Circa 1950s

 

 

Release Date: August 4, 1942

Director,  Mark Sandrich

Story by Irving Berlin

Music composed by Irving Berlin and

 Robert Emmett Dolan (musical director for Paramount)

Dolan has been given film music credits for many movies including The Bells of St. Mary's (1945) and Going My Way (1944). Both films starring Crosby.  Holiday Inn was primarily filmed on soundstages at Paramount Studios in Hollywood, but it also used exterior shots from real locations in California including the Riverview Inn (now Village Inn) in Monte Rio along the Russian River.  The inn set was later repurposed for White Christmas (1954) to become the Columbia Inn.  The main indoor sets for the inn were built and filmed at Paramount Studios. 

In this Irving Berlin musical, Jim Hardy (Bing Crosby) and Lila Dixon (Virginia Dale) played opposite Ted Hanover (Fred Astaire) and Linda Mason (Majorie Reynolds).  Jim and Lila are members of a performing trio who plan to quit and run a country hotel. 

Screen legends Crosby and Astaire sing and dance their way into your hert in one of the most timeless holiday classics ever. 

Many feel the movie, White Christmas was a sequel to Holiday Inn. Though it was not a sequel the two movies are closely linked.  Paramount intended White Christmas to be a successor after the success of Holiday Inn, but it became a standalone film with a new story yet it did reuse some set pieces.  Both movies starred Bing Crosby and featured songs by Irving Berlin, with the song "White Christmas" first appearing in Holiday Inn before being used as the title and main song for the 1954 film.  Danny Kaye replaced Fred Astaire in White Christmas after Astaire, age 43 at the time, dropped out.

Fred Astaire performed the "firecracker dance" in Holiday Inn.  The iconic scene, where he dances with lit firecrackers was a complex and difficult number that took him 38 takes to complete. This challenging routine took multiple days to film and to rehearse. 

 

Maureen O'Hara, John Payne and Natalie Wood starred with Santa Claus in this classic holiday film.

Circa 1947

After a divorced new York mother hires a nice old man to play Santa Claus at Macy's, she is startled by his claim to be the genuine article.  When his sanity is questioned, a lawyer defends him in court by arguing that he's not mistaken.  The story takes place between Thanksgiving and Christmas in New York City and focuses on the effect of a department store Santa Claus who claims to be the real Santa.  Miracle on 34th Street has become a perennial Christmas favorite.  

Edmund Gwenn

1877-1959

Gwenn was a English actor.   On film, he is best remembered for his role as Kris Kringle in Miracle on 34th Street for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and the corresponding Golden Globe Award.

Young Susan first showed Santa Claus a magazine picture of the house she wanted for Christmas.  In real life, the house is located in Port Washington, New York. It was built in 1943 and is just over 1,700 square feet.  

A memorable scene in the film is when Susan, her mother and her mother's boyfriend dash into the the newly discorvered house and find Kris Kringle's cane leaning on the fireplace.  That's how they know Santa is real! 

The house takes center stage in the 1947 film near the end when 6 year old Susan Walker is devasted to learn that a Macy's Santa, seemingly can't deliver on is promise to give her the home she's always wanted, including a big tree and a swing in the back yard.  At a Christmas party Susan mournfully tellls Santa .. "You couldn't get it because you're not Santa Claus.  You're just a nice old man with whiskers."

But then a Yuletide miracle occurs!  Susan spots her dream house on a hill with a "For Sale" sign out front.  She, her mother and her mother's boyfriend dash inside and discover Kris Kringle's cane leaning on the fireplace!

On a visit to Macy's flagship store in Herald Square one year, the Frutkins noticed a little girl and her parents admiring the window display which just happened to show minature scenes from the movie  

"The girl was visibly excited to be looking at the windows.  Her mother said,'That's her favorite movie.  My wife and I looked at each other and decided to tell her where we lived. She was speechless."

