White Christmas is a 1954 Technicolor musical motion picture starring Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye that features the songs of Irving Berlin, including the titular "White Christmas". The film was directed by Michael Curtiz and co-stars Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen.
The film is notable as being the first production produced and released in VistaVision, a wide-screen process that entailed using twice the surface area of standard 35mm film. This large-area negative was used to yield finer-grained standard-sized 35 mm film prints.
Plot
Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye
The story is about two World War II U.S. Army buddies, one a former Broadway entertainer, Bob Wallace (Crosby), and a would-be entertainer, Phil Davis (Kaye). It begins on Christmas Eve, 1944, somewhere in Europe. In a forward area, Captain Wallace is giving a show to the men with the help of Private Davis, ("White Christmas"). Major General Thomas F. Waverly (Dean Jagger) arrives for the end of the show and has a field inspection prior to being relieved of command by General Harold G. Coughlan (Gavin Gordon) The men give him a rousing send-off, ("The Old Man"). During an enemy artillery barrage, Davis saves Wallace's life from a toppling wall, wounding his arm slightly in the process. Using his "wounded" arm and telling Bob he doesn't expect any "special obligation," Phil convinces Bob to join forces when the war is over. Phil using his arm wound as a way to get Bob to do what he wants becomes a running gag throughout the movie.
After the war, they make it big in nightclubs, radio, and then on Broadway. They become the hottest act around and eventually become producers. They subsequently have a big hit with their New York musical, Playing Around. In mid-December, after 2 years on Broadway, the show is in Florida. While at the Florida Theatre, they receive a letter from "Freckle-Faced Haynes, the dog-faced boy", a mess sergeant they knew in the war, asking them to audition his two sisters. When they go to the club to audition the act ("Sisters"), Betty (Rosemary Clooney) reveals that her sister, Judy (Vera-Ellen), sent the letter. Bob and Phil help Betty and Judy escape their landlord and the local sheriff (the landlord claimed that the sisters had burned a $200 rug). The boys do the song "Sisters" to a record as the girls escape to the train. Phil gives Betty and Judy the train tickets that he and Bob were intending to use. When Bob and Phil arrive on the train, they have no tickets. Using "his arm" again, Phil gets Bob to agree to travel with the girls to Vermont for the holidays ("Snow"). They discover that the Columbia Inn in Pine Tree, Vermont, is run by their former commanding officer, Major General Tom Waverly, and it's about to go bankrupt because of the lack of snow and consequent lack of patrons. The general has invested all his savings and pension into the lodge.
Deciding to help out and bring business in, Wallace and Davis bring Playing Around with their entire Broadway cast up and add Betty and Judy where they can. Bob discovers the General's rejected attempt at rejoining the army, and decides to prove to the General that he isn't forgotten.
Bob calls Ed Harrison (Johnny Grant), an old army friend, now host of a successful variety show (intentionally similar to Ed Sullivan's). When Bob wants to make a pitch on the show to all the men under the command of the General in the war, Harrison suggests they go all out and put the show on television, playing up the "schmaltz" factor of the General's situation and generating lots of free advertising for Wallace and Davis. Overhearing only this, the housekeeper, Emma Allen (Mary Wickes), tells Betty. Bob tells Ed that isn't the idea and that he only wishes to make a pitch to get as many people from their division to Pine Tree for the show on Christmas Eve. The misunderstanding causes Betty to leave for a job at the Carousel Club in New York, after Phil and Judy fake their engagement in the hope of bringing Betty and Bob closer together.
On the Ed Harrison Show, Bob asks all the veterans of the 151st Division living in the New England area to come to Pine Tree, Vermont on Christmas Eve.
All is set right when Betty sees Bob's pitch on the Ed Harrison show. She returns to Pine Tree just in time for the show on Christmas Eve. Believing all of his suits had been sent to the cleaners, General Waverly concludes that he'll have to appear in his old uniform. When the General enters the lodge where the show is to take place, he is greeted by his former division to a rousing chorus of "We'll Follow the Old Man", and moments later is notified that snow (asbestos) is falling.
In a memorable finale, Bob and Betty declare their love, as do Phil and Judy. The background of the set is removed to show the snow falling in Pine Tree. Everyone raises a glass, toasting, "May your days be merry and bright; and may all your Christmases be white."
Cast
- Dean Jagger ... General Waverly
- Mary Wickes ... Emma Allen
- John Brascia ... John
- Anne Whitfield ... Susan Waverly
Songs
All songs were written by Irving Berlin.
- White Christmas (Crosby)
- "It's Cold Outside" (Crosby)
- The Old Man (Crosby, Kaye, and Men's Chorus)
- Medley: Heat Wave/Let Me Sing and I'm Happy/Blue Skies (Crosby & Kaye)
- Sisters (Clooney)
- The Best Things Happen While You're Dancing (Kaye & Stevens)
- Snow (Crosby, Kaye, Clooney & Stevens)
- Sisters (reprise) (Clooney)
- Minstrel Number: I'd Rather See a Minstrel Show/Mister Bones/Mandy (Crosby, Kaye, Clooney, Stevens & Chorus)
- Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep (Crosby & Clooney)
- Choreography (Kaye)
- The Best Things Happen While You're Dancing (reprise) (Kaye & Chorus)
- Abraham (instrumental)
- Love, You Didn't Do Right By Me (Clooney)
- What Can You Do with a General? (Crosby)
- The Old Man (reprise) (Crosby & Men's Chorus)
- Gee, I Wish I Was Back in the Army (Crosby, Kaye, Clooney & Stevens)
- White Christmas (finale) (Crosby, Kaye, Clooney, Stevens & Chorus)
There are brief renditions of other Berlin songs ("Heat Wave", "Let Me Sing and I'm Happy" and "Blue Skies").
