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White Christmas<br />
By: Yvonne Cloutier / Musical Moments<br />
Who would have thought that a song<br />
written in the southwest, with the verse<br />
about orange and palm trees, would become one<br />
of the greatest hits of all times?<br />
Well, that is what happened with a song called White Christmas. It<br />
was written in 1941-- words and music by none other than Irving<br />
Berlin. It was the highest grossing hit for almost 60 years, won him an<br />
Oscar for best song of 1942, and is a perennial best seller during the<br />
holiday season.<br />
Actually Berlin didn’t like the Christmas holiday season because it<br />
reminded him of his only son who died at 24 days old on a December<br />
1 st . But songwriters are always looking for that special song that will<br />
become a standard, and that was what Berlin was looking for.<br />
Berlin wrote the lyrics first, as he usually did with his songs, and<br />
then could pick out the melody on his piano. However, he needed<br />
someone to write the harmony or accompaniment.<br />
This was done by his musical secretary, Helmy Kresna. With White<br />
Christmas, he told her: “Grab your pen and take down this song. I just<br />
wrote the best song I’ve ever written - heck, I just wrote the best song<br />
that anybody’s ever written!””<br />
Berlin felt that the lyrics made a song a hit, and the tune made it<br />
last. Al Jolson though, said the singer has much to do with a hit song.<br />
Bing Crosby was the engine behind White Christmas bringing it to the<br />
50,000,000 mark, when it was released.<br />
He first sang it on his radio show The Kraft Music Hall on Christmas<br />
Day, 1941. He actually thought it an “okay” song the first time he<br />
heard it.<br />
Bing sang it in the 1942 movie Holiday Inn with Marjorie Reynolds,<br />
not Rosemary Clooney as some people think. Marjorie, unable to sing<br />
well, lip-synced Martha Mear’s voice.<br />
Berlin was asked to write holidays anthems, so he also wrote Easter<br />
Parade and Happy Holidays; both big hits.<br />
Irving Berlin, a creative Russian Jewish American genius, whose<br />
songs will live on forever, died in 1989.<br />
Yvonne Cloutier, a former teacher/principal, with a music<br />
background, specializes in ragtime piano. She researches and<br />
reports about music on SCA-TV.com/Anthem Alive! You can<br />
contact her at www.mytimeisragtime.com.<br />
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