A scene from "White Christmas", the top-grossing film of 1954, starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, and Vera-Ellen.
Posted on 12/23/2014 3:21:23 PM PST by NYer
For countless Americans, marriage is no longer the goal, and so the America of "White Christmas" and "It’s a Wonderful Life” is long gone.
A few days before Christmas, I checked the schedule for Turner Classic Movies, one of the few TV channels I watch. I was looking for Christmas movies, maybe the 1938 Reginald Owen version of “A Christmas Carol” or something like that—something for the family. I was pleased to find three favorites back-to-back that I’ve seen with my wife and daughters, all nice Christmas romances—and all with a similar happy ending.
The first was “I’ll Be Seeing You” (1944), starring Ginger Rogers and Joseph Cotten, with a smaller role by a charming teenage Shirley Temple. Cotten is a World War II veteran struggling with what we would call post-traumatic stress disorder. Rogers is on Christmas furlough from prison (of all things), unjustly serving time for an accidental death that was purely self-defense. Wonderful as always, Gingers Rogers doesn’t dance or sing in this one (no Fred Astaire), but plays a compelling role. The Rogers and Cotten characters fall in love, with Christmas as the suitably warm and fuzzy back-drop.
The next film on TCM’s offering that day was “Christmas in Connecticut” (1945), starring the great Barbara Stanwyck and the lesser-known Dennis Morgan. Here, too, the guy was wounded in World War II. Stanwyck is a food writer for a home magazine. She is initially confused for a married woman, which (thankfully) she is not, clearing the way for a snowy Christmas romance, replete with the horse-drawn sleigh through the countryside.
The third movie was “Holiday Affair” (1949), with Janet Leigh and Robert Mitchum. Here again, the background is Christmas and World War II, as the Mitchum character, another veteran, pursues Janet Leigh, a single mom who lost her husband in the war. It’s a touching, fun movie, well-written—back when dialogue was more important to moviegoers than non-stop action sequences.
What strikes me about these and other films from Hollywood’s Golden Age are two things: First, Hollywood once made lots and lots of major films with major stars celebrating Christmas. Second, in each case, no matter how different the plot, there was always a common end-goal: marriage. From the outset, marriage is the assumed, unquestioned objective, from the moment the guy and gal catch one another’s eye or heart. The goal isn’t a one-night stand or wild weekend or trip to Vegas, or living together to try out each other for a few months or years.
The one predictable plotline is a heartwarming romantic pursuit—set