Today is Christmas Day and our twelfth and final day of twelve days of classic Christmas songs, and what better song for this special day than Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas.” This Christmas classic, written for the movie Holiday Inn, is the world’s best-selling single of all time, with more than 100 million copies sold to date.
The version of “White Christmas” that everyone remembers—and the one that topped the charts year after year—was recorded by crooner extraordinaire Bing Crosby. Bing first performed the tune on the NBC Kraft Music Hall radio program on Christmas Day, 1941, less than a month after Pearl Harbor and America’s entrance into World War II. His first recording of the tune was released in 1942 (on 78 RPM records), accompanied by the John Scott Trotter Orchestra and the Ken Darby Singers. He re-recorded the tune in 1947, with the same backing musicians and vocalists; this is the version most heard today. (The original 1942 master was damaged due to frequent use; the 1947 version used pretty much the same arrangement but with much better recording quality.) Bing’s original recording won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1942, as well as topping the Billboard charts for eleven weeks that year.
Many people think that “White Christmas,” the song, was written for the 1954 movie of the same name (which starred Bing and Danny Kaye), but that obviously isn’t true. It was written more than a decade earlier, for the 1942 movie Holiday Inn, which starred Bing and Fred Astaire. The movie was about an entertainment venue open only on holidays. In the film Bing, as Jim Hardy, the inn’s proprietor, sings the song to aspiring singer (and Bing’s love interest) Linda Mason (played by Marjorie Reynolds), during the Christmas scene. It went over fairly well.
Here’s a story about the song. Bing’s nephew Howard once asked his uncle about the most difficult thing he had to do during his career. Bing told his nephew that:
“…in December, 1944, he was in a USO show with Bob Hope and the Andrews Sisters. They did an outdoor show in northern France… he had to stand there and sing ‘White Christmas’ with 100,000 G.I.s in tears without breaking down himself. Of course, a lot of those boys were killed in the Battle of the Bulge a few days later.”
Irving Berlin, the guy who wrote the song, was one of the masters of the Great American Songbook, with more than 1,500 songs to his name. He wrote “White Christmas” at the La Quinta Hotel in La Qunita, California, over a long, hot weekend, no snow in sight. It’s said that after coming up with the song, he told his secretary, “I want you to take down a song I wrote over the weekend. Not only is it the best song I ever wrote, it’s the best song anybody ever wrote.” (On hearing the song for the first time, Mr. Crosby told Mr. Berlin, “I don’t think we have any problems with that one, Irving.”)
This song started a long tradition of Jewish songwriters writing really good songs for the Christian holiday. The list includes Mel Tormé (“The Christmas Song”); Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne (“Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!”); Joan Javits, Phil Springer, and Tony Springer (“Santa Baby”); George Wyle and Eddie Pola (“It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year”); Ray Evans and Jay Livingston (“Silver Bells”); Johnny Marks (“A Holly Jolly Christmas,” “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”): and Irving Berlin, of course. They had a knack.
“White Christmas” has been recorded by hundreds of artists over the years and performed by thousands if not tens of thousands more. When you think of Christmas and Christmas songs, it’s the one that almost always comes to mind. As much as I like Bing’s version, however, my favorite is by the equally legendary Darlene Love on Phil Spector’s classic A Christmas Gift for You album. For some reason, this Christmas classic sounds even better with Spector’s Wall of Sound approach.
Whichever version you prefer, however, “White Christmas” is still a great tune and the perfect song for a special Christmas Day. Merry Christmas, everybody—and may all your Christmases be white!
