A LETTER FROM BING: FEBRUARY 28, 1945

In recent years, letters from Bing to soldiers fighting in World War II have been discovered, and it shows what a caring man Bing was. The war and the plight of these brave men affected Bing greatly...

A LETTER FROM BING: FEBRUARY 9, 1957

 Here is an interesting letter that Bing wrote to the manager from a Las Vegas hotel and casino...

A LETTER FROM BING: NOVEMBER 11, 1975

 Here is a letter that Bing wrote late in life. Throughout his career he made time to not only reach out to other Hollywood celebrities but to his fans as well. This letter Bing wrote late in his life on November 11, 1975...

A LETTER FROM BING: SEPTEMBER 16, 1965

 I love taking a look at some of the letters that Bing wrote through the years. This one is from 1965, where Bing talks about football. I know Bing was a baseball fan, but I love reading his thoughts on football too. It's a very interesting letter...

A LETTER FROM BING: APRIL 2, 1971

 Bing was pretty prolific in his writing of letters. He wrote a ton of letters to his many fans, and he also would write letters to fellow stars. Here is a letter he wrote to his idol Louis Armstrong on April 2, 1971. Sadly, Louis passed away on July 6, 1971...

BING AND HIS SPECIAL CAUSES

A letter from Bing Crosby to Archbishop John Charles McQuaid appealing for nurses for his new US hospital is just one of the fascinating artefacts that will be on exhibition at the Archdiocese of Dublin as part of this year’s Culture Night.

The American singer and actor won an Oscar for his performance as Father Chuck O’Malley in 1944 but he was also a practising Catholic and active care-giver in real life. One of his projects involved the building of a hospital in Sacremento, California but his “efforts to find someone to staff the hospital have been futile”, he wrote. In the letter sent in 1961, he asked the Archbishop about the “possibility of getting some Sisters from Ireland to come and operate the hospital.” The document will be on display along with many other historical items as part of the annual Culture Night, Dublin Diocesan Archivist Noelle Dowling told Independent.ie. It is the first time that the Clonliffe-based seminary is participating in Culture Night celebrations, with rooms at the Holy Cross College hosting a presentation of 20th Century religious art and related manuscripts. Another manuscript on display at the Dublin Diocese – which is one of the largest archives in the country - is a parchment issued by the then Archbishop of Dublin, Hugh Curwen, in 1558. “Archbishop Curwen had expressed his approval of the marriage of Henry VIII to Ann Boleyn and then later declared himself a Protestant,” said Ms Dowling. Ms Dowling, who has been working with the Dublin diocesan archive for over eight years, has also done significant work in uncovering a large amount of documents chronicling the role of the Catholic Church in the 1913 Lockout dispute. “Some of the work that was being carried out quietly to help those families and children in need at the time may not already be known,” she said, adding she hoped this exhibition will give the public a more balanced perspective. One such document highlights the efforts of women during the strikes, their images likened to “pictures from the French Revolution”. And while the Church’s part in the dock strike has always been somewhat controversial, a letter from Archbishop Walsh, Archbishop of Dublin at the time, indicates his intention to stop a Dublin woman from raising money to deport children of poor Dublin families to the UK. Now in its eighth year, Culture Night aims to offer “a myriad of cultural possibilities” as more than 190 organisations across 34 towns and cities in Ireland take part to bring their hidden ‘treasures’ to the public. Most participating venues taking part will be open 5pm-11pm and all events as part of Culture Night are free of charge... SOURCE

A LETTER FROM BING: MAY 9, 1954

Here is a letter that Bing wrote to his musical director John Scott Trotter on May 9, 1954. It is an unusually open Bing, and it says a lot about Bing as a person... 

Dear John,

Please excuse the long delay between receipt of your letter of August 24 and my reply thereto. Too many golf tournaments and too much fishing up here, I guess, for one to pay the proper attention to one’s correspondence.

First, in connection with Gary, I think that he did make remarkable progress in the 13-week period just concluded. A lot of people don’t realise just how little experience he had in the past. Outside of the appearances with me and the three or four records he made, he had absolutely no experience in front of the public or recording or on the radio. In school, contrary to what most kids with a little talent are accustomed to do - he didn’t participate at all in amateur theatricals or the university productions. This I deplore of course, but there seems to be little I can do about it. He tells me that the boys around the fraternity house consider anybody a square who in any way indulges in campus activities or assumes student offices. A whole new philosophy seems to have developed since I went to school. In order to be attractive now, apparently, a kid must be a complete clod. Of course if a boy gets very good marks and likes to study and shows an interest in the course that he is taking, he is utterly loathsome. 

I think your suggestion about him working a little on tone production and singing to a tape machine is a very good one. Ampex owes me just such a machine, and I may grab it and have it sent up to him this fall. I don’t know whether he’d ever plug it in or not, but it’s an experiment that’s worth a try. Doubtless the fraternity would pick up his pin if he ever demonstrated such unique interest in the career he intended to pursue when he got out of college. Of course I am determined that he should complete his college course, if it takes two years. Getting him into Stanford was quite a chore, and keeping him there has been an even more onerous assignment, and I certainly am not about to let him blow it with only a year or so to go. It’s my belief that he can still keep in the public eye and keep in action through the medium of phonograph records, if they go at all.

