Holiday Inn/White Christmas

Cafe Society
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Holiday Inn (1942)

Bing and Fred as costars and romantic rivals; Big plays his usual low-key nice guy, Fred plays what might be considered the prototype of a Gene Kelly role, in that he plays the less sympathetic of the two male leads; but he plays a guy who’s more career-obsessed than actually caddish, so I’m not sure how far I want to push that comparison. (Interesting that such a goofy-looking pair would be the leading men – neither was exactly an Adonis.)

The story is an excuse to string together a bunch of seasonal song and dance numbers. The two stand-outs are the Lincoln number, in blackface – shall we discuss that? – which I always remember as horrifying but am always totally dumbfounded by, and the Fourth of July number, which is on my short list of all-time favorite Fred numbers.

The singing is pleasant, as is the dancing – all in all, a lesser vehicle in the careers of both men, were it not for the introduction of That Song.

Here’s the link to the IMDb trivia page. I had no idea Fred was actually drinking during the filming of the drunk scene.

Here’s the link to Louise Beavers’s IMDb listing – she played Mamie, just one in a long, long series of maid roles. (Seriously, shall we stay seasonal or get going on black actors in Hollywood?)

White Christmas (1954)

Bing again, this time paired with the always-marvelous Danny Kaye. This time, the two female leads have a little more heft to them – Rosemary Clooney paired with Bing for the singing couple, and Vera-Ellen paired with Danny for the dancing couple.

This really isn’t a very good movie. I never realized before that the director, Michael Curtiz, also directed Casablanca, among many, many other film – geez, check out the list!

Again, not much of a plot – though the web of misleading nonsense and misunderstandings is much more complicated than in its precursor. I found myself especially impatient with Rosemary Clooney and the whole “you’re a jerk but I’m not going to tell you why I think you’re a jerk, I’m just going to go off so I can wear a slinky black dress in a Gotham nightclub act” section. Geez freakin’ louise, people, why don’t you just ask for some clarification?

Again, I found the dancing much more enjoyable than the singing – I esp. liked Danny and Vera-Ellen’s number in Florida. We had a repeat of the category of blackface number, more subtly, in the minstrel piece – damn, does V-E have some legs or what? (only 5’4"? yikes!) I also love the fact that the number she and the unnamed dancer do as a rehearsal piece about 2/3 of the way through the movie is done to the melody of the “Father Abraham” – and the fact that it’s a killer number. She didn’t have a very long career – does anyone know anything about her?

Compare and contrast the two films:

I far prefer the version of White Christmas that ends Holiday Inn – I think the simpler version is much more effective. The red velvet and white fur of the White Christmas, all those angelic little kids – ew. Just – ew. Obviously, many of the differences between the two films were due to the fact that one was made during the war, the other in the MGM post-war, full color era.

Irrelevant aside: I know the guy who wrote Vera-Ellen’s one-paragraph IMDb bio. How bizarre! I didn’t know he was a musicals fan.

And with that – Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

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What was up with the beatnik dance in White Christmas? It just seems so random and Dada.

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Holiday Inn is one of my favorite “old” movies of all time; White Christmas is enjoyable, but inferior. :slight_smile:

Yes, that number always manages to surprise me, and is a shocking reminder of what was considered acceptable less than 70 years ago. I have a story about that scene, actually:

In 1999 I was visiting family at Christmas, and all of my cousins and I were at my aunt and uncle’s house. At one point I was in the TV room with Kevin (my cousin-in-law, who is black) and his daughter, Di, who at the time was 7 years old. We were watching Holiday Inn, and the blackface scene started. Both Kevin and I had completely forgotten about it. :eek: After a minute or two Di asked, “What’s wrong with that lady’s face?” Kevin and I just stared silently at each other! How do you explain blackface to a 7-year-old?? Luckily, a few seconds later Di came to her own conclusion: “Oh, she’s just wearing too much lipstick.” Kevin and I looked at each other and shrugged, and let it go at that. That is the only time I can remember being completely speechless at something a child asked . . . for a few seconds there I know that both Kevin and I were wishing for one of those memory erasers from Men In Black. :wink:

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But wasn’t she eavesdropping when she decided he was a jerk? That would make asking for clarification pretty damned awkward.

“Hey, Bing, I was listening in on your private phone conversation, and I heard something that makes you sound like a big fat jerk. What’s up with that?”

“You were listening in on my phone conversations? WTF is wrong with you, eavesdropping on people? You’re such a jackass.”

Yep, that would have sorted it all out in no time, clearing the way for hugs and kisses all around. :wink:

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racinchikki – “Dada” is an excellent way of describing that number! There’s a whole thread in the '50s musicals of numbers kind of acknowleging the growing divergence between the music in musicals and the forward edge of mainstream culture (this being the age of Bop, etc., in jazz). I know Fred did one or two – there’s a “beatnik” number in Funny Face, and also some stuff in Silk Stockings IIRC (not one of my favorites, I haven’t seen it in years.)

Misnomer – cool story, thanks for sharing.

CCL – was it even her (she?) who was eavesdropping? Wasn’t it the housekeeper? Which just goes to my point of “what a damned stupid convoluted plot this is!” All the money they spent on visuals and salaries – couldn’t they have thrown a few more bucks to the writers and had them come up with something a little more plausible for the “dramatic tension” (sic)?

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It’s a Paramount movie.

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Yeah I know – I was unclear. They were up against the whole MGM “thing,” which they were clearly going head to head with.

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Holiday Inn, by far. Granted, the Lincoln’s Birthday musical number is a major embarassment, but overall, it was created as a movie with songs and is generally tighter and more entertaining.

White Christmas is so filled with phony sentimentality, it’s like getting overdosed and sugared marshmallow peeps covered with maple syrup. I can’t stand to watch it and consider it up there among the world’s worst Christmas movies.