Holiday Inn (1942)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Mark Sandrich

Writers:

Irving Berlin (idea)
Elmer Rice (adaptation)
(more)

Release Date:

4 April 1943 (Sweden)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Musical | Romance

Plot:

Lovely Linda Mason has crooner Jim Hardy head over heels, but suave stepper Ted Hanover wants her for...

Plot Keywords:

Holiday | Inn | Christmas | Dance | Minstrel Show

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 2 nominations

Cast

Bing Crosby	...	Jim Hardy
Fred Astaire	...	Ted Hanover
Marjorie Reynolds	...	Linda Mason
Virginia Dale	...	Lila Dixon
Walter Abel	...	Danny Reed
Louise Beavers	...	Mamie
Irving Bacon	...	Gus
Marek Windheim	...	François
James Bell	...	Dunbar
John Gallaudet	...	Parker
Shelby Bacon	...	Vanderbilt
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Joan Arnold	...	Daphne
Edward Arnold Jr.	...	Second dancer Ted bumps into (uncredited)
Loretta Barnett	...	Dancer (uncredited)
Harry Barris	...	Midnight Club orchestra leader (uncredited)
Muriel Barr	...	Dancer (uncredited)
Patsy Bedell	...	Dancer (uncredited)
Leon Belasco	...	Flower shop proprietor (uncredited)
Brooks Benedict	...	Dance extra (uncredited)
Karin Booth	...	Hat check girl (uncredited)
Ralph Brooks	...	Dance extra (uncredited)
Donald Brown	...	Child dancer (uncredited)
William Cabanne	...	Boy (uncredited)
Ruth Clifford	...	Woman (uncredited) (unconfirmed)
Marion Colby	...	Dancer (uncredited)
Laurie Douglas	...	Girl (uncredited)
June Ealey	...	Specialty dancer (uncredited)
Edward Emerson	...	Man at the inn (uncredited)
Julia Faye	...	Woman (uncredited) (unconfirmed)
Glen Forbes	...	Dancer (uncredited)
Lynda Grey	...	Girl (uncredited)
Kenneth Griffith	...	Boy (uncredited)
Mildred Harris	...	Woman (uncredited) (unconfirmed)
Oscar 'Dutch' Hendrian	...	Nightclub doorman (uncredited)
Robert Homans	...	Pop (uncredited)
Bud Jamison	...	Santa Claus (uncredited)
Kitty Kelly	...	Drunk (uncredited)
Louise La Planche	...	Girl (uncredited)
Teala Loring	...	Cigarette girl (uncredited)
Robert Locke Lorraine	...	Dancer (uncredited)
Douglas MacArthur	...	Himself in montage (archive footage) (uncredited)
Lora Lee Michel	...	Girl (uncredited)
Ross Murray	...	Dancer (uncredited)
Anthony Nace	...	First dancer Ted bumps into (uncredited)
Jane Novak	...	Woman (uncredited) (unconfirmed)
Bob Crosby Orchestra	...	Musicians (uncredited)
Reed Porter	...	Assistant director (uncredited)
Rebel Randall	...	Girl (uncredited)
Keith Richards	...	Assistant director (uncredited)
Cyril Ring	...	Man in montage (uncredited)
Ronald R. Rondell	...	Orchestra leader (uncredited)
Franklin Delano Roosevelt	...	Himself in montage (archive footage) (uncredited)
Mel Ruick	...	Man (uncredited)
Jack Shea	...	Dance extra (uncredited)
Barbara Slater	...	Girl (uncredited)
David Tihmar	...	Specialty dancer (uncredited)
Jacques Vanaire	...	Waiter (uncredited)

Directed by
Mark Sandrich

Writing credits
Irving Berlin		(idea)
Elmer Rice		(adaptation)
Claude Binyon		(screenplay)
Ben Holmes		contributing writer (uncredited)
Bert Lawrence		contributing writer (uncredited)
Zion Myers		contributing writer (uncredited)
Francis Swann		contributing writer (uncredited)

Produced by
Mark Sandrich	....	producer

Cinematography by
David Abel		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Ellsworth Hoagland

Art Direction by
Roland Anderson
Hans Dreier

Costume Design by
Edith Head		(gowns)

Makeup Department
Wally Westmore	....	makeup artist
Leonora Sabine	....	hair stylist supervisor (uncredited)

Production Management
Charles Woolstenhulme	....	unit manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Charles C. Coleman	....	assistant director (uncredited)
Oscar Rudolph	....	second assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Sam Comer	....	set dresser (uncredited)
William Flannery	....	assistant art director (uncredited)
Ray Moyer	....	set dresser (uncredited)

Sound Department
John Cope	....	sound recordist
Earl S. Hayman	....	sound recordist (as Earl Hayman)

Camera and Electrical Department
John Ellis	....	still photographer (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Billy Livingston	....	wardrobe designer: chorus (uncredited)

Music Department
Robert Emmett Dolan	....	musical director
Arthur Franklin	....	music assistant
Joseph J. Lilley	....	music arranger: vocals (as Joseph Lilley)
Robert Emmett Dolan	....	composer: incidental music (uncredited)
Gil Grau	....	music arranger (uncredited)
Martha Mears	....	singing voice: Marjorie Reynolds (uncredited)
Walter Scharf	....	composer: incidental music (uncredited)
Walter Scharf	....	music arranger (uncredited)
Andrea Setaro	....	orchestra scoring (uncredited)
Herbert W. Spencer	....	music arranger (uncredited)
Paul Weston	....	music arranger (uncredited)

