Bing Crosby | The Road Films: Bob Hope and Bing Crosby | American Masters | PBS The Road Films: Bob Hope and Bing Crosby The Road Films: Bob Hope and Bing Crosby Premiere date: December 2, 2014 | 0:01:46 At the age of 37, Bing Crosby had 24 films under his belt and his career in Hollywood was at a crossroads. He found a great comedic partner in Bob Hope, with whom he had first performed on stage in 1932. Starting in 1940, Hope and Crosby would star in seven “Road” films, along with co-star Dorothy Lamar. The films parodied Hollywood and revitalized Crosby’s career by exposing him to a younger audience. This film excerpt is rich in archival footage, including Crosby on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, audio interviews with Bob Hope, and scenes of Hope and Crosby hamming it up together. The Road Films The pairing of Bing Crosby and Bob Hope set the bar for future “bromances” featuring two male leads in a comedy who are sometimes adversaries, but stick together. The seven Road films parodied film genres such as adventure films.

Learn about the ridiculous plots and gags of the films. Road to Singapore (1940) Dorothy Lamour - Biography - IMDb Dorothy Lamour Biography Showing all 59 items Jump to: Overview (5) | Mini Bio (2) | Spouse (2) | Trade Mark (1) | Trivia (33) | Personal Quotes (9) | Salary (7) Overview (5) 5' 5" (1.65 m) Mini Bio (2) In addition to being Miss New Orleans in 1931, Dorothy Lamour worked as a Chicago elevator operator; band vocalist for her first husband, band leader Herbie Kaye ; and radio performer. In 1936 she donned her soon-to-be-famous sarong for her debut at Paramount, The Jungle Princess (1936), and continued to play female Tarzan-Crusoe-Gauguin-girl-with make-up parts through the war years and beyond. The most famous of these was in the popular Bob Hope / Bing Crosby "Road" pictures - a strange combination of adventure, slapstick, ad-libs and Hollywood inside jokes.

Of these she said, "I was the happiest and highest-paid straight woman in the business." As she aged, however, the quality of her films dropped. Among her serious films were Johnny Apollo (1940) and A Medal for Benny (1945). - IMDb Mini Biography By: Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu> Dorothy Lamour was born with the birth name of Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton on December 10, 1914, in New Orleans, Louisiana. She was a beautiful child who turned heads as a teenager with her long dark hair. However, her dream was to become a professional singer not actress. After she won a beauty contest as Miss New Orleans in 1931, she headed to Chicago to find her work as a singer. For a time, Dorothy worked as an elevator operator in a department store before going on to become a vocalist in the Herbie Kay band. Kay became her first husband in 1935, but the marriage only lasted four years. In addition to the band, Dorothy also sang on a Chicago radio program. Besides Kay, she performed with Rudy Vallee and 'Eddie Duchin (I)'.

1933 found Dorothy in Hollywood where she landed an uncredited bit part as a chorus girl in the musical Footlight Parade (1933). She didn't appear in films again until 1936 when she landed a part as a coed in College Holiday (1936). Later in 1936, Dorothy got the part of Ulah in The Jungle Princess (1936) produced by E. Lloyd Sheldon and filmed at Paramount. This film was a tremendous moneymaker as Dorothy stole the show in her wrap-around sarong. Dorothy became an instant star as the child of nature/female Tarzan, raised with a pet tiger among the tropical natives. Ray Milland starred opposite her as the man from civilization who woos and wins her. The scene where Milland is trying to teach her the word kiss is touching yet humorous. When he kisses her and tells her that is a kiss she runs away.

She went on to play similar parts in the sarong in productions including The Hurricane (1937), Typhoon (1940), Beyond the Blue Horizon (1942) and her final big-screen sarong feature, Donovan's Reef (1963). Although Dorothy actually only wore a sarong in six of her 59 pictures, it defined her career. The sarong stayed with her in the Bob Hope / Bing Crosby "Road" pictures for Paramount. The trio starred in Road to Singapore (1940), Road to Zanzibar (1941), Road to Morocco (1942), Road to Utopia (1945) and Road to Bali (1952). A final "Road" picture, "Road to the Fountain of Youth" was in the works in 1977, until Bing Crosby 's sudden death. The final completed "Road" picture, The Road to Hong Kong (1962), had Hope and Crosby in their usual roles, but no Dorothy this time - Joan Collins had the female lead in it.

