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White Christmas: The holiday classic that wasn’t
While I was out on vacation last week, one of my road trips was to the Holiday Auto Theatre just outside Hamilton - a drive-in that’s open year-round AND that shows older movies on what they call “Retro Wednesdays and Thursdays.”
If you haven’t been there, I highly recommend paying them a visit. In addition to being cool enough to show classic movies, they also play a lot of vintage “Let’s All Go to the Lobby”-type shorts, which are a ton of fun for nostalgia freaks like me. Of all the drive-ins I’ve been to, this one feels the most like a blast from the past.
I went there last week to catch a holiday double feature of It’s a Wonderful Life and White Christmas - and I was reminded of why I don’t care for White Christmas. I can see why other people enjoy it, but it distresses me that White Christmas gets all the attention when there’s a much, much, much better movie that never gets booked into theaters or played on TV very often - Holiday Inn.
Contrary to popular belief, the song “White Chirstmas” does not come from the movie of the same name. It originally appeared in Holiday Inn, which trumps White Christmas in almost every way.
The story of Holiday Inn is much more fun, covering every major holiday of the year. White Christmas’ story revolves around a dumb misunderstanding when Rosemary Clooney believes that Bing Crosby is trying to take advantage of his former wartime commanding officer, who owns the inn of the 1954 movie. And Irving Berlin’s songs for White Christmas aren’t nearly as good as the ones for Holiday Inn.
One of the reasons Holiday Inn doesn’t appear regularly on TV is because of the blackface number Bing Crosby performs about Abraham Lincoln - but White Christmas has a “minstrel show” number with no blackface at all. And if you ask me, that’s almost as creepy.
I will allow that White Christmas does have better female leads in Clooney and Vera-Ellen, who are far more memorable than Marjorie Reynolds or Virginia Dale of Holiday Inn. But there’s one other casting matter that makes Holiday Inn infinitely superior to White Christmas.
Bing Crosby’s costar in White Christmas was Danny Kaye. His co-star in Holiday Inn was Fred Astaire. Not to take anything away from the very talented Kaye, who starred in one of the funniest movies ever made, The Court Jester - but he’s simply not Fred Astaire.
Don’t believe me? I submit for your approval Astaire’s “firecracker” dance from Holiday Inn, which is better than anything in White Christmas.
And finally, it’s this scene that made the song “White Christmas” an instant classic.
And that’s just that.
Now I’d like to hear from you. What “Christmas classic” doesn’t seem so classic to you? Be advised that I will hotly challenge anyone who picks It’s a Wonderful Life. Anyone who dismisses it as mere “Capra-corn” hasn’t been paying attention.
Permalink | Comments (8) | Categories: Sir Critic muses
Comments
By Stan
December 5, 2007 10:17 AM | Link to this
It does seem that Holiday Inn is overlooked by the holiday crowd. But it has been a favorite of my family since my son always got mad at Fred Astaire for stealing all of Bings girls. But it’s hard to beat the legs on Vera-Ellen.By bob
December 4, 2007 8:59 PM | Link to this
Capra didn’t write the story. It’s a Wonderful Life was based off of a short story “The Greatest Gift.” That story is very obviously about Christmas. Just because it’s not as open and blatant about it, doesn’t mean it isn’t.By Alan
December 4, 2007 3:54 PM | Link to this
How about “A Christmas Story”? You can’t beat the scene where Santa kicks Ralphie down the slide! Maybe I like this becuase I grew up hearing “You’ll put your eye out.” Sadly, I never got “An official Red Ryder carbine action two-hundred shot range model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time”By animation lover
December 4, 2007 8:52 AM | Link to this
If we are allowed to throw animation into the mix I have to vote for ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ as my favorite. It gives the true meaning of Christmas. But of the two mention — I vote for Holiday Inn too.By jmiller
December 3, 2007 7:36 PM | Link to this
I love Holiday Inn; I do enjoy White Christmas and It’s A Wonderful Life as well.By Allie D.
December 3, 2007 3:06 PM | Link to this
How horrible am I that I haven’t seen EITHER of these films? lol I do love It’s a Wonderful Life, though, regardless of its classification. That movie exudes the holiday spirit for me. I personally don’t understand the broad appeal of Miracle on 34th Street.By Sir Critic
December 3, 2007 1:18 PM | Link to this
You make a good point there, Dave. I can see why Capra bristled, considering his movie isn’t a Christmas movie in the way that say, “Miracle on 34th Street” is. On the other hand, “It’s A Wonderful Life” was based on a story that originally appeared in a Christmas card, and the most powerful scenes of the movie are set around Christmas, so I think Capra was being somewhat disingenuous about how it came to be classified.By Dave
December 3, 2007 1:01 PM | Link to this
“It’s a Wonderful Life” is NOT a Christmas classic. It is a fantastic movie, but it is NOT about Christmas. Capra was very upset that people classified it as one.