An American Carol

 

In the mid-1930s, Irving Berlin envisioned an idea for a Broadway musical. It would be a revue about American holidays, with each one getting its own song. Berlin worked out a couple of numbers but the show was never produced. But Irving never let a good idea or a good song go to waste. He was constantly revisiting old shows and old ideas and recycling them into newer projects. One of his signature songs, “God Bless America”, was written for his 1918 soldier show, Yip Yip Yaphank but never surfaced until Kate Smith sang it on the radio for Armistice Day twenty years later.

In a chance meeting in Washington DC in early 1940, Berlin ran into director Mark Sandrich. The two had worked together at RKO on two of the best of the Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers musicals – Top Hat (1935) and Follow the Fleet (1936). Berlin was still trying to get his holiday show off the ground. Sandrich, who had left RKO for Paramount Pictures, thought it would be a great vehicle for his new studio’s biggest star, Bing Crosby.

It would also be a chance to reunite with Astaire. Fred had left RKO and began signing deals for individual pictures. He had made three pictures at three different studios since ending his partnership with Ginger and two of them were duds. The idea of pairing up with Berlin and Crosby was Astaire’s idea of the perfect scenario.

A couple of song and dance men

But it almost didn’t happen. Buddy DeSylva, who himself was an accomplished songwriter, was then the Executive Producer at Paramount and balked at the idea. Crosby was his highest-paid star. Berlin would demand (and get) 10% of the gross and retain all the rights to the music. Adding Astaire would mean an additional $100,000 to the budget. “I can get George Murphy for $50,000!” The mild-mannered Sandrich simply said, “If we don’t get Fred Astaire, we don’t do the picture.” Y. Frank Freeman, the head of studio operations intervened. “Mark, if that’s what you want, we’ll get Fred Astaire.”

Over the course of 1940, Berlin and Sandrich would produce many treatments, go through a couple of writers and more than a few leading ladies. Berlin wanted Alice Faye. Bing wanted Mary Martin. The budget wanted something totally different and they would eventually settle on a couple of relatively unknown actresses for the secondary leads, Marjorie Reynolds and Virginia Dale. The title of the movie would change from Happy Holiday! to Holiday Inn.

During production in 1941, the world outside the studio gates was changing and changing fast. Hitler’s forces ruled Europe from the Atlantic in the west to the outskirts of Moscow in the east, from the northern climbs of the Scandinavian countries to the deserts of North Africa. Japan controlled most of China and was looking westwards towards the Hawai’ian Islands.

The previous September President Franklin Roosevelt had signed the Selective Service Act and Bob Hope starred in the Paramount comedy Caught in the Draft. That same year he took his radio show to March Field and felt the electricity of an all-serviceman audience for the first time.

In the early days of September 1941, Berlin auditioned the score for the Paramount front office. The consensus was that the big hit was going to be the Valentine’s Day number, “Be Careful It’s My Heart.” They were ambivalent about the Christmas song for which Berlin was grateful. While simultaneously declaring it the best thing he had ever written, it also made him nervous. As Bing’s biographer Gary Gidden’s explains, “(Berlin) knew he was treading on dangerous ground, removing Christ from Christmas and advancing snow as the essential metaphor in a requiem of longing, recasting Christmas as an American holiday for people of all faiths or no faith. In this secular carol, he took the opposite approach that he had in ‘God Bless America,’ which challenged the national anthem by replacing martial fireworks with divine beneficence.”

Christmas presented its own special problems for Berlin. As a child, he was fascinated by it. The lights, the singing, the merriment was something that he viewed as particularly American. But as a Russian Jew, it was also forbidden. In his adult years, it became a nightmare. On Christmas Day of 1928, his only son, Irving Jr., was found dead in his crib – a victim of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Most Christmases afterward were marked by trips to the cemetery to visit his son’s grave.

When the song was sung publicly for the first time it was Christmas Night of 1941. Just 18 days earlier the nation was thrown into the World War by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the declaration of war from Germany four days after that. Crosby, who admired the song from the start, asked Berlin if he could debut it on The Kraft Music Hall. Maybe it was because the holiday was almost over but the song barely made a ripple. It wasn’t even mentioned in Variety‘s review of the show the next morning.

In May of 1942 Bing went into the Decca Studios to record three songs from Holiday Inn: “Abraham,” “Song of Freedom,” and “White Christmas.” The arrangements were done by Ted Duncan, a saxophonist in John Scott Trotter’s Orchestra. According to Duncan’s son, Bing wanted something a little more dramatic than the sparse presentation the song received in the movie. So Bing suggested that Ken Darby’s singers take the lead in the second chorus and he would whistle up to the very last line. Darby reckoned that it took about three takes, maybe four.