I of course, John, feel pretty sad about not going back on the radio this season. I have given many reasons for this decision to many different people, but I feel I can tell you the truth and that you will believe and understand me. John, I don’t sing anywhere as good as I used to, and I feel sincerely that it’s getting worse. I don’t see any purpose in trying to stretch something out that was once acceptable and that now is merely adequate, if that. I don’t know what the reason for this condition is, unless it’s apathy. I just don’t have the interest in singing. I am not keen about it any more. Songs all sound alike to me, and some of them so shoddy and trivial. I don’t mean I didn’t sing some cheap songs in the old days, but I had such a tremendous interest in singing and was so wrapped up in the work that it didn’t matter. . . . The sycophants that hang about, the press, the photographers, the song publishers and pluggers and the pests of all descriptions that grab me every time I step outside my front door weary me indescribably. Succinctly, John, I seem to have had it. Maybe a year or so away will make me feel differently, and my interest will revive.

I certainly hate to see the wonderful organisation we have break up, and it gives me a wrench to be an instrument in its dissolution. I shall never forget all the good years you and I had together, and all the wonderful unselfish things you did for me and my interests. You had a great deal to put up with at times, and your patience and forbearance was always incredible. You must know how grateful I am to you for everything that you have done. And I don’t mean just professionally either. Much of the same goes to Murdo. There’s a great boy, and I think the radio industry should prepare some sort of a plaque or citation for him for just putting up with Morrow through the years, if putting up with me wasn’t enough. I’ll be back in Pebble Beach after the 21st of the month, John, and probably will stay around there for a couple of weeks, and then will be on into Hollywood. If you are in the Carmel area be sure and give me a ring and we can get together. My very best to you.

As ever,
Bing

BING'S LAST LETTER

SPOKANE -- Bing Crosby's last words are well-known:

"That was a great game of golf, fellas," he said, striding off the 18th green at a Madrid golf course, moments before suffering a massive heart attack.

Yet some of his last written words are in the possession of Herb Rotchford Jr., the principal of Shadle Park High School.

Those words are contained in a handwritten letter Bing sent to Herb Rotchford Sr., one of the Spokane-raised star's oldest and dearest childhood friends. It arrived at Rotchford's Hayden Lake, Idaho, home three days after Bing died on Oct. 14, 1977.

Bing had written the letter from London on Oct. 5, 1977. In it he chats about his shows at the London Palladium, his deteriorating golf game and his back problems, caused by a tumble into a Pasadena orchestra pit earlier that year.

Here's the letter, in its entirety:
"Dear Herb,
"No. I didn't have to have the operation. The medics are very reluctant to go into the back surgically, and they didn't deem it necessary. Not unless a sudden and drastic change occurs. At the moment I seem to be progressing well, if somewhat slowly, doing some concerts and TV here in Europe Chud Wendle (a mutual friend from Spokane) was at the show last nite. Play golf, but badly, of course. Very limited back-swing. But I love these golf courses and lots of good guys to play with. Be home in late October.
"Love to all,
"Bing"

It's a friendly, informal letter made poignant by its timing. This letter is just a small part of the trove of Bing-related items in several photo albums and scrapbooks passed along to Herb Rotchford Jr. by his father, who died in 1981. It's a mother lode of Crosby memorabilia and artifacts or what aficionados worldwide call "Crosbyana."

The Crosby theme is evident throughout the Rotchford albums for one simple reason: Bing and the elder Rotchford remained close all of their lives. One of the earliest photos shows Rotchford and Crosby on the same youth basketball team in 1920, when they were teens. The friendship endured even after Rotchford Sr. became a Spokane dentist and Bing went on to become the biggest star in the world.

Sometimes, Rotchford Sr. would go down to Hollywood to visit him. The Rotchford photo albums include snapshots showing Bing and sometimes Rotchford Sr. posing with such luminaries as Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams and William Frawley (Fred Mertz of "I Love Lucy" fame). More often, it was Bing who came to visit Herb Sr. in the Inland Northwest. The Rotchfords had a house on Hayden Lake, and Bing would sometimes stay there while on visits to his hometown. He came to love Hayden Lake for its golfing and fishing opportunities.

"He liked it so much, he had my father buy him a house on the lake and a Chris-Craft boat, sight unseen," Rotchford Jr. said.

From that point on, Crosby and his growing family would spend every August at their place on Hayden Lake. Bing, in his autobiography, "Call Me Lucky," called it an "oasis of enjoyment in a hurly-burly world." The Rotchfords lived only a few houses away. The family photo album is jammed with snapshots of the two men playing golf together, clowning around together and going on joint boat outings with their families. Bing was, in fact, Herb Jr.'s godfather. The scrapbook contains another Bing letter, this one written to Herb Jr. when he was in college at the University of Washington in 1969.

In this one, Bing speaks his mind in a surprisingly candid fashion about one of the most divisive issues of the day, the Vietnam War:

"It seems to me the government is making noises like they want to get out of Vietnam. I hope they're serious about this, and I know you hope so, too. It would be a great relief, I'm confident. It's a silly war, and it doesn't seem to be getting anywhere. Just costing a lot of lives, and a lot of money. Nobody can give you a valid reason why."

He ends the letter with a typical Bing-style ribbing of Herb Jr.'s dad:

"I hear your folks have gone back to Spokane. I suppose this pleases Herb, as he has a number of good golfing pals around there, and it must have been difficult for him to find these kinds of pigeons around Seattle."

The letter is signed, "Always yours, Godfather Bing."

Rotchford Jr. also has a set of golf clubs made especially for Crosby, inscribed with his name. At some point, Bing gave them to Rotchford Sr. Those clubs are particularly apt pieces of Crosbyana, since Bing was so closely associated with golf. Yet for Rotchford Jr., they represent just another tangible reminder of "Godfather Bing."

SOURCE