Orrie and Goodie Frutkin

Although the interior shots of the house were filmed on a soundstage, the exterior shots were from the real life house that still stands today. 

Susan spots the house she showed Santa Claus

and

At that very moment she realizes .. Santa is real. 

The real homeowner's daughter was so moved by the scene that she bought an identical cane at a thrift shop and placed it by the fireplace in the living room .. just like in the film.*

*If I owned the house, I would have tried acquiring the actual cane used in the film.  

To this day, folks drive by the house all the time from all over the world to take pictures of the beloved Christmas movie house. The Frutkins don't mind if people photograph the exterior of their home. They are just happy to live in such a beloved film landmark. 

It's the famous Long Island house that brought joy to Natalie Wood's little-girl character in the Christmas classic though for the couple living in the charming Cape Cod style house, it's just .. home sweet home. 

Orrie and Goodie Frutkin

 "We just love this house.  We knew it was something special before we even knew it was a celebrity house.  We're happy to see people's eyes light up when we tell them it's the house in Miracle on 34th Street, but to us, it's just a cozy, comfortable place to live."

Orrie and Goodie Frutkin

Circa 1980

A few things you may not have known about the film.

1.  The co-stars were super tight.  In her autobiography, Maureen O'Hara (Doris Walker) revealed that even after the long days of filming, she and Edmund Gwenn (Santa Claus) and John Payne (Fred Gailey) would hang out together on their nights off, strolling 5th Avenue.

2.  Maureen O'Hara and Natalie Wood had an extra special bond.  The actress recalled feeling a motherly love for 8 year old Natalie. "I have been the mother of almost 40 children in movies, but I have always had a special place in  my hear for little Natalie.  She always called me Mamma Maureen and I called her Natasha,the name her parents had given her."

3.  The Thanksgiving Day Parade scene was completely real.  Edmund Gwenn made thousands of people happy when he appeared as Santa in the real 1946 Macy's parade.  Cameras were set up along the route to film the entire thing. 

4.  Santa's employment card revealed a Christmas secret. Kris Kringle's next to kin are his beloved reindeer.  

5.  John Payne really watnted to do a sequel. John believed in the film so much that he wrote a sequel for it.  O'Hara wrote in her autobiography "He was going to send it to me, but tragically died before he could get around to it.  I never saw it and have often wondered what happened to it."  The sequel was never made and the written script is considered lost. 

6.  They almost couldn't film the final shot.  The weather that day was so intensely bitter that the camera equipment was failing, causing major delays.  But an unexpected hero saved the day.  A kind woman named Vaughn Mele, who lived across the street, invited the cast and crew into her home to warm up between takes.  As a thank you, Maureen O'Hara invited Vaughn and her husband out to dinner at the famous restaurant, 21, where Vaughn was so excited she could only stomach a glass of milk!

7.  Macy's and Gimbels didn't consent to having their names in the movie until filming was completed.  The intense rivalry between Macy's and Gimbels really did exist. In real life, things were just as competitive between the brands that stood just blocks away from each other in New York City.  In fact, the phrase "Does Macy's tell Gimbels?" was often used in business in the '30s through the '60s to mean trade secrets shouldn't be shared.

8.  There was almost a remake starring Natalie Wood's daughter. She would have played the same role her mother did all those years ago.  Natalie declined the offer because she didn't want her own kids to start acting at such a young age.  

9.  Maureen O'Hara originally didn't want to do the film!  The actress nearly rejected the role of Doris Walker because she had just touched down in Ireland and would have had to return to America to begin shooting.  Something she wasn't thrilled about though after reading the script her entire view of the movie changed.  "I don't think I will ever tire of children asking me, 'Are you the lady who knows Santa Claus?  I always answer, "Yes, I am.  What would you like me to tell him?"  Maureen O'Hara never wanted the film to be colorized yet 1985, the film was one of the first to be colorized resulting in some controversy from film purists who believed it should have remained black and white.

