Crosby Vehicle: Christmas and Song

crosby vehicle: Yet the song was actually written on a sweltering day in the summer of 1945 in Hollywood, Calif., by Bob Wells and Mel Torm who were simply trying to imaginatively cool themselves off. react-text 151 Bing Crosby, with Marjorie Reynolds, sings White Christmas in the 1942 movie Holiday Inn, according to Toronto Star. The song, which became a huge hit, especially after appearing in another Crosby vehicle, White Christmas in 1954, was penned by Jewish composer Irving Berlin. /react-text And though the song has become a worldwide symbol of Christmas, like nearly all the modern songs that now define this fundamentally Christian holiday it was written by Jews. Article Continued Below The images evoke a classic, timeless Christmas chestnuts roasting, carols, people bundled up against the cold. Names like George Wyle born Bernard Weissman Eddie Pola Sidney Pollacsek Felix Bernard, Jay Livingston Jacob Levison Ray Evans, Gloria Shayne Baker Gloria Shain Robert Wells Robert Levison Robert May and Johnny Marks might be unfamiliar today, but along with better-known songwriters like Mel Torm Jule Styne, Sammy Cahn and Irving Berlin, they wrote the core of the secular Christmas-song repertoire. react-empty 153 Those songs include Do You Hear What I Hear, Silver Bells, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Holly Jolly Christmas, Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree, Winter Wonderland, It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, White Christmas and Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow! also written during the same blistering California summer as The Christmas Song. It's a rich story involving pogroms, prejudice, poverty, empathy, assimilation and the powerful creative imaginations of an extraordinary group of songwriters. react-text 159 Russian-born Israel Isidore Beilin not only took on a new name in New York - Irving Berlin - but he also tapped into the Christmas traditions of his new home for melodic and lyrical images that would help to make his song White Christmas a beloved holiday classic. /react-text AP file photo The Russian pogrom The story begins in Russia at the end of the 19th century. The story of how this came to be is a remarkable tale of immigrant outsiders who rejected their parents' European pasts, embraced Tin Pan Alley, Broadway and Hollywood, and began to write the soundtrack to America's dreams. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.