Dorothy was a great actress with roles in Disputed Passage (1939), Dixie (1943) and On Our Merry Way (1948)_ . She could show great range in both comic and dramatic roles. After making three films in 1949, her career began to trail off. She only made ten films between 1951 and 1987. That last one was Creepshow 2 (1987) where she played a housewife who gets murdered, a long way from the "Road" pictures and movies such as Johnny Apollo (1940) and A Medal for Benny (1945). Dorothy died at 81 of an undisclosed ailment on September 22, 1996 in Los Angeles, California. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Denny Jackson Spouse (2) Often wore a floral print wrap-around sarong Trivia (33) Femme fatale in the Bing Crosby - Bob Hope "Road" series of Paramount Pictures offerings from 1941 to 1953.

In the final entry, The Road to Hong Kong (1962), she appeared with Crosby and Hope but the femme fatale this time was Joan Collins . Miss New Orleans 1931. Interred at Forest Lawn (Hollywood Hills), Los Angeles, California, USA, in the Enduring Faith section, lot 387, space 2. Derived her acting name name "Dorothy Lamour" from her stepfather, whose surname was "Lambour". Host of NBC Radio's "Sealtest Variety Theater" (aka The Dorothy Lamour Show) (1948-1949). "The Moon of Manakoora" from The Hurricane (1937), was her signature song. During World War II, she toured the country, selling in excess of $300 million worth of war bonds. In 1946 (with the full assistance of Paramount's publicity department), she staged a memorable stunt by publicly burning a sarong, the garment with which she had been associated since her first starring role. Went to secretarial school where she became an excellent typist. Even as a star, she typed her own letters.

Her stepson gave her a dog, CoCo, when her husband died. She did not want it at first, but he insisted. She soon learned to love the dog and referred to him as her boyfriend. Her stepson William Ross "Bill, Jr." Howard IV was born in 1933. Her son John Ridgely "Ridge" Howard was born January 8, 1946. Her son Richard Thomson "Tommy" Howard was born on October 20, 1949. She was awarded 2 Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Motion Pictures at 6332 Hollywood Boulevard; and for Radio at 6240 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California. Biography in: "American National Biography." Supplement 1, pp. 338-339. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. In Italy, almost all her films were dubbed by Rosetta Calavetta . She had French, Irish and Spanish ancestry. Sang the show-stopping "Broadway Baby" in a 1990 Long Beach, California revival of Stephen Sondheim's "Follies".

John Ford began filming his classic The Hurricane (1937) with Margo in the leading female role, but Samuel Goldwyn halted production and replaced her with Lamour because of the success of The Jungle Princess (1936). Lamour is named in the film J. Edgar (2011) as having had an early affair with J. Edgar Hoover . Books on Hoover also report that she was his great love, something she never confirmed or denied. Was scheduled to make her Broadway debut in the 1957 musical "Oh, Captain!" as a replacement for Abbe Lane. She played a few previews, but the show closed before her official opening night. Had co-starred as a featured regular with Don Ameche, W.C. Fields and Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy on the popular "Chase and Sanborn Radio Hour". Toured successfully for a year in the musical "Hello, Dolly!" including a lengthy run at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas, where she alternated performances with Ginger Rogers because of the 14 show-a-week schedule. Lamour was the first to play Dolly Levi as a brunette.

