Here’s Bing
Finally, Bing Crosby gets his due in Spokane.
Today, he receives the most fitting of monuments: The theater where he honed his act in 1925 will be renamed the Bing Crosby Theater in a dedication ceremony.
Not that Bing has been totally ignored before today. A statue of Crosby (complete with pipe) stands at Gonzaga University.
Yet beyond that, there was little to indicate that Spokane is the hometown of one of the 20th century’s biggest entertainers.
Tonight’s dedication ceremony, at 7 p.m., is free and open to the public. It will be followed at 8 by a ticketed event, a cabaret show called “My Life With Bing,” featuring his widow, Kathryn Crosby.
“Places have such wonderful memories in the walls,” said Crosby, by phone from a recording session in Los Angeles. “I can’t wait to get in there and feel what Bing felt there as a beginner.”
Her show combines songs such as “Pennies From Heaven,” “Accentuate the Positive” and “White Christmas” with reminiscences of their courtship and marriage.
One example from the show: “We found ourselves under siege in Bing’s house in Hayden Lake. I huddled courageously in the corner and I can still see Bing standing at his office window.
” ‘Where’s Miss Grant (Kathryn’s maiden name)?’ yelled a reporter. (Bing replied) ‘Last I heard, she was backpacking through the Bitterroot Mountains.’ “
Kathryn Crosby will be joined onstage by a close friend, stage actress Melina Kalomas, who has appeared as Fantine in “Les Miserables.”
Spokane historian and Eastern Washington University journalism professor Bill Stimson launched the name-change plan with an op-ed piece last spring in The Inlander. The idea was serendipitous, for three reasons:
1. The Met needed a new name, since the theater is no longer owned by the defunct Metropolitan Mortgage and Securities.
2. Spokane was long overdue for having some kind of Crosby presence downtown, and
3. This theater was absolutely crucial to Crosby’s career.
In May 1925, Bing’s band, the Musicaladers, had broken up. He and his talented musical partner, Al Rinker, were in danger of going their separate ways, according to Crosby’s biographer, Gary Giddins.
Suddenly, the Clemmer Theater (later renamed the State, later renamed The Met) was sold to Universal Pictures. The new manager, R.R. Boomer, wanted to mix in live jazz and vaudeville acts with the movies.
Boomer booked four live acts for the gala grand reopening of the Clemmer on May 9, 1925, including one called “The Three Harmony Aces, Songalists Superb.” One of those aces was the 22-year-old Crosby; the accompanist was Rinker.
As the two with the most obvious talent, they soon became a duo. They stayed on at the Clemmer for almost five months, with Bing usually billed as “Harry Crosby” (his real name was Harry Lillis Crosby).
They sang snappy new songs such as “Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue,” and “Sleepy Time Gal.” They worked up novelty tunes on kazoo. Bing set up a cymbal on stage and banged away on it. He also engaged in plenty of comic banter – a talent that would later become legendary in his work with another partner, Bob Hope.
Giddins described the scene like this: “From where the two performers stood, in the pocket of a gently dipping auditorium, they saw a perfect dollhouse enclosure illuminated by no fewer than 1,600 incandescent lamps.
“Directly above the orchestra was a splendid teal dome ornamented with octagons in gold and beige against a burgundy ceiling. … Bing had his megaphone, but soon realized that the Clemmer’s acoustics obviated its need.”
The Spokesman-Review’s drama editor said, “They were great favorites – good-looking, pleasant-appearing chaps with ingratiating smiles and an original method of putting over their songs.”
They filled about 15 or 20 minutes a night, including one song that would tie in with the evening’s feature film. For a nautical movie, they’d do a sea chanty; for a Western, they’d do a cowboy number.
By the time their stint at the Clemmer ended in October, all of Spokane knew Bing, wrote a local reporter. He and Rinker had learned how to perform a broad range of American music, from jazz to blues to country, and they had gained invaluable confidence in their ability to “put over their songs.”
If the Clemmer job hadn’t come along, the duo would have almost certainly broken up, with effects “one can scarcely imagine” on American popular culture, wrote Giddins.
Crosby and Rinker left by jalopy for Hollywood on Oct. 15, 1925, just days after their last Clemmer show. By 1926, they were recording with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra; by 1930 Bing was world-famous.
He went on to become America’s No. 1 recording artist, box-office draw and radio star.
This helps explain why Stimson came up with his idea and why theater owner Mitch Silver approved it.
Today’s gala is a fundraiser to raise $40,000 to cover the costs of a new sign and related expenses. About $22,000 has already been donated, and Stimson hopes to raise the rest tonight.
If all goes well, a new sign will be up in January or February.
“I think that Mr. Stimson was dear to suggest it,” said Kathryn Crosby.
So Bing will finally have a visible Spokane monument of the most natural kind: a live performance hall, perfect for launching legendary careers.