American crooner Bing Crosby signs an autograph for a boy in the Olympics Stadium in Rome on Sept. 7, 1960. Crosby was in the stadium to see the 50 kilometer road walkers arrive. At left is his wife Kathryn. AP Photo/Olympic Picture Pool
When Bing Crosby (1903-1977) appeared on December 22, 1931 at a benefit concert held by The Brooklyn Daily Eagle at the Clover Gardens of the Grand Central Palace Exhibition Hall on Lexington Avenue, he was on the brink of mass media stardom and right in the middle of his milestone engagement at Paramount Pictures’ flagship theater, The New York Paramount at Broadway and 43rd Street. Immediately afterwards, The Brooklyn Paramount, at the corners of Flatbush and DeKalb avenues, took up the mantle and accelerated Bing’s star trajectory.
Like Bing, The Brooklyn Paramount was just beginning its entertainment reign. The Baroque doors opened on March 24, 1928, during the twilight of vaudeville, right at the cusp of a technological revolution, when “talkies” were new and the worlds of broadcasting and recording were being transformed by the introduction of the microphone. The venue was among the first theaters equipped for sound. Electronic amplification enabled vocalists to sing intimately and helped usher in the age of the crooner. Attractions such as Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, The Mills Brothers, Mae West, Bob Hope, Burns and Allen and Ethel Merman vied to appear there.
The Subway Crooner on The Road to Brooklyn
Bing had entertained in Brooklyn prior to his Paramount stint. From May 14 to 19, 1928, Paul Whiteman’s Orchestra spotlighted Bing both as vocalist and with The Rhythm Boys, arguably the first pop singing group, played Brooklyn’s Loew’s Metropolitan Theater. From March 1 to 7, 1929 The Rhythm Boys topped the bill in a cine-variety show at Brooklyn’s Fox Theater. The March 4 edition of Brooklyn’s The Standard…
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