Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye in White Christmas (1954)
Vitals
Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye as Bob Wallace and Phil Davis, Broadway entertainers and World War II veterans
Florida, December 1954
Film: White Christmas
Release Date: October 14, 1954
Director: Michael Curtiz
Costume Designer: Edith Head
Background
One of the most stylish classic Christmas movies, White Christmas was released 70 years ago this year in October 1954. The movie was intended to re-team Bing Crosby with Fred Astaire after their previous collaborations in Irving Berlin musicals Holiday Inn (1942) and Blue Skies (1946), but Astaire dropped out after reading the script and Danny Kaye was hired to co-star with Crosby.
Crosby and Kaye share a marvelous screen chemistry that showcases their respective talents while also allowing for a greater emphasis on humor, illustrated by their performance of “Sisters” that was devised on set after director Michael Curtiz was entertained watching Crosby and Kaye clown around performing the song.
The story follows Crosby and Kaye as Bob Wallace and Phil Davis, two World War II veterans who met while entertaining their fellow troops in the U.S. Army’s fictitious 151st Division. After Phil saved Bob from a falling wall during an attack, Phil talked Bob into joining him for a double act that has catapulted them to musical stardom a decade later. Despite their boffo success, Phil worries that workaholic Bob isn’t allowing him the chance to enjoy a fulfilling personal life—though Phil doesn’t help his case by trying to set Bob up with showgirls like the alluring but airheaded Doris (Barrie Chase):
The subsequent scene of Bob and Phil arguing in their dressing room about Bob’s disinterest in building a family outside of work required a sharp amount of physical choreography and comic timing that remind us we’re seeing two of the 20th century’s greatest talents at the top of their game.
What’d They Wear?
Christmas is around the corner, but it’s hardly a holiday show as Bob and Phil are performing Irving Berlin’s 1926 standard “Blue Skies” to this Floridian audience. However, they’re dressed for some holiday festivity in their matching burgundy dinner jackets, bow ties, and velvet ribbons around the flat straw boaters that add a roaring ’20s panache to their wardrobe.
Handsomely tailored in accordance with 1950s menswear trends, these burgundy wool dinner jackets have appropriately self-faced shawl collars that roll to a single button positioned low over each man’s natural waist. These buttons and the three decorating each cuff are all burgundy plastic. The backs are ventless, and the shoulders are wide—each with significant roping at the sleeve-heads. In addition to the straight jetted hip pockets, the jackets have a welted breast pocket where each man wears a neatly folded white pocket square. Bob and Phil also each have a white carnations pinned to their respective left lapel.
The outfits are hardly traditional evening-wear, but Bob and Phil appropriately sport pleated-front evening shirts, uniquely detailed with white collars and cuffs that contrast from the shirts’ light slate-blue cotton bodies. The front plackets are closed with three mother-of-pearl studs, flanked on each side by a squared bib of narrow pleats. The double (French) cuffs are fastened with ruby cuff links that coordinate with their burgundy jackets and neckwear.
Both Bob and Phil wear burgundy bow ties, though Bob’s follows a traditional butterfly (thistle) shape, while Phil wears a straight-ended batwing shape that was fashionable for mid-century menswear.
Only Bob undresses during this scene to the degree that we see his underclothes, including a white woven cotton short-sleeved T-shirt with a wide crew-neck and banded cuffs.
Though made from identical powder-blue cloth, the trousers are the only other noticeable departure for each man—perhaps informed by each wearer’s personal preference. Danny Kaye wears long-rise trousers with a fitted waistband and two buttons across the back, presumably for suspenders (braces), while Bing Crosby’s lower-rising trousers are rigged with belt loops that remain unused through the scene. (Adding to the chaos, behind-the-scenes photography clearly shows Crosby wearing white suspenders with this outfit; perhaps he wore them for the actual performance but not the undressing scene?)
The men’s fashionably full-fitting trousers are otherwise stylistically similar, with double sets of reverse-facing pleats, on-seam side pockets (but no back pockets), and plain-hemmed bottoms.
Their stage performance attire extends to their shoes, which are plain-toe oxfords made from a powder-blue leather to match their trousers. Both men wear matching powder-blue socks in the dressing room scene, though Bob’s hosiery appears to be mustard-colored when he walks off stage after “Blue Skies”.
Bob and Phil’s revue may have a 1920s theme, as suggested by “Blue Skies” and their straw boaters. These semi-formal summer hats were popular through the early decades of the 20th century but had generally fallen out of fashion by the ’50s—at least for all but the Princeton University Band, who added them to their uniforms in 1952. Bob and Phil both wear boaters made of stiff sennit straw, detailed with wide burgundy velvet bands that harmonize with their burgundy jackets and ties.
Even some of Bob and Phil’s stagehands wear straw boaters, though most have plain black bands rather than the more festive burgundy velvet bands worn by the performers.
Of the two men, only Bob prominently wears a wristwatch. The gold watch strapped to a curving dark-brown tooled leather bracelet was likely Bing Crosby’s personal timepiece, and he wears it on the inside of his left wrist.
How to Get the Look
Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye in White Christmas (1954)
Wallace and Davis’ burgundy dinner jackets and bow ties—especially with straw boaters, contrasting shirt collars, and matching powder-blue trousers and oxfords—may be a little showy for your holiday festivities, but they’re perfect if you’re planning to take the stage and perform a 1920s-themed musical revue!
- Burgundy wool single-button dinner jacket with self-faced shawl collar, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and ventless back
- White carnation (in lapel)
- White folded pocket square
- Light slate-blue cotton evening shirt with white point collar, narrow-pleated front bib (with mother-of-pearl studs), and double/French cuffs (with ruby links)
- Burgundy bow tie
- Powder-blue double reverse-pleated trousers with straight/on-seam side pockets and plain-hemmed bottoms
- Powder-blue leather plain-toe oxford shoes
- Powder-blue socks
- Natural sennit straw boater with burgundy velvet band
- Gold wristwatch on tooled dark-brown leather curved strap
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the movie, and have a very happy holiday!
The Quote
Phil: My dear partner, when what’s left of you gets around to what’s left to be gotten, what’s left to be gotten won’t be worth getting, whatever it is you’ve got left.
Bob: When I figure out what that means, I’ll come up with a crushing reply.
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