It was released in July, several weeks before the movie was scheduled to open. But by October it climbed to the top of the charts. It remained #1 for 11 weeks, well into the New Year of 1943. It even topped the Harlem Hit Parade, the first time Crosby charted on the black-oriented Billboard list of R&B best sellers.

Bing in France in 1944.

It was, says author Jody Rosen, essentially a blues song, a song of longing and missing everything near and dear to you. It resonated especially with the GIs. Crosby tried to avoid singing it on USO tours but invariably failed. The boys wouldn’t let him go until he sang it, even though they would all be in tears by the time he was done.

It has been recorded over 500 times since Bing did it first and did it best. The Crosby version is the largest selling single of all-time and still makes appearances on the charts every December. It has an enduring quality that the poet Carl Sandburg touched on when the song was still relatively young, “We have learned to be a little sad and a little lonesome without being sickly about it. This feeling is caught in the song of a thousand jukeboxes and the tune whistled in streets and homes. ‘I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas.’ When we sing that we don’t hate anybody…. Way down under this latest hit of his Irving Berlin catches us where we love peace.”

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  1. Blondie Thatcher
    Blondie
    @Blondie

    Nobody sings “White Christmas” like Bing. Holiday Inn is one of our must see Christmas movies. (And Easter and Independence Day…) Thanks for the background info, EJ. Merry Christmas to you and your family. 

    • #1
  2. 9thDistrictNeighbor Member
    9thDistrictNeighbor
    @9thDistrictNeighbor

    I have a copy of the sheet music for White Christmas, copyright 1942 from the Irving Berlin Music Corporation.  I really should make a photocopy to play from, but the paper is still very sturdy.

    Most versions only feature to chorus and omit what I think is the best part:

    The sun is shining, the grass is green, the orange and palm trees sway.  There’s never been such a day in Beverly Hills, L.A. 

    But it’s December, the twenty-fourth, 

    And I am longing to be up North.

    I’m dreaming of a White Christmas….

    • #2
  3. EJHill Podcaster
    EJHill
    @EJHill

    9thDistrictNeighbor: Most versions only feature to chorus and omit what I think is the best part…

    Blame Bing. Crosby loved the song but wasn’t thrilled with the intro and, much to Berlin’s consternation, he didn’t want it in the movie or on the recording. And he was spot on. Without it, the song is everyone in every clime. With it, the song is about a singular man in a singular situation: stuck in Los Angeles on Christmas Eve. 

    The song struck a chord not because it was supposed to be sung in the sunshine of Beverly Hills. It resonates because it recalls that perfect holiday of the past, the magic of Christmas when the world wasn’t so mean and dirty and deadly. You could be getting plenty of snow, but maybe you were in Bastogne in December of 1944. You could have been among swaying palms in the warm weather of the South Pacific preparing for the invasion of a rock called “Iwo Jima.” 

    It’s still a great song, but in the time that it was written the introductory verse may well have kneecapped its popularity.

    • #3
  4. 9thDistrictNeighbor Member
    9thDistrictNeighbor
    @9thDistrictNeighbor

    EJHill (View Comment):
    It’s still a great song, but in the time that it was written the introductory verse may well have kneecapped its popularity.

    The intro for God Bless America was a product of its time as well.

    While the storm clouds gather far across the sea, let us swear allegiance to a land that’s free.  Let us all be grateful for a land so fair, as we raise our voices in a solemn prayer:

    God Bless America….

    Playing White Christmas on Armed Forces Radio was also the signal to evacuate Saigon.

    • #4
  5. Jim McConnell Member
    Jim McConnell
    @JimMcConnell

    @ejhill, it is posts such as this that keep me coming to Ricochet. Thank you for the history and the nostalgia.

    • #5
  6. EJHill Podcaster
    EJHill
    @EJHill

    9thDistrictNeighbor:

    The intro for God Bless America was a product of its time as well.

    Kinda. The song itself was written in 1918. The intro was written for Smith in 1938. He also changed a couple of lines in a major way. In 1918 the song included lines such as  “Make her victorious on land and foam, God bless America…” as well as “Stand beside her and guide her to the right with the light from above”.

    • #6
  7. Peter Robinson Contributor
    Peter Robinson
    @PeterRobinson

    EJ, this is just beautiful. Erudite–you gave me an entire education–but beautiful. I’m with Jim McConnell. It is posts such as this that make Ricochet worthwhile. Merry Christmas, man.

    • #7
  8. Miffed White Male Member
    Miffed White Male
    @MiffedWhiteMale

    If you like the movie Holiday Inn, I suggest buying a copy on physical media.  The blackface number for Abraham is going to get the movie banned from streaming services before long.

    • #8
  9. Miffed White Male Member
    Miffed White Male
    @MiffedWhiteMale

    Point of order on the caption to the picture of Bing and Fred.  Bing was most decidedly *not* a dancer!

