Bing-Crosby-ice-cream_6197

Unless you were Frank Sinatra Bing Crosby was about as big as you could get in the 1950’s. Big enough to rule the Hit Parade AND in 1953 get his own brand of ice cream. He even owned the brand, Bing Crosby Ice Cream Sales, Inc., Hollywood, California, which he licensed to Valley Farm’s (excellent use of a misplaced apostrophe) who  promised that the contents was of  “Cream of the Stars” quality.

Bing-Crosby-ice-cream_6196

This carton was one of my earliest vintage possessions. When I first started  seriously collecting in the early ’70s I used to spot these  in thrift shops all the time. In the 80’s I used them a lot in my collage art figuring I’d always be able to find more. But now they’ve gotten appropriately rare so all I have left is this one faded carton with hardly any Bing left and a photo of a flattened carton I took when I stumbled on a whole case of them back in the day.

BingCrosbyIceCream-flat

I wish there was still ice cream in the carton because if it was half as smooth as Bing sang it would be one tasty lump of sugar stuff. And it certainly would’ve gone well with the Allee Willis Ho Ho (yes, that’s the real name) dessert I shared last night at Street, my fave restaurant in LA (which I co-own), with John Lloyd Young, who won a Tony for playing Frankie Valli in Jersey Boys (to which my very own Color Purple lost for Best Musical in 2006). John’s as smooth a singer as Bing.

JLY,aw-street2_6997

You may think it’s a stretch to connect an ice cream carton to Ho Hos and then to John but if you knew what we were cooking up together you would  see that it was the most direct link possible. Let’s just say that John loves cartons and I love what John does to cartons and Bing Crosby graced a carton so all ends meet perfectly in the middle.

IMG_4878box Bing-Crosby-ice-cream_6195

4 Responses to “Allee Willis’ Kitsch O’ The Day – Bing Crosby Ice Cream”

  1. StoryTroy

    I didn’t think anything could be done to make Triscuits more perfect, but clearly a little bling manages to push them even further up the culinary ladder.

    Giving STREET a whirl Monday night at long last with a new pal in town, and will be sure to wrap out the evening with an AW Ho Ho (my sweets-circuit is already abuzz).

    Reply
  2. Allee

    I MIGHT be there tomorrow night but not sure. Ask if they have the AW Ho Ho. They were testing out new desserts to put on the menu so it’s definitely not there yet but they still may be testing it. My favorite dishes are the Kya Toast, fried chicken, beef curry, spicy Thai noodles, kale and refried white beans, the Jerusalem bread, Pepper Clams… but you really won’t go wrong with any thing U choose.

    Reply