You'll Never Believe These Fun 'White Christmas' Movie Facts About the Holiday Classic
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When it comes to Christmas movies, old is most certainly gold. While new holiday flicks fulfill festive cravings in a pinch, there’s nothing like the good ole classics to get you in the holiday spirit. And when it comes to classics, White Christmas takes the cake.
At the heart of the 1954 musical film lies a tale of two musically-inclined World War II veterans (Bob Wallace and Phil Davis) on a mission to rescue their former commanding officer's struggling Vermont inn with the help of two sisters (Betty and Judy Haynes). Boasting a star-studded cast, including Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, Danny Kaye, Vera-Ellen, and Dean Jagger, the movie personifies a festive soundtrack brimming with classic holiday songs, all penned by the legendary Irving Berlin. Complementing the soundtrack is a multitude of dynamic dance sequences choreographed by Bob Fosse.
Even if watching this beloved flick has become a Christmas tradition year after year, there are some surprising movie facts about White Christmas that might be news to you! Read ahead for juicy tidbits that you probably don’t know about the film’s cast, musical numbers, set, and more.
The film’s namesake song, "White Christmas," was already a hit.
American songsmith Irving Berlin wrote the song "White Christmas" in 1940, which was then recorded by Bing Crosby in 1942. In that same year, the song went on to make its first film appearance in Holiday Inn, also starring Crosby, which later won the Oscar for Best Song in 1943. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Crosby's version of "White Christmas" is the best-selling single of all time, and has an estimated 50 million copies worldwide. The song’s top spot on the charts over the next decade influenced the birth of its namesake film, White Christmas, at Paramount Pictures in 1949.
The song’s titular film soon after became a hit as well, as White Christmas was the most successful movie in 1954.
This was the #1 box office hit of 1954, with rentals of $12 million, beating the year's second biggest hit, The Caine Mutiny, by more than $3 million. Funny enough, the latter featured Rosemary Clooney’s husband, José Ferrer.
It’s the third of three films to feature Bing Crosby singing "White Christmas."
The first film feature of the song was over a decade before, in Holiday Inn (1942), and the second was eight years prior to the holiday hit, in Blue Skies (1946).
Vera-Ellen was shorter than Rosemary, so wardrobe magic was used to even things out for their musical numbers.
Although their shoes looked identical to the naked eye, Vera-Ellen was given higher heels to make Betty and Judy appear as though they were the same height during their song numbers.
Bing Crosby improvised most of the “midnight snack” scene
The "midnight snack" scene in which Bob Wallace shared his theory of what foods cause what dreams was almost entirely improvised, according to Rosemary Clooney.
And many of Bob Wallace’s unusual sayings were courtesy of Crosby too.
In addition to the “midnight snack scene,” you can thank Crosby for iconic phrases used in the movie like “weirdsmobile" and “slam-bang finish.”
Speaking of unscripted, Bob and Phil’s “Sisters” performance wasn’t scripted.
Stars Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye were fooling around on set when they dressed up in their female counterparts’ costumes and performed their musical number. Luckily for viewers, the movie’s director Michael Curtiz recognized the comedic gold in front of him, and filmed it, later working the scene into the movie.
There was no "official" soundtrack…
Despite the popularity of the movie’s songs, there was no official soundtrack for the majority of its history. Rosemary Clooney was under contract to Columbia, while the film’s soundtrack rights were controlled by competing record label Decca. This resulted in two separate albums: Decca’s version featuring the movie cast (which swapped Peggy Lee in for Clooney), and Columbia’s album with Clooney singing eight songs from the film.
…Until 2022, when Sepia Records finally released the complete soundtrack sessions from White Christmas.
Sepia Records, based in Great Britain, finally released the complete soundtrack sessions from White Christmas in 2022. The compact disc includes, for the first time, the Paramount pre-recordings, including several that have never been released in any form. The release also includes a second disc featuring all the Paramount pre-recordings from Holiday Inn.
