Bing Crosby got top billing because he had an Oscar for Going My Way (1944) and because he was, well, the legendary Bing Crosby. and New York in December, 1954 but went into general release in May, 1955 after Kelly won a Best Actress Academy Award. It’s a tad surprising that after his 1953 Oscar he did not get billed over Grace Kelly in The Country Girl, which opened in L.A.

In 1948’s The Man from Colorado Ford took first spot on the poster. In 1941’s Texas it was Holden, Claire Trevor, and Ford. A contemporary of Glenn Ford, Holden and Ford switched billing priority in their two westerns. Yet he won an Academy Award for 1953’s Stalag 17 and his resume is strong. It is said that William Holden thought he was something of a fraud, a guy who lucked into movies. Being an Academy Award winner was sometimes a plus but did not always guarantee top billing. There are clues in the poster art as well as in the trajectory of careers. It is not entirely necessary to be a fly on the wall. It would be fascinating to attend negotiations that lead to billing order in a movie when the stars are of equal or almost equal stature.