got the best seats at the shows, not the officers and general staff. To Crosby, the VIPs were the men on the front lines. He answered so many letters himself, almost always with a surprising level of honesty and empathy for his correspondent.
Giddins did a marvelous job with this book. It was one of those books where the notes were just as fascinating as the main text, and I read the book with two bookmarks, one to hold my place in the text, the other for the notes so that I could more readily jump between. The level of detail is impressive. The first volume covered 1903-1939--a period of 36 years. This present volumes covers 1940-1946 inclusive and is at least as long as the first.
My only concern--a hope really--is that I don't have to wait another 17 years for a third volume. The next ten years (1947-1957) seems to me to be among the most productive of Bing's career, and includes additional Road movies, as well as classics like White Christmas and High Society. But I could find no hint of a third volume in the concluding pages of the book. Here's hoping it comes soon!
I try to take things from books like these, and two things about Crosby really stood out:
1. He was an incredibly hard worker, and if there is any lesson to take from his example, it is always come to the job prepared. Most of his costars, and others who worked with him spoke of how hard he worked, but also how prepared he always was for whatever it is he was doing.
2. He maintained a sense of empathy that often brought him to tears, especially when visiting the men overseas during the war. He made sure it was the enlisted men who got the best seats at the shows, not the officers and general staff. To Crosby, the VIPs were the men on the front lines. He answered so many letters himself, almost always with a surprising level of honesty and empathy for his correspondent.
Giddins did a marvelous job with this book. It was one of those books where the notes were just as fascinating as the main text, and I read the book with two bookmarks, one to hold my place in the text, the other for the notes so that I could more readily jump between. The level of detail is impressive. The first volume covered 1903-1939--a period of 36 years. This present volumes covers 1940-1946 inclusive and is at least as long as the first.
My only concern--a hope really--is that I don't have to wait another 17 years for a third volume. The next ten years (1947-1957) seems to me to be among the most productive of Bing's career, and includes additional Road movies, as well as classics like White Christmas and High Society. But I could find no hint of a third volume in the concluding pages of the book. Here's hoping it comes soon!