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I wasn't born a fool. It took work to get this way.
Danny Kaye
In White Christmas the original idea was to reunite Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby, as they had been successful in Holiday Inn (1942). Astaire refused, as he had "retired" at the time, so the part was reworked for Donald O'Connor. O'Connor pulled out, and the part was reworked for Danny Kaye.
White Christmas
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14 October 1954
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White Christmas is a 1954 Technicolor musical film 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 to be 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.
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 as an entertainment duo 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 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."
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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) (of which 'White Christmas' was a partial remake) 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.
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.
It is widely believed that every single costume worn by Vera-Ellen in the film — including her nightclothes — has a high neckline because she was battling anorexia at the time the movie was made causing her neck to look very aged. This is very unlikely. 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. Clooney was under contract 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 and Choreography 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).
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.
A stage adaptation of the musical, titled Irving Berlin's White Christmas premiered in San Francisco in 2004 and has played in various venues in the US, such as Boston, Buffalo, Los Angeles, Detroit and Louisville.
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Danny Kaye was a last-minute replacement for the originally cast Donald O'Connor.
The first film produced in Paramount's wide screen process "VistaVision".
The TV camera in the Ed Harrison Show scene is a real one (a classic RCA monochrome; the cameraman is hiding the telltale logo with his hand), but the call sign atop it was real as well - it was that of Channel 4, NBC's (and thus RCA's) flagship station in New York, which changed its call sign to WRCA-TV the year of the film's release. (They adopted their current WNBC-TV calls in 1960.)
The photo that Vera-Ellen shows to Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye of her brother, Bennie, is actually a photo of Carl 'Alfalfa' Switzer.
A myth persists that all of Vera-Ellen's costumes, down to her robe and sleepwear, were designed to cover her neck, which had been damaged by anorexia. This is untrue. Seeing her in the premiere footage for A Star Is Born (1954), she is wearing a low cut gown and her neck is clearly visible.
The Vermont inn is the remodeled Connecticut inn set from the movie Holiday Inn (1942) which Bing Crosby also starred in singing songs written by Irving Berlin.
The song "Snow" was written by Irving Berlin a while before the film was made but with a different lyric and title and indeed subject (it had nothing to do whatsoever with snow): it was called "Free" and it was recorded by the composer.
The "Sisters" comedy act that Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye perform was not originally in the script. They were clowning around on the set and the director thought it was so funny that it was written in.
Even though Betty was the elder of the Haynes sisters, Rosemary Clooney was actually seven years younger than Vera-Ellen in real life.
Vera-Ellen did not actually sing any of the songs for the movie. Trudy Stevens sang all her songs (with the exception of the song "Sisters", on which Rosemary Clooney sang both parts). Vera's own voice is heard singing only in the "arrival in Pine Tree" scene at the railroad station where the quartet reprises the opening lines of "Snow".
For The song "Gee, I Wish I Was Back In The Army" there is a small section which say's "Jolson, Hope And Benny all for free" This is a reference to three wartime entertainers; Al Jolson, Bob Hopeand Jack Benny. The original words were "Crosby, Hope and Jolson all for free", with Bing Crosby in the film it would seem rather weird and it would most likely break the mood.
Released in 1954, it became the top grossing film of that year.
Rosemary Clooney was not allowed to record her voice for the soundtrack album because it was being released by a record company (Decca) other than hers (Columbia). She was replaced on the soundtrack album by Peggy Lee.
The song, "What Can You Do with a General?", which Leonard Maltin calls Irving Berlin's least memorable tune, was originally written for an unproduced project called "Stars on My Shoulders".
According to Rosemary Clooney, the "midnight snack" scene in which Bob Wallace expounds on his theory of what foods cause what dreams was almost entirely improvised.
Many of Bob Wallace's more unusual turns of phrase were lifted straight from Bing Crosby's own speech patterns.
The train scene had to be shot at Fox, the only studio to house a standing train set.