She first met Bob Hope while working as a singer at the popular nightclub 1 Fifth Avenue in New York's Greenwich Village, where she was accompanied on twin pianos by Julius Monk and Cy Feuer. She had top billing over him in several of their first pictures together at Paramount. She opened the first of what was meant to be a chain of "Dorothy Lamour" beauty salons in New York's Greenwich Village in 1960, not far from where she had begun her nightclub career in the 1930s. She was one of the few film stars who was allowed to make records throughout her career. She rivaled Alice Faye for the number of songs she introduced on screen, including "Moon of Manakoora", "Moonlight and Shadows", "Moonlight Becomes You", "I Remember You", "Personality" and "It Could Happen to You". Her famous "Road" co-stars Bing Crosby and Bob Hope are seen watching her from the audience as she performs in Cecil B. DeMille's circus drama The Greatest Show on Earth (1952). Her original sarong for The Jungle Princess (1936) was designed by Edith Head.

She also wore special sandals to cover her feet. Was a staunch conservative Republican who was active both personally and financially in the campaigns of Dwight D. Eisenhower , Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan . Was a Girl Scout. Was considered for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939), which went to Vivien Leigh . Turned down the role of Crystal Allen in The Women (1939) for she considered the character to be "less then desirable". At the start of her career, she was in a romantic relationship with FBI director J. Edgar Hoover . In the 1940s, she was the celebrity spokeswoman for Chesterfield Cigarettes. Personal Quotes (9) I made 60 motion pictures and only wore the sarong in about six pictures, but it did become a kind of trademark. [on working with Hope and Crosby] I felt like a wonderful sandwich, a slice of white bread between two slices of ham. I was the happiest and highest-paid straight woman in the business. [on Bing Crosby] As I look back, I think he was a very shy, insecure man.

The world looked upon him as one of the great talents, he just never saw himself in that light. I'm no prude. I know you have to come up a little bit modern. But all this filth and homosexuality and sex and nudity today are ruining any hope of our young people having the beautiful life. Glamor is just sex that got civilized. A pretty girl, tastefully posed in a scant costume, is even a sort of cultural achievement. After the first "Road" film, I never studied dialogue. Never. I'd wait to get on the set to see what they were planning. I was the happiest and highest paid straight woman in the business. Some day I hope the critics will say of me, not only that I wear a sarong becomingly, but also that I gave a good performance. I've never had any real theatrical training you know. My first sarong was blue. I asked for it because that's my lucky color. We made the picture [ The Jungle Princess (1936)] on some hard-to-reach mountain crags in California. While we were there they remembered I could sing, so they wrote "Moonlight and Shadows" and sent the guy on a donkey with it through the passes.

Salary (7) Dorothy Lamour - 必应 Sign in Dorothy Lamour Dorothy Lamour (December 10, 1914 – September 22, 1996) was an American actress and singer. She is best remembered for appearing in the Road to... movies, a series of successful comedies starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. Lamour began her career in the 1930s as a big band singer. In 1936, she moved to Hollywood where she signed with Paramount Pictures. Her appearance as "Ulah" in The Jungle Princess (1936) brought her fame and also marked the beginning of her image as the "Sarong Queen". In 1940, Lamour made her first Road to... com ... (展开) edy film, Road to Singapore. The Road to... films were popular during the 1940s. The sixth film in the series, Road to Bali, was released in 1952. By that time, Lamour's screen career began to wane and she focused on stage and television work.

In 1961, Crosby and Hope teamed up for one more, The Road to Hong Kong, but actress Joan Collins was cast as the female lead. Lamour made a brief appearance and sang a song near the end of that film. In the 1970s, Lamour revived her nightclub act and, in 1980, released her autobiography My Side of the Road. She made her final onscreen appearance in 1987. Lamour married her second husband, William Ross Howard III, in 1943. They had two sons and remained married until Howard's death in 1978. Lamour died at her home in 1996 at the age of 81. Dorothy Lamour (December 10, 1914 – September 22, 1996) was an American actress and singer. She is best remembered for appearing in the Road to ... 酷我音乐网提供Dorothy Lamour无损,Dorothy Lamour无损音乐,Dorothy Lamour无损下载,Dorothy Lamour免费无损下载,Dorothy Lamour无损音乐下载,Dorothy Lamour高品质 ...

