Ba da bing

Published August 28th, 1967 Photograph by Dermot Barry

You can scarcely switch on a radio or a television, or venture into a shop, these days without the danger of “I’m Dreamin’ of a White Christmas . . .” suddenly drifting into your airspace. Bing Crosby’s bendy golden drawl is all very well, but over the past decade this particular slice of it has been played and replayed so often that many of us are now, instead, dreaming of the sound of silence for the months of October and November, if not December.

When Crosby first pulled That Song out of his Santa hat on Christmas Day 1941, few listeners to his NBC radio show, the Kraft Music Hour – sponsored, oddly enough, by a cheese company – could have suspected that it would one day be the biggest-selling single of all time, with estimated sales of 50 million copies worldwide.

Nowadays, it is, pretty much, the only thing people know about Crosby.

But as our photo shows, there was more to the American singer and actor than that lazy bass-baritone. He was a huge fan of thoroughbred horse racing, bought his first racehorse in 1935, and was a founding partner of the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in California, one of whose stars was the legendary Seabiscuit.

On this side of the Atlantic, Crosby won the Irish Derby in 1965 with the colt Meadow Court, which he co-owned, prompting him to regale the winners’ circle at the Curragh with an impromptu rendition of When Irish Eyes Are Smiling.

In the photo, there are more smiles as Crosby and trainer Paddy Prendergast, both in natty race attire, acknowledge the victory of Crosby’s horse Dominion Day at the Blandford Stakes at the Curragh.

The horse, for its part, looks worried. Indeed, it appears to be foaming at the mouth.

Perhaps it fears a repeat performance of When Irish Eyes Are Smiling. Or worse: after all, it’s nearly the end of August. Not too soon, surely, for a blast of White Christmas?

Arminta Wallace

[ irishtimes.com/archive ]