Although this movie musical has been a beloved favorite for decades - especially at Christmastime - there has never been an official "original soundtrack" album released in any form. Decca controlled the soundtrack rights, but Rosemary Clooney was under exclusive contract to Columbia, who would not allow her to appear on a competing label. As a result, Decca and Columbia each released their own White Christmas albums in 1954, although neither is an official soundtrack. Decca's album featured the movie cast minus Rosemary Clooney, with Peggy Lee taking over Clooney's part. Columbia's album had Rosemary Clooney singing 8 songs from the film. Both albums have been issued on CD in recent years.
Though Rosemary Clooney couldn't be on the original album due to contractual conflicts, she recorded the song "Sisters" with her real-life sister, Betty Clooney. On the official album, Peggy Lee recorded the song and sang both parts via overdubbing, a new technology in 1954.
When Bob Wallace (Bing Crosby) appears on the Ed Harrison TV show, he is briefly shown - as if the audience is watching him at home - on a 1950s television set. The brand of the television is DuMont, one of the first manufacturers of TVs in America and the name of TV network from the 1950s. Jackie Gleason, Morey Amsterdam and Bishop Fulton J. Sheen were some of the notables that began on the DuMont Network, which ceased operations in 1956.
Third of three films to feature Bing Crosby singing "White Christmas".
The "Ed Harrison TV Show" that Bing Crosby appears on is a reference to the "Ed Sullivan Show" that featured known stars, new talent and vaudeville acts. Ed Harrison was played by Johnny Grant who did not have a long acting career in the movies, but was the honorary Mayor of Hollywood, California who officiated over the unveiling's of Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame from the early 1960's until his death in 2008.
Premiered at the famed Radio City Music Hall in New York City.
Tne musical stage adaptation premiered in San Francisco in 2004 followed by productions in Boston, Buffalo, Los Angeles, Detroit, Louisville and the United Kingdom. The Broadway production opened on November 23, 2008 at the Marquis Theater and ran for 53 performances earning two Tony Award nominations. The musical was revived at the Marquis Theater for the 2009 Christmas season.
Cast members Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney both have descendants in the Star Trek series. Bing's granddaughter, Denise Crosby appeared in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987), while Clooney's son, Miguel Ferrer appeared in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984).
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n the Haynes sisters' dressing room in Florida, Judy is holding the coffee after she has put it down.
At the start of his surprise party, General Waverly blows out the candles on the cake at his table. At the very end of the movie the candles are lit again.
n the hospital, Wallace is almost to the door when Davis calls him back. Wallace sits down on the end of the cot, but in the next shot, he is seated beside Davis on the side of the bed.
The enormous chorus of singers and dancers in the musical numbers, not to mention the army of technicians and musicians required to put on the "little show" at the General's inn, are nowhere evident in the story scenes. It would obviously take an immensely larger accommodation than the inn to house them, anyway.
Betty has the same male dancers at the nightclub as at the resort.
Waverly comes to the stairs in the final scene and the women have stopped short of the stairs. The camera moves to the wide shot and comes back to the general and the women are stepping back again.
The train that transports The Haynes Sisters and Wallace and Davis from Florida to Vermont is shown as being of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway in one sequence, and of the Southern Pacific Railroad in another. Neither railway ran on the east coast of the U.S.
The Haynes sisters go to bed in a drawing room, but wake up in berths. (Since two separate trains are shown, this may have been done to suggest a change of trains - however, none is mentioned.)
When Betty and Judy are talking about the letter their brother supposedly sent, Judy pours herself a cup of coffee, and sets the pot down. There is a cut, and the coffee pot is back in her hand
When Bob and Phil sit down in the club car, Bob puts a suitcase down beside the table. When he gets up to tell the Haynes sisters off, the suitcase is not there.
The Columbia Inn Station Wagon that picks them up at the train station has a black and yellow California license plate when they are suppose to be in Vermont.
