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pipestud

Lifer
Dec 6, 2012
2,010
1,749
Robinson, TX.
Just to set the record straight about Bing beating his kids. Bing was a very stern parent, but Gary Crosby exaggerated those claims to help sell his book. Bing, like many parents of the time period, did whip their children, but Gary Giddins mostly sets the record straight in the second volume of his Bing Bio. Gary later admitted he had over blown some of the claims in order to boost book sales, the jerk. Gary was always jealous of his dad, and you can certainly tell that in his book.
At one point, the twins went to Gary's house. One held Gary while the other beat the hell out of him. I'm sure that was worse any thing Bing ever did.-JimInks
That settles it. The pipe's a fake!

 

brian64

Lifer
Jan 31, 2011
9,604
14,671
Very interesting regarding the (apparently) false accusations of abuse. I knew nothing about it until now (maybe a vague memory of having heard something years ago) but it's interesting that it appears to be somewhat commonly believed to be true.
It demonstrates the effect that those types of accusations can have even if they are unproven or unfounded.

 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
Family psychology and dynamics is a dark cave when they go wrong. The fact that two adult brothers would beat a sibling is itself a sign that something was deeply wrong. I sure wouldn't be sharing holidays with a sib that did that, but to indulge in assault of family members illustrates rather than expiates the problem. Am I being over sensitive? Everyone got out alive and perhaps mostly intact, but something was way wrong in that family, all the way around. This is supposed to be a family. This is not supposed to be the mob. In this group, I wouldn't know who to believe. Anyway, I still appreciate Bing as a vocalist and performer, and I hope things were considerably better and less damaged than they sound. Celebrity and fame often has profound ill effects on marriages and family, and is an unseen villain in this scenario.

 

JimInks

Sultan of Smoke
Aug 31, 2012
60,863
554,105
MSO: fights between brothers in families is nothing new. The twins were mad at their jealous brother for smearing their dad for profit. I'd have gone over and beat the hell out of my brother if he had done the same thing. Gary Crosby was a drunk and a liar who forever ruined the reputation of his own father for money. I've no sympathy for him.
On the subject of drinking, it seems Dixie continued to drink during her pregnancies which precipitated fetal alcohol syndrome. This would help explain why most of the first group of kids Bing fathered had alcohol problems. Yes, those kids had serious problems, and two of them committed suicide when the money ran out. Bing was long dead by then, and I can't assign blame to him for their problems. He tried to help them during his life time and maybe didn't do always do it right, but he did try, repeatedly over the years. He did much better with the second brood of children he sired in his marriage to Kathryn Crosby.

 

JimInks

Sultan of Smoke
Aug 31, 2012
60,863
554,105
Al: those kids were always in trouble, and they were often written up in newspapers as they became adults about their bad behavior. Gary didn't mention in his book much the fact that Bing used to take him fishing, take him to ball games, take him to parties, etc. The problem mainly was that Bing was so busy, he didn't spend the time with his family that he probably should have. Bing was very stern, but he wasn't the monster that Gary painted him to be. And Dixie's constant state of drunk wasn't good for the kids either. Read Giddins' Volume two on Bing and get much more detail on this.

 

p40warhawk

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jul 18, 2019
107
15
The original owner of the Tinder Box began his trade on Sunset Blvd. in Los Angeles. From what I was told from my old friend, they were great friends and Bing, an avid pipe collector would either tell the owner what pipe he would like made for him OR he would do some general drawings and ask the owner to make it for him. He also made pipes for Clark Gable and even Ginger Rodgers. Of course, THIS WAS before my time, but I guess its possible...

 
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