The House of Crosby

Radio Record, 22 April 1938, Page 15

The House of Crosby

Crooning is Almost the Least of Bing’s Activities Which Make Him the Rothschild of Hollywood

Special to the ‘"‘Record" by

ROGER

HOLDEN

HEN you've heard Bing Crosby crooning in that "tired baritone" of his, both on the air and on the screen, you may have thought him a dreamy sort of person, eapable of earning a pretty fair salary as a singer and actor, but not going far beyond that. In actual! fact, Crosby is one of the most hard-headed business men in .\merica, and his salary cheque from screen and radio is not by any means the only part of his income. On the screen, Crosby always gives me the impression of being faintly apologetic as well as tired. Not that I think he's got anything to be apologetic about. because

when it comes to admiring Bing’s talents as a comedian my brow is so low that my eyebrows blend with my hair. Yet he may have more reason for looking tired, for his off-screen jinterests--apart from radio work-inelude gramophone recording, personal appearances, gold mines, an actors’ agency, land deals, a music-publishing company, racehorse training, control of a turf club, and prize-fight promoting. In his spare time, he leads a bappy married life that is an exfiunple to many other Hollywood stars; and he has become the father of three healthy poys-ineluding twins. And Bing-his real name is Harry LL. Crosby, jun.-is only 33 years old! CROSBY'S yearly income is reported to be at ‘least 500.000 dollars. Through a maze of corporate financial structures (including Bing Crosby, Inc, Crosby Productions, Ine., and the Crosby Investment Company), the mildmannered actor is putting his money to work on a variety of investments with the — risk spread in a way that would satisfy the most wary of fiuanciers,

Crosby the crooner receives a fancy-figured salary for movie acting and radio singing. Exact figures are hard to obtain-because the income tax authorities come down heavily on film stars-but it is believed that Crosby receives 100,000 dollars or more for each picture he makes for Paramount. He also earns several thousand dollars weekly-prob-ably 5000-for his radio appearances. It is estimated that by 1940 he will have reached the peak of 7500 dollars weekly from this source alone.

(CROSBY'S professional income is only a start, but it is the basis of financial dealings of what, for all practical purposes, can be called the Crosby interests, employing the combined resources of the entire Crosby family. The House of Crosby, in its way, is not unlike the House of Rothschild. The leading Crosby financial institution appears to be Bing Crosby, Inc., of which the actor is president; his brother, Everett, secretary treasurer ; another brother, Larry, and his father, Harry L. Crosby, directors. The elder Crosby is also accountant and book-keeper of the multifarious Crosby interests. ~O extensive have become the Crosby affairs, that the family abandoned its offices in the crooner’s quarters at the Paramount studio to establish separate offices in the Hollywood business district. The acting agency and the music publishing house illustrate the business acumen of the Crosby family, guiding light of which, in economic matters at least, is Everett Crosby, a hardheaded, businesslike manager. Everett is 41 years old. (Contd. on page 40.)

House of Crosby -_-_ CROONER’S CHEQUE BOOK

(Continued from age 15.) The agency not only sells the services of Bing Crosby but of other outstanding stars as well. Under contract to the Crosby agency are Josephine Tumminia, san Franciscu coloratura soprano; Bob Crosby, Bing’s orchestra-leading brother: Dixie Lee, the crooner’s wife, and Genevieve Tobin, actress. Significant are the contracts the agency holds with Mary Carlisle, actress, and Arthur Johnston and Johnny Burke, song writers. Bing Crosby, as a top-flight star, has much to say about the pictures in which he appears, and it is worth noting that the Crosbycontrolled agency holds the contract. of an actress who appears in many Crosby pictures and of a song-writing team that prepares much of the scoring for the erooner’s pictures. Examples are Miss Carlisle’s leading role with Crosby in their recent picture, "Double or Nothing," and the musical scoring ot "Pennies from Heaven." in which Johnston and Burke did all of the composing, and "Double or Nothing," in which they did most of it. Additionally, the Select Music Company releases the Johnston and Burke songs. Another inyesting activity of the Crosby interests is Bing Crosby himself. The actor’s Paramount contract calls for three pictures annually. allowing Crosby the option of making one production independently each year. During 1986 Crosby exercised this contractual privilege to invest »Y0,000 dollars in his own "outside" picture, "Pennies from Heaven," which he made for Producer Emmanuel Cohen, EFT to himself, Bing Croshy might be inclined to give liberal financial yent to his sporting interests, but whatever tendency he has along this line are held in check by the shrewdminded Everett. Crosby's turf activities have been exploited somewhat for publicity purposes. His stable at present consists of six racing horses at Del Mar and ten foaling mares on his nearby estate at Rancho Santa Fe. Experienced turfmen give his stable a low valuation and estimate that it is not costing him more than twenty or twenty-five thousand dollars a year to support his horses. / Racing men often wonder why a man with Crosby's financial capacity has not gone into raising an expensive stable such as his income would warrant. Crosby’s studio will tell you that their actor's ambition is eventuwilly to raise a Kentucky Derby winner. Track authorities, however, state That if Brother Everett continues to keep Bing's cheque-book under padlock the Crosby stable never will produce 4 threat even for the Santa Anita Derby. (Ros BY'S sporting interests also run ~ to fighters. His outstanding fighter to-day is Freddie Steele, world's middleweight champion. The = actor owns a half interest in Steele. Crosby interests haye looked into the future and made arrangements to be on the ground floor if and when television develops into a_ practical commercial enterprise,