Off Shore Muse

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.