Other crew
Daniel Dare	....	stager: dance ensembles (as Danny Dare)
Bob Crosby Orchestra	....	specialty accompaniments (as Bob Crosby's Band)
Jean Bosquet	....	publicist (uncredited)
June Chapman	....	dancer (uncredited)
Bob Crosby	....	specialty accompaniments band director (uncredited)
Eunice Douglas	....	secretary: Irving Berlin (uncredited)
Grace Dubray	....	script clerk (uncredited)
George King	....	assistant dance director (uncredited)
Norman Lacey	....	location manager (uncredited)
Sam Ledner	....	dance director (uncredited)
Al Mann	....	dance assistant (uncredited)
Zion Myers	....	production assistant (uncredited)
Hazel Noe	....	dance secretary (uncredited)
Babe Pearce	....	assistant dance director (uncredited)
Trudy Wellman	....	script clerk (uncredited)
Trudy Wellman	....	secretary (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Paramount Pictures (as Paramount Pictures Inc.)

Distributors

• Paramount Pictures (1942) (USA) (theatrical)
• Paramount Pictures (1949) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• MCA/Universal Pictures (1958) (USA) (TV)
• MCA/Universal Home Video (1994) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Universal Home Entertainment (1999) (USA) (VHS)
• Universal Home Entertainment (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Universal Studios Home Entertainment (2008) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Legend Films  colorization
• Legend Films  restoration

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Finland:S | USA:Approved | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | Australia:G

Filming Locations:

Holiday Inn, Monte Rio, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Marjorie Reynolds singing was dubbed by Martha Mears.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Lila gives Linda a lift to Holiday Inn, Linda gets in the car, sits down, and starts to close the door. In the next shot, Linda hops into the car again.

Quotes:

Mamie: [about winning Linda back] You could melt her heart right down to butter, if you'd only turn on the heat!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Bob Newhart Show: I'm Dreaming of a Slight Christmas (#2.15)" (1973)

Soundtrack:

Song of Freedom

Bing was a marketing genius.

Finally Paramount gave Crosby a big budget musical and didn't rely on his charm and personality to carry the film. The budget went to hire such outside talent as Fred Astaire and Irving Berlin. And none of them disappoint.

In the first of two films Astaire and Crosby did together the characters are remarkably the same. Astaire is the elegant and charming show business professional who's ambitious for success. Crosby is the talented, but lazy partner who just wants a life of ease and comfort and not to work more than he has to. Small wonder that their double act broke up. But now enter a complication. They both get interested in the same girl who in this film is Marjorie Reynolds.

Crosby dreams up the idea of a nightclub/hotel called Holiday Inn where they only work on holidays. He wants Reynolds to help with the shows there. Astaire wants her for his act after his other girl partner Virginia Dale runs off with a millionaire. And the fun starts. Now since this was Crosby's home studio and he's first billed, just who do you think gets Reynolds in the end? As maid Louise Beavers put it, don't sit and mope because some slicker stole your gal.

Irving Berlin writes a majority of new songs to supplement a couple from his vast trunk of songs mostly about our holidays. By that time Berlin had extracted an agreement which became standard for all the films he wrote for. Not one note of non-Berlin music is ever heard in a score he writes. Just listen to this and just about any other film Berlin is associated with. Even music in the background is his.

The hit song in this was supposed to be Be Careful It's My Heart, the Valentine's Day song, sung by Crosby and danced to by Astaire and Reynolds. It did have a good deal of success. But the success of White Christmas was exponentially phenomenal. It netted Irving Berlin his one and only Academy Award and for Bing Crosby his number one item on vinyl. In fact everyone's number one item on vinyl.

I don't know if Bing Crosby ever set out to become the voice of Christmas, but if he did he was a marketing genius. If he's known and appreciated for anything with today's audience, it's for that. White Christmas became the first Yule song he was identified with although he had recorded some Christmas material before that. After this he started doing the holiday music in serious. Just think, along around Columbus Day, record companies even now reissue his Christmas stuff every year and his totals as largest selling recording artist in history grow once again. That's why the Beatles and Elvis, etc. don't have a prayer of overtaking him.

In fact White Christmas's initial success was so great that Decca wore out the original master putting out records to meet the demand. So in 1945, Decca got Bing, the Ken Darby Singers and John Scott Trotter to re-record it almost note for note. The original 78 had White Christmas with the flipside of Let's Start the New Year Right also from Holiday Inn. The newer version which most people hear has as it's flipside God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.

I don't want to ignore Fred Astaire's contribution here. He does a nice comic turn with I Can't Tell a Lie, the Washington's birthday number where Crosby keeps changing the tempo to upset him and Reynolds. The Fourth of July yields a number for each. Reynolds is kept from the show by Bing's machinations and Astaire has to "improvise" something. He "improvises" Firecrackers and anyone who knows anything about Astaire knows how hard he worked to get that spontaneous feeling in his dancing. Bing sings The Song of Freedom, reminiscent of James Cagney's Grand Old Flag number from Yankee Doodle Dandy also out in 1942 and Song of Freedom is also reminiscent of what Paramount could have given Bing in the 1930s had they hired someone like Busby Berkeley to give Bing some of the production numbers that Dick Powell had at Warner Brothers.

So what more is there to say, but sit back and enjoy the fun.