While the quartet is singing "Snow" on the train to Vermont, shadows of the crew and camera can be seen on the table's edge as the camera pulls back.
The firewood that Susan carries into the inn after the Haynes Sisters and Wallace & Davis arrive has one piece of wood sticking out at the bottom, but is gone seconds later.
During the "Mandy" number, Betty is seen at the top of the production number set then seconds later on the stage with the rest of the performers near the end of the number.
When Bob is singing White Christmas during the war scene, he has his hands on his belt and his index fingers keep changing positions between shots.
During the "Minstrel Show" number, the words go: "Oh, Mister Bones! That's terrible!... Ah, ha!... Yes, Mister Bones, that's terrible!... Oh, ho!" Watch Danny Kaye. He flubs the lip-sync and mixes up the "Oh, ho!" and the "Ah, ha!" Apparently, Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney noticed because, for a few seconds, it looks like they're trying not to laugh. But the pre-recorded soundtrack covers up any giggles that might have been happening.
Right before the "Snow!" number on the train, the menu in the background is lying on its side. At the start of the musical number, all four singers simultaneously look at the menu, which has now righted itself with no apparent help from them.
A full orchestra can be seen in the orchestra pit at the beginning of the dress rehearsal for "The Minstrel Show" number. When the number is over, the orchestra has disappeared, even though they were playing just moments before.
When Davis and Novello are talking about the sheriff, Davis suggests that Novello continue keeping the sheriff busy and then pushes Novello through the door and follows him through the door. However, when the camera follows Davis through the door, Novello is nowhere to be seen.
Before the "Count Your Blessings" song, Wallace is holding a sandwich up in one of his hands, but in the next shot, he's no longer holding the sandwich, and both of his hands are flat on the table.
Early in the film there is a scene from the control room for the Wallace and Davis radio show. An engineer is seen sitting in front of the audio mixing console, but the VU meters that would show the level of the audio being sent out are not moving.
The railroad station and passenger cars are said to be in Vermont when in fact they are Southern Pacific Standard Design Station and SP Harriman coaches never used outside of SP service territory.
A distinctive red bass drum used in the opening wartime scene at Monte Cassino as Captain Wallace performs the film's title song is conspicuously visible again just outside the dressing room of the Haynes Sisters at Novello's back in the USA several years later.
During "The Best Things" dance number, at the end of the number, on the very last twirl around a kneeling Danny Kaye before she falls into his arms, Vera-Ellen trips over Danny Kaye's outstretched left foot. She recovers so smoothly that it is very difficult to catch.
In the opening when Bob Wallace is singing 'White Christmas' the snare drum is visible but keeps disappearing and reappearing as the song continues.
During the scene in the Inn when Judy is trying to convince Phil they should pretend to be engaged she has him cornered on the couch and we hear him say the words 'I feel the same way about my cocker spaniel.' It's very obvious that those words were dubbed in and he originally said something else.
During the "Gee, I Wish I Was Back In The Army" song Betty and Judy have pants on. When the hometown character set flips up their pant legs are rolled up but you never see them roll the pant legs up.
Early in the movie when Bob and Phil go to The Florida Theater, they tell Novello they are there to see The Haynes Sisters. Novello then goes to the girls' dressing room and tells them that Bob and Phil are there to see their act because the girls' brother had sent them a letter, but Bob and Phil hadn't told Novello that.
While Phil and Bob are lip-syncing the song "Sisters" (allowing Judy and Betty time to escape out the window), there is a phrase at the end that Bob (Bing Crosby) messes up on. "Lord help the mister who comes between me and my sister; and Lord help the sister who comes between me and my man!" Bing Crosby messes up on the last phrase and says "Lord help the mister" instead of "Lord help the sister". It's very obvious that Danny Kaye catches the mistake.
When Bob Wallace remembered he had picked up a letter for Gen, Waverly, he says that the letter was from the War Department. The movie was released in 1954 and the War Department had been changed to the Defense Department in 1947.
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