White Christmas (film) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids White Christmas
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Michael Curtiz
Produced by	Robert Emmett Dolan
Written by	Norman Krasna Norman Panama Melvin Frank
Starring	Bing Crosby Danny Kaye Rosemary Clooney Vera-Ellen Dean Jagger
Music by	Gus Levene Joseph J. Lilley Van Cleave
Cinematography	Loyal Griggs
Editing by	Frank Bracht
Studio	Paramount Pictures
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	October 14, 1954 (1954-10-14)
Running time	120 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$2 million
Money made	$30 million

White Christmas is a 1954 American musical film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, and Vera-Ellen. Filmed in Technicolor, it features the songs of Irving Berlin, including a new version of the title song, "White Christmas", introduced by Crosby in the 1942 film Holiday Inn.

Produced and distributed by Paramount Pictures, the film is notable for being the first to be released in VistaVision, a widescreen process developed by Paramount that entailed using twice the surface area of standard 35mm film; this large-area negative was also used to yield finer-grained standard-sized 35mm prints.

Plot

In Europe in 1944, at the height of World War II, Broadway star Captain Bob Wallace and aspiring performer Private Phil Davis entertain the 151st division with a Christmas Eve soldier's show. Major General Thomas F. Waverly, who has been reassigned, delivers an emotional farewell. Shortly after Waverly departs, enemy bombers attack. Phil is slightly wounded when he pulls Bob away from a collapsing wall. While recuperating in the camp infirmary, Phil suggests he and Bob form a duo act; Bob dislikes the idea but feels obliged to try.

After the war, the duo become the famous song and dance team Wallace & Davis as well as successful musical show producers. While the duo performs in Florida, Bob receives a letter from an army buddy asking them to review his sisters' singing act at a nightclub there. The two watch Betty and Judy perform and the four meetup after. Phil, wanting to marry off Bob, hopes he and Betty are mutually attracted. While Phil and Judy are dancing, Betty apologetically confesses to Bob that Judy actually wrote the letter. Bob humorously admires Judy's resourcefulness though Betty thinks he is being cynical .

Bing Crosby as Bob Wallace and Danny Kaye as Phil Davis

Learning the sisters' landlord is falsely suing them for damages and has called the cops, Phil gives them his and Bob's train tickets to New York City. The group flee to the train station. The girls get Phil and Bob's sleeping compartment while the guys sit up all night in the Club Car, much to Bob's chagrin.

The girls persuade Phil and Bob to forgo New York and spend Christmas in Pine Tree, Vermont where they are booked as performers. In Vermont, they discover that no snow is keeping tourists away. Arriving at the empty Columbia Inn, Bob and Phil are aghast to discover that General Waverly is the nearly-bankrupt owner, having invested his pension and life savings. Phil and Bob decide to stage a large musical at the Pine Tree hoping to attract guests. Betty and Judy are included with the other performers. Meanwhile, Betty and Bob's romance starts to bloom.

Later, Waverly receives a rejection letter after trying to rejoin the army. To cheer up the general, Bob hatches a secret plan to reunite their old army regiment. He calls Broadway producer Ed Harrison to ask his help. Ed's idea would exploit the General's misfortune and give free publicity for Wallace & Davis. Bob strongly rejects his suggestion, insisting there is to be no personal advantage. Unfortunately, housekeeper Emma only partially overhears the phone conversation and believes Bob is exploiting the general's misfortune. She tells Betty, who rebuffs Bob. Her sudden distant coolness baffles him.

Phil and Judy stage a phony engagement hoping it reunites Betty and Bob. However, this backfires when Betty leaves for a solo singing gig in New York. When Phil and Judy confess the truth to Bob, he rushes to New York to tell Betty. They partially reconcile, but Bob runs into Harrison before he can fully explain everything to Betty. When Bob appears on Harrison's TV show to request the entire 151st division join him at Pine Tree to honor General Waverly, Betty realizes she misunderstood and returns to Vermont in time to join the show.

On Christmas Eve, the soldiers surprise General Waverly. During the performance, Betty and Bob reconcile, and Judy and Phil realize they are in love. As everyone sings "White Christmas", a thick snowfall at last blankets Vermont.

Cast

Bing Crosby as Bob Wallace and Danny Kaye as Phil Davis

Production

Irving Berlin suggested a movie based on his song in 1948. Paramount put up the $2 million budget and only took 30% of the proceeds.

Mel Frank and Norman Panama were hired to add material for Danny Kaye. They felt the whole script needed rewriting, and Curtiz agreed. "It was a torturous eight weeks of rewriting", said Panama. Frank said "writing that movie was the worst experience of my life. Norman Krasna was a talented man but ... it was the lousiest story I'd ever heard. It needed a brand new story, one that made sense." They did the job at $5,000 a week.

Principal photography took place between September and December 1953. The film was the first to be shot using Paramount's new VistaVision process, with color by Technicolor, and was one of the first to feature the Perspecta directional sound system at limited engagements.