10.  Edmund Gwenn's transformation into Santa Claus wasn't easy.   The actor had to gain 30 pounds and add five inches to his waistline  which was alot for the 5.5" actor.  After filming wrapped, he found it difficult to lose the weight.  His long gray beard was real!  When Gwenn gave his most memorable acceptance speeches in Oscar history he spoke these words .. "Now I know there's a Santa Claus!  Gwenn remains the only actor to ever win the prestigious honor for playing Kris Kringle.

 

 

Kilwin's

Petoskey, Michigan

Kilwin's was founded in 1947 by Don and Katy Kilwin in Petoskey, Michigan starting as a bakery and candy shop focusing on high-quality ingredients and traditional methods like making fudge in copper kettles.  After selling the bakery side in 1971, they concentrated on confections, eventually selling the compnay to Wayne and Lorene Rose in 1978 who began franchising across Michigan in 1983 adding ice cream in 1985 and growing the brand significantly before selling to Don and Robin McCarty who continued expansion with the private equity firm, Levine Leichtman Capital Partners (LLCP) acquiring it in 2023.

The business grew subbstantially with over 60 locations by 2007, many in tourist areas.  In 2011, a dedicated Chocolate Kitchen and flagship store opened in beautiful Petoskey using historic copper kettles and marble slabs for production. 

Kilwins remains known for its commitment to traditional, artisanal candy-making, offering not only fudge, but caramel corn, caramel apples, high-quality Kilwins Heritage Chocolate and deliciouis TUTTLE Nut Caramels, truffles, brittle, chocolates and other confections right before your eyes through the glass in the retail store!  All crafted with original recipes and in a nostalgic, friendly atmosphere.  

A favorite among customers is almond toffee crunch. 

Don and Katy Kilwin

Kilwins values are simple:  Treat others as you want to be treated, do your best, and have fun!  These values translate directly to a culture of people who are driven to provide an exceptional confectionery experience.  Coupled with our high-quality products, in-store craftsmanship and genuinely friendly team members, we create an atmosphere that our customers want to visit again and again.  From sight to taste, touch, smell and sound a visit to Kilwins provides an authentic sensory and taste experience like none other.  Kilwins is where people celebrate, vacation and share the experience of life, family and gifting in a nostalgic Americana setting. 

"Sweet in every Sense since 1947"

Kilwins is made up of over 160 franchises with stores in 28 states.  

 

Merry Christmas

 

White Christmas Part Two

"Vermont should be beautiful this time of year, all that snow".

It won't be long before we'll all be there with snow

I wanna wash my hands, my face, and hair with snow...

Backstage Stories from White Christmas

White Christmas 

A Look Back with Rosemary Clooney

White Christmas

 directed by Michael Curtiz

Release Date:  October 14, 1954

Part One

Made on a budget of $2 million, White Christmas was the highest grossing film of 1954 by a wide margin in the United States bringing in around $12 million by the end of its theatrical run (adjusting for inflation, that would be close to $137 million today).

The song "White Christmas" was written by Irving Berlin with inspiration from his own melancholy over the loss of his three-week old son on Christmas Day in 1928 and the broader turmoil of WWII.  This loss became a private sadness that he visited with his wife at their son's grave every year and it heavily influenced the wistful and sentimental tone of the song therefore Christmas was a sad day for him.  While many American families opened gifts around the Christmas tree, Berlin had his own, though somber, tradition.

Berlin created a song universally relatable with imagery of snow, treetops and sleigh bells that anyone, regardless of background, could embrace.

The nostaligic lyrics evoked a longing for a peaceful, snowy Christmas and a dream of better times.  The song was introduced by Bing Crosby in the 1942 film Holiday Inn and became a massive hit, resonating deeply with soldiers during the war who yearned for home.  Armed Forces Radio played it so frequently that Crosby re-recorded it in 1947 due to wear on the original master recording. 

