Crosby, Bob, 1913-1993

Bob Crosby (1913-1993) was a jazz band leader and radio show personality from the 1930s to the 1950s. During the 1970s there was a revival of interest in big band jazz and he worked for Disney studios and toured the midwest during that time. Not a musician himself, he started his first band in 1935, when he took over the Ben Pollack orchestra as front man. The band enjoyed considerable success until the start of World War II when Crosby joined the Marines, assigned to the Special Services (entertainment) Division in the Pacific. He returned to a reorganized band in 1945. His most famous band, the Bob Cats, was a Dixieland jazz group with members from the Bob Crosby Orchestra. Both the Bob Crosby Orchestra and the smaller Bob Cats group specialized in Dixieland jazz. His radio variety series, "The Bob Crosby Show", aired on NBC and CBS in different runs between the years 1943 to 1950, followed by his television programs "Club Fifteen" on CBS from 1947 through 1953, and his half-hour CBS daytime series, "The Bob Crosby Show" (1953-1957).

From the description of Bob Crosby papers, 1940-1971. (University of Wyoming, American Heritage Center). WorldCat record id: 175292368