Editing Bing Crosby (section)

==Early life==
[[File:Bing Crosby - Radio Mirror, February 1935.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|left|Crosby aged nine]]

Crosby was born on May 3, 1903,<ref name=Grudens>Grudens, 2002, p. 236. "Bing was born on May 3, 1903. He always believed he was born on May 2, 1904."</ref><ref name="bing">{{cite web |last=Giddins |first=Gary |title=Bing Bio – Bing Crosby |url=https://bingcrosby.com/bing-bio |website=Bingcrosby.com |access-date=July 5, 2018 |archive-date=February 5, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200205235428/https://bingcrosby.com/bing-bio |url-status=dead }}</ref> in [[Tacoma, Washington]], in a house his father built at 1112 North J Street. Three years later, his family moved to [[Spokane, Washington|Spokane]] in [[Eastern Washington|eastern Washington state]], where Crosby was raised.<ref name="Blecha">{{cite web |last1=Blecha |first1=Peter |author-link1=Peter Blecha|title=Crosby, Bing (1903–1977) and Mildred Bailey (1907–1951), Spokane |url=https://www.historylink.org/File/7445 |website=Historylink.org |access-date=July 5, 2018 |date=August 29, 2005}}</ref> In 1913, his father built a house at 508 E. Sharp Avenue.<ref>{{cite web |author=Gonzaga History 1980–1989 |url=https://www.gonzaga.edu/academics/libraries/foley-library/departments/special-collections/Exhibitions/GonzagaHistory1980.asp |title=Gonzaga History 1980–1989&nbsp;– Gonzaga University |publisher=Gonzaga.edu |date=September 17, 1986 |access-date=January 4, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101207003233/http://www.gonzaga.edu/Academics/Libraries/Foley-Library/Departments/Special-Collections/exhibitions/GonzagaHistory1980.asp |archive-date=December 7, 2010}}</ref> The house stands on the campus of Crosby's alma mater, [[Gonzaga University]], as a museum housing over 200 artifacts from his life and career, including his Oscar.<ref name="House">{{cite web |title=Bing Crosby House Museum |url=https://www.gonzaga.edu/student-life/arts-culture/crosby-museum |website=Gonzaga.edu |access-date=July 5, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Bing Crosby and Gonzaga University: 1903–1925 |url=https://www.gonzaga.edu/academics/libraries/foley-library/departments/special-collections/Collections/Bing-Crosby-Collection/CrosbyandGonzaga.asp |title=Bing Crosby and Gonzaga University: 1903–1925 – Gonzaga University |publisher=Gonzaga.edu |access-date=October 15, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120809141328/http://www.gonzaga.edu/Academics/Libraries/Foley-Library/Departments/Special-Collections/Collections/Bing-Crosby-Collection/CrosbyandGonzaga.asp |archive-date=August 9, 2012}}</ref>

Crosby was the fourth of seven children: brothers [[Larry Crosby|Laurence Earl "Larry"]] (1895–1975), Everett Nathaniel (1896–1966), Edward John "Ted" (1900–1973), and [[Bob Crosby|George Robert "Bob"]] (1913–1993); and two sisters, Catherine Cordelia (1904–1974) and Mary Rose (1906–1990). His parents were Harry Lillis Crosby<ref>{{cite book |last1=Macfarlane |first1=Malcolm |title=Bing Crosby – Day by Day |date=2001 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |location=Lanham. Maryland |isbn=0-8108-4145-2 |page=2}}</ref> (1870–1950), a bookkeeper, and Catherine Helen "Kate" (née Harrigan; 1873–1964). His mother was a second-generation [[Irish-American]].<ref name="PBS Timeline">{{cite web |title=Bing Crosby ~ Timeline: Bing Crosby's Life and Career |url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/bing-crosby-timeline-highlights-from-his-career/3501/ |website=American Masters – PBS |date=December 2014 |access-date=December 3, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141201010101/http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/bing-crosby/timeline-bing-crosbys-life-and-career/3501/ |archive-date=December 1, 2014}}</ref><ref name="Giddins2001"/> His father was of [[Scottish people|Scottish]] and [[English people|English]] descent; an ancestor, Simon Crosby, emigrated from the [[Kingdom of England]] to [[New England]] in the 1630s during the [[Puritan migration to New England (1620–40)|Puritan migration to New England]].<ref>Her Heart Can See: The Life and Hymns of Fanny J. Crosby By Edith L. Blumhofer, Edith Waldvogel Blumhofer pg. 4</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Macfarlane |first1=Malcolm |title=Bing Crosby – Day by Day |date=2001 |publisher=The Scarecrow Press |location=Maryland |isbn=0-8108-4145-2 |page=1}}</ref> Through another line, also on his father's side, Crosby is descended from ''[[Mayflower]]'' passenger [[William Brewster (pilgrim)|William Brewster]] ({{c.}} 1567 – 1644).<ref name="Giddins2001"/>{{rp|24}}<ref>Giddins, Gary (2002). Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams, The Early Years 1903–1940. Back Bay Books. p. 24.</ref>

In 1917, Crosby took a summer job as property boy at Spokane's Auditorium, where he witnessed some of the acts of the day, including [[Al Jolson]], who held Crosby spellbound with [[ad-lib]]bing and parodies of [[Hawaiian music|Hawaiian songs]]. Crosby later described Jolson's delivery as "electric".{{sfn |Gilliland |1994 |loc=cassette 3, side B}}

