19 Little-Known Facts About the Holiday Classic, 'White Christmas'
White Christmas Facts
White Christmas is an all-time holiday classic, watched annually by millions around the globe. Its songs are seasonal staples, and the wholesome message of this classic Christmas movie resonates with all kinds of viewers. You’ve probably even seen it a few times yourself. But there are many things about White Christmas, its production and its cast–Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen–that you might not know. Jeremy, Barrett and Chris at CinemaSins put together an insider’s list of 19 facts and details you might not have known about your favorite Christmas movie, White Christmas, from the songs to the sets to the stars.
1. Some White Christmas songs are technically covers
Irving Berlin, who wrote White Christmas, reused some songs from his earlier black-and-white film, Holiday Inn. The title song “White Christmas” and the “Abraham” number are the most notable examples. Crosby even sings “White Christmas” in Holiday Inn, though his later performance in the titular film would become the more famous version.
2. “Abraham” is versatile
“Abraham” in the original Holiday Inn is slow and plodding. Boring even. In White Christmas, the same melody is sped up by a factor of 3 or 4 and creates one of the film’s most memorable dance numbers.
3. Irving Berlin won the Oscar, and presented it to himself!
Berlin won the Oscar for the song “White Christmas” in Holiday Inn, which he knew beforehand because…he was the presenter of the award, and read his own name aloud as the recipient! Berlin is still the only person to ever announce their own Oscar victory.
4. White Christmas made a lot of money
White Christmas was the second-highest-grossing film of 1954, losing out only to The Caine Mutiny. Its haul at the box office? A whopping $12 million.
5. Fosse posse
Bob Fosse, famed choreographer of stage and film, did uncredited choreography work on White Christmas, which may help explain why so many of the dance sequences are so memorable.
6. Vera-Ellen was a dancing queen
Vera-Ellen was a trained dancer long before this film, and she’d even been a Radio City Rockette—one of the youngest ever. She began dancing at age 10 and one of her old schoolmates for dance class was none other than Doris Day.
7. The White Christmas cast's ages were all over the place
Twenty-six-year-old Clooney played older sister Betty and 33-year-old Vera-Ellen played the younger sister Judy. Even more striking is the age difference between Rosemary and her male counterpart. Crosby was 51, falling in love on screen with 26-year-old Clooney. Meanwhile, Kaye was the same age as his onscreen love played by Vera-Ellen.
Related: The Best Christmas Movies Ever
8. Diplomacy rules...
After wrapping the final shot, it was learned that the king and queen of Denmark were on set visiting. And that’s pretty weird in and of itself. But one of the producers also wanted to impress the royals, and convinced the entire cast and crew to “reshoot” the final scene with an audience.
9. But there was no film in the camera
Oh, and Crosby wasn’t there because, hilariously, he had already left to go play golf. Rumor has it the king and queen of Denmark were thrilled to watch the shooting and had no idea they’d been fooled.
10. 'White Christmas' was full of other famous names
In the finale’s song, “Gee, I Wish I Was Back In the Army,” there is a namecheck to real-life entertainers, specifically those famous for doing USO shows for the troops. The lyric cites Jolson (Al), Hope (Bob) and Benny (Jack). But when the song was written, before the film was cast, Crosby himself was name-checked in the song. It was originally Hope, Jolson and Crosby in the song. Once he was cast, they decided to rewrite the lyric so as to avoid confusing the audience.
11. There are 2 different White Christmas soundtracks
Because Clooney was under contract to a different music publisher, there are two versions of this movie’s soundtrack. The company that owned the studio soundtrack rights to the film rerecorded Clooney’s parts with Peggy Lee and put out the soundtrack that way. Clooney’s own label, however, had her rerecord eight songs from the film and they put out their own soundtrack.
12. Danny Kaye almost wasn't in the 'White Christmas' cast
Kaye is maybe most known to the public at large for his role in White Christmas, but it almost wasn’t his. In fact, it was written with Fred Astaire in mind. Sadly, Astaire retired before they shot it, so the studio then turned to…Donald O’Connor, most famous for his rag-doll dance sequences in Singing in the Rain. After O’Connor got sick, though, the studio finally wised up and hired the right man for the job, and the rest is Kaye history.
13. Who’s that kid?
The film hinges on the “sister act” being viewed by the famous Wallace & Davis, and the two show up because of a letter from an old army buddy, Benny Haynes—who just happens to be the brother of the two singers in question. There’s a moment even when the girls show a recent photo of Benny to the two famous singers, and if you thought that photo rang a bell for you, it probably did…because it's Carl Switzer, famous for playing Alfalfa in the original Little Rascals.
14. Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye improv
The girls perform a song called “Sisters” in the film, at the dinner theater where they meet our main characters. Later, in an attempt to stall for time, the male characters re-perform the same song—lip-syncing and dressed in the ladies’ costumes. It’s one of the most memorable and hilarious moments of the film, and it was not in the script at all. It was the result of the actors just horsing around on-set between takes, and the director saw them, and magic was born.
15. More improv!
In the scene where Crosby ends up singing "Count Your Blessings" to Clooney’s character to try and comfort her, he first offers her a sandwich and a glass of buttermilk. He even muses about what kinds of dreams one might have based on the choice of sandwich. As it turns out, almost all that dialogue was improvised by Crosby and wasn’t even in the script at all. In fact, Crosby was a notable improviser during the shooting of the film.
Related: The Best Hallmark Christmas Movies of All Time
16. Famous relatives
You probably already guessed that Rosemary Clooney is related to George Clooney, and you are correct in that assumption. Good work! She’s his aunt. But what you probably did not know is that another famous actor was Rosemary Clooney’s own son: Miguel Ferrer, an actor perhaps most well-known from RoboCop and NCIS: Los Angeles, but who was an accomplished voice actor as well.
17. Extra! Extra!
Perhaps the most famous extra in White Christmas shows up during the “You Done Me Wrong” number Betty sings at the Carousel Club, with Bob in the audience. As she belts out lines like “to send me a Joe who had winter and snow in his heart…wasn’t smart,” she’s joined by four male dancers, one of whom might look a tiny bit familiar…because it’s George Chakiris, who won an Oscar for playing Bernardo in West Side Story!
18. Before auto-tune
Vera-Ellen isn’t actually singing in this movie. There’s only one scene where it’s her real voice, and it’s when the group is getting off the train in Vermont re-singing the chorus to “Snow.” Otherwise, her voice is being dubbed by Clooney or a singer named Trudy Stevens.
19. Introducing, VistaVision!
It was the first film in VistaVision, which was a brand new higher-resolution version of the standard 35mm film format. VistaVision only lasted seven years, but is credited with inspiring large-format filmmaking like the IMAX 70mm.
Next, learn all about the classic Christmas movie, It's A Wonderful Life.
