A Christmas Sing with Bing (1955–1962)
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| Genre | Christmas music |
|---|---|
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| Home station | CBS |
| Starring |
Bing Crosby, Paul Weston and His Orchestra The Norman Luboff Choir |
| Announcer | Ken Carpenter |
| Written by | Bill Morrow |
| Directed by | Murdo MacKenzie |
| Produced by | Sam Pierce |
| Recording studio | Hollywood, U.S. |
| Original release | December 24, 1955 – December 24, 1962 |
| No. of series | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 8 |
| Opening theme | "Happy Holiday" |
| Sponsored by | Insurance Company of North America |
Bing Crosby, Paul Weston and His Orchestra
This was a series of transcribed radio hours hosted by Bing Crosby and broadcast on Christmas Eve for eight years. Insurance Company of North America was the sponsor.
Following the demise of the traditional weekly Bing Crosby variety show in the spring of 1954, to be replaced by a nightly 15 minute ‘disc-jockey’ format show, radio listeners missed out on a full-fledged, half-hour Christmas program hosted by Crosby for the first time in twenty years. In 1955, this situation was remedied when Crosby, the undisputed voice of Christmas at the time, embarked on one of his most ambitious radio projects ever; a transcribed one-hour Christmas spectacular featuring guest artists that spanned the entire globe. It was called "A Christmas Sing with Bing" and the success of the initial broadcast resulted in the show running each year until 1962.
The first show was broadcast at 9 pm, on CBS on Christmas Eve, 1955 and it was carried by some 200 stations along with hook-ups on the CBC, AFRS, and VOA for a truly global listening experience. For the ‘around the world’ aspect, the program included cut-in’s of carols and hymns from France, Rome, and Canada, along with stops in the U.S. at St. Louis, Salt Lake City, and Hollywood. The show was scripted as though it was ‘live" and listeners heard Crosby introducing his own songs and choirs from other parts of the world as though it was all happening on Christmas Eve. Crosby had actually recorded his contribution on December 19, 1955. The songs heard were:
The broadcast attracted a huge audience and Variety magazine commented: "Insurance Company of America laid out some $30,000 for this Christmas Eve ‘Sing with Bing Hour’ and that might be figured as cheap considering the promotion values…. If there was an important Christmas carol left out by either Der Bingle or the pick-up points, it didn’t come to mind…"
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Wikipedia