Crosby graduated from [[Gonzaga Preparatory School|Gonzaga High School]] in 1920 and enrolled at Gonzaga University. He attended Gonzaga for three years but did not earn a degree.<ref name=hlogozu>{{cite news |url=https://www.historylink.org/File/8097 |title=Gonzaga University |last=Kershner |first=Jim |publisher=HistoryLink.org |agency=Essay 8097 |date=February 21, 2007 |access-date=May 10, 2014}}</ref> As a freshman, Crosby played on the university's baseball team.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.gonzaga.edu/academics/libraries/foley+library/departments/Special-Collections/Collections/Bing-Crosby-Collection/CrosbyandGonzaga.asp |title=Bing Crosby and Gonzaga University: 1903–1925 |publisher=Gonzaga University, via Internet Archive |access-date=November 24, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150429161408/http://www.gonzaga.edu/academics/libraries/foley%2Blibrary/Departments/Special-Collections/Collections/Bing-Crosby-Collection/CrosbyandGonzaga.asp |archive-date=April 29, 2015}}</ref> The university granted him an honorary doctorate in 1937.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=HrwzAAAAIBAJ&pg=4125%2C5113321 |newspaper=[[Spokane Daily Chronicle]] |title=Bing Crosby comes home to his Gonzaga |date=October 21, 1937 |page=1}}</ref> Gonzaga University houses a large collection of photographs, correspondence, and other material related to Crosby.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://researchguides.gonzaga.edu/c.php?g=67720&p=436843 |title=LibGuides: Manuscript Collections: Crosby |last=Plowman |first=Stephanie |website=Researchguides.gonzaga.edu |language=en |access-date=December 4, 2018}}</ref>

On November 8, 1937, after [[Lux Radio Theatre]]'s [[List of Lux Radio Theatre episodes#1937|adaptation]] of ''[[She Loves Me Not (1934 film)|She Loves Me Not]]'', [[Joan Blondell]] asked Crosby how he got his nickname:
{{Blockquote|Crosby: "Well, I'll tell you, back in the knee-britches day, when I was a wee little tyke, a mere broth of a lad, as we say in Spokane, I used to totter around the streets, with a gun on each hip, my favorite after school pastime was a game known as "[[tag (game)#Cops and robbers|Cops and Robbers]]", I didn't care which side I was on, when a cop or robber came into view, I would haul out my trusty six-shooters, made of wood, and loudly exclaim ''bing''! ''bing''!, as my luckless victim fell clutching his side, I would shout ''bing''! ''bing''!, and I would let him have it again, and then as his friends came to his rescue, shooting as they came, I would shout ''bing''! ''bing''! ''bing''! ''bing''! ''bing''! ''bing''! ''bing''! ''bing''!"<br/>Blondell: "I'm surprised they didn't call you "Killer" Crosby! Now tell me another story, Grandpa!<br/>Crosby: "No, so help me, it's the truth, ask Mister De Mille."<br/>De Mille: "I'll vouch for it, Bing."<ref name="Loves">{{cite web |title=She Loves Me Not, starring Bing Crosby and Nan Grey |url=https://free-classic-radio-shows.com/Drama/Lux-Radio-Theater/1935-1939/1937-11-08-She-Loves-Me-Not-w-Bing-Crosby-and-Nan-Grey/ |website=Free-classic-radio-shows.com |access-date=July 5, 2018}}</ref><ref name="Goldin">{{cite web |last1=Goldin |first1=J. David |title=The Lux Radio Theatre |url=https://radiogoldindex.com/cgi-local/p2.cgi?ProgramName=The+Lux+Radio+Theatre |website=Radiogoldindex.com |date=May 3, 2018 |access-date=July 5, 2018 |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 24, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924084141/http://www.radiogoldindex.com/cgi-local/p2.cgi?ProgramName=The%20Lux%20Radio%20Theatre}}</ref>}}

As it happens, that story was pure whimsy for dramatic effect; the [[Associated Press]] had reported as early as February 1932—as would later be confirmed by both Bing himself and his biographer Charles Thompson—that it was in fact a neighbor—Valentine Hobart, circa 1910—who had named him "Bingo from Bingville" after a comic feature in the local paper called ''[[Newton Newkirk|The Bingville Bugle]]'' which the young Harry liked. In time, Bingo got shortened to Bing.<ref>Associated Press (February 1, 1932). [https://www.newspapers.com/article/press-and-sun-bulletin/89097224/ "Harry Crosby Got Nickname from Cartoon; Started as 'Bingville' and Was Later Shortened to Bing"]. ''The Binghamton Press''. p.&nbsp;17. Retrieved November 17, 2021.</ref><ref>Crosby, Bing; Martin, Pete (1953). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=0tUfAAAAIAAJ&q=bingo+bingville+%22bing+crosby+%22+inauthor:Crosby Call Me Lucky]''. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 19.</ref><ref>Thompson, Charles (1975). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=twcUAQAAIAAJ&q=bingo+bingsville Bing: The Authorized Biography]''. London: W. H. Allen. p.&nbsp;5. {{ISBN|9780491017152}}.</ref>