By March of 1954 Bing Crosby’d been in the public eye for more than two decades. He had numerous hit records, and won an Oscar for best actor in Going My Way in 1944.
On Radio, Bing helped usher in primetime transcription with Philco in 1946. Crosby had been on CBS radio since 1949 and sponsored by General Electric since 1952. He was reluctant to star in a regular TV show, fearing overexposure.
The 1954 Academy Awards were held on March 25th. That same day, RCA announced the first color television set. It was a twelve-inch screen, priced at one-thousand dollars, or roughly ten grand today.
On the Sundays bookending those awards, Frank Sinatra was a guest on Bing’s program. Frank would win a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Maggio in From Here to Eternity. On this latter program from March 28th, Frank talks and jokes about his experience. The two are in rare form, especially with a trio of songs.
The series ended on May 30th, 1954. With radio audiences in steep decline, Crosby decided against a weekly radio show with expensive guest stars and a twenty-two piece orchestra.
Bing’s son Gary took over the timeslot in June for thirteen weeks. In November 1954, Bing returned to the airwaves with a weeknight fifteen-minute program. He spoke about all manner of different subjects and usually included three songs. Broadcasting Magazine estimated the production cost to be twenty-seven hundred dollars per episode.
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