Dorothy Lamour Dorothy Lamour Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills), Los Angeles Person Dorothy Lamour (December 10, 1914 – September 22, 1996) was an American actress and singer. She is best remembered for appearing in the Road to... movies, a series of successful comedies starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. Spouses: Herbie Kay (m. 1935; div.1939) William Ross Howard III (m. 1943; died 1978)Children2 Lamour began her career in the 1930s as a big band singer. In 1936, she moved to Hollywoodwhere she signed with Paramount Pictures. Her appearance as "Ulah" in The Jungle Princess (1936) brought her fame and also marked the beginning of her image as the "Sarong Queen." In 1940, Lamour made her first Road to... comedy film, Road to Singapore. The Road to... films were popular during the 1940s. The sixth film in the series, Road to Bali, was released in 1952.

By that time, Lamour's screen career began to wane and she focused on stage and television work. In 1961, Crosby and Hope teamed up for one more, The Road to Hong Kong, but actress Joan Collins was cast as the female lead. Lamour made a brief appearance and sang a song near the end of that film. In the 1970s, Lamour revived her nightclub act and, in 1980, released her autobiography My Side of the Road. She made her final onscreen appearance in 1987. Lamour married her second husband, William Ross Howard III, in 1943. They had two sons and remained married until Howard's death in 1978. Lamour died at her home in 1996 at the age of 81. Early life Born Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton in New Orleans, the daughter of Carmen Louise (née LaPorte) and John Watson Slaton, both of whom were waiters. Lamour was of French Louisianan, Spanish, andIrish descent. Her parents' marriage lasted only a few years.

Her mother married for the second time to Clarence Lambour, whose surname Dorothy later adopted and modified as her stage name.That marriage also ended in divorce when Dorothy was a teenager. Lamour quit school at the age of 14 and, after taking a business course, worked as a secretary to support herself and her mother. She began entering beauty pageants and was crowned "Miss New Orleans" in 1931. Lamour used the prize money to support herself while she worked in a stock theatre company. She and her mother later moved to Chicago where Lamour found a job working atMarshall Field's department store. She was discovered by orchestra leader Herbie Kay when he spotted her in performance at a Chicago talent show held at the Hotel Morrison. Kay hired her as a singer for his orchestra and, in 1935, Lamour went on tour with Kay. Her work with Kay eventually led Lamour to vaudeville and work in radio. In 1935, she had her own fifteen-minute weekly musical program on NBC Radio. Lamour also sang on the popular Rudy Vallee radio show and The Chase and Sanborn Hour.

On January 30, 1944, Lamour starred in "For This We Live," an episode of Silver Theater on CBS radio. Career In 1936, Lamour moved to Hollywood. That same year, she did a screen test for Paramount Pictures and signed a contract with them. Lamour began appearing regularly in films for Paramount Pictures. She made her first film for Paramount, College Holiday, in which she has a bit part as an uncredited dancer. Her second film for Paramount, The Jungle Princess (1936), solidified her fame. In the film, Lamour plays the role of "Ulah", a jungle native who wore an Edith Head-designed sarong throughout the film. The Jungle Princess was a big hit for the studio and Lamour would be associated with sarongs for the rest of her career. From 1937 to 1939, Lamour appeared in John Ford's The Hurricane (1937), Spawn of the North (1938; with George Raft, Henry Fonda, and John Barrymore), and Disputed Passage (1939).

In 1940, Lamour co-starred in the first of several Road to... films with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. The movies were enormously popular during the 1940s, and they regularly placed among the top moneymaking films each year. While the films centered more on Hope and Crosby, Lamour held her own as their "straight man", and sang some of her most popular songs. The series essentially ended with the release of Road to Hong Kong, in 1962, in which Lamour only made a cameo appearance. Actress Joan Collins was the female lead in that picture. During World War II, Lamour was among the most popular pinup girls among American servicemen, along with Betty Grable, Rita Hayworth, Lana Turner, and Veronica Lake. Lamour was also known for her volunteer working selling war bonds during tours in which movie stars would travel the country selling U.S. government bonds to the public. Lamour reportedly sold $300 million worth of bonds earning her the nickname "The Bombshell of Bombs". She also volunteered at the Hollywood Canteen where she would dance and talk to soldiers.

