Merry “White” Christmas to All
Christmas ship at Garabaldi, Oregon, by Carla Stewart 2021 Dec
Merry Christmas to all of you deplorables! Some of you believe and are rejoicing, some of you do not – let’s just ignore our differences and hope that maybe one day can go by in peace, and Peace, and maybe just a glimpse of the Brotherhood of Man might sneak in.
Gonna go only vaguely military related with today’s… as my writing indicates, I am “of a certain age” (okay, old) so my childhood predates many of yours. A big feature of it every year was what we would now call seasonal programming on the lobotomy box – in our neck of the woods it seemed “The Wizard of Oz” was post-Halloween programming (after all the Halloween fare of black and white classics like “Frankenstein” and “Dracula”. Well, actually, we didn’t get a color television until I was sixteen (Dad repaired the old B&W TV longer than a Cuban could keep a ’57 BelAir alive), and I never knew The Wizard was anything BUT black and white.) But between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Christmas movies were the order of the day – and “White Christmas” was almost as ubiquitous as “Wonderful Life”, with the added bonus of Vera Ellen’s amazing dancing (and waist).
There may be those who don’t know – the song “White Christmas” originally appeared in a 1942 movie called “Holiday Inn” starring Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby. “White Christmas” is a sorta-remake released in the ’50s, but WWII was still fresh in everybody’s mind and the highlight of the movie is the ending scene when Der Bingle is singing the title song as the long-awaited snow is finally falling with all the vets chiming in. Great damn-it’s-dusty-in-here movie moment…but there’s more.
“I asked Uncle Bing one time, ‘What was the single most difficult thing you ever had to do in your career?’ We were out playing golf one day, and I didn’t know what he was going to say,” Howard (nephew Howard Crosby – ed.) told Fox News Digital. “I didn’t know if he was going to say, ‘Well, it was, you know, learning lines for the movies or working with a difficult director.’”
He continued, “He didn’t have to think about it at all. He said, ‘Well, 1944, we were over with the USO troupe.’ And he said, ‘We gave an open-air concert for 15,000 GIs and British Tommies in an open-air field in France.'”
His uncle told him Dinah Shore and the Andrews Sisters were at the show “‘and we had a lot of laughs and the boys were having a wonderful time, great fun.’ But he said at the end of the show, ‘I had to sing “White Christmas.” And I had to get through the song with 15,000 guys in tears and not break up myself.'”
Crosby believed in the troops:
He said his uncle loved entertaining troops, considering it his patriotic duty.
The “High Society” star even tried to enlist but was told he was too old.
Howard said that Gen. George C. Marshall, the chief of staff of the Army at the time, told him, “‘Look, Bing, we don’t need you in the front lines. We need you raising money for the war effort.’ So, I think he looked at it as a patriotic duty, and I think he also felt like a special kinship with the boys that we’re serving.”
Howard said that when Bing performed for the troops, he refused to wear his toupee.
“He hated that thing,” he said. “He called it a scalp doily. And he never wore it unless he absolutely had to. But he said, ‘If I’m entertaining troops, I’m not going to wear anything phony like a toupee. Forget it.’ So he went onstage without a toupee for the troops, but he also insisted that the front rows at those shows were reserved for the enlisted men. No officers or higher-ups sitting in the front rows. Those were all for the guys on the front lines.”
On a side note, Crosby was very self-effacing and hated people gushing over him.
“He said, ‘Hey, Howard, did you listen to that record?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, I listened to it.’ He said, ‘Well, what did you think?’ Well, of course, what I thought was it was absolutely fantastic. And it was really great in every respect. But I knew better than to tell him that. So I said, ‘Well, you know, for an old guy way past his prime, it wasn’t half bad.’ And he laughed. See, he liked that. He liked a backhanded compliment. But if I’d have come out gushing, he wouldn’t like that. He just … couldn’t take that sort of thing. He didn’t like adulation. It made him very uncomfortable.”
Amazing, that so many years after his death:
Howard said he recently saw that his uncle was No. 1 on the iTunes worldwide singles charts ahead of stars like Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga, and he believes Crosby would be completely shocked to see his continued success so many years after his death. Fox News
You know you will hear “White Christmas” soon. Read the linked article, and remember the guy who sang it to the troops. And from all of us, Merry Christmas again to all of you.
Category: We Remember, WWII
Stay warm.
Bet he regretted that in “Return of the Jedi.”
Last night while doing Christmas with the family I had satellite radio playing Christmas music in the background, old Bing was singing White Christmas among other songs.
Merry Christmas to all.
Same here.. also heard a few favorites of those no longer with us. I like to think it’s their way of saying they’re still watching over us.
Love you Mom, Grandma, Pop, Sis, and everyone else!
Merry Christmas
So this year, Paul of The Ballsack passed out the envelopes with our Christmas bonuses. Much to Hack’s surprise, there was no check but a note saying that a gift in Hack’s name was made to the Human Fund. That makes 11 years in a row.
I got a fuel card for aviation gas should I ever build an airplane.
Maybe one day he’ll buy you lunch on Sunday at Chick-Fil-A?
White Christmas? Dat’s RAAAYCISS! Report to HR for update DEI training!
It was called the Greatest Generation for a reason. Today’s “entertainers” should be taking lessons.
Merry Christmas to all believers and especially all nonbelievers! I wish you all the best.
I have never met any of you in person (that I know of), but still consider you friends. I actually talk to you all more than my own brother (that’s a story for another time).
Merry Chris†mas, all! Peace on earth to men of good will.
Most will get that wrong and say “peace on earth and good will to all men,” but that is not an accurate translation of et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis.