Bob Crosby

As the younger sibling of Bing Crosby, Bob often occupied an unusual role inside the ensemble he fronted, where his inability to play an instrument or read music failed to derail an extended career in precisely that capacity. George Robert Crosby entered the world in Spokane, Washington, in 1913; like his older brother, he initially pursued a conventional path by enrolling in college, only to abandon studies in favor of vocal work. The transition proved indirect, since Crosby later recalled supporting himself by harvesting cucumbers in Spokane when bandleader Anson Weeks recruited him as vocalist, a post he held for two years spanning 1932 through 1934. Economic hardship from the Great Depression made the steady engagement welcome, and the experience sharpened his vocal technique; he moved on to a six-month stint with the Dorsey Brothers band in 1934 before fate intervened the following year.

Musicians who had worked under Ben Pollack resigned collectively and formed a cooperative under saxophonist Gil Rodin, granting every member equal ownership; the Casa Loma Orchestra had adopted the same model early in the decade and reaped substantial returns, and this new group possessed comparable talent. The missing element was a vocalist capable of supplying both a recognizable name and an appealing public personality. Ironically, agent “Cork” O’Keefe—who had helped shape the Casa Lomans—directed the musicians toward Bob Crosby. By that point Crosby could deliver a polished, popular vocal style that at peak moments approached his brother’s level, and Bing’s Decca 78s were already transforming the fledgling label into a major force; Crosby’s likable persona further aided the group, while his modest ego permitted the nominal leader to share the spotlight with soloists that included trumpeter Yank Lawson, clarinetist Matty Matlock (later replaced by Irving Fazola), saxophonist Eddie Miller, and drummer Ray Bauduc.

Amid these performers, Crosby functioned as a capable singer who retained broad audience appeal. The orchestra straddled multiple musical spheres: Crosby supplied the pop dimension and personality, while arranger Bob Haggart (and later Matlock) produced charts as forward-looking as any jazz of the late 1930s; simultaneously the band retained traces of 1920s conventions and displayed unmistakable devotion to Dixieland, reinforced by New Orleans natives Miller, Bauduc, and Nappy Lamare. From within the larger unit emerged the Bobcats (sometimes styled Bob Cats), a Dixieland octet that achieved independent popularity.

Crosby’s prime years ran from 1935 to 1942, during which the orchestra spotlighted soloists such as Billy Butterfield, Joe Sullivan, Bob Zurke, Jess Stacy, and Muggsy Spanier. At a time when swing dominated and many viewed New Orleans jazz as obsolete, the ensemble helped ignite the eventual revival of that tradition. Landmark recordings including “South Rampart Street Parade” and “What’s New”—both written by bassist Haggart—together with numerous Dixieland numbers sustained the band’s popularity. Radio exposure proved equally vital: an engagement at Chicago’s Blackhawk Restaurant beginning in late winter 1938 generated eleven national broadcasts weekly, providing crucial visibility, while subsequent appearances on the Camel Caravan program further extended their reach through the decade’s end. The orchestra proved nearly as fortunate with female vocalists as with Crosby himself; Doris Day departed after finding the ungentlemanly behavior of band members overwhelming at age seventeen and sought refuge with Les Brown, while Kay Starr also passed through the ranks. Crosby additionally appeared with the band in films. Although he never approached his brother’s screen magnetism, performance footage of Bob Crosby and his orchestra surfaced in Columbia’s Reveille with Beverly, and he undertook limited acting (with the band featured repeatedly) in Republic’s Sis Hopkins; the group also contributed to the soundtrack of Paramount’s Holiday Inn, one of the era’s most successful musicals and the picture that introduced “White Christmas.”

The orchestra disbanded in September 1942; Crosby served in the Marines from 1944 to 1945 and thereafter pursued varied endeavors, occasionally reassembling versions of the Bobcats for concerts and recordings while largely stepping aside to let sidemen perform. Bob Crosby died in 1993, yet numerous prime recordings have stayed available on CD. Multiple anthology collections documenting the seven-year history of the Crosby orchestra and the Bobcats attest to the enduring appeal of their style, just as screenings of the Crosby-featured films Reveille with Beverly (1944) and Sis Hopkins (1942) at New York’s Film Forum in 2007 ranked among the best-attended entries in the theater’s three-week “B-musicals” series.