In 1965, Lamour was awarded a belated citation from the United States Department of the Treasury for her war bond sales. Some of Lamour's other notable films include Johnny Apollo(1940; with Tyrone Power), Aloma of the South Seas (1941),Beyond the Blue Horizon (1942), Dixie (1943; with Bing Crosby), A Medal for Benny (1945), My Favorite Brunette (1947; with Bob Hope), On Our Merry Way (1948), Slightly French (1949) and a supporting role in the best picture Oscar-winner The Greatest Show on Earth (1952; with Charlton Heston). Her other leading men included William Holden, Ray Milland, James Stewart, Jack Benny, and Fred MacMurray. Lamour emceed Front and Center, a 1947 variety comedy show, as a summer replacement for The Fred Allen Show, with the Army Air Force recruiting as sponsors. The show changed to The Sealtest Variety Theater in September 1948.

Lamour starred in a number of movie musicals and sang in many of her comedies and dramatic films as well. She introduced a number of standards, including "The Moon of Manakoora", "I Remember You", "It Could Happen to You", "Personality", and "But Beautiful". The Road To Bali would prove to be the swansong of Lamour's film career, as she was pushing 40 years old in an industry that placed little value on older actresses. Afterwards, she began a new life as a nightclub entertainer and a stage actress. In the 1960s, she returned to the screen for secondary roles in three films, including John Ford's Donovan's Reef (1963) with John Wayne and Lee Marvin, and became more active in live theater, headlining a road company of Hello Dolly! for over a year near the end of the decade. Later years In the 1970s, Lamour was a popular draw on the dinner theatre circuit. In 1980, Lamour published her autobiography, My Side of the Road and revived her nightclub act.

During the remainder of the decade, she performed in plays and television shows such as Hart to Hart, Crazy Like a Fox, Remington Steele and Murder, She Wrote. In 1987, she made one last big-screen appearance in the movie Creepshow 2, appearing with George Kennedy as an aging couple who are killed during a robbery. The wooden, Native American statue in front of their general store comes to life to avenge their death. The 72-year old Lamour quipped: "Well, at my age you can't lean against a palm tree and sing 'Moon of Monakoora,'" she said. "People would look at that and say, 'What is she trying to do?'" During the 1990s, she made only a handful of professional appearances but remained a popular interview subject for publications and TV talk and news programs. In 1995, the musical Swinging on a Star, a revue of songs written by Johnny Burke opened on Broadway and ran for three months; Lamour was credited as a "special advisor." Burke wrote many of the most famous Road to ... movie songs as well as the score to Lamour's 1944 film And the Angels Sing.

It was nominated for the Best Musical Tony Award, and the actress playing her in the road movie segment, Kathy Fitzgerald, was also nominated. Personal life Lamour's first marriage was to orchestra leader Herbie Kay whose orchestra Lamour sang with. The two married in 1935 and divorced in 1939. Early in her career, Lamour met J. Edgar Hoover, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. According to Hoover's biographer Richard Hack, Hoover pursued a romantic relationship with Lamour and the two spent a night together at a Washington, D.C. hotel. Lamour was later asked if she and Hoover had a sexual relationship to which she replied, "I cannot deny it." In her 1980 autobiography, My Side of the Road, Lamour does not discuss Hoover in detail, only referring to him as "a lifelong friend". On April 7, 1943, Lamour married former Air Force Captain and advertising executive William Ross Howard III in Beverly Hills. The couple had two sons: John Ridgely (born January 1946) and Richard Thomson Howard (born October 1949).

