Is Bing Crosby on road to oblivion?
RENO, Nev. - Bing Crosby lassoed the hearts of locals as the proud owner of seven ranches around Elko at the height of his career in the 1940s and ’50s.
The crooner, best known for “White Christmas” and the “Road” movies he made with Bob Hope, was named Elko’s honorary mayor in 1948. He donated thousands of dollars to local causes, gave occasional free performances and put Elko on the map by having the city host the 1951 premiere of his film “Here Comes the Groom.”
Thirty years after his death, angry family members and friends are accusing Elko’s Northeastern Nevada Museum of disrespecting his legacy by drastically scaling back its Crosby exhibit.
Crosby’s niece, Carolyn Schneider, said the museum had the second-largest public Crosby memorabilia collection in the country until it was dismantled over the summer. Gonzaga University in Spokane, where the Tacoma native grew up and went to college, has the largest.
While Crosby’s widow, Kathryn Crosby, did not wish to publicly comment, she privately expressed disappointment over the museum’s action, Schneider said.
“To take that away from him is very unfair. It diminishes his show-business career and importance to Elko and Elko County,” said Schneider, author of “Me and Uncle Bing.”
Hobie Wilson, president of the Bing’s Friends and Collectors Society, said the museum’s move was insulting: “[It] was a slap in the face to Crosby fans all over the world.”
Museum Director Claudia Wines acknowledges Crosby’s contributions to the mining and ranching town about 300 miles east of Reno. But she said the museum’s mission is to feature items from the region, and she won’t reconsider the decision to show only memorabilia from Crosby’s Elko days.
The museum expanded its Crosby exhibit after Schneider in 2004 donated about 30 items unrelated to his time in Elko. Included were photos of Crosby’s home in Pebble Beach, Calif., a set of monogrammed bed linens, sheet music, record albums, Christmas cards and newspaper articles.
A new Crosby exhibit, which opened this fall, is about a quarter the size of the old one, Wines said. It includes photos of Crosby in Elko, a branding iron from one of his ranches, a trophy he donated to a local rodeo and a denim tuxedo said to have been presented to Crosby.
“It’s not like the rest of his life is being ignored. There are other places that tell the rest of the story,” Wines said.