White Christmas

Yeah, we're not likely to have one of those in Austin. Apparently there's a cold front expected, but the forecasted low temp is 32 F (O C), so yeah, no snow for us.

Image from Wikipedia.

But never mind that! This post is about the movie White Christmas. It's been one of my sister's favourites for years, and by virtue of repeated exposure, it's now one of my favourites, too. AMC was kind enough to play it all weekend long a couple of weeks ago, so I watched it about four times.

If you don't know the story, you might consider adding this movie to your "to-watch" list. But here's the short version (I don't need a spoiler tag for a movie that's 50+ years old, right?):

A couple of army buddies, Bob Wallace and Phil Davis (played by Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye), hit the road with their song-and-dance act, which eventually leads to them producing their own musical. A pair of singing sisters, Betty and Judy Haynes (played by Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen), come across their path. Phil sees a chance to get Bob married off, so he connives sweet-talks Bob into going to Vermont with the girls, where they find out that their former army general is an innkeeper on the verge of bankruptcy. For the rest of the movie, Phil and Judy plot to get Bob and Betty together, while the four of them do what they can to help General Waverly. (The late, lamented, and extremely great Mary Wickes is also in the movie as the General's receptionist.)

One of my favourite lines from the movie comes near the beginning (and explains all the scheming and conniving on Phil's part), when Phil tells Bob, "I want you to get married. I want to you to have nine children. And if you only spend five minutes a day with each kid, that's forty-five minutes, and I'd at least have time to go out and get a massage or something!"

My sister, who is better than Wikipedia for information about this movie, tells me that Vera-Ellen was hired for her ability to dance and Rosemary Clooney for her ability to sing, and apparently never the twain shall meet. Hence the reason that Vera-Ellen's voice was dubbed, and Rosemary Clooney didn't do much dancing.

And if you don't live in Austin (or the southern hemisphere), then may your Christmas be white in a totally safe and non-limb-threatening way. Happy Christmas Eve!

I had a couple of fun polls about which of the characters were your favourites, but for some reason the polls went wacky and changed my background & colour scheme. So, here's your question: Who's your favourite, Phil or Bob? Betty or Judy? Someone else?