    This can be seen quite readily in some of the Road pictures with Bob Hope.  Bob came up through Vaudeville in a song and dance act.  Watch any scene where Bob and Bing are dancing together.  Bob is loose and limber, Bing is stiff and clumsy.

     

    • #9
  10. EJHill Podcaster
    EJHill
    @EJHill

    Miffed White Male: Bing was most decidedly *not* a dancer!

    No one would disagree, especially Bing. He once described his dancing “style” as a sack of potatoes falling down a flight of stairs.

    But Astaire recalled that Bing worked hard on the numbers they did together, which was most un-Crosby-like, since most of what he did was produced effortlessly. They teamed again on Blue Skies, another Irving Berlin musical. And there is a song in that picture called, “A Couple of Song and Dance Men” where Crosby would sing “I’m the song…” and Astaire would answer “I’m the dance.” For Fred it remained a happy professional relationship and gave him a ready answer to the question, “Who was your favorite dancing partner?

    If you like the movie Holiday Inn, I suggest buying a copy on physical media. The blackface number for Abraham is going to get the movie banned from streaming services before long.

    It is, as they say, problematic. To a white singer of that era it was pretty much divorced of racial connotations but was looked at as a nostalgic throwback to the beginnings of modern show business. Crosby was known for his willingness to fight for his black co-stars. When he produced Pennies From Heaven at Universal he insisted that Louis Armstrong be given credit above the title and his part integrated into the storyline because he was well aware that studios were more than happy to give black performers novelty numbers in white picture as long as the parts were so removed from the plot they could be removed for theaters in the South. 

     

    • #10
  11. Jim McConnell Member
    Jim McConnell
    @JimMcConnell

    Miffed White Male (View Comment):

    Point of order on the caption to the picture of Bing and Fred. Bing was most decidedly *not* a dancer!

    This can be seen quite readily in some of the Road pictures with Bob Hope. Bob came up through Vaudeville in a song and dance act. Watch any scene where Bob and Bing are dancing together. Bob is loose and limber, Bing is stiff and clumsy.

     

    And Fred proved in a number of movies that he wasn’t a singer. They still made a great team at selling a song.

    • #11
  12. Miffed White Male Member
    Miffed White Male
    @MiffedWhiteMale

    Jim McConnell (View Comment):

    Miffed White Male (View Comment):

    Point of order on the caption to the picture of Bing and Fred. Bing was most decidedly *not* a dancer!

    This can be seen quite readily in some of the Road pictures with Bob Hope. Bob came up through Vaudeville in a song and dance act. Watch any scene where Bob and Bing are dancing together. Bob is loose and limber, Bing is stiff and clumsy.

     

    And Fred proved in a number of movies that he wasn’t a singer. They still made a great team at selling a song.

    Hey, I like Fred’s singing.  I’ve got a double-cd collection of his songs.

    https://www.discogs.com/Fred-Astaire-Starring-Fred-Astaire-A-Columbia-Years-Series-Release/release/9534113

    • #12
  13. Blondie Thatcher
    Blondie
    @Blondie

    Miffed White Male (View Comment):

    If you like the movie Holiday Inn, I suggest buying a copy on physical media. The blackface number for Abraham is going to get the movie banned from streaming services before long.

    Yep. I think the last time we saw it on TCM, they had already cut that number. We bought the movie a long time ago when we cut cable. 

    • #13
  14. Jim McConnell Member
    Jim McConnell
    @JimMcConnell

    Miffed White Male (View Comment):

    Jim McConnell (View Comment):

    Miffed White Male (View Comment):

    Point of order on the caption to the picture of Bing and Fred. Bing was most decidedly *not* a dancer!

    This can be seen quite readily in some of the Road pictures with Bob Hope. Bob came up through Vaudeville in a song and dance act. Watch any scene where Bob and Bing are dancing together. Bob is loose and limber, Bing is stiff and clumsy.

     

    And Fred proved in a number of movies that he wasn’t a singer. They still made a great team at selling a song.

    Hey, I like Fred’s singing. I’ve got a double-cd collection of his songs.

    https://www.discogs.com/Fred-Astaire-Starring-Fred-Astaire-A-Columbia-Years-Series-Release/release/9534113

    I learn something every time I visit Ricochet!

    • #14
  15. CRD Member
    CRD
    @CRD

    9thDistrictNeighbor (View Comment):

    EJHill (View Comment):
    It’s still a great song, but in the time that it was written the introductory verse may well have kneecapped its popularity.

    The intro for God Bless America was a product of its time as well.

    While the storm clouds gather far across the sea, let us swear allegiance to a land that’s free. Let us all be grateful for a land so fair, as we raise our voices in a solemn prayer:

    God Bless America….

    Playing White Christmas on Armed Forces Radio was also the signal to evacuate Saigon.

