White Christmas (1954)
- kbroer
- Dec 22, 2023
- 2 min read
Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, Vera-Ellen
Directed by Michael Curtiz
Available to stream on Amazon Prime
Entertainers Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye are war veterans who encounter their old commanding General and involve themselves in his life, with a bit of romance and a lot of dancing and singing along the way.
Why we love it: How could we not love it? It wouldn't be Christmas without Bing and Danny. It's a classic.
Fun Facts:
All of the music was written by Irving Berlin. The song "Count Your Blessings" was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song. The song "White Christmas" had already won an Oscar for Best Song in 1943 when Bing sang it in Holiday Inn. At the Awards Ceremony in 1943, Irving Berlin was the presenter and a nominee for the Best Song Category. He is the only person in the history of the Academy Awards to have presented an Oscar to himself!
The original intention of the movie was to reunite Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire -- they had appeared in Irving Berlin's Holiday Inn in 1942. Astaire had retired and didn't want to do the film so he was replaced with Donald O'Connor. O'Connor got sick right before filming began and Danny Kaye was a last minute replacement.
George Chakiris, future Academy Award winner for his role in West Side Story, makes an appearance as one of the dancers with Clooney in the number "Love, You Didn't Do Right by Me."
Vera-Ellen's voice was dubbed for all the songs in the film, but she was an amazing dancer. She had been dancing since she was 10 years old and had become one of the youngest Rockettes at the age of 18.
Rosemary Clooney was not a dancer, but was known for her singing. She had made her singing debut on a Cincinnati radio station at the age of 13. She went on to record for Columbia Records. Her first big hit was in 1951 with the song "Come On-a My House." In an interview, Clooney once remarked that White Christmas would have been near perfect if only they could have dubbed her dancing! She was also the aunt of actor George Clooney.
Bing Crosby loved to improvise, and apparently a lot of the dialogue about liverwurst and buttermilk before the "Count Your Blessings" song wasn't originally in the script. He just made it up. Another scene that wasn't originally in the script is where Crosby and Kaye dance and lip-sync to "Sisters." They were just having fun and the director loved it!
This was the first movie ever filmed in Vista Vision, Paramount's latest widescreen process.
Bringing in $12 million, White Christmas was the highest grossing movie of 1954.
For reviews and articles from the time, go to the Fan Magazine Reviews page.
Featured Cocktail:
Hot Buttered Rum
In White Christmas Bing and Danny anticipate “Hot Buttered Rum, light on the butter” when they get to Vermont.
2 oz (60 ml) amber or dark rum
1 Tbsp (15 ml) sugar syrup
3 whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick
4-5 oz (120-150 ml) boiling water
2 tsps unsalted butter
Freshly grated nutmeg for garnish
Pour the rum and simple syrup into a mug or Irish Coffee glass. Add the cloves and cinnamon stick. Add boiling water to almost fill the glass. Add the butter, stir briefly, and sprinkle with nutmeg.
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