"created a distinct Christmas chart for seasonal releases. In ""Holiday Inn"", the composition won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1942. In the film, Crosby sings ""White Christmas"" as a duet with actress Marjorie Reynolds, though her voice was dubbed by Martha Mears. This now-familiar scene was not the moviemakers' initial plan. In the script as originally conceived, Reynolds, not Crosby, would sing the song. The song would feature in another Crosby film, the 1954 musical ""White Christmas"", which became the highest-grossing film of 1954. (Crosby made yet another studio recording of the song, accompanied by Joseph J."
"(1942), ""Blue Skies"" (1946) and ""Easter Parade"" (1948), with Judy Garland and Fred Astaire, and ""There's No Business Like Show Business"" (1954). The 1942 film ""Holiday Inn"" introduced ""White Christmas"", one of the most recorded songs in history. First sung in the film by Bing Crosby (along with Marjorie Reynolds, whose voice was dubbed by Martha Mears), it has sold over 50 million records and stayed no. 1 on the pop and R&B charts for 10 weeks. Crosby's version is the best-selling single of all time. Music critic Stephen Holden credits this partly to the fact that ""the song also"
"White Christmas (song) ""White Christmas"" is a 1942 Irving Berlin song reminiscing about an old-fashioned Christmas setting. The version sung by Bing Crosby is the world's best-selling single with estimated sales in excess of 50 million copies worldwide. Other versions of the song, along with Crosby's, have sold over 50 million copies. Accounts vary as to when and where Berlin wrote the song. One story is that he wrote it in 1940, in warm La Quinta, California, while staying at the La Quinta Hotel, a frequent Hollywood retreat also favored by writer-director-producer Frank Capra, although the Arizona Biltmore also claims"
"The Christmas Album"", charted at No. 13 on the Italian Singles Chart based on digital downloads of the track. White Christmas (song) ""White Christmas"" is a 1942 Irving Berlin song reminiscing about an old-fashioned Christmas setting. The version sung by Bing Crosby is the world's best-selling single with estimated sales in excess of 50 million copies worldwide. Other versions of the song, along with Crosby's, have sold over 50 million copies. Accounts vary as to when and where Berlin wrote the song. One story is that he wrote it in 1940, in warm La Quinta, California, while staying at the"
"Merry Christmas (Bing Crosby album) Merry Christmas is a compilation album by Bing Crosby that was released in 1945 on Decca Records. It has remained in print through the vinyl, CD, and downloadable file eras, currently as the disc and digital album ""White Christmas"" on MCA Records, a part of the Universal Music Group, (reissued in June 1995) and currently on vinyl as ""Merry Christmas"" on Geffen Records (re-issued in September 2014). It includes Crosby's signature song ""White Christmas"", the best-selling single of all time with estimated sales of over 50 million copies worldwide. The album has sold over 15"
"to the film ""White Christmas"" to advance the relationship between the characters played by Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney. The sentimental theme reminds listeners to remember how much they are blessed instead of fretting about short-term problems. It was nominated for an Academy Award as ""Best Song"" but was defeated by ""Three Coins in the Fountain"" from the movie of the same name written by Jule Styne and lyricist Sammy Cahn. It was performed on the 1955 Academy Awards telecast by vocalist Peggy King. The best-known recordings were made by Rosemary Clooney and Bing Crosby — who both appeared in"
"Delta Music also released an album in 1992 on the LaserLight label titled White Christmas often confused with the newer Decca imprint. Merry Christmas (Bing Crosby album) Merry Christmas is a compilation album by Bing Crosby that was released in 1945 on Decca Records. It has remained in print through the vinyl, CD, and downloadable file eras, currently as the disc and digital album ""White Christmas"" on MCA Records, a part of the Universal Music Group, (reissued in June 1995) and currently on vinyl as ""Merry Christmas"" on Geffen Records (re-issued in September 2014). It includes Crosby's signature song ""White"
"Jewish upbringing. When Crosby first heard Berlin play ""White Christmas"" in 1941 at the first rehearsals, he did not immediately recognize its full potential. Crosby simply said: ""I don't think we have any problems with that one, Irving."" Although ""White Christmas"" has become iconic, this was not the original intention. The song ""Be Careful, It's My Heart"", played during the Valentine's Day section of the film, was originally intended to be a bigger hit when production of ""Holiday Inn"" commenced. The song is used during the Christmas holiday sections of the movie, most notably when it is introduced to Linda"
