Bing Crosby had a wonderful baritone voice that rivaled Sinatra and Martin on the A-list of crooners. "White Christmas," initially performed by Crosby in the 1942 classic Holiday Inn, remains today as one of the standard tracks of the Christmas music genre. Twelve years after its initial release, Paramount made a movie named after the song. High on the list of my holiday favorites, White Christmas tells a story about a song and dance act (Wallace & Davis, played by Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye) who find themselves at a hotel in Vermont run by their former WWII Army commander, M.G. Thomas Waverly. In an effort to boost the business for the hotel, which is suffering due to lack of snow (and thus patronage), Wallace and Davis concoct a plan to bring their entire act to the hotel, as well as all the former Army buddies they can gather together to honor General Waverly. It really is a great movie, although it is probably one Vera Ellen dance scene too long (shortly before the movie's climax).
This used to be a dry-eyed movie for me, but as I've grown older, I find that my eyes tend to leak toward the end of the movie - the look on the face of the General at the sight of his men, and at the falling of the snow in the final minutes.
Of course, I would be remiss if I did not also post the title track from the movie. The video below is long (it includes portions of both the opening and ending of the movie), but it seems to be the best quality of what I've been able to find on YouTube. Of course, if you prefer, there are any number of videos with Bing singing the song on his Christmas specials. The song picks up at around the 6:55 mark. Enjoy.
May we all remember those who cannot make it home for Christmas this year, in particular the men and women serving our Nation around the globe. God bless.
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