On Christmas Day, 1941, just 18 days following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Crosby announced that he would be debuting a new song on The Kraft Music Hall radio show he hosted for a decade.  That day, Crosby went on to croon "White Christmas" live on the air. The song won Berlin an Academy Award for Best Original Song.  Crosby's version is the best-selling single of all time, totaling a whopping 50 million copies sold. A record still retained to this day.  The song has truly stood the test of time, across generations, musical genres and languages.

  

"I hesitated about recording the song because invariably it caused such a nostalgic yearning aong the men, that it made them sad.  Heaven knows, I didn't come that far to make them sad.  For this reason, several times I tried to cut it out of the show, but these guys just hollered for it."  

Bing Crosby 

Even though the song depicts chilly weather, Irving Berlin wrote it in a bright and sunny location.  Some say he wrote the song in Palm Springs, California while others say he wrote it in Phoenix, Arizona.  Whatever the case may be you can't deny that he was feeling notaligic for a colder Christmas climate. 

2022 marked the 80th anniversary of the song, White Christmas.  

By the end of the war, "White Christmas" was the best-selling song of all time and held that distinction for 56 yars until Elton John's remake of "Candle in the Wind" when Princess Diana died in 1997.  

Bob Wallace (Bing Crosby) and Phil Davis (Danny Kaye), two army buddies become a top-notch musical comedy team after the war and are now the toast of Broadway.  While on the road in Florida, the stars become involved with two aspiring singers, the sister act of Betty Haynes (Rosemary Clooney) and Judy Haynes (Vera-Ellen). Despite some romantic complications between the couples, everything turns out in the end on a happy note when Christmas Eve brings rave reviews for the show and much-needed snowfall in the fictional town of Pine Tree, Vermont at the Columbia Inn.

The film was shot entirely on studio lots in California.

"Count Your Blessings (Instead of Sheep)"

"If you're worried and you can't sleep, just count your blessings instead of sheep

And you'll fall asleep counting your blessings. "

This song was inspired and written by Irving Berlin after a visit to a psychiatrist to threat his insomia.  The doctor gave him advice along the song's lines and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song.  The sentimental theme reminds listeners to remember how much they are blessed instead of fretting about short-term problems. 

"Sisters"

Here are both Rosemary Clooney and Vera Ellen as they performed "Sisters" in the movie.  The Clooney House is lucky to have both dresses. 

This is the dress worn by Rosemary Clooney.  It evidently had been displayed in bright light and the top, while original, is badly faded.  The skirt was in shreds and had to have a complete restoration.  The fan is one of two found in storage at Paramount though badly faded. The other was badly broken, perhaps due to Crosby and Kaye slapping one another with it. 

Vera-Ellen's dress was found in the holdings of a private collector in Texas.  The bodice had been cut and badly altered into a sweetheart neckline, but the skirt was intact.  Having both dresses made the needed restorations clear.  Matching lace was found and Vera Ellen's high neckline was restored.  Note the difference in color between the studio photo and the actual dresses.  Some of it is due to fading though it seems a bit more is at work here. 

The hat was worn by Vera Ellen and the gloves were worn by Clooney in her famous solo night club cat.  The gloves were found at Paramount, but the dress has sadly disappeared from sight.  Clooney said she disliked the clothes as the fabric "caught on everything". 

"Love, You Didn't Do Right By Me"

Clooney's torch song performed at 

The Carousel Club in NYC.

Rosemary Clooney with dancer, George Chakris

Although Vera-Ellen was a talented dancer, her singing was dubbed by Rosemary Clooney

The original singer of "White Christmas" was Bing Crosby.  He first recorded the song on May 29, 1942 and it became the best-selling single of all time.  The song was written by Irving Berlin. Crosby was 51 years old when White Christmas was released.  He was 25 years older than his co-star, Rosemary Clooney who was 26 at the time. Danny Kaye was 44 years old when White Christmas was released.  Vera-Ellen was 33.