"Singers. In 1942, American Decca released the first recording of ""White Christmas"" by Bing Crosby. He recorded another version of the song in 1947 for Decca; to this day, Crosby's recording of ""White Christmas"" for Decca remains the best-selling single worldwide of all time. In 1943, American Decca ushered in the age of the original cast album in the United States, when they released an album set of nearly all the songs from Rodgers and Hammerstein's ""Oklahoma!"", performed by the same cast who appeared in the show on Broadway, and using the show's orchestra, conductor, chorus, and musical and vocal"
"Selections from Irving Berlin's White Christmas Selections from Irving Berlin's White Christmas is an album with songs from the 1954 movie, ""White Christmas"". Among the featured artists are Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, and Trudy Stevens (who dubbed for Vera-Ellen in the movie), with Peggy Lee, who was not in the movie, singing some parts. It is one of the last 78 rpm albums Decca produced. An original soundtrack recording has never been released. This was because Crosby had a recording contract with Decca Records and Rosemary Clooney was signed with Columbia Records and contractually could not record together. This album"
"starred Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, and Vera-Ellen. It was an extremely loose remake of ""Holiday Inn"", with a plot again involving an inn, but otherwise different from the earlier film. Fred Astaire was offered the second lead in the new film, but after reading the script, he declined. The role was then offered to Donald O'Connor, but he was injured before filming began. Danny Kaye ultimately took the role. In 2004, the American Film Institute listed ""White Christmas"" at No. 5 in its 100 Years...100 Songs. A colorized version of ""Holiday Inn"" was released by Universal on October 14,"
"arranged for the profits from the record to be donated to charity. White Christmas by far is Bing's biggest hit and the entire world's, since it has sold over 50 million copies; No song has ever come close to matching it. There are two versions of this song that were recorded in the studio and many outside of that used for TV and radio. Star Dust (sometimes spelled ""Stardust"") is a song about love. It has over 1,500 recordings and is one of the most recorded songs of the 20th century. Bing Crosby made two main recordings during his career."
"of a free land. Crosby, however, seldom bothers to contemplate his future. For one thing, he enjoys hearing himself sing, and if ever a day should dawn when the public wearies of him, he will complacently go right on singing—to himself."" The biggest hit song of Crosby's career was his recording of Irving Berlin's ""White Christmas"", which he introduced on a Christmas Day radio broadcast in 1941. (A copy of the recording from the radio program is owned by the estate of Bing Crosby and was loaned to ""CBS Sunday Morning"" for their December 25, 2011, program.) The song then"
"Bing Crosby's Merrie Olde Christmas Bing Crosby's Merrie Olde Christmas is a posthumous 1977 Christmas television special starring Bing Crosby and his family with special guests Twiggy, David Bowie, Ron Moody, Stanley Baxter and Trinity Boys Choir. It includes a duet by the unusual pairing of Crosby and Bowie on ""Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy"". It was Crosby's final Christmas special, recorded just five weeks before his death on October 14, 1977. The special was introduced by his widow Kathryn Crosby and was broadcast in the United States on CBS on November 30, 1977, and in the United Kingdom on"
"Lilley's orchestra and chorus, for the film's soundtrack album.) According to Crosby's nephew, Howard Crosby, ""I once asked Uncle Bing about the most difficult thing he ever had to do during his entertainment career… He said 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."" The version most"
"Crosby's signature song ""White Christmas"" on shellac disc record. The 1942 version would only be released only one more time, in ""Merry Christmas"" in 1945 before the song was re-recorded (because the original master recording wore out) and the later version became the standard. Billboard was very enthusiastic saying: These newly issued songs were featured on a 6-disc, 78 rpm album set, Decca Album No. A-306. Discs 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 are sung by Bing Crosby while Disc 5 is sung by Fred Astaire. On Disc 4, both sing on the track ""I'll Capture Your Heart"". All songs"
"""It's a Wonderful Life"" (1946) and ""Miracle on 34th Street"" (1947). Moviefone listed the two movies as number two and three respectively in their ""25 Best Christmas Movies of All Time"". ""The Times"" of London, in a similar ranking, had the two in tenth and eight respectively, while placing fourth 1942's ""Holiday Inn"", the movie that launched Bing Crosby's ""White Christmas"". Particularly Frank Capra's ""It's a Wonderful Life"", starring James Stewart has been called ""a testament to the family values of small-town America just after WWII."" ""Santa Claus Conquers the Martians"" (1964) regularly appears on lists of the worst films"
