Was it ever thus?

We are in a train compartment. Bing Crosby is on the radio. From the musical short I Surrender Dear (dir. Mack Sennett, 1931):

Mother: “Will you please shut off that noise?”

Daughter: “Noise? Mother, that’s Bing Crosby.”

Noise! Was it ever thus? Yes, it was.

For an approving take on the singer, here’s Roaring Lion’s “Bing Crosby.” And here’s Van Dyke Parks’s recording of that tune, released on the album Discover America fifty years ago this month.