The Lighter
Made by the Colby Lighter Corp., USA owned by Bing Crosby through the Crosby Research Foundation. The lighter was produced mid 1940s through the 1950s. The lighter was made from a unique metal known as Monel.
Monel is resistant to great heat and would go on to be used in the 1960s for the frames and skins of experimental rocket planes like the North American X-15.
The Crosby Research Foundation held many patents and pioneered many recording industry firsts, like the first reel to reel tape recorder, and some not so great ideas like pioneering the laugh track.
The Crooner:
Harry Lillis “Bing Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – Oct 14, 1977) not only revolutionized the recording industry with too many inventions to mention, he also owned mines, oil wells, cattle ranches, television stations, bred racehorses, and co-owned the Pittsburgh Pirates when they won two World Series (1960-1971).
I mention all of that before talking about him as a musician just to illustrate how productive a life he had outside of his entertainment career. Knowing that makes it even more astounding when you learn he is the most recorded performer in history with approximately 4,000 radio programs and over 2,000 commercial recordings.
He has 368 charted records under his own name, which included the most number one hits ever, 41. For comparison Elvis had 18, and the Beatles had 24. His records have hit the Top 10 a total of 203 times. He has sold close to one billion records, tapes, CDs, and digital downloads around the world making him one of the biggest selling recording artists of all time. His version of “White Christmas” remains the bestselling recording of all time.
Bing was the voice of 13 Oscar nominated songs, 4 of which won the Academy Award.
Bing Crosby appeared in 104 feature films and he also won an Academy Award for Best Actor playing Father O’Malley in Going My Way (1944) and was nominated again for its sequel The Bells of St. Mary’s (1945). He was the first of only six actors ever to be nominated twice for playing the same actor.
Bing Crosby has three stars on the Hollywood’s Walk of Fame: one for recording, one for radio, and one for motion pictures.
Personal Thoughts:
What I can appreciate most about Bing Crosby is that he has all of these amazing accomplishments, dominated in so many worlds at the same time, and accomplished all of it while still being a pot smoking slacker. Marijuana wasn't illegal when Crosby was coming up in the jazz era, and he used to get high with Louis Armstrong. In a 1977 interview with Barbara Walters, he told her that he felt that marijuana should be legal again, and when she asked how he felt if his kids did it, he replied “I don’t think that’s any big sin, unless they abused it and got on it continuously.” It warms my heart to think of him sparking up with the lighter his company invented.
My favorite Christmas crooner.