Danny Kaye

It is a true testimony to Irving Berlin's talent that arguably one of the greatest songwriters of modern times, George Gershwin, should say that he was the "greatest songwriter who has ever lived". Both men composed music for some of the best-loved and most enduring songs of our time. Yet it is Irving Berlin's "White Christmas" that survives among the most popular Christmas songs to this day. Music Greats and the Swell of HistoryIrving Berlin's most productive period coincided with the theatre and music hall tradition, the golden age of radio broadcasts in America, and the beginning of the talking movies. All these factors served to enrich the ebullient musical tradition of what are now old favorites. White Christmas was the biggest film of 1954. The cast featured Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, and Vera Ellen. The score was composed by Irving Berlin and accompanied an enchanting story typical of musicals of the period. Paramount Studios produced the film. Bing Crosby had already become a star in other Paramount films such as the comedy, "Road to Bali". The song White Christmas, already the biggest selling record of all time had been written several years before the film was made. Rosemary Clooney tells the story, late in her life, of when the film was being made and she and Bing Crosby were pre-recording the final song in the movie, White Christmas.  Irving Berlin was on the set, pacing up and down nervously on the sound stage, worrying about every note. This was distracting Bing Crosby. So he went over to Irving Berlin and said, "Now listen, there is nothing that we can do to hurt this song. It's already a hit. Why don't you go and sit down in my dressing room and relax?" A Ritzy AsideAs an un-Christmasy aside, his partnership with Fred Astaire, another perfectionist, produced a performance of Putting on the Ritz that reveals their commitment to attention to detail to tease the most out of this dynamic melody. This video, showing a split-screen dance tribute, provides ample evidence of that excellence achieved seemingly without effort. Their lifelong working friendship dates from the 1935 Broadway musical success, "Top Hat". The musical included three songs which topped the charts as numbers 1,2 and 4: "Cheek to Cheek", "Top Hat", and "Isn't This a Lovely Day". No songwriter had ever had so many songs on Your Hit Parade at the same time. When "White Christmas" was BornThe White Christmas song itself was composed many years before in 1942. It was a rare moment when Irving Berlin used the circumstances from his own life as inspiration for a song. At the time, Irving Berlin and his wife, Ellin, and two daughters split their time between New York and California. During the winter, they lived in Manhattan where their children went to school. They spent their summers at their beachfront house in Santa Monica. In the summer of 1937, however, Irving Berlin took his family on a month-long fishing holiday to Alaska. After the holiday, Ellin and the children returned to New York. Irving, meanwhile, stayed back in Hollywood to work on a new film for 20th Century Fox. As production dragged on, he began to work on a new song, commissioned by Paramount. It was Christmas time, and he was lonely and homesick, stuck in Los Angeles. In a single all-night session, he got in touch with those feelings and wrote a song that, when it was released in the 1942 film, "Holiday Inn", instantly became the biggest hit of his long, illustrious career. It was sung as a duet by Bing Crosby, seated at the piano, and Marjorie Reynolds, who played the top female role of the character Linda Mason, opposite Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire. "Holiday Inn" received a 1943 Academy Award for Best Original Song (Irving Berlin for "White Christmas"). It also received Academy Award nominations for Best Score (Robert Emmett Dolan) and Best Original Story (Irving Berlin). GIs Loved ItThe song White Christmas spoke to the GIs during the Second World War, which the United States had entered after the Japanese bombed the American fleet in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. Many of the soldiers were stationed in the South Pacific. They heard the song about a white Christmas over the radio, and it brought back thoughts of home. It was tremendously moving for them, as they missed their families back home, yet it was also uplifting and raised their spirits. When the film "White Christmas" was made in 1954, the song was too good not to include near the end of the movie. Albums of Most Popular Christmas SongsSince 1942, "White Christmas", with over 50 million copies of the song sold, and the best-selling song of all time, has been a favorite of singers and listeners alike.  The melody lends itself well to a tenor voice and is one of the best Christmas songs to have on any album dedicated to this festive season. Sing A Good Old Song This ChristmasIt is not the first time families have been separated from their loved ones at Christmas. Doubtless, it won't be the last. The song's evocation of being in the midst of the snow so closely associated with Christmas in the northern hemisphere appeals to those far from home. Even those who have never experienced snow in their lives know and love the song! It is a song that has created memories for generations of families throughout the world. It continues to do so, whether you are aware of its history or not. It remains one of the most popular Christmas songs because of its simplicity, its depth of feeling, its easy-to-remember lyrics, and its dreamy, soothing melody.  It is a song that everyone can sing – and that is both the genius and beauty of the music that the iconic Irving Berlin has given to the world.