"and Buddy Cole. The album was reissued, combined with the 1954 Rosemary Clooney album ""Red Garters,"" in compact disc format, by Collectables Records on June 12, 2001. Irving Berlin's White Christmas Irving Berlin's White Christmas was an LP album of songs by Rosemary Clooney from the movie ""White Christmas,"" released by Columbia Records in 1954 (CL 6338). The album was also released as a set of four 78-rpm records at the same time. This was one of two albums of songs from the movie, neither of which qualifies as an original soundtrack recording, because Bing Crosby (who had a recording"
"to sell more than a quarter-million copies during the 1962 Christmas holiday season. Bing Crosby made the song into a hit when he recorded his own version of it on October 21, 1963, with the record being released as a single on October 26. Crosby also performed the song on a Bob Hope Christmas television special on December 13 of that year. Over the years, Crosby's recording of the song has been widely played on the radio, and has been available on numerous compilation Christmas albums and compact discs put out by Capitol Records. The song was later recorded in"
"special CBS would air in 1977, airing a month after Elvis Presley's last television appearance, ""Elvis in Concert"". The special was released on DVD as part of the 2-disc compilation Bing Crosby: The Television Specials – Volume 2: The Christmas Specials on November 9, 2010. Bing Crosby's Merrie Olde Christmas Bing Crosby's Merrie Olde Christmas is a posthumous 1977 Christmas television special starring Bing Crosby and his family with special guests Twiggy, David Bowie, Ron Moody, Stanley Baxter and Trinity Boys Choir. It includes a duet by the unusual pairing of Crosby and Bowie on ""Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy""."
"are the formats and track listings of single releases of ""White Christmas"". Crosby's ""White Christmas"" single has been credited with selling 50 million copies, the most by any release and therefore it is the biggest-selling single worldwide of all time. The ""Guinness Book of World Records"" 2009 Edition lists the song as a 100-million seller, encompassing all versions of the song, including albums. Crosby's holiday collection ""Merry Christmas"" was first released as an LP in 1949, and has never been out of print since. There has been confusion and debate on whether Crosby's record is or is not the best-selling"
"appeared in his movie ""Holiday Inn"" (1942). His record hit the charts on October 3, 1942, and rose to No. 1 on October 31, where it stayed for 11 weeks. A holiday perennial, the song was repeatedly re-released by Decca, charting another sixteen times. It topped the charts again in 1945 and a third time in January 1947. The song remains the bestselling single of all time. According to ""Guinness World Records"", his recording of ""White Christmas"" has sold over 100 million copies around the world, with at least 50 million sales as singles. His recording was so popular that"
"Irving Berlin's White Christmas Irving Berlin's White Christmas was an LP album of songs by Rosemary Clooney from the movie ""White Christmas,"" released by Columbia Records in 1954 (CL 6338). The album was also released as a set of four 78-rpm records at the same time. This was one of two albums of songs from the movie, neither of which qualifies as an original soundtrack recording, because Bing Crosby (who had a recording contract with Decca Records) and Rosemary Clooney (with a Columbia contract) could not record together. This album, therefore, was issued by Columbia, while Decca issued an album"
"Sothern, George Murphy, The Nicholas Brothers, and The Goldwyn Girls in the 1934 film ""Kid Millions"". The song was revived in the 1954 movie ""White Christmas,"" where it was sung by Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, and Rosemary Clooney. Crosby also recorded the song in 1954 for use on his radio show and it was subsequently included in the box set ""The Bing Crosby CBS Radio Recordings (1954-56)"" issued by Mosaic Records (catalog MD7-245) in 2009. Mandy (Irving Berlin song) ""Mandy"" is a popular song by Irving Berlin, published in 1919. ""Mandy"" was originally used for an Army relief show called"
"was issued with Columbia's ""Irving Berlin's White Christmas"". In this album, Lee recorded the parts that Clooney sang in the movie. This was Crosby's third Decca LP album, recorded and released in 1954 and advertised as the soundtrack for ""White Christmas"". For the 78rpm set, the three song medley ""Blue Skies/I'd Rather See a Minstrel Show/Mandy"" running to 3 minutes 53 seconds was a too long for a 10"" 78, so ""Blue Skies"" was removed. The music and lyrics were written by highly celebrated songwriter Irving Berlin. The album was released on CD by MCA in 1994. In the UK,"
