Amid mounting threats from both the European and Pacific theaters of war and in the wake of a devastating economic depression, Irving Berlin’s enchanting new musical film Holiday Inn premiered at the tail end of 1942. Its tone was overwhelmingly optimistic and portrayed an idealistic society, true to Hollywood’s style of many movies during and after the Depression. The women wore elegant ball gowns, manners were highly refined, and each night was spent rubbing elbows with world-class dancers at five-star clubs. These movies were purposefully aspirational, offering an escape from the harsh realities of war.
Holiday Inn was created with a greater sense of urgency than most escapist films of the era. It began production in 1941 and, midway through filming, America was devastated by the tragic attack on Pearl Harbor. The United States was rustled from its malaise and thrust into the war. In the coming years, Hollywood studios would create endless swaths of pro-American content; even Walt Disney would create short films in which Donald Duck fought off Nazis.
During that moment of uncertainty in 1941, Holiday Inn was positioned to be one of the earliest media responses to the new war. Mothers were sending their sons off to war, wives and girlfriends were kissing their beaus goodbye at the train stations, and calls for rationing and war bonds lay just around the bend.
When Holiday Inn was released, it was expected to be a hit, as it featured a full soundtrack created by one of America’s most renowned composers, Berlin. The song that was pegged to be a phenomenon was “Be Careful, It’s My Heart,” an affectionate love song crooned by the leading man, Bing Crosby. Hollywood executives were shocked, however, to find that a few weeks after the movie’s release, it was not this track that had skyrocketed to the top of the Billboard charts, but rather “White Christmas.”
“White Christmas” was not merely the most popular song of 1942 — it still dominates the Christmas airwaves. Even beyond the constraints of holiday music, “White Christmas” is the biggest-selling single record of all time. As of 2024, it has sold 50 million copies, and that number grows each year. The song was so popular that it even spawned another film, the aptly titled White Christmas, in 1954, which once again starred Crosby as its leading man.
Returning to the Reassuring
“White Christmas” marks an important shift in America’s cultural identity. The song is blatantly and profoundly nostalgic, calling up treasured memories of time spent at home with loved ones. It’s evocative and sentimental. Its lyrics about sleigh bells, glistening treetops, and children playing in the snow conjure up distinct memories. Perhaps it’s overly romantic and could be accused of wearing rose-colored glasses, but it’s sincere.
In 1942, when people turned their radios from gruesome reports about the war and were met with Crosby’s melancholic yet syrupy song about treasuring Christmas memories, audiences couldn’t help but relate. They were tired, they were afraid, and they needed to hear Bing say that he felt the same way.
Up until this point, most Christmas songs had been mostly based on religious themes or were church hymns sung at a certain liturgical season. Now, Christmas music was becoming secular; not as a way to distance itself from the church, but to introduce new themes of longing. People wanted to return to the reassurances of home-cooked meals and evenings spent by the fireside with loved ones. The songs didn’t rely on the desires of romantic love, but on an unshakable desire for the comfortable joy of home. In the wake of Pearl Harbor, the surety of a household residing together for Christmas was no longer reliable.
A Different War Today
That same uncertainty seems to have followed us to the present day. We wake up afraid to turn on the television or read the news. We are afraid of our cities, concerned for our children, and unsure about the economy. America is engaged in a different kind of war, but a war nonetheless.
The America of 1942 was vastly different from the America we know today, but its longings remain the same. At our core, we’re seeking out the comforts of what we know and love, the movies we watch each year, our grandma’s best cookie recipes, and time spent with family. It is the perfect picture of simplicity.
In Holiday Inn, Bing Crosby asks the girl he loves if she grew up in a wealthy, successful family. She responds by saying that they always had plenty to eat, clothes to keep warm, and most importantly, they were happy. Crosby smiles at her, tells her “Your father was a very successful man,” then draws her over to the piano to sing “White Christmas.” May America’s days be merry and bright.
Brooke Brandtjen is a writer and journalist from Wisconsin who focuses primarily on culture, politics, and religion. She is extremely passionate about the arts and history, and is honored to write for a variety of distinguished publications.
