Trivia for
Holiday Inn (1942)

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• Marjorie Reynolds singing was dubbed by Martha Mears.
  
  
• The animated Thanksgiving sequence is a topical reference to President Roosevelt's failed attempt to change the date of the holiday.
  
  
• The script originally called for a Labor Day dance number, "This Is a Great Country."
  
  

• For the "drunk" dance, Fred Astaire had two drinks of bourbon before the first take and one before each succeeding take. The seventh (last) take was used in the film.
  
  
• The firecracker dance sequence required 3 days of rehearsal and took two days to film. Fred Astaire's shoes for the dance were auctioned off for $116,000 worth of war bonds.
  
  
• The proceeds from the New York City premiere went to the Navy Relief Society.
  
  
• Irving Berlin got the idea for the film after writing the song "Easter Parade" for his 1933 show "As Thousands Cheer", and planned to write a play about American holidays, but it never materialized. He later pitched the idea to Mark Sandrich who got the ball rolling for this film.
  
  
• Some controversy surrounded the history of the song "White Christmas" when it was reported in a 1960 news item that Berlin wrote the song in 1938, which would have made it ineligible for an Academy Award nomination. But a biography and modern sources agree it was written for this film, and the sheet music has a 1942 copyright date.
  
  
• The film marked the debut of "White Christmas", which went on to become one of the biggest selling songs in the history of music.
  
  
• When Irving Berlin won an Oscar for his song "White Christmas" from this movie, he became the first artist to present himself with an Academy Award.
  
  
• The original title for "Easter Parade" was "Smile And Show Your Dimple".
  
  
• As of 2007, "White Christmas" is the best selling music single ever.
  
  
• The set of the Holiday Inn was reused by Paramount 12 years later for the musical White Christmas (1954), also starring Bing Crosby and composed by Irving Berlin.
  
  
• Bing Crosby's original "Rhythm Boys" partner Harry Barris plays the orchestra leader in the nightclub scenes.
  
  
• Founded in 1952, the Holiday Inn hotel chain took its name from this film.
  
  

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