Today in history: Jack Kerouac and Bing Crosby

Bing Crosby (L) and Jack Kerouac (R)

On this date -- May 3 -- in 1903, Bing Crosby was born. A Kerouac connection to the famous crooner is described in Gerald Nicosia's Memory Babe: A Critical Biography of Jack Kerouac, 1994, University of California Press, p. 50):

Jack had dreamed of college from age twelve, when he'd seen a movie of Bing Crosby serenading a coed in the moonlight outside the frat house. That movie had actually impelled him to start playing football.

Think about it. No Bing, no college or football. No college or football, no Columbia. No Columbia, no Ginsberg, Cassady, Burroughs, Carr, etc. No Ginsberg et al. and Kerouac, no Beat Generation.

No Bing, no Jack as we know him. Wow.

Thanks, Mr. Crosby.



P.S. Without thinking about it, cross your arms. Do you do it like Bing (left over right) or Jack (right over left). I'm a Bing follower. Sorry, Jack.