R

University of Rochester Press

Search:  

order help home page view contents of your cart

 
Going My Way
Bing Crosby and American Culture
Edited by Ruth Prigozy
Edited by Walter Raubicheck


Going My Way: Bing Crosby and American Culture is the first serious study of the singer/actor's art and of his centrality to the history of twentieth-century popular music, film, and the entertainment industry. The volume uses a wide range of scholarly and cultural perspectives to explore Crosby's unique and lasting achievements. It also includes tributes and reminiscences from Bing's widow Kathryn, his grandson Steve, his record producer Ken Barnes, and one of his most popular successors, Michael Feinstein. Other contributors include Gary Giddins, the author of a widely acclaimed recent biography of the singer, and Will Friedwald, the acknowledged expert on the development of the "great American songbook."
In addition to studying Bing Crosby's innovations and remarkable achievements as a recording artist, Going My Way explores his accomplishments as an actor, businessman, and radio and television performer. Going My Way makes an impressive case not only for Crosby's considerable talent and inimitable style, but also for his raising the quality of popular singing to the level of art.

CONTRIBUTORS: KEN BARNES, SAMUEL L. CHELL, KATHRYN CROSBY, STEVEN C. CROSBY, JOHN MARK DEMPSEY, BERNARD F. DICK, DEBORAH DOLAN, MICHAEL FEINSTEIN, WILL FRIEDWALD, JEANNE FUCHS, GARY GIDDINS, PETER HAMMAR, M. THOMAS INGE, MALCOLM MACFARLANE, ERIC MICHAEL MAZUR, MARTIN MCQUADE, ELAINE ANDERSON PHILLIPS, RUTH PRIGOZY, WALTER RAUBICHECK, LINDA A. ROBINSON, STEPHEN C. SHAFER, DAVID WHITE, F.W. WIGGINS

Ruth Prigozy is professor of English at Hofstra University. Walter Raubicheck is professor of English and chair of the department at Pace University.

 

DETAILS

6 b/w illustrations

Size: 9 x 6 in
10 digit ISBN: 1580462618
13 digit ISBN: 9781580462617
Binding: Hardback
First published: 01/Nov/2007
Price: 39.95 USD / 25.00 GBP Imprint: University of Rochester Press
Subject: Music

BIC class: AVH

STATUS: Available
Details updated on 12/08/2008
 
Contents
   Introduction: Bing Crosby -- Nothing Is What It Seems
Gary Giddins
1   Analogies of Ignorance in Going My Way
David E. White
2   Going My Way?: Crosby and Catholicism on the Road to America
Eric Michael Mazur
3   Saint Bing: Apatheia, Masculine Desire, and the Films of Bing Crosby
Elaine Anderson Phillips
4   Bing on a Binge: Casting-Against-Type in The Country Girl
Linda A. Robinson
5   Bing Crosby: Rock 'n' Roll Godfather
John Mark Dempsey
6   American Archetypes: How Crosby and Hope Became Hollywood's Greatest Comedy Team
Walter Raubicheck
7   Crosby at Paramount: From Crooner to Actor
Bernard F. Dick
8   Bing Crosby, Walt Disney, and Ichabod Crane
M. Thomas Inge
9   A Couple of Song and Dance Men: Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire
Jeanne Fuchs
10   Rivalries: The Mutual Mentoring of Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra
Samuel J. Chell
11   From Crooner to American Icon: Caricatures of Bing Crosby in American Cartoons from the 1930s to the 1950s
Stephen C. Shafer
12   Not Just "The Crooner": Bing Crosby's Research and Business Endeavors in World War II
Deborah Dolan
13   Bing's Entertainment and War Bond Sales Activities During World War II
Malcolm Macfarlane
14   Bing Crosby's Magnetic Tape Revolution
Peter Hammar and Martin McQuade
15   The Bing Crosby Fan Clubs
F. B. (Wig) Wiggins
16   Conclusion: Bing Crosby -- Architect of Twentieth-Century Style
Will Friedwald
17   Sing, Bing, Sing
Kathryn Crosby
18   Thoughts on Relationships: Father, Son, Grandson
Steven Crosby
19   The Real Bing Crosby
Ken Barnes
 

Reviews
These essays focus on the legendary performer in various media during [the years 1931-57]. . . This wide-ranging collection makes it clear that Crosby's importance is not and should never be forgotten. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. CHOICE

The splendid essays in Going My Way form an intricate collage that captures Crosby at the intersection of so many aspects of American culture. From jazz to film, Catholicism to cartoons, rock 'n' roll to the revolutionary taping of broadcasts, Crosby emerges as a more complex and fascinating figure than any single biographer or historian could render. -- Philip Furia, professor of creative writing, University of North Carolina, Wilmington

This is a fine book about one of the great entertainers in America. It tells of our culture and of one of the biggest stars America ever had, one I was privileged to know and work with. Not only was Bing Crosby the best singer I ever heard but he was also a great actor, and he brought humor and honesty to anything he did. Going My Way captures the essence of Bing. --Margaret Whiting



 

 

To order this book, use the shopping cart that refers to your destination. If the title is not yet published, your order will be recorded until the volume becomes available.

    US or Canada, enter quantity here >

    Europe and Rest of World, enter quantity here >

Please note that our shopping carts use cookies. If you have cookies disabled on your browser please click here for a secure blank order form, or click here for a printable form.