    Gulp! That was somewhat disorienting to go from Christmas song to the evacuation from Vietnam in a single post! I am grateful that I was able to come to this country. We must have been one of the last flight out; it was 1AM or 2AM, the next day. There were still a lot of Vietnamese people waiting inside the embassy ground, but a US soldier – (Marine? I don’t know. I was a kid) – pulled me and my family out of the queue.

    • #15
  16. Instugator Thatcher
    Instugator
    @Instugator

    CRD (View Comment):
    Gulp! That was somewhat disorienting to go from Christmas song to the evacuation from Vietnam in a single post! I am grateful that I was able to come to this country. We must have been one of the last flight out; it was 1AM or 2AM, the next day.

    Would you be willing to write a post about it?

    • #16
  17. notmarx Member
    notmarx
    @notmarx

    I’m with Miffed White Male, Jim McConnell.  Fred Astaire was Irving Berlin’s favorite.  Any composer of that era would be happy to stand in line to have Fred introduce his song.  His timing was perfect, he never oversold a song, and that seeming slight voice was pitch perfect with an easy and surprising range.  His early 50’s sets with Oscar Peterson’s sextet, wherein he sings songs America first heard in his voice, comprise as pure a pleasure as you could imagine.  Give another listen.  Fred Astaire was a great singer.  

    Lovely post EJHill.  Oh yes: “Bing did it first and did it best.”  One of the reasons Bing owns Christmas. 

     

    • #17
  18. MichaelKennedy Inactive
    MichaelKennedy
    @MichaelKennedy

    Instugator (View Comment):

    CRD (View Comment):
    Gulp! That was somewhat disorienting to go from Christmas song to the evacuation from Vietnam in a single post! I am grateful that I was able to come to this country. We must have been one of the last flight out; it was 1AM or 2AM, the next day.

    Would you be willing to write a post about it?

    In 1978, I was on the admissions committee for the Orange County Medical Association.  That was just long enough since the evacuation for the Vietnamese community to begin getting itself organized in Orange County CA.  We spent a lot of time interviewing Vietnamese physicians who were joining the association.  What particularly interested me was learning how entire villages were finding other members and organizing themselves.  One physician told me he had most of his patients from VN who had found him.  Another commented that it had been slow getting his practice going until he could afford a van.  I learned that few patients could drive or afford a car, so the doctor sent a van to pick up his patients for the morning.  It would then go for the next group while he saw the first.  It would alternate picking up and dropping people off all day.

    Naturally, the NV would not allow any records to be exported so there was an early problem proving doctors were really graduates.  After a year or so, we found that most medical faculty members had gotten out and were available so the state of CA (sane in those days) allowed the assembled faculty to certify graduates.  Jerry Brown, of course, had been opposed to the entire concept of allowing VN refugees in CA but wiser heads prevailed.

    • #18
  19. Full Size Tabby Member
    Full Size Tabby
    @FullSizeTabby

    MichaelKennedy (View Comment):

    Instugator (View Comment):

    CRD (View Comment):
    Gulp! That was somewhat disorienting to go from Christmas song to the evacuation from Vietnam in a single post! I am grateful that I was able to come to this country. We must have been one of the last flight out; it was 1AM or 2AM, the next day.

    Would you be willing to write a post about it?

    In 1978, I was on the admissions committee for the Orange County Medical Association. That was just long enough since the evacuation for the Vietnamese community to begin getting itself organized in Orange County CA. We spent a lot of time interviewing Vietnamese physicians who were joining the association. What particularly interested me was learning how entire villages were finding other members and organizing themselves. One physician told me he had most of his patients from VN who had found him. Another commented that it had been slow getting his practice going until he could afford a van. I learned that few patients could drive or afford a car, so the doctor sent a van to pick up his patients for the morning. It would then go for the next group while he saw the first. It would alternate picking up and dropping people off all day.

    Naturally, the NV would not allow any records to be exported so there was an early problem proving doctors were really graduates. After a year or so, we found that most medical faculty members had gotten out and were available so the state of CA (sane in those days) allowed the assembled faculty to certify graduates. Jerry Brown, of course, had been opposed to the entire concept of allowing VN refugees in CA but wiser heads prevailed.

    Cool!

    My late father in 1975 (he was then a professor of engineering and I was a college student) took me along on trips to Camp Pendleton to help sort out the credentials of “engineers” among the refugees being processed there. He discerned that most of the Vietnamese who claimed the title of “engineer” were closer to what in the United States would be “technician” or “mechanic.” 

    • #19
  20. JoshuaFinch Coolidge
    JoshuaFinch
    @JoshuaFinch

    https://www.deseret.com/2019/11/15/20966751/christmas-holiday-hannukah-judaism-music-cheer-topical

    • #20
  21. JoshuaFinch Coolidge
    JoshuaFinch
    @JoshuaFinch

    • #21
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