It is December 1954. It has been a quite eventful year, and it is only a few weeks from ending. Marilyn Monroe has married Joe DiMaggio, a professional baseball player. The very first issue of Sports Illustrated has been released and the final episode of The Lone Ranger has been broadcasted on the radio. A new hit film has been released; White Christmas. Over time, it has not only become a timeless classic, but a favorite way to celebrate the holiday season.
The film, with a total of seventeen songs spread out throughout the one hundred-eighty-minute film, was entirely inspired by and based on a single song from thirteen years prior. The song “White Christmas,” written by Irving Berlin, was performed by Bing Crosby on radio and in the film Holiday Inn.
In 1948, Irving Berlin made a suggestion to Paramount, a major film and TV company, to make a film based on his song, White Christmas. Almost immediately, Paramount put up the (generous) budget and agreed to take thirty percent of the gross. The company had faith in this simple concept. Luckily, that faith was heavily justified.
When it came to casting, getting the four main characters was a bit of a journey. The studio knew who they wanted, but reality started getting in the way. Bing Crosby, the star of Holiday Inn and a famous singer/songwriter, was initially cast as the character Bob Wallace. However, shortly after accepting the part, Crosby’s wife, Dixie Lee, passed away. After her death, he left the project for a short period of time, in which he spent a lot of time with his kids. In January 1953, Crosby returned to the project.
For Crosby’s male co-lead, Donald O’Connor was cast as Phil Davis. Unfortunately, O’Connor developed an illness, forcing him to drop out of the project indefinitely. Danny Kaye was brought in to replace him, for which he asked for ten percent of the gross. The female co-leads were cast during all of this chaos, with Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen as sisters, Betty and Judy Haynes. The four leads were cast, which meant that production was on its merry way.
This would be the first film to be shot in Paramount’s very own VistaVision, which was a new way to shoot feature films. It allowed for a much clearer picture and a wider screen. The film’s quality ended up being a huge benefit. In fact, it was used for other large films for the next twenty years, including Star Wars: A New Hope. VistaVision would end up not lasting much longer after the 1970s. Many studios, including Paramount, moved on to the more traditional PanaVision.
For the film, Irving Berlin wrote eleven tracks and repurposed other tracks to fit into the film. Berlin went on to get an Oscar Nomination for Best Original Song for “Count Your Blessings” during the 1955 Academy Awards. Berlin had additionally already won an Oscar for the song “White Christmas” in 1942 for the film Holiday Inn.
Despite popular belief, White Christmas is not a sequel to Holiday Inn. The confusion is understandable, with both films starring Bing Crosby in a lead role, not to mention the main tracks written by Irving Berlin. In spite of the fact that it has been clarified countless times, many viewers are still convinced that the two films are related. They have shared actors and writers, not continuity.
After White Christmas was released, it was met with relatively mixed reviews. It was an undeniable box office success, earning $30 million worldwide. To put it in perspective, today that would be approximately $252 million. It has been titled as the highest-grossing film of 1954, and the highest-grossing musical film of 1954. While it was a success income-wise, other critics were not completely satisfied. Nonetheless, it has since evolved into the timeless classic that we know today.
Over the course of 70 years, the film has not only become a Christmas classic, but it has been considered to be the one of the greatest Christmas films to date. Now, that is a bold statement to make, but it has had a lasting impact on families in America. Irving Berlin, a Russian immigrant, loved America. This was made extremely apparent when his song, “God Bless America” was released in 1938. Berlin wrote the song to celebrate the country and how great it is to live there. The film impacted America, but how? Apart from being the highest grossing musical film in 1954, it also changed the way modern families celebrate the jolly holiday every year. It has become a custom in many households to watch the film every December, to celebrate the holiday, and the film itself.
Whether it’s breaking records, winning awards, or changing the way we celebrate that jolly holiday, White Christmas will forever be a cinema classic. We highly recommend that you give it a watch this snowy season.
