Chestnuts roasting on an open fire are all I want when I settle in once more to see the White film. Downright wrong would be a white (or even a sloppy, slushy) without viewing the White Christmas film. But don't rely on my word: the 2007 Guinness Book of World Records hails the song White (from the White Christmas film) the top-selling single of all time, with at least 50 million copies sold.
The White film phenomenon sprung from the movie Holiday Inn. Irving Berlin, in 1940, had been asked to write a song for each holiday of the year for the movie. With Jewish roots, he was initially stymied in trying to write a song for Christmas, a holiday he would not have celebrated in the same vein as that called for in the movie. And so, Berlin re-visited his childhood memories of New York City at that time of the year: the ubiquitous Santa Clauses, the throngs weighed down with gift boxes, and the lighted store windows. But what (more than anything else) made a romantic and other-worldly time of year in Berlin's memory? This glitzy New York pageant played out against a background of north-eastern snow (when it came on cue). Thus was born the song White for the White Christmas film.
Bing Crosby knew a hit song when he heard one and, so, the following year after first hearing White he would make it his own. He first sang White on his Kraft Music Hall radio show on day in 1941. (The bad news: no copy of the first performance, which links song and its requisite singer, exists.)
Also in 1942, Holiday Inn was introduced to movie-goers. Crosby performed White in a duet with Marjorie Reynolds in the film. And in the same year, he recorded the song for Decca, accompanied by the John Scott Trotter Orchestra. At year's end, the now iconic song was tops with the listening public. The perfect combination of song, singer, and sentiment was on its way to being grooved into millions of records.
Fast forward to 1954, and the song White spawns the White film, starring Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, and Vera-Ellen. The White film was box office holiday magic the highest grossing movie of that year.
The singular romance or poignancy of the White film has lived on until today. Not a goes by the White Christmas film isn't watched either on DVD or in constant rerun on cable and the networks during the holiday season. Many can't call it until they see the White film yet again.
The White film, like the song, is as popular as ever.(As a gift for the person who has everything: the White film.)
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