Bing Crosby struggled to sing ‘White Christmas’ to troops, ‘most difficult thing’ in his career

nypost.com:

” The star also enjoyed receiving a “backhanded compliment,” Howard revealed, remembering a time when his uncle gave him a record of his to listen to. “He said, ‘Hey, Howard, did you listen to that record?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, I listened to it.’ He said, ‘Well, what did you think?’ Well, of course, what I thought was it was absolutely fantastic.

And it was really great in every respect. But I knew better than to tell him that. So I said, ‘Well, you know, for an old guy way past his prime, it wasn’t half bad.’ And he laughed.

See, he liked that. He liked a backhanded compliment. But if I’d have come out gushing, he wouldn’t like that. He just … couldn’t take that sort of thing.

He didn’t like adulation. It made him very uncomfortable.” Crosby had ranches in Northern California, Elko, Nevada, and Baja California, where he was able to get away from Hollywood and enjoy the outdoors.He was also incredibly generous, Howard noted.Howard said he first played golf with his uncle when he was about 15, and Crosby gave him a sand wedge that he still has in his golf bag.