7 More Stories From Our Celebrity Wall of Fame

 We’re delving into more stories behind some of our Wall of Fame guests, and once again, thanks to John Eckberg from French Lick Resort’s parent company Cook Group for pulling together a lot of this research.

Since we’re firmly in “White Christmas” season, it’s appropriate to lead off with Bing Crosby (1903-1977), who was something of a regular at the resort with several visits through the years. As a singer, comic, movie and radio personality, Crosby was one of the most famous people on earth for decades — and even superstars need to get away and lay low for a while, which Crosby did at French Lick.

He sometimes entertained in a revue with comedian Bob Hope, but mostly he came to relax and to play golf. If the weather was nice when he arrived, he played golf on The Donald Ross Course. On one visit in April 1947, he actually played in the Midwest Amateur Golf Tournament that was held here. He finished the three-day tourney with a 240, good for 12^th place. (Although one wise guy sports reporter wrote after the first round that if Big was going to bounce back, he would have to “cure an attack of shanking with his autograph hand” as the Ross Course’s sloping greens caused him fits initially.)

Crosby returned in September 1947 and spoke to a class at the West Baden College, as the Jesuits operated their seminary there in what is now West Baden Springs Hotel. Crosby was supposedly interested in buying a farm in the area, the Indianapolis Star reported. One rumor that The Cincinnati Enquirer helped fan from LA gossip columnist Edith Gwinn was that Crosby was also interested in buying the resort in 1948. But nothing came of it. Golf and relaxation were pretty much all Bing was interested in during his stops in French Lick.

 

You knew her as Carol Brady, but did you know Florence Henderson (1934-2016) was a native of this area? That’s right, the mom from the campy “The Brady Bunch” sitcom was born and raised in Spencer County — just a short way from French Lick — and proved to the world the truth in one of her favorite sayings: “People from the Midwest have roots … and they also have wings and know how to fly.”

Florence came to the resort in 2010 to speak to supporters of the Sisters of St. Benedict, as she was the honorary chair of their renovation efforts in Ferdinand and had long supported the Sisters of St. Benedict, who taught her during her formative high school years. 

David Brinkley (1920-2003) was an American journalist, ABC anchor/commentator who came to French Lick in 1967 to speak to the Northwood Institute about current affairs and the climate in Washington DC. (At the time, Northwood was a private college housed in what is now West Baden Springs Hotel.) He spurned the offer of a private plane from Louisville to get to the resort, too, because he wanted to drive and see the country, he told a Louisville newspaper reporter.

When Brinkley stepped to the podium to speak to the 2,000 gathered under the West Baden dome, his first words echoed what just about everybody else says or thinks the first time they see the dome: “You’ve just got to be kidding me!”

After his visit, Brinkley also had this to say about his time in the Hoosier State: “I know this sounds like hokum but I’ve been in every state at least 10 times and in every country at least once, and the friendliest people are in two places – Greece and Indiana.”

And we have to say we agree with David on that.

Ozzy Osborne and band Black Sabbath likely visited French Lick in 1976 after a USA tour took the group to Indianapolis for a concert. (It’s also possible he visited in 1996 or 2002 after playing shows at Deer Creek near Indianapolis and on the way to his next show.) Either way, it’s fun to envision how puzzled the name “French Lick” must have made him. Ozzy only visited; he never played a concert here. Although it’s not too late — he’s still touring, and Ozzy, if you want to play at French Lick, the invitation is open.

 

Carol Lawrence performed in 1987 at the resort, and a bit of Broadway came with her. The Chicago-born actress was at the time three decades removed from her signature role as the original Maria in the Broadway production of “West Side Story,” where she received a nomination for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for that role. She had made her Broadway debut five years before that role.

Her set at French Lick included Patti LaBelle’s “New Attitude,” Huey Lewis’s “The Power of Love” and some tap dancing to the classic “42^nd Street.” 

Steve Allen (1921-2000) was America’s most popular talk show host and comedian when he came to French Lick Resort in August 1959 for a three-day gig as the showman for a conference of 350 Chrysler Corp. executives who were having a conference here at the time.

Allen, the original host of “The Tonight Show” who starred on other shows and was a radio personality and avid song-writer, flew out of Springs Valley on a DC-3 at the Bedford Airport in 1959. The August 28 issue of the Bedford Daily-Times Mail featured a photo of Allen in his trademark big, black glasses. The picture was snapped at the same airport where Bedford native and NASA astronaut Gus Grissom (also a French Lick Wall of Famer) first became interested in aviation.

Will Rogers (1879-1935) was already a superstar when he visited, specifically posh West Baden Springs Hotel, to speak to a crowd of about 2,000 at the Association of General Contractors conference in January 1928.

There’s no account of what he actually said to the contractors, but the local Springs Valley Herald reported that “various entertainments have been presented for the convention by the entertainment committee. Wednesday evening (January 11) the program consisted of six acts of vaudeville. Will Rogers will be on the program tonight (January 12).”

Rogers’ equivalence today would be a Steve Martin or a Bill Murray with the demeanor of George Clooney. Rogers was a cowboy comic who began his career in a Wild West Show, he built an international show biz brand when he graduated to become a Vaudeville thespian, a comic and an unscripted entertainer, and a New York City singer/dancer.

He had a pilot’s license, a plane and could fly anywhere. Rogers’ love of flying would lead to his demise — he and friend and fellow pilot Wiley Post died in a plane crash in the Alaskan tundra on August 15, 1935. It’s likely he flew into French Lick, too, more than 90 years ago during his January visit to small-town Indiana.