HOW BING CROSBY WILL LIVE ON $ 25,000 A YEAR
WHEN the President urged a wartime
$25,000 limit on incomes, he sent shudders along many famous Hollywood spines.
Pencils squeaked far into the night as name stars tried to squeeze six-figure
budgets under the $25,000 ceiling.
But Bing Crosby can take the cut
without a whimper. His huge income has never turned his head. He’s a regular
fellow with a sincere love of things.
Bing’s non-working life centers
around his family, his home, his horses and his wide range of sports interests.
He lives well and owns two comfortable houses. Wife Dixie Lee manages them with
very few servants, for home to the Crosbys is not a cross between Grand Hotel
and Buckingham Palace. Bing and Dixie are home bodies, and the bright spots see
them seldom.
Bing wants his four boys to be
real kids. He may splurge in such matters as playground equipment for them, but
he keeps them in public school.
Bing’s strictly an “old hat and
slacks” dresser. He dresses for comfort, not splendor. It’s the same with cars.
The singer drives his own, an old is a Ford station-wagon.
The horses sound like an expensive
hobby, but they aren’t to Bing. His stable (KMH cracks to the contrary
notwithstanding) pays its own way. His $400,000 investment in Del Mar Race
Track has paid dividends for the duration.
When Bing seeks amusement outside
his home, he’s usually to be found at the ball park or the boxing-arena or the
golf course. It’s a pleasure to sit near Bing at the ball park and hear him
explain the fine points of the game to a couple of his boys.
Bing is a golfer of
near-championship caliber. When he and his pal and fellow comedian, Bob Hope,
played benefit matches to aid the Army-Navy Emergency Relief, the fans came out
for laughs and stayed to watch fine golf. Fortunately for Bing, baseball and
golf are luxuries well within the range of a $25,000 income.
In the past Bing has been a heavy
contributor to many charities. If the ceiling is slapped down, his time may
have to replace his money gifts, but the charities benefiting from Bing’s
appearances won’t be losers.
All in all, Bing should make out
all right, ceiling or no ceiling. If his radio and record earnings and his
salary for such movies as “Road to Morocco” should be taxed to the bone, the
regular fellow who lives at Rancho Santa Fe will grin and bear it. He’ll still
have his home, his family, and the same comfortable old clothes.
<GOLF”S A JOY to Bing (left)
and one that the $25,000 ceiling won’t take away. Bing’s skill with clubs has
brought cast to the Army-Navy Emergency Relief>
<SIMPLE but very livable, Bing’s
true-Spanish-style house at Rancho Santa Fe (above) is a real home. Bing
prefers lounging here to splurging in the Hollywood night-clubs>
<SELDOM PHOTOGRAPHED is Bing’s
brother Larry, Shown with the singer in the picture on the left. As Bing’s
public-relations manager, Larry is essential to Bing’s business>
<BING’S a happy horseman, for
his stable pays its own way. But win, place or show, Crosby is a true
sportsman. With his vacation scheduled to start this week, Bing will spend
hours at the track>
<MR. AND MRS. CROSBY relax
after tennis at Palm Springs. Dixie Lee is such a beauty that housekeeping talents
seems too much to expect. But Dixie runs the Crosby home most efficiently and
smoothly with the help of a very small staff of servants>
<THIRD ROAD is Bing’s and BobHope’s “Road to Morocco,” from which the pictures right and left were taken. The
Bing Bob team of friendly enemies is producing box-office and salary revenue
from which Uncle Sam will profit handsomely if the $25,000 salary ceiling is
slapped on. Bing isn’t complaining, for he will live the life he likes, ceiling
or no ceiling. Meantime he has the satisfaction of knowing that roaring
comedies like “Road to Morocco” help national morale by easing war-frayed
nerves>
Comments
Post a Comment