May 3, 1999- Milwaukee Journal Sentinal | Photo/Jim Gerhz

Wauwatosa - We got your "White Christmas" right here. Same for the soundtrack from the "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" television show. And the sheet music for "Christmas in Killarney."

He was perhaps the most important pop singer of the 20th century, but you seldom hear him anymore unless it's snowing.

Bing Crosby was the first musical superstar. They don't make boxed sets big enough to encompass his career. The tally of his Billboard hits runs to 317. To put that in some kind of context, Elvis Presley had 104, the Beatles 49.

He was a remarkably durable performer who broke in singing with Paul Whiteman and closed his career performing a duet with David Bowie. And his "White Christmas" is one of the bestselling recordings of all time. He was a major film star with a best-actor Oscar for "Going My Way." He was, first and foremost, an enormously successful singer who influenced artists such as Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin.

Harry Lillis Crosby would have been 96 today. Sadly, aside from the holiday season, his music is seldom heard on the radio anymore, and an entire generation of Americans has grown up with little sense of his contributions.

But Milwaukee Irish Fest is working to change that. Members of the Fest group are assembling the Bing Crosby Collection as part of the John J. Ward Irish Music Archives. The archives are housed in the Irish Fest Center, 1532 Wauwatosa Ave., Wauwatosa.

Thanks to the efforts of Irish Fest Advisory Committee member Barry Stapleton, the archives collection now includes as many as 2,000 Crosby recordings as well a videocassettes, sheet music and memorabilia. Recently, Harold Maruca of Pittsburgh donated more than 700 items from his personal collection to the archives.

Irish Fest's interest in Crosby might catch casual fans by surprise. Even Stapleton acknowledges that Crosby's Irish recordings were a relatively tiny portion of his repertoire -- perhaps 27 songs out of 1,800 recorded. They did, however, include such enduring hits as "Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral (That's an Irish Lullaby)" and "McNamara's Band."

Irish Fest founder Ed Ward argues that Crosby, with his immense popularity and genial, soft-spoken image, played an important role as a cultural ambassador. A third-generation Irish-American, Crosby helped counteract the hard-drinking, roughneck Irish immigrant stereotypes of the turn of the century.

The archives also reveal that Crosby was a pioneer in other respects. A half-century before the Spice Girls, Crosby was demonstrating the marketing potential of musical super-stardom. Included in the collection is the Bing Crosby Parker Brothers Board Game, a Bing Crosby record cleaner and a ceramic bust of Bing in a straw hat.

Stapleton plans to set up a Crosby display at Irish Fest this summer. Although he's too young to remember many of the highlights of Crosby's career, Stapleton, 36, says he inherited his affection for the singer from his own dad.

"Fifteen years ago, I probably wouldn't have done this, but I think Bing is very personal within the family," Stapleton said. "My father looked almost identical to Bing."

The Irish Fest Crosby collection is available for public viewing and listening by appointment. Call the Irish Fest offices at 476-3378 for an appointment.