Der Bingle Jr.

Bing Crosby has four sons, and all of them -- after a fashion -- can sing. But the 19-year-old twins, Philip and Dennis, are dedicated to running the 25,000-acre family ranch in Nevada, and 1 6-year-old Lindsay is too young to have settled on a life work. That leaves 20-year-old Gary Crosby. This week, in Dad's footsteps, Gary opened the first show of his own recorded series (Sun. 8 p.m., CBS radio).

Gary was not thrown into show business on a sink-or-swim basis. His father's good friends and old employees, Bill Morrow and Murdo Mackenzie, are directing and writing the Gary Crosby Show; the announcer is veteran Ken Carpenter, a long time Bing sidekick, who remarked cheer fully that he was set for life "as long as I don't run out of Crosbys." Father Bing himself supplied a word of tactful advice ("Always be on time") and thoughtfully stayed away from the first recording session just in case he might make his son nervous.

The program is a carbon of Bing's. Gary sings a few songs, swaps a few wisecracks with Carpenter, has a few guest stars (on the first show: the spiritual-singing team of Jane Russell, Rhonda Fleming, Beryl Davis and Connie Haines). His untrained voice is small, but he has the familiar Crosby ease of delivery if not the master's resonance. In fact, Gary has just about everything except his father's sponsor (General Electric). CBS plans to keep the show running throughout the summer--sponsor or not--but it will then go off the air so that Gary can return to Stanford University for his senior year (he is majoring in speech and drama, has about a C average).

At college, Gary will be available for guest appearances on radio and TV, but after graduation he expects to have a new employer : "I've got to count on two years in the armed forces, so I really won't get started full-time for a long time." He also thinks that, by then, his career will not be quite so much a family production: "I want to make good, but I'd just as soon get there on my own."

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