White Christmas
Holiday Inn, (1942)
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  • Heard at The Shedd...
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White Christmas
1942
Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin
Holiday Inn
1942
VERSE
The sun is shining, the grass is green,
The orange and palm trees sway.
There's never been such a day
In Beverly Hills, L.A.
But it's December the twenty-fourth,
And I am longing to be up North.
CHORUS
I'm dreaming of a White Christmas
Just like the ones I used to know,
Where the treetops glisten
And children listen
To hear sleigh bells in the snow.
I'm dreaming of a White Christmas
With ev'ry Christmas card I write:
"May your days be merry and bright
And may all your Christmases be white."
Irving Berlin’s biggest hit, this Holiday Inn number won the Academy Award for best original song in 1942. Here, are the two enlightening quotes from Robert Kimball’s Complete Lyrics of Irving Berlin:
“I wrote it for a revue I intended producing, changed my mind and put it away until it was used in a Bing Crosby picture. At the time I had no idea “White Christmas” would be a perennial hit or that Paramount would add to its popularity with a movie of the same name. When the song first became popular, I attributed it to the War and the fact that Christmas means peace. I felt that since people were singing it I ought to write another verse. But I couldn’t do it. New words would not come.” — Irving Berlin, Los Angeles Examiner (Dec 14, 1954)
“We have learned to be a little sad and a little lonesome without being sickly about it. This feeling is caught in the song of a thousand juke boxes and the tune whistled in streets and homes. “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas.” When we sing that we don’t hate anybody. And there are things we love that we’re going to have sometime if the breaks are not too bad against us. Way down under this latest hit of his Irving Berlin catches us where we love peace.” — Carl Sandburg, Chicago Times (Dec 1942).
2006
Aug 3OFAM 2006Cheek To CheekSilva
2012
Dec 6-13JK 2012-13Let it Snow
2013
Aug 9OFAM 2013Going My WayJaqua
Dec 12-18JK 2013-14Button Up Your Overcoat
2014
Dec 11-17JK 2014-15Let Your Heart Be Light
2015
Dec 10-17JK 2015-16Swinging On A Star
2016
Jan 29-Feb 7JK 2015-16In The Mood
Aug 11OFAM 2016Follow The BoysJaqua
Aug 12OFAM 2016Army Hit Kit Sing-AlongRecital
Aug 13OFAM 2016Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the PositiveJaqua
Dec 8-14JK 2016-17Happy Holiday
2017
Mar 19SW 2016-17PUTTIN' ON THE RITZJaqua
Dec 6-13JK 2017-18An Old-Fashioned Christmas
2018
Nov 30-Dec 16ST 2018White ChristmasJaqua
Dec 6-12JK 2018-19Ring Those Bells
2019
Jul 6SW 2018-19Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The PositiveJaqua
Dec 12-17JK 2019-20A Holly Jolly Christmas
2021
Dec 4-19ST2021Holiday InnJaqua
Dec 8-15JK 2021-22All Is BrightJaqua
2022
Dec 8-15JK 2022-23I Wonder As I Wander
2023
Aug 2-12OFAM 2023In The MoodJaqua
Aug 2OFAM 2023In The MoodJaqua
Aug 3-11OFAM 2023We'll Meet AgainJaqua
Aug 3OFAM 2023We'll Meet AgainJaqua
Aug 3-12OFAM 2023A Long, Long TimeJaqua
Aug 3OFAM 2023A Long, Long TimeJaqua
Aug 11OFAM 2023We'll Meet AgainJaqua
Aug 12OFAM 2023In The MoodJaqua
Aug 12OFAM 2023A Long, Long TimeJaqua
Dec 15-17Snowfall
RecordedPerformersLabelCat.#Matrix
Jo StaffordCapitol15200
Gordon Jenkins and his OrchestraCapitol15202
Wesley Tuttle / String BandCapitol15206Y2739
Jo StaffordCapitol1262
Gordon Jenkins and his OrchestraCapitol1263
Wesley TuttleCapitol1266
Walter Schumann VoicesCapitol1841
Les Paul & Mary FordCapitol2617
Frank SinatraCapitol2954
Statemen QuartetCapitol40263
Ken Griffin (Organ & Chimes)Columbia38911CCO5166
Sammy KayeColumbia39573CO47066
Arthur GodfreyColumbia40109CO50193
Rosemary ClooneyColumbia40355RHCO33220
Rosemary ClooneyColumbia40370RHCO33220
Guy Lombardo's OrchestraDecca23738
Charles Cronham (Organ/Chime)Mercury11261923
Patti PageMercury1243
Vic DamoneMercury51781913
Eddy Howard & His OrchestraMercury52162024
Vic DamoneMercury55151913
Patti PageMercury5732
Swing & Sway W Sammy KayeRCA Victor20-2392
Three SunsRCA Victor20-3568
Hugo Winterhalter & His OrchestraRCA Victor20-3937
Eddie Fisher (Hugo Winterhalter Orchestra + Chorus)RCA Victor20-4910E2VB-6514
Bobby Doyle W Ray Bloch OrchestraSignature15058-A287
Monica Lewis W Ray Bloch OrchestraSignature15151-A539-1B
05/29/1942Bing CrosbyDecca23778DLA3009
05/29/1942Bing Crosby (Ken Darby Singers, John Scott Trotter and his Orchestra)Decca18429-ADLA3009
06/25/1942Freddie Martin & His OrchestraVictor2794672435
07/01/1942Charlie Spivak & His OrchestraColumbia36649CO32962
07/01/1942Charlie Spivak & His OrchestraHarmony1082CO32962
07/30/1942Gordon Jenkins and his OrchestraCapitol12464
05/19/1944Guy Lombardo & His OrchestraDecca18717-A72146
05/19/1944Guy Lombardo's Royal CanadiansDecca2840972146
10/17/1944Jasha HeifetzDecca2337672461
11/14/1944Frank SinatraColumbia38257CO33811
11/14/1944Frank SinatraColumbia36756CO33811
11/14/1944Frank SinatraColumbia36860CO33811
11/14/1944Frank SinatraColumbia37152CO33811
09/19/1946Jo Stafford And Lyn Murray Singers (Paul Weston Orchestra)Capitol319999
10/22/1946Harry James & His OrchestraColumbia37955HCO2114
02/27/1947Ink SpotsDecca2414073805
03/19/1947Bing Crosby (Ken Darby Singers, John Scott Trotter and his Orchestra)Decca15074L4374
06/10/1947Carmen CavallaroDecca2414173948
07/11/1947Harry Breuer / Jesse CrawfordDecca2414373998
07/15/1947Ethel SmithDecca2414274004
12/11/1947Fred WaringDecca2450074225
09/14/1949Sister Rosetta TharpeDecca4811975260
09/22/1952Louis Armstrong withDecca2844383439
04/10/1954Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Peggy Lee, Trudy Stevens (Joseph J. Lilley Orchestra + Chorus)Decca29342L7622
YearTitleMediumTypeUsage
1942Holiday Innfilmfilm originalintroduced
1946Blue Skiesfilmreused
1954White Christmasfilmfilm originalreused
2004White Christmasstagestage adaptationreused
White Christmas (Holiday Inn, Australia) White Christmas (Holiday Inn, British) White Christmas (White Christmas, 1954) White Christmas (indie) White Christmas (Holiday Inn)
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