Press Release
News Release from Bing Crosby Advocates
October 10, 2022
Contact: Brad Rovanpera - brad.rovanpera@gmail.com
BING CROSBY HOLIDAY FILM FESTIVAL RETURNS DEC. 10-11
SATURDAY, DEC. 10
● Noon – “White Christmas”
● 2:45 p.m. – “Road to Utopia”
● 5:30 p.m. – Live Music: Howard Crosby (Bing's nephew)
● 7:00 p.m. – “White Christmas”
SUNDAY, DEC. 11
● Noon – “The Bells of St. Mary’s”
● 3:00 p.m. – “Sing You Sinners”
● 5:45 p.m. – Live Music: The Zonky Jazz Band with Phil Crosby, Jr. (Bing's grandson)
● 7:00 p.m. – Live Music: Everdream (formerly “Affiniti”, with special guest, Howard Crosby)
The 2022 Bing Crosby Holiday Film Festival will feature several of the world-renowned entertainer’s best films along with live entertainment in a special weekend benefit event, December 10 and 11, at the Bing Crosby Theater in downtown Spokane.
Presented by the non-profit Bing Crosby Advocates, this year’s annual yuletide salute to Spokane’s favorite son will feature four of the legendary entertainer’s most beloved films, including two showings of Crosby’s 1954 classic, “White Christmas”. This year will also mark the festival debut of Bing’s rarely seen 1938 musical comedy “Sing You Sinners”. In addition, the weekend celebration will showcase live performances by Howard Crosby (son of Bing's brother, Ted), The Zonky Jazz Band with Phil Crosby, Jr. (Bing's grandson), and a festival finale featuring a Celtic Christmas trio, Everdream (formerly “Affiniti”) all the way from Ireland.
Of special note at this year’s event is a celebration of the 80th anniversary of Crosby’s iconic recording of Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas”, the holiday perennial that became the biggest selling hit of his 50-year career and won the Oscar for Best Song after its debut in 1942’s “Holiday Inn”.
“Sing You Sinners” is considered Crosby’s first significant big screen performance and co-stars Fred MacMurray and a young Donald O’Connor in a hugely entertaining film that today is considered a hidden gem among Crosby’s 80 movies.
Also on tap are two of his box office favorites from 1945: “Road to Utopia”, the fourth of seven “Road” comedies Crosby and Bob Hope teamed up for over 22 years, and “The Bells of St. Mary’s”, in which the crooner reprised his most celebrated screen role as Father O’Malley, for which he received an Oscar for “Going My Way” (1944).
The Bing Crosby Advocates launched the annual festival in 2006 to celebrate Crosby’s enduring hometown legacy. The Bing Crosby Theater, 901 W. Sprague Ave., is where he began his career in 1925 at what was then the Clemmer Theater and which was renamed for him in 2006.
Tickets for adults are $20 per day. Children 17 and under are free, however, all guests are required to pay the $2 Bing Crosby Theater restoration fee. All guests must present a ticket for entry.
Proceeds from the event will benefit the Bing Crosby House Museum, Bing’s boyhood home, located on the campus of Gonzaga University at 508 E. Sharp Ave. in Spokane. Bing Crosby Advocates is a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to promoting and maintaining the legacy of Bing Crosby and helping preserve the Bing Crosby House Museum, the world-famous singer’s boyhood home from 1911 to 1925. The organization accepts donations to help continue its work, which includes presenting the annual Bing Crosby Holiday Film Festival.