Casting

Danny Kaye as Phil Davis and Vera-Ellen as Judy Haynes

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) – where the song "White Christmas" first appeared – and Blue Skies (1946). Astaire declined the project after reading the script and asked to be released from his contract with Paramount. Crosby also left the project shortly thereafter, to spend more time with his sons after the death of his wife, Dixie Lee. Near the end of January 1953, Crosby returned to the project, and Donald O'Connor was signed to replace Astaire. Just before shooting was to begin, O'Connor had to drop out due to illness and was replaced by Danny Kaye, who asked for and received a salary of $200,000 and 10% of the gross. Financially, the film was a partnership between Crosby, Irving Berlin and Paramount, who after giving Kaye a share, retained 30% each.

Within the film, a number of soon-to-be famous performers appear. Dancer Barrie Chase appears unbilled, as the character Doris Lenz ("Mutual, I'm sure!"). Future Oscar winner George Chakiris also appears as one of the stone-faced black-clad dancers surrounding Rosemary Clooney in "Love, You Didn't Do Right by Me". John Brascia leads the dance troupe and appears opposite Vera-Ellen throughout much of 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 Our Gang film series, in an army field jacket and jeep cap.

A scene from the film featuring Crosby and Kaye was 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).

Music

• "White Christmas" (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 & Vera-Ellen)
• "The Best Things Happen While You're Dancing" (Kaye with Vera-Ellen)
• "Sisters (reprise)" (lip synced by Crosby and Kaye)
• "Snow" (Crosby, Kaye, Clooney & Vera-Ellen)
• Minstrel Number: "I'd Rather See a Minstrel Show" / "Mister Bones" / "Mandy" (Crosby, Kaye, Clooney & 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 & Vera-Ellen)
• "White Christmas (finale)" (Crosby, Kaye, Clooney, Vera-Ellen & Chorus)

All songs were written by Irving Berlin. The centerpiece of the film is the title song, first used in Holiday Inn, which won that film an Oscar for Best Original Song in 1942. In addition, "Count Your Blessings" earned the picture its own Oscar nomination in the same category.

The song "Snow" was originally written for Call Me Madam with the title "Free", but was dropped in out-of-town tryouts. The melody and some of the words were kept, but the lyrics were changed to be 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.

A composer's demo of the original song can be found on the CD Irving Sings Berlin.

Rosemary Clooney as Betty Haynes and Bing Crosby as Bob Wallace

The song "What Can You Do with a General?" was originally written for an un-produced project called Stars on My Shoulders.

Trudy Stevens provided the singing voice for Vera-Ellen, including in "Sisters". (The first edition of Vera-Ellen's biography by David Soren made the mistake of suggesting that "perhaps" Clooney sang for Vera in "Sisters". The second edition of the biography corrected that error by adding this: "Appropriately, they sing "Sisters" with Rosemary Clooney actually dueting with Trudy Stabile (wife of popular bandleader Dick Stabile), who sang under the stage name Trudy Stevens and who had been personally recommended for the dubbing part by Clooney. Originally, Gloria Wood was going to do Vera-Ellen's singing until Clooney intervened on behalf of her friend.") It was not possible to issue an "original soundtrack album" of the film, because Decca Records controlled the soundtrack rights, but Clooney was under exclusive contract with Columbia Records. Consequently, each company issued a separate "soundtrack recording": Decca issuing Selections from Irving Berlin's White Christmas, while Columbia issued Irving Berlin's White Christmas. On the former, the song "Sisters" (as well as all of Clooney's vocal parts) was recorded by Peggy Lee, while on the latter, the song was sung by Clooney and her own sister, Betty.

Berlin wrote "A Singer, A Dancer" for Crosby and his planned co-star Fred Astaire; when Astaire became unavailable, Berlin re-wrote it as "A Crooner – A Comic" for Crosby and Donald O'Connor, but when O'Connor left the project, so did the song. Another song written by Berlin for the film was "Sittin' in the Sun (Countin' My Money)" but because of delays in production Berlin decided to publish it independently. 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, and can be found on the Bear Family Records 7-CD set titled Come On-A My House.

Home media

White Christmas was released on VHS in 1986 and again in 1997. The first US DVD release was in 2000. It was subsequently re-released in 2009, with a commensurate Blu-ray in 2010. The film was reissued in a 4-disc "Diamond Anniversary Edition" on October 14, 2014. This collection contains a Blu-ray with supplemental features, two DVDs with the film and an audio commentary by Clooney, and a fourth disc of Christmas songs on CD. These songs are performed individually by Crosby, Clooney, and Kaye.

Stage adaptation

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 United States, such as Boston, Buffalo, Los Angeles, Detroit and Louisville. The musical played a limited engagement on Broadway at the Marquis Theatre, from November 14, 2008, until January 4, 2009. The musical also toured the United Kingdom from 2006 to 2008. It then headed to the Sunderland Empire in Sunderland from November 2010 to January 2011 after a successful earlier run in Manchester, and continued in various cities with a London West End run at the end of 2014.

See also

In Spanish: White Christmas (película) para niños

• List of Christmas films