The Vermont inn looks familiar for a reason.
The quaint inn featured in much of White Christmas is the same Paramount set featured in Bing Crosby’s earlier Christmas movie, Holiday Inn. The Vermont inn was remodeled after the 1942 film, but still retains many of the original characteristics such as the curved stairway, the arched floor-to-ceiling windows, and the sloping roof.
It was the first film to use VistaVision.
White Christmas was Paramount's first movie to be filmed using VistaVision, a higher resolution, widescreen variant of the 35 mm motion picture film format. The novel wide-screen process yielded a significantly clearer image and brighter colors.
Rosemary Clooney could sing, but not dance.
Musical talent was certainly present in Rosemary Clooney, who was one of the most acclaimed singers at the time, however that talent stopped at her melodic voice. In an interview, Rosemary Clooney admitted that this could have been a near-perfect movie if only they could have "dubbed" her dancing.
And Vera-Ellen faced the opposite problem.
In contrast, Clooney’s co-star was considered to be one of the best dancers in Hollywood at the time (she’d even been a Radio City Rockette), but she couldn’t sing. Vera-Ellen’s vocals were dubbed in White Christmas by Trudy Stevens throughout the film.
Irving Berlin presented—and won—the Oscar for "White Christmas."
Prior to its titular film, the song was nominated for Best Original Song in 1943. Irving Berlin was also elected as presenter for this award in the same year, and ended up winning the award for the Holiday Inn rendition of "White Christmas" himself. After reading his name on the card, Berlin was reported to have said, "I'm glad to present the award. I've known him for a long time."
Age was really just an (inaccurate) number in the case of the cast.
There were many inaccuracies regarding the true ages of the cast of White Christmas. Rosemary Clooney was seven years younger than Vera-Ellen in real life, despite the fact that her character, Betty, was older than her sister Judy (Vera-Ellen) in the film. Similarly, Dean Jagger was six months younger than Bing Crosby in real life, even though Jagger (Major General Waverly) was made out to be the "old man.”
“White Christmas” wasn’t the only song from Bing Crosby and Irving Berlin’s first film, Holiday Inn, to be used in the movie.
During the onset of the "midnight snack" scene, Bing is playing a segment of the "I Can't Tell A Lie"song from Holiday Inn on the piano. Additionally, Judy dances to a brisk rendition of "Abraham," the Abraham Lincoln birthday song featured in the preceding film.
The legacy of the Clooney name in Hollywood didn’t end with Rosemary.
Modern day actor George Clooney is related to White Christmas star Rosemary Clooney, who he affectionately calls Aunt Rosie.
Speaking of famous connections, Rosemary Clooney took the part for a specific reason.
Rosemary Clooney was motivated to take the role of Betty Haynes in part because she wanted to perform alongside Bing Crosby. "I was so in awe of him," the actress said in a documentary about Bing Crosby. Following White Christmas, the pair of actors became great friends.
This main player almost wasn’t in the 'White Christmas' cast.
Danny Kaye’s portrayal of Phil Davis in White Christmas may have been the actor’s claim to fame, but the role was actually written with Fred Astaire in mind following his performance with Bing Crosby in Holiday Inn. Astaire, however, was retired by the time of filming, and the next actor-dancer in line for the role, Donald O’Connor, got sick. So thanks to this turn of events, Paramount finally turned to Kaye.
The iconic film premiered at an equally iconic New York City venue.
White Christmas held its star-studded premiere at Radio City Music Hall On October 1, 1954.
The “white” in White Christmas was actually asbestos, not snow.
In the early twentieth century, asbestos was seen as the perfect fake snow for movie sets because it was water- and fireproof, lightweight, didn’t melt, and was easy to handle. Asbestos “snow” was used in the final scene of White Christmas to imitate a beautiful northeast snowfall. At the time, the toxic effects of asbestos were unknown.
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