I love everything about Christmas. Putting up the tree, firing up every Christmas song you can imagine… drinking egg nog, pretending there’s snow outside (I live in Arizona). And my favorite part? The Christmas movies. Rewatching Elf for the millionth time. You just can’t go wrong and help but feel joyous.
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But what if I told you that there’s a classic Christmas movie that you’ve never heard of that had a #1 selling song in it for 50 years, completely changed how Americans celebrate Christmas, and was a box office hit? This issue is about how I went to see “White Christmas” at a private showing at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West.

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The "Theatre"

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I remember pulling into the parking lot of Taliesin West. Driving through a windy road, that’s covered in Arizona desert flora. I was thinking to myself, where the hell am I going? But once I stepped onto that property for the first time I couldn’t help but feel the openness. That’s because Taliesin West is built right into the mountains on the northeast edge of Scottsdale. If you looked at it from an aerial view, you might not even see it because it blends into the surrounding landscape.
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Frank Lloyd Wright built this sprawling property in the late 1930s as his love letter to the desert. He was aging, and needed to get out of Wisconsin's harsh winters. He wanted to create a place where he could work, teach his students, and live out the rest of his life. It’s one of the only architectural wonders I’ve ever seen in Arizona that feels like it’s been there for thousands of years. The walls are made with rock that was extracted from the earth just a few miles from the property. The wood furnishings are made of trees just a step over. It’s like nature birthed this place.
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So when I heard that during the holidays last year, they would be showing movies set in the same era as the Taliesen West, I had to go see what it was about.

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A classic showing

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Inside, the theater is very intimate. The seats, the projector, how sound weaves through the front to the back… it’s the same as Frank Lloyd Wright left it. There’s some light chatter, the smell of fresh popcorn, and hors d’oeuvres that you can snack on as you walk in. It feels like you’re watching a show inside a cave… a small cave that’s been soundproofed for an Opera. The rocks that encapsulate the theater have been there for millions of years, creating a portal-like movie experience. The sound system is still the same as it was originally constructed… with the acoustics purposefully designed for natural surround sound.
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When my fiancé and I sat down with a glass of vino, prepping ourselves for the movie, we had no idea what “White Christmas” was. Never heard of it. All we knew was that it was some Christmas movie from the 50s.
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“White Christmas,” directed by Michael Curtiz, immerses you into a romantic musical comedy set in Vermont about two World War II veterans (Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye) who become successful entertainers, and meet a sister act (Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen) who team up to save their commander's struggling inn.
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As Bing Crosby started to sing the tune of “White Christmas” it hit me. Wait a minute… is this where that song is from? You’ve no doubt heard the song every Christmas season too. The original was written by Irving Berlin. Bing Crosby sang the song years before on his CBS radio show. Eventually “White Christmas” went on to win an Oscar for best song, and stayed #1 on the charts for years. It became the all-time best-selling single for 50 years until Elton John released “Candle in the Wind” in 1997.
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The Taliesin West staff holds an intermission during the movie, which is smart. It makes it feel like it’s an exclusive showing and gave me an opportunity to get another glass of cabernet. I sat back down and overheard two film buffs chatting a couple of rows from me. They were discussing how important this movie was to filmmaking. During a time when movies were going through a transition, “White Christmas” was the first to use a new color technology. VistaVision, the brainchild of Paramount Pictures, gave the picture finer quality—giving it a more rich and luminous look. It’s safe to say it was the first real version of HD in color.
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I started to appreciate what I was seeing. I was watching a piece of history, while inside a piece of history. Very meta.

70th Anniversary

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This year is the 70th anniversary of the film. There are many parallels between the time this film was made and the present day. When the movie was released in 1954, it was a post-war world. America was hungry for simpler times… and “White Christmas” gave them a sense of unity and togetherness. Sound familiar?
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As we were sipping our third glass of wine (don’t worry, we can hold our weight…), I started to see themes between the characters Bob and Phil. They go to great lengths to support each other and their commander, showing how important it is to have people around us through the good times and the bad. It’s about being unwavering in your support of loved ones. The sisters Betty and Judy mirrored Bob and Phil, showing that same love for each other and how nothing could ever get between them (which you’ll see in the classic “Sisters” number). It was very different for the time because it didn’t have the “classic” male and female relationship… putting the sisters at the forefront of the movie. We even overheard the film buffs talking about how the sisters were the original duo that influenced the Disney film “Frozen”.
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Following the Great Depression and the war, folks were down in the dumps. And understandably so. But Bob and Phil consistently overcome obstacles, facing adversity after adversity and reminding us that you can pursue your dreams even if a whole bunch of problems come your way. These themes are probably why the movie doesn’t skip a beat, even when watching it today. It did wonders for the general population's psyche. People started to recognize that they needed to support each other and change their tune over the next several decades.

You can thank "White Christmas" for that

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“White Christmas” completely Americanized the holiday in such a massive way that’s almost hard to believe. When the movie finished, we walked out into the Arizona desert night and I couldn’t help but think that this movie forever changed how we view Christmas.

It made an incredible mark on pop culture. It shifted Christmas music to evoke feelings of nostalgia and joy—bottling the holiday season. It also opened the floodgates for popular artists to make the Christmas songs that have become staples. Yup, that’s right. You can thank Bing Crosby for Mariah Carey gracing our presence every holiday season.
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Over the next few decades, we started to see the Christmas film industry boom. Christmas became heavily intertwined with American culture. Movies like “A Charlie Brown Christmas” and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” captured the younger audience’s attention. And all those romantic comedies you see pop up on Netflix every year? Yup, you can thank Bing Crosby for that too. Countless films have followed “White Christmas's" lead, using the holidays as a backdrop. It’s become integral for many of the movies you love like “Elf” and “The Holiday.” It established the template of what a Christmas movie is supposed to be.
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Going back to VistaVision… it allowed the fashion in the movie to gain mass appeal. My fiancé has a mood board full of the sister's outfits. And when you watch it, you will notice it. It’s vibrant and the color palette is familiar (to Christmas today). Its vintage feel is a major influence on holiday-themed fashion. Bold blues, vibrant yellows, bright pinks, and that classic Christmas red and green.
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It gave us an idealized version of Christmas and set the stage for how we envision and celebrate the holiday today. When you get together with family and friends, put on that ugly sweater for a Christmas party, buy gifts for a white elephant, or volunteer at the local foodbank… you can thank “White Christmas” for that cultural tradition.