White Christmas | Dec 5 & 6
December 5 / 7:30 pm & December 6 / 7:30 pm
Starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye and Rosemary Clooney
Enjoy one of the most popular Christmas movies every produced back on The Strand’s enormous 30′ screen in true digital HD and 39 speaker surround-sound!
A successful song-and-dance team become romantically involved with a sister act and team up to save the failing Vermont inn of their former commanding general.
There is an ongoing misperception that the Irving Berlin classic, White Christmas, first appeared in this namesake film. In fact, the beloved tune was already 12 years old, having first been sung by Bing Crosby in Holiday Inn from 1942. The song also appeared in Blue Skies from 1946.
This film was supposed to be a sequel to Holiday Inn. The plan was to reunite Crosby with co-star, Fred Astaire, but Astaire turned it down, as he had temporarily “retired” at the time. Donald O’Connor was cast as Crosby’s co-star, in what was hoped to be a reprise of his successful dance partnership with Vera-Ellen from Call Me Madam (1953). But while filming Francis Joins the WACS (1954), O’Connor contracted a severe bout of Q-Fever from his co-star, Molly (who played Francis the Talking Mule), and had to pull out. Danny Kaye was cast as a last minute replacement.
According to Danny Kaye in a TV documentary on Bing Crosby aired after Crosby’s death, Crosby was initially glum during filming, having just lost his wife Dixie. Kaye decided to try and lighten Crosby up by improvising the vamp during the “Sisters” number in which he repeatedly hits Crosby in the stomach with his blue feather fan. Crosby broke up and his laughter in the film is genuine. Kaye said that afterwards Crosby seemed more relaxed and more ready to join in the fun.
White Christmas
Thursday & Friday, December 5 & 6, 7:30pm
1954 | Unrated | 2 Hours