Berlin wrote "A Crooner — A Comic" for Crosby and his planned co-star Donald O'Connor, but when O'Connor left the project so did the song. Crosby and Kaye also recorded another Berlin song ("Santa Claus") for the opening WWII Christmas Eve show scene, but it was not used in the final film; their recording of the song survives, however.
The song, "What Can You Do with a General?", which Disney film historian Leonard Maltin calls Berlin's least memorable tune, was originally written for an un-produced project called Stars on My Shoulders.
Production
Danny Kaye and Vera-Ellen
Filming took place between September and November 1953. The movie was the first to be filmed in the new VistaVision process, with color by Technicolor, and also introduced the Perspecta directional sound system.
White Christmas was intended to reunite Crosby and Fred Astaire for their third Irving Berlin showcase musical. Crosby and Astaire had previously co-starred in Holiday Inn (1942) and Blue Skies (1946). Astaire declined the project after reading the script. Donald O'Connor was considered to replace Astaire, but also passed because of an illness. O'Connor was replaced by Danny Kaye. The choreography was directed by an uncredited Bob Fosse.[citation needed]
The centerpiece of the film was the title song, first used in Holiday Inn, which consequently earned the 1942 film an Academy Award for Best Original Song. The song Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep won White Christmas an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. The song Snow was composed by Irving Berlin, but originally was titled Free, and had nothing at all to do with snow. It was written for Call Me Madam. The melody and some of the words were kept, but the lyrics were changed by Berlin into a song more appropriate for a Christmas movie. For example, one of the lines of the original song is Free — the only thing worth fighting for is to be free. Free — a different world you'd see if it were left to me. This song can be found on the CD Irving Sings Berlin.
Every single costume worn by Vera-Ellen in the film — including her nightclothes — has a high neckline, as Vera-Ellen was battling anorexia at the time the movie was made, which caused her neck to look very aged, and even though Judy is the younger Haynes sister, Rosemary Clooney was actually seven years younger than Vera-Ellen.
Vera-Ellen's singing was dubbed by Trudy Stevens, except in the song "Sisters," where Rosemary Clooney sang both parts[citation needed]. Clooney was contractually obligated to Columbia Records, and therefore could not record for the soundtrack album, which was released on Decca. She was replaced on the soundtrack album by Peggy Lee.
Within the film, a number of famous performers appear. Dancer Barrie Chase appears unbilled, as the character Doris Lenz ("Mutual, I'm sure!"). Future Academy Award winner George Chakiris also appears, and has a notable appearance in two musical numbers, but is unbilled. John Brascia is the lead dancer who appears opposite Vera-Ellen throughout the movie, particularly in the Mandy, Choreography, and Abraham numbers. The photo Vera-Ellen shows of her brother Benny (the one Phil refers to as "Freckle-faced Haynes, the dog-faced boy") is actually a photo of Carl Switzer, who played Alfalfa in The Little Rascals, in an army field jacket and helmet liner.
Academy Award-winning character actor Dean Jagger wore a toupee in the film. Also appearing were Mary Wickes, Anne Whitfield, Tony Butala, Bea Allen, Johnny Grant, and a large supporting cast.
A piece of the movie with Bob Wallace (Crosby) and Phil Davis (Kaye) was re-broadcast the year after the film's release, on Christmas Day 1955, in the final episode of the NBC TV show Colgate Comedy Hour (1950–1955).
The set for General Waverlay's Inn is an exact remake of the Inn from the previous Irving Berlin musical, Holiday Inn.
Box office performance
This film was enormously popular with audiences, taking in $12,000,000 at the box office, making it the top moneymaker for 1954 by a wide margin. The second highest moneymaker of that year, The Caine Mutiny, earned $8,700,000.[1]
Stage adaptation
- See main article White Christmas (musical)
Rosemary Clooney and Bing Crosby
A stage adaptation of the musical, titled Irving Berlin's White Christmas premiered in San Francisco in 2004[2] and has played in various venues in the US, such as Boston, Buffalo, Los Angeles, Detroit and Louisville.[3][4][5][6][7][8]
The musical played a limited engagement on Broadway at the Marquis Theatre, from November 14, 2008 through January 4, 2009. The musical also toured the United Kingdom in 2006 - 2008.
References
- ^ Steinberg, Cobbett (1980). Film Facts. New York: Facts on File, Inc.. p. 22. ISBN 0-87196-313-2.
- ^ Jones, Kenneth."Merry and Bright? Producers Hope White Christmas Will Play Broadway This Year", playbill.com, June 25, 2008
- ^ Jones, Kenneth."White Christmas Will Make Broadway Debut in November, Playing to Early 2009" playbill.com August 4, 2008
- ^ Review of San Francisco production talkingbroadway.com November 14, 2004
- ^ Byrne, Terry. Review of Boston production The Boston Globe November 30, 2007
- ^ Snow in L.A.! Irving Berlin's White Christmas Begins Nov. 22 in City of Angels playbill.com November 22, 2005
- ^ [http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081115/SCENE05/811150404&template=printart "Berlin musical comes to life 'White Christmas' stays true to form"] Louisville Courier-Journal, November 15, 2008
- ^ White Christmastheatrelouisville.org
External links