Fred Astaire was supposed to play Phil Davis.  After Astaire and Crosby's success in 1942s Holiday Inn, White Christmas was intended to reunite the famous duo. But Astaire had retired by the time White Christmas was filmed 12 years later and he turned down the role. 

At the end of the movie, there was a special moment when Betty gave Bob the statuette of a knight on a white horse.  This is a symbolic gift between them as it represents her view of Bob as her "white knight" and is a thoughtful, non-verbal way for her to apologize after a misunderstanding and confirm her genuine admiration and love for him.  Betty's way of telling Bob that "all is forgiven" was to wrap up a figurine of a knight in shining armor. Bob opens the gift from Betty in one of the closing scenes of the movie.

The "white knight statue" in White  Christmas was a symbolic gift from Betty to Bob at the end of the movie, representing his return to being a "knight in shining armor" in her eyes.  When they had a misunderstanding, Bob had said he "didn't know how he fell off his white horse".  By giving him the statue, Betty is telling him she forgives him and believes in him, again.  Upon receiving the gift, Bob is so overjoyed he throws the statue into the Christmas teee, but the gift's meaning transcends the object, itself.  

In my research of this beloved movie for my blog I found where someone wanted to know what happened to the statuette white knight?  It was a prop used for the finale of the film and its current whereabouts is unknown, though it was likely either lost, forgotten in a prop house or perhaps sold to a collector. Like most props and costumes from older films, the statuette was not considered a significant historical artifact at the time of th emovie's production in 1954.  Many items were reused in ofther films, sold off or simply discarded over the years.  While some key costumes and artifacts from the film have been collected and displayed in exhibitions, the specific fate of the small knight statuette is not publicly documented.  This is a shame as its value today would be "priceless".  

All's well that ends well.

Merry Christm

We raise our glasses to the General!

Major General Thomas F. Waverly

WWII

In the White Christmas plot the main characters played by Crosby, Kaye, Vera-Ellen and Clooney upon learning that the general is struggling to make his inn a success after retiring from being a general. The foursome express their surprise and empathy for his post-war situation.  The sentiment is summarized in the lyrics of the song "What can You Do With a General (When He Stops Being a General)?  The general's plight is that despite his distinguished position in civilian life. As the song explains, "They all get a job but a general no one hires." The line in the movie that captures this sentiment is spoken by Betty Haynes (Rosemary Clooney) when she says to Bob Wallace) Bing Crosby):

"I think what you're doing for the general is one of the most decent, unselfish things I've ever heard of".

The line truly highlights her realization of the characters' nobile intent to help their former commander, who is a man surprised by the realities of civilian life after the army was his whole world. 

"Merry Christmas, Major General Waverly"

It will always be a white Christmas and enjoyed by your troops.

In 2004, White Christmas marked its 70th anniversary.  

Like most movies from the past, the costumes from White Christmas were reused, sold and scattered over the years.  The Rosemary Clooney House in Augusta, Kentucky has been collecting items from the movie for many years.  What they have achieved in assembling a collection of costumes from the movie is remarkable.  

One of the two iconic red Santa costumes with the high neckline worn in the finale by Vera-Ellen.  It is a replica of the original gown. The other original red Santa costume worn by Rosemary Clooney are both unknown.  It is suspected tht the gowns were actually repurposed into other costumes, but the evidence of this does not exist other than the fact that repurposing was a common studio practice.  The Clooney House has worked closely with Paramount Studios to locate lost items.

Military uniforms worn  by General Waverly and a coat worn by Rosemary Clooney in White Christmas.

It snowed "on cue" for General Waverly 

in

White Christmas at The Columbia Inn.

The Rosemary Clooney House Museum

106 E. Riverside Drive

Augusta, Kentucky 

502-376-1967

ROSEMARY CLOONEY HOUSE

CIRCA 1840

Steve and Heather French Henry

Proprietors