With the holidays quickly approaching, it’s time to take a break from finals, hectic commutes to class, and tear-your-hair-out study sessions to celebrate that BHC — beloved holiday classic — White Christmas. Released in 1954 after a hard-won battle to assemble the right cast, let alone any cast, this film has become a staple in any theatre kid’s Christmas movie collection. From the beautiful tones of Rosemary Clooney to the hysterical near-drag number by Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye, White Christmas is a film not to be missed. This holiday season, sit down with your family and friends (or friends who are family), break out the eggnog and Christmas cookies, and have yourself a merry viewing of this 1954 classic.

White Christmas (1954)

Director: Michael Curtiz (Music by Irving Berlin)
Starring: Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, Danny Kaye, Vera-Ellen, and Dean Jagger

What happens:

Somewhere in the cold World War II battlefields of Europe, two war buddies, former Broadway star Bob Wallace (Bing Crosby) and aspiring actor Phil Davis (Danny Kaye), put on a vaudevillian Christmas duet performance for their platoon. Their beloved leader, General Waverly (Dean Jagger), interrupts the performance to tell the troops he’ll no longer be their head-of-command — he’s being replaced. The boys are heartbroken.

Over the next few years, Bob and Phil work together to create a nationally renowned double act, touring all over the country. But Phil urges Bob to find a lady, and Bob’s reaction is nothing short of uninterested. That is until they meet the Haynes sisters — Betty (Rosemary Clooney) and Judy (Vera-Ellen). The sisters also have a double act, and Judy has secretly written a letter to invite Phil and Bob under the pretence that her brother, a war buddy of the men, wrote the letter. When the women are suddenly forced to flee after the manager fines them for a burned rug, the boys follow them to a sleepy Vermont town for the holidays. There, they find General Waverly, retired from the military and depressed that he isn’t allowed to re-enlist. In a move of love and generosity, the Bob and Phil invite chorus dancers from their recent hit musical Playing Around to the inn for a song-and-dance showcase to honor Waverly. In addition to the mayhem of putting on a show at the inn, Bob and Betty have been slowly warming to each other in a stop-and-go romance, mostly stalled by Betty’s concern for her younger sister’s welfare.

Soon, everything comes together in a final performance by Bob, Betty, Phil, and Judy when General Waverly walks in to be surprised not only by a large gathering of locals and a full cast of chorus singers, but many men from his former platoon in the war. He is overcome with emotion and gets to enjoy a holiday with his friends, family, and friends who are family.

Why it matters:

Life on the road can be hard. Many artists who tour leave their families for three to six months, working without the respite of a stable home to return to after their show ends for the night (“stable” figuratively and literally — touring shows also include cruise ships). In White Christmas, Bob and Phil are each other’s family as they were in the war. Bob is an older brother type to Phil, and Phil pushes Bob in directions that challenge him, both professionally and romantically, especially when they meet the Haynes girls. Betty, like Phil, takes charge of her sister’s welfare and safety, eyeing up both Phil and Bob when she first meets them. The type of relationship between Bob and Phil is exactly the kind of relationship castmates today have with one another — a close professional bond onstage, founded on admiration and trust, and a closer friendship behind the scenes, built on love and a personal history only known to those involved. Betty and Judy’s relationship is, biologically, what Bob and Phil feel toward one another. And just as Bob and Phil feel as close as brothers, they look to General Waverly as their father, like a cast may look to their director as a “parent”.

White Christmas survives cinema history, not only because of the magical soundtrack from Irving Berlin, but because of the universal human moments that meet up so closely with those we experience every day on and off the stage.

Below is a clip from the beginning of White Christmas in which Bob and Phil don the ladies’ costume pieces in order to give Betty and Judy more time to escape.

This film is a special feature in Theatre in Film, interrupting Part VI. See below for the films in Part VI.

• Camp (2003)
• Stage Beauty (2004)
• Being Julia (2005)
• Mrs. Henderson Presents (2005) (Coming soon.)
• Me and Orson Welles (2008) (Coming soon.)

Want to start with Part I? Begin with 42nd Street (1933).
Miss Part II? Check out The Band Wagon (1953).
Need a refresh for Part III? Start with our feature on All That Jazz (1979).
How about a recap from Part IV? Jump into A Chorus of Disapproval (1989).
Check out Part V, and start with An Awfully Big Adventure (1995).