''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 Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, comedian, entertainer and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwi ...

Rosemary Clooney Rosemary Clooney (May 23, 1928 – June 29, 2002) was an American singer and actress. She came to prominence in the early 1950s with the song "Come On-a My House", which was followed by other pop numbers such as "Botch-a-Me (Ba-Ba-Baciami Piccin ...

Danny Kaye Danny Kaye (born David Daniel Kaminsky; ; January 18, 1911 – March 3, 1987) was an American actor, comedian, singer, and dancer. His performances featured physical comedy, idiosyncratic pantomimes, and rapid-fire novelty songs. Kaye starred ...

, and Trudy Stevens (who dubbed for

Vera-Ellen Vera-Ellen (born Vera-Ellen Rohe; February 16, 1921 – August 30, 1981) was an American dancer, actress, and singer. She is remembered for her solo performances as well as her work with partners Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Danny Kaye, and Donald ...

in the movie), with

Peggy Lee Norma Deloris Egstrom (May 26, 1920 – January 21, 2002), known professionally as Peggy Lee, was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, and actress whose career spanned seven decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local r ...

, who was not in the movie, singing some parts. It is one of the last 78 rpm albums Decca produced.

Background

For decades, an original soundtrack recording was never released. This was because Crosby had a recording contract with

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...

and

was signed with

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

and contractually could not record together. This album 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 Irving Berlin (born Israel Isidore Beilin; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-born American composer and songwriter. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook. Berlin received numerous honors including an Acade ...

. The album was released on CD by MCA in 1994. In the UK, it was released in 2002 as part of a 2-on-1 CD with studio recordings of songs from ''

Holiday Inn Holiday Inn by IHG is a chain of hotels based in Atlanta, Georgia and a brand of IHG Hotels & Resorts. The chain was founded in 1952 by Kemmons Wilson (1913–2003), who opened the first location in Memphis, Tennessee. The chain was a division ...

'' (1942). A special edition, combined with the DVD of the film, was sold in

Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational List of coffeehouse chains, chain of coffeehouses and Starbucks Reserve, roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gor ...

stores during the

holiday season The Christmas season or the festive season, also known as the holiday season or the holidays, is an annual period generally spanning from November or December to early January. Incorporating Christmas Day and New Year's Day, the various celebrat ...

in 2006. Although Clooney and Crosby were unable to make an album together at this time, they made the albums ''

Fancy Meeting You Here ''Fancy Meeting You Here'' is a 1958 RCA Victor studio album of duets by the American singers Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney, arranged by Billy May, who also conducted the orchestra. The album was originally issued in both mono and stereo, ...

'', '' How the West Was Won'' , and ''

That Travelin' Two-Beat ''That Travelin' Two-Beat'' is a duet album by Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney recorded in 1964 and released on Capitol Records in 1965. With its world tour theme, it was a revisitation of the concept explored in the duo's acclaimed RCA Victo ...

'' later in their careers. They also co-starred in a network radio show and frequently appeared together on television during the 1950s and 1960s. Many reissues of the song "Sisters" incorrectly attribute the performance to both Lee and Stevens when both parts are sung by Lee using

overdubbing Overdubbing (also known as layering) is a technique used in audio recording in which audio Music track, tracks that have been pre-recorded are then played back and monitored, while simultaneously recording new, doubled, or augmented tracks onto o ...

. ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' said, "Another sock talent parlay adds up to another click pic score package." An original soundtrack recording, containing the actual film performances, was finally released in 2022 on the Sepia label, as part of a two disc set which also contained original soundtrack recordings from Holiday Inn.

Track listing

Personnel

– vocals *

– vocals * Trudy Stevens – vocals * The Skylarks – vocals * Joseph Lilley – arranger, conductor

References

{{Bing Crosby Bing Crosby albums Peggy Lee albums 1954 Christmas albums Christmas albums by American artists Collaborative albums Danny Kaye albums Irving Berlin tribute albums Decca Records Christmas albums hr:Bijeli Božić (pjesma)