Holiday Inn (1942)

     Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn is a fun musical comedy with one glaringly embarrassing sequence that has not stood the test of time (more on that later). Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire star as entertainers, part of a trio with Lila Dixon (played by Virginia Dale). Both men are in love with her but she is engaged to Crosby’s Jim Hardy who, after the wedding, plans for them to retire from show business right after their Christmas Eve show and run a farm together. However, Lila has fallen for Astaire’s Ted Hanover. She calls off the engagement and goes off with Ted as a pair. Jim still leaves showbiz and moves to his farm. Over the course of the next year Jim realizes that getting up at dawn to run a farm is exhausting and he misses the limelight. At least a little bit. So he decides to make his farm an Inn that is only open on holidays and produce a big show for each celebration. A young aspiring singer/dancer, Linda Mason (Marjorie Reynolds), comes in for an audition and is hired. Promising to do all the holiday shows for the upcoming year. The first Holiday Inn show is Christmas and during rehearsals Jim and Linda have grown closer. Little does Jim know but Lila has walked out on Ted, just before their wedding, and now he has shown up, depressed and drunk, at the Holiday Inn. Ted’s in the market for a new dance, and romantic, partner and begins his plan to get Linda to join him on the road. Over the course of the year Jim has to keep coming up with plans to keep Linda from “paring up’ with Ted.

     The film Holiday Inn is best remembered for introducing the song White Christmas. It was a big hit and the time. The film features many more Irving Berlin tunes, You’re Easy to Dance With, Be Careful It’s My Heart, Song of Freedom, and Easter Parade are highlights. There is a fun dance number by Fred Astaire to a song called Let’s Say it with Firecrackers where firecrackers are used during his dance. It’s a solo dance and you can’t take your eyes off of him. The story itself is pretty simple. Boy loses girl to friend, boy gets new girl, friend tries to steal new girl, but it’s colored with beautifully staged production numbers that keep the energy high. I’d swear, in my memory the film is in color, when it is most definitely in black and white. That’s how great the musical numbers are. Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby were already well established superstars by 1942 and Irvin Berlin a brand of his own too. As a matter of fact, several of Astaire’s previous hit films had featured Irving Berlin music and Bing Crosby was a natural fit for Berlin’s music. The chemistry between Crosby and Astaire is just ok. They work fine together, but I think there’s a reason they weren’t paired up again. Even though this film was well received. Holiday Inn also features a really nice performance by a terrific African American actress named Louise Beavers. She plays Mamie, Jim’s cook at the Inn. She is hung with yet another stereotypical “Black” role in a movie, but there is a scene where she is talking to Crosby’s Jim who is in a funk believing he has lost Linda. She basically tells him to “go get her.” “Tell her you love her.” “Stop moping and do something about it!” Her dialogue, unfortunately, is colored with… well “colored” dialect. Words like “you’se” and “gets”, that sort of thing, but even hung with that dialogue she commands that scene. I believed everything she was saying. She owned Crosby in that scene if you ask me.

     There is a whole sequence of this film that is often omitted from TV broadcasts- the Lincoln’s Birthday sequence. This is one of the holidays that the Inn is open and presents a big production number. It’s a number that praises “The Great Emancipator” in song and dance. The problem here is that the entire staff is in blackface. Waiters, waitresses, the band, along with the performers, including Crosby and Margorie Reynolds, all blackfaced and in stereotypically “black folks” clothes. It’s hard to watch. The song is called “Abraham” and there is one short verse sung by Louise Beaver’s Mamie, as she and her two (super cute) kids are watching the number from the kitchen door. In it she is made to use the term “darkie”; “Abraham set the darkies free”. Ugh. I hope she was paid well. Who am I kidding? I promise you she was not. I’m glad I saw the uncut version though. I think moments like this in popular entertainment’s past should be seen and we should be uncomfortable watching it. My teenage daughter happened to walk by during that scene and I heard her behind me say “oh my god what is happening there?” That’s what we want to hear. This big sequence is in a film from 1942 that a few minutes later has a big patriotic number about what a great country America is. How did they not see it? As long as we see it today is what is important. Let’s not hide our history, but be sure to place it into context as not to perpetuate such blind bigotry. I imagine that no one in the production, with the exception perhaps of Ms. Beavers, gave the Lincoln’s Birthday sequence a second thought. Which is hard to wrap your mind around today, but it’s true.

     The idea for the film was Irving Berlin’s after he’d written the song Easter Parade in the early 1930’s. He’d hoped to write a play about American holidays but when he never got around to making that happen he pitched the idea to director Mark Sandrich who took it to Paramount and got the ball rolling. Originally the film was planned to feature Ginger Rogers and Rita Hayworth, but the studio was already paying for Crosby and Astaire and wouldn’t pay for “name” leading ladies too, so Reyolds and Dale got the gigs. Marjorie Reynold’s singing was dubbed by the way. A very common practice at that time. The attack on Pearl Harbor happened while the film was in production so they added the film footage of war-time production and military exorcises in the Song of Freedom number and Fred Astaire’s “Firecracker” dance number was added for even more patriotic content. The crew members had to wear goggles during filming, because the sand from the firecrackers flew into their faces. And yes, the Holiday Inn hotel chain did take it’s name from this movie.

     If you’re able to push beyond the Abraham sequence, Holiday Inn is still an immensely entertaining film. There are not one, not two, but three Christmases featured. What other movie has that? The music and production numbers are what standout and what you’ll remember after watching it. As I commented earlier, in my mind’s eye the production numbers are in color, that’s how good they are. They transcend the fact that they were shot in black and white. I am not particularly a huge fan of Bing Crosby or Fred Astaire, but I can appreciate their talent and Holiday Inn works as a really nice showcase for both it’s stars.