Copyright: Paramount Pictures Corp.; 14Oct54; LP4113. Variant title on film: Irving Berlin's White Christmas. Paramount proudly presents the first picture in VistaVision; color by Technicolor. Sources used: M/B/RS shelflist card; White Christmas pressbook; Mo. pic. guide, 1985; NYPL Dance Collection data base; R. C. Lynch, Movie musicals on record, 1989; Dance magazine, v. 28 (Nov. 1954), p. 23. Bing Crosby (Bob Wallace), Danny Kaye (Phil Davis), Rosemary Clooney (Betty), Vera Ellen (Judy), Dean Jagger (General Waverly), John Brascia (Joe), Barrie Chase (Doris), George Chakiris (Specialty dancer), Joan Bayley (Asst. dance director), Lester Clark (Asst. dance director), Ernest Flatt (Asst. dance director), Bea Allen (Asst. dance director), Harriette Ann Gray (dancer), Trudy Stevens (singing voice for Vera-Ellen).
Contents:
Dance and musical numbers: The old man / sung by Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, and chorus -- [Montage of various numbers] / performed by Crosby and Kaye -- Blue skies / performed by Crosby and Kaye -- Sisters / danced by Vera-Ellen and Rosemary Clooney ; sung by Clooney and Trudy Stevens ; parodied by Crosby and Kaye -- The best things happen while you're dancing / danced by Kaye and Vera-Ellen ; sung by Kaye -- Snow / sung by Crosby, Kaye, Clooney, and Stevens -- [Minstrel show number] / performed by Crosby, Kaye, Clooney, Vera-Ellen, John Brascia, and ensemble -- Mandy / danced by Vera-Ellen, Brascia, and ensemble ; sung by Crosby and Kaye -- Count your blessings instead of sheep / sung by Crosby and Clooney -- Choreography / danced by Kaye, Vera-Ellen, Brascia, Harriette Ann Gray, and female ensemble ; sung by Kaye -- Abraham / danced by Brascia and Vera-Ellen -- Love, you didn't do right by me / danced by male quartet inc. George Chakiris ; sung by Clooney -- What can you do with a general? / sung by Crosby -- Gee, I wish I was back in the army / performed by Crosby, Kaye, Clooney, and Vera-Ellen, with Stevens' voice -- White Christmas / sung by Crosby, Kaye, Clooney, Stevens, and boys' chorus ; danced by girl ballerinas.
Summary:
Musical comedy about a pair of song-and-dance men. After Davis saves the life of his Army captain Wallace and the war ends, he convinces the crooner to team up with him. The duo find success as first a song-and-dance act and then as producers of musical revues. After meeting the performing Haynes sisters, Betty and Judy, the entertainers join the women for a vacation in Vermont, where they discover a troubled inn run by their old general. To help Waverly, Wallace and Davis transport their musical company to the resort for a big show, and invite the men from the old army division. Between rehearsals for the show, Davis and Judy work on fixing up the more reticent Wallace and Betty. Rehearsal numbers for the revue include a minstrel show and "Choreography," a parody of modern dance by Kaye, Gray, and her company that is interrupted by a jazz dance number from Vera-Ellen and Brascia.
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