"hit song: ""Be Careful, It's My Heart"". By the end of October 1942, ""White Christmas"" topped the ""Your Hit Parade"" chart. It remained in that position until well into the new year. It has often been noted that the mix of melancholy—""just like the ones I used to know""—with comforting images of home—""where the treetops glisten""—resonated especially strongly with listeners during World War II. A few weeks after the attacks on Pearl Harbor, Crosby introduced ""White Christmas"" on a Christmas Day broadcast. The Armed Forces Network was flooded with requests for the song. The recording is noted for Crosby's whistling"
"and Clara Alice Powell. Darby was married to Vera Matson from 1932 to 1992. Ken Darby's choral group, The Ken Darby Singers, sang backup for Bing Crosby on the original 1942 Decca Records studio recording of ""White Christmas."" In 1940 they also sang on the first album ever made of the songs from ""The Wizard of Oz"", a film on which Darby had worked. However, the album was a studio cast recording, not a true soundtrack album (although it did feature Judy Garland), and it did not use the film's original arrangements. Darby also performed as part of ""The King's"
"the film grossed $30 million at the domestic box office. There was a US theatrical re-release by Paramount in 1961. ""White Christmas"" was released on US VHS in 1986 and again in 1997. The first US DVD release was in 2000. It was subsequently re-released in 2009, with a commensurate Blu-ray in 2010. The most recent US issue was a 4-disc ""Diamond Anniversary Edition"" in 2014. This collection contains a Blu-ray with extras, two DVDs with the film and extras, and a fourth disc of Christmas songs on CD. These songs are performed individually by Crosby, Clooney, and Kaye. A"
"the Evening"" (1951) – and won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in ""Going My Way"" (1944). A survey in 2000 found that with 1,077,900,000 movie tickets sold, Crosby was the third most popular actor of all time, behind Clark Gable (1,168,300,000) and John Wayne (1,114,000,000). The ""International Motion Picture Almanac"" lists him in a tie for second on the All Time Number One Stars List with Clint Eastwood, Tom Hanks, and Burt Reynolds. His most popular film, ""White Christmas"", grossed $30 million in 1954 ($ million in current value). He received 23 gold and platinum records,"
"since he made his first record in 1931. His biggest best seller is 'White Christmas', 2,000,000 impressions of which have been sold in the U.S. and 250,000 in Great Britain."" ""Nine out of ten singers and bandleaders listen to Crosby's broadcasts each Thursday night and follow his lead. The day after he sings a song over the air – any song – some 50,000 copies of it are sold throughout the U.S. Time and again Crosby has taken some new or unknown ballad, has given it what is known in trade circles as the 'big goose' and made it a"
"honest,"" he said, not afraid to tell him she was not an actress. That, and the fact that ""her freckles made her look like the All-American Girl,"" he said. Day would be the discovery he boasted about most later in his career. ""The Story of Will Rogers"" (1952), also a biography, told the story of well-known humorist and movie star Will Rogers, played by Will Rogers Jr., his son. ""White Christmas"" (1954), Curtiz's second adaptation of an Irving Berlin musical, was a major box-office success, the highest-grossing film of 1954. It starred Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, and Vera-Ellen."
"of the songs for Decca Records. ""Sweet Leilani"" was top of the charts of the day for ten weeks during a 25-week stay. ""Blue Hawaii"" reached the No. 5 spot and spent 13 weeks in the charts. Crosby's songs were also included in the Bing's Hollywood series. Waikiki Wedding Waikiki Wedding is a 1937 American musical film directed by Frank Tuttle and starring Bing Crosby, Bob Burns, Martha Raye, and Shirley Ross. Crosby plays the part of Tony Marvin, a PR man charged with extolling the virtues of Hawaii. The female lead, played by Shirley Ross is a local beauty"
"""Faith of Our Fathers"" and ""Danny Boy""(which was only on the 1945 original album) can be found on the 1998 double-disc """", a compendium of all of Crosby's Christmas recordings for Decca from 1935 to 1956. On August 29, 2008, the ""White Christmas"" album was re-issued as a ""Collector's Edition"" by Madacy Special Products. This issue featured the original album's 12 tracks in a slightly different order and added two additional tracks (""Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"" and ""Here Comes Santa Claus""). The album was packaged in a collectible tin along with the Special Edition DVD of the 1942 film ""Holiday"