Reframing Bing Crosby as An American Master

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Robert Trachtenberg is a celebrity portrait photographer and documentarian who has given more than a few comics the respect and appreciation they deserve, from his two documentaries and an intimate look at icon Gene Wilder. He’s also worked Elvis Mitchell’s terrific series, Under the Influence, and had directed five original episodes of American Masters including undisputed icons George Cukor, Gene Kelly and Cary Grant.

His newest project for American Masters, Bing Crosby Rediscovered,  ironically no longer holds that icon status in America…despite being one of the best-selling American artists in history. As the film explains, he was the most popular and influential star of the first half of the 20th Century. Narrated by Stanley Tucci, Trachtenberg takes a look at what made Crosby such a star in his time, the philanthropy Crosby kept secret from the public, and the generosity he showed to many performers (especially women).  He also digs into the scandalous book written by Bing’s son Gary, who wrote a tell all book in 1983 about Bing Crosby, claiming child abuse. Featuring footage from 1987, Gary gives new details about his childhood putting some of those claims from the book in question.   Trachtenberg’s documentary question why Bing’s many candid stories of using corporal punishment with his children were overlooked by the public, until Gary’s book was published.

Trachenberg spoke with the Interrobang about his work as a documentarian and his new film.


 

The IBang: How do you pick subjects and the style of the film you’ll be making?

Robert Trachtenberg: To be perfectly honest, I pick first by interest, but a close second by where all the archival materials are spread. There have been some subjects I’ve been interested in that have not been possible to work on because of restrictions by estate restrictions, nutty family members getting in the way, etc.

The IBang: What are the common traits you find in the artists you select?

Trachtenberg: Everyone I’ve done a film on has an amazing work ethic. There is no, “woe is me” to these characters at all. They worked hard and they pulled themselves up by the bootstraps and made something out of their (in many cases) difficult beginnings.

The IBang: The films you did on comics Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder were focused on interviewing them in way which captured them in their elements. What are the biggest challenges in interviewing comics?

Trachtenberg: Don’t try to be funnier than they are. And give them room to move.

The IBang: If you could have interviewed any comics in their time, who would it have been?

Trachtenberg: Probably Groucho Marx or Oscar Levant.

The IBang: When you have to do a movie built around second-hand accounts, how do you judge the accuracy of what one says compared to the other?

Trachtenberg: It’s tough. You have to weigh it out and sometimes make a judgment call. There’s a lot of factors involved, a lot of fact checking and deduction. I’ve had biographers be wrong about stuff, and it’s amazing what becomes legend that never actually occurred.

The IBang: You make it very clear in the documentary that part of the appeal of doing this documentary on Bing Crosby is reframing his legacy for modern audiences? Why do you feel he has been so forgotten?

Trachtenberg: I think primarily his son’s book did a lot of damage. I think there wasn’t anyone running the business side of the estate at the time of his death that was thinking about getting him out there very much. I also think Crosby was at his height in the 30s and 40s, while Sinatra really kicked in in the 50s and 60s. People are really drawn to the whole Rat Pack mythology – the romance of Vegas, etc. and Crosby was slowing down by then. It’s generational – in many cases the arrangements may not hold up as well as some of the Sinatra stuff, but it was exciting to try to reframe him from this old man in a sweater doing a Christmas special every year that so many people had remembered him as.

The IBang: You go into the issue of abuse allegations, his son changing some of the details later. But the most interesting aspect of the allegations to me was the fact that Bing himself never hid the fact that he believed in corporal punishment. Why did audiences react to his son’s statements after ignoring Bing’s acknowledgement for years?

Trachtenberg: It’s fascinating to see how fickle and disloyal the public can be. Something takes hold of the public at large, and that’s it, you’re ruined. As Gary Giddens says in the film, he was branded as, “cold” – but they never thought he was cold when the films originally came out and he was the biggest movie star in the world.

The IBang: We are in the midst of another celebrity, Bill Cosby, having his cultural image completely changed in retrospect. Do you see parallels of the two?

Trachtenberg: No, I don’t. What happened with Crosby and his first family is a perfect storm of a tragedy – an alcoholic mother, hereditary alcoholism and substance abuse issues, mental health issues, fetal alcohol syndrome before the condition was even recognized, a father who didn’t want his kids to be “movie star kids” but went too far in the other direction doing what he thought would help them, and on and on – it was a sad set of circumstances.

The IBang: He also admitted to being a far more compassionate and available father during his second marriage. Did that change his image or reinforce the idea his son had presented?

Trachtenberg: It was a completely different time in his life – he was semi-retired with the second family vs. being literally the busiest and biggest radio, film, and recording star the world had ever known with the first. Not to mention his exhaustive work for the armed services during WWII. It’s very difficult to compare the two.

The IBang: What were the cultural contributions Bing Crosby gave in his time which impacted the time?

Trachtenberg: He literally changed the way people sang popular song – he changed music as we know it. I think that’s pretty good.

The IBang: Do you have a personal favorite film or piece of music that you feel has been overlooked?

Trachtenberg: Of Crosby’s? If yes, then he’s really at his best – the most idealized version of himself – in a film called, “Rhythm on the River.” The ease, charm and talent are all there in the musical numbers.


Bing Crosby Rediscovered airs December 2nd on PBS and reruns on December 26th.

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Lesley Coffin is a feature editor for FF2media and has also written the books Lew Ayres: Hollywood Conscientious Objector (2012) and Hitchcock's Stars (2014), and currently writing a third book. Follow on twitter @filmbiographer for thoughts on movies and cat pictures.
Lesley Coffin
Lesley Coffin
Lesley Coffin is a feature editor for FF2media and has also written the books Lew Ayres: Hollywood Conscientious Objector (2012) and Hitchcock's Stars (2014), and currently writing a third book. Follow on twitter @filmbiographer for thoughts on movies and cat pictures.