In the 1960s and 1970s, Lamour and Howard lived in the Baltimore suburb of Sudbrook Park. She also owned a home in Palm Springs, California. Howard died in 1978. Death Lamour died at her home in North Hollywood on September 22, 1996, at the age of 81. She was interred in the Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles. For her contribution to the radio and motion picture industry, Lamour has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Her star for her radio contributions is located at 6240 Hollywood Boulevard and her star for her motion picture contributions is located at 6332 Hollywood Boulevard. Books Lamour was the heroine of a novel, Dorothy Lamour and the Haunted Lighthouse (1947, by Matilda Bailey), where "the heroine has the same name and appearance as the famous actress but has no connection ... it is as though the famous actress has stepped into an alternate reality in which she is an ordinary person." The story was written for a young teenage audience and is reminiscent of the adventures of Nancy Drew.

It is part of a series known as "Whitman Authorized Editions", 16 books published between 1941-1947 that each featured a film actress as heroine. Lamour's autobiography, My Side of the Road, was published by Prentice-Hall in 1980. She also had a brief print run of 2-3 issues during the 1950s in "Dorothy Lamour Jungle Princess Comics", a series of comic books dedicated to her on-film Jungle Princess persona (featuring screen shots from past movies as the covers). Source: wikipedia.org Bing Crosby | Biography & History | AllMusic google+ Artist Biography by John Bush Bing Crosby was, without doubt, the most popular and influential media star of the first half of the 20th century. The undisputed best-selling artist until well into the rock era (with over half a billion records in circulation), the most popular radio star of all time, and the biggest box-office draw of the 1940s, Crosby dominated the entertainment world from the Depression until the mid-'50s, and proved just as influential as he was popular.

Unlike the many vocal artists before him, Crosby grew up with radio, and his intimate bedside manner was a style perfectly suited to emphasize the strengths of a medium transmitted directly into the home. He was also helped by the emerging microphone technology: scientists had perfected the electrically amplified recording process scant months before Crosby debuted on record, and in contrast to earlier vocalists, who were forced to strain their voices into the upper register to make an impression on mechanically recorded tracks, Crosby 's warm, manly baritone crooned contentedly without a thought of excess. Not to be forgotten in charting Bing Crosby 's influence is the music itself. His song knowledge and sense of laid-back swing was learned from early jazz music, far less formal than the European-influenced classical and popular music used for inspiration by the vocalists of the 1910s and '20s. Jazz was by no means his main concentration, though, especially after the 1930s; Crosby instead blended contemporary pop hits with the best songs from a wide range of material (occasionally recording theme-oriented songs written by non-specialists as well, such as Cole Porter 's notoriously un-Western "Don't Fence Me In").

His wide repertoire covered show tunes, film music, country & western songs, patriotic standards, religious hymns, holiday favorites, and ethnic ballads (most notably Irish and Hawaiian). The breadth of material wasn't threatening to audiences because Crosby put his own indelible stamp on each song he recorded, appealing to many different audiences while still not endangering his own fan base. Bing Crosby was among the first to actually read songs, making them his own by interpreting the lyrics and emphasizing words or phrases to emphasize what he thought best. His influence and importance in terms of vocal ability and knowledge of American popular music are immense, but what made Bing Crosby more than anything else was his persona -- whether it was an artificial creation or something utterly natural to his own personality. Crosby represented the American everyman -- strong and stern to a point yet easygoing and affable, tolerant of other viewpoints but quick to defend God and the American way -- during the hard times of the Depression and World War II, when Americans most needed a symbol of what their country was all about. Bing Crosby was born Harry Lillis Crosby in Tacoma, WA, on May 3, 1903.

(Bingo was a childhood nickname from one of his favorite comic strips.) The fourth of seven children in a poverty-level family who loved to sing, he was briefly sent to vocal lessons early on by his mother, until he grew tired of the training. An early admirer of Al Jolson , Crosby saw his hero perform in 1917. Crosby sang in a high-school jazz band, and when he began attending nearby Gonzaga College (he had grown up practically in the middle of the campus), he ordered a drum set through the mail and practiced on the set. Introduced to a local bandleader named Al Rinker , he was invited to join Rinker 's group, the Musicaladers, singing and playing drums with the group throughout college. Though the Musicaladers broke up soon after his graduation in 1925, Bing Crosby was ready to stick with the music business. Crosby had made quite a bit of money during the band's career, and he and Rinker -- who was the brother of Mildred Bailey -- were confident they could make it in California.

