Do you know where popular holiday music came from? Holiday music is everywhere in movies and musical theatre, including quite a bit of Christmas music.
Many people are familiar with the song “White Christmas” as sung by Bing Crosby. What they do not realize is that it appeared in the 1942 movie “Holiday Inn” which gave it the push to fame. Irving Berlin wrote several new songs for this movie about a farm that doubles as an inn which is open only on holidays. Each holiday has its own song, such as “Be Careful, It’s My Heart” for Valentine’s Day, but the Christmas tune remains popular and well-known.
The 1954 movie “White Christmas” features a variety of music, but most of it would not be considered holiday music. “White Christmas” sung by Bing Crosby appears in the movie and due to the show taking place around Christmas time, the song “Snow” is now typically counted as a holiday song. It can be argued that “Count Your Blessings (Instead of Sheep)” is also a Christmas song, though it does not mention anything related to the holiday.
It is not just movies that have holiday music in them. The 1977 musical “Annie” features a song sung by the orphans with Franklin Roosevelt called “A New Deal for Christmas.” This is not a song many remember, partially due to its absences from many of the movie remakes and it not fitting modern retellings because of its focus on Roosevelt’s New Deal politics, but it is still featured in the stage show.
“Meet Me in Saint Louis” is a 1944 film that went to Broadway in 1989. The movie starred Judy Garland and introduced the tune “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” to the world. The lyrics were found to be too depressing, and the first verse was changed soon after its release for Frank Sinatra.
This is certainly not an exhaustive list of Christmas music in popular movies and musicals, as some were made to be holiday shows, and some not, but which is your favorite?
Kathryn McElfresh
Staff Reporter
