FORMATION: Bob & Bing were never really a team, hearsay. Both of them were big stars and putting them together in a film was dynamite. Also contrary to other partners, neither one of them was the straight man. Both of them could make you laugh, have their own musical number, and steal the girl in the end.
The truth is that their duo was more of a trio with Dorothy Lamour playing the love interest. She was the straight man in a sense and had her moments in the sun on screen. With the making of their last film with all three together, "Road to Bali" (1952), she found her success waining as her two other stars kept rising to the top.
STUDIOS: All seven of the "Road" films, with the exception of their last picture, were made at Paramount Pictures. In the "Road to Utopia" (1946) they look off to a mountain that is suddenly surrounded by stars to indicate the Paramount trademark. "The Road to Hong Kong" (1962) film is owned by United Artists.
ENDING: Since they never began as a partnership, they technically never ended as a partnership. Their last film together was "The Road to Hong Kong" in 1962. Another picture was written for them called the "Road to the Fountain of Youth" in 1977 with the original three. Sadly, Bing Crosby died on October 14th of that year and it was abandoned.
Who could of ever thought that guys who seemed to hate each other were the best of friends. There comedy technique was unique. While other duo's ran slapstick routines and play on word monologues, they were playing around with the fourth wall. The fourth wall is what separates a story from the audience and more importantly reality. They were notorious for making wise cracks on the studio, the script and each other on the screen. There jokes get even funnier when you know a little bit more about their personal lives. Even apart, their funniest jokes included some snide remark about the other.
This is a classic scene from the most famous film they made together, "Road to Morocco" (1942).
Here are some of their cameos in each others pictures.
This was on a PBS special titled "The Legendary Bing Crosby."
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