They packed up their belongings and headed out for Los Angeles, finding good money working in vaudeville until they were hired by Paul Whiteman , leader of the most popular jazz band in the country (and known as the "King of Jazz" in an era when black pioneers were mostly ignored since they were unmarketable). For a few songs during Whiteman 's shows, Rinker and Crosby sang as the Rhythm Boys with Harry Barris (a pianist, arranger, vocal effects artist, and songwriter later renowned for "I Surrender Dear" and "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams"). With their clever songwriting and stage routines, the trio soon became one of the Paul Whiteman Orchestra 's most popular attractions, and Crosby took a vocal on one of Whiteman 's biggest hits of 1927-1928, "Ol' Man River." Besides appearing on record with Whiteman 's orchestra, the Rhythm Boys also recorded on their own, though an opportunity for Crosby to enlarge his part in the 1930 film King of Jazz with a solo song went unrealized, as he sat in the clink for a drunk-driving altercation.

When Whiteman again hit the road in 1930, the Rhythm Boys stayed behind on the West Coast. After Crosby hired his big brother Everett as a manager, he began recording consistently as a solo act with Brunswick Records in early 1931, and by year's end had chalked up several of the year's biggest hits, including "Out of Nowhere," "Just One More Chance," "I Found a Million-Dollar Baby," and "At Your Command." He appeared in three films that year, and in September began a popular CBS radio series. Its success was similarly unprecedented; in less than a year, the show was among the nation's most popular and earned Crosby a starring role in 1932's The Big Broadcast, which brought radio stars like Burns & Allen to the screen. By the midpoint of the decade, Crosby was among the top ten most popular film stars.

His musical success had, if anything, gained momentum during the same time, producing some of the biggest hits of 1932-1934: "Please," "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?," "You're Getting to Be a Habit With Me," "Little Dutch Mill," "Love in Bloom," and "June in January." "June in January," itself the biggest hit at that point in Crosby 's young career, signaled a turn in his career. Brunswick executive Jack Kapp had just struck out on his own with an American subsidiary of the British Decca Records, and Crosby was lured over with the promise of higher royalty rates. Though his initial releases on Decca were recordings from his films of the year -- "June in January" was taken from Here Is My Heart -- Crosby began stretching out with religious material (such as "Silent Night, Holy Night," which became one of his biggest sellers, estimated at up to ten million). Late in 1935, he signed a contract for a radio show with NBC called Kraft Music Hall, an association that lasted into the mid-'40s.

After his first musical director, Jimmy Dorsey , left, Crosby 's songwriter friend Johnny Burke recommended John Scott Trotter (previously with the Hal Kemp Orchestra ) as a replacement. Trotter quickly cinched the job when his arrangements for the 1936 film Pennies from Heaven produced the biggest hit of the year in its title song. (He would continue as Bing 's orchestra arranger and bandleader into the mid-'50s.) After the biggest hit of 1936, Bing Crosby followed up with -- what else? -- the biggest of 1937, just months later. "Sweet Leilani," from the similarly Hawaiian film Waikiki Wedding, showed Bing the direction his career could take over the course of the 1940s and '50s. Though he had recorded several cowboy songs earlier in the 1930s as well as the occasional song of inspiration, Crosby began covering everything under the sun, the popular hits of every genre of contemporary music.

These weren't castoffs, either; many of his 1940s country & western covers were hits, such as "New San Antonio Rose," "You Are My Sunshine," "Deep in the Heart of Texas," "Pistol-Packin' Mama," "San Fernando Valley," and "Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy." With the advent of American involvement in World War II, Bing Crosby entered the peak of his career. Arriving in 1940 was the first of his popular "Road" movies with old friend Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour , along with three of the biggest hits of the year ("Sierra Sue," "Trade Winds," "Only Forever"). Crosby and Hope had first met in 1932, when the two both performed at the Capitol Theater in New York. They reunited later in the '30s to open a racetrack, and after reprising some old vaudeville routines, a Paramount Pictures producer decided to find a vehicle for the pair and came up with The Road to Singapore.

More popular success followed in 1941 with the introduction of the biggest hit of Papa Bing 's career, "White Christmas." Written by Irving Berlin for 1942's Holiday Inn (a film that featured a Berlin song for each major holiday of the year), the single was debuted on Bing 's radio show on Christmas Day, 1941. Recorded the following May and released in October, "White Christmas" stayed at number one for the rest of 1942. Reissued near Christmas for each of the next 20 years, it became the best-selling single of all time, with totals of over 30 million copies. It was a favorite for soldiers on the various USO tours Crosby attended during the war years, as was another holiday song, "I'll Be Home for Christmas." Crosby 's popular success continued after the end of the war, and he remained the top box-office draw until 1948 (his fifth consecutive year at number one). As with all the jazz-oriented stars of the first half of the 20th century, Crosby 's chart popularity was obviously affected by the rise of rock & roll in the mid-'50s.

Though 1948's "Now Is the Hour" proved his last number one hit, the lack of chart success proved to be a boon: Crosby now had the time to concentrate on album-oriented projects and collaborations with other vocalists and name bands, definitely a more enjoyable venture than singing pop hits of the day on his radio show, ad nauseam. Inspired by the '50s adult-oriented album concepts of Frank Sinatra (who had no doubt been inspired by Bing in no small way), Crosby began to record his most well-received records in ages, as Bing Sings Whilst Bregman Swings (1956) and Bing With a Beat (1957) returned him to the hot jazz he had loved and performed back in the 1930s. His recording and film schedule began to slow in the 1960s, though he recorded several LPs for United Artists during the mid-'70s (one with Fred Astaire ) and returned to active performance during 1976-1977. While golfing in Spain on October 14, 1977, Bing Crosby collapsed and died of a heart attack.

Dorothy Lamour Dorothy Lamour Birth Name: Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton Born: 10 December 1914 Died: 22 September 1996 Country of origin: View all Dorothy Lamour pictures Description: Dorothy Lamour (December 10, 1914 – September 22, 1996) was an American actress and singer. She is best remembered for appearing in the Road to... movies, a series of successful comedies starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. Lamour began her career in the 1930s as a big band singer. In 1936, she moved to Hollywood where she signed with Paramount Pictures. Her appearance as "Ulah" in The Jungle Princess (1936) brought her fame and also marked the beginning of her image as the "Sarong Queen." In 1940, Lamour made her first Road to... comedy film, Road to Singapore. The Road to... films were popular during Dorothy Lamour (December 10, 1914 – September 22, 1996) was an American actress and singer.

She is best remembered for appearing in the Road to... movies, a series of successful comedies starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. Lamour began her career in the 1930s as a big band singer. In 1936, she moved to Hollywood where she signed with Paramount Pictures. Her appearance as "Ulah" in The Jungle Princess (1936) brought her fame and also marked the beginning of her image as the "Sarong Queen." In 1940, Lamour made her first Road to... comedy film, Road to Singapore. The Road to... films were popular during the 1940s. The sixth film in the series, Road to Bali, was released in 1952. By that time, Lamour's screen career began to wane and she focused on stage and television work. In 1961, Crosby and Hope teamed up for one more, The Road to Hong Kong, but actress Joan Collins was cast as the female lead. Lamour made a brief appearance and sang a song near the end of that film.

In the 1970s, Lamour revived her nightclub act and, in 1980, released her autobiography My Side of the Road. She made her final onscreen appearance in 1987. Lamour married her second husband, William Ross Howard III, in 1943. They had two sons and remained married until Howard's death in 1978. Lamour died at her home in 1996 at the age of 81. ... ( more ) ( less )

Question: Which was the first of the 'Road' films starring Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour?
Answer: ROAD TO SINGAPORE