Harry “Bing” Crosby was born on May 3, 1903. He became one of the most influential entertainers of the 20th century with success as a performer on stage, radio, film, and television. In addition to selling over one billion musical recordings, his single version of Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas” has sold over one hundred million copies since he first performed it on radio on December 25, 1941 and subsequently featured the song in 1941’s “Holiday Inn.” The Tacoma, Washington native had his first solo hit in 1931 with the smash “Just One More Chance.” He enjoyed a successful informal partnership with Bob Hope that lasted decades. He won the Academy Award in 1944 for his work in “Going My Way” and received a second nomination for reprising the same character (Father O’Malley) in 1946’s “The Bells of Saint Mary’s.” He helped finance the development of videotape and had impressive real estate holdings at the time of his death on October 14, 1977. Your local Marion Library owns “White Christmas” on DVD in addition to “The Road to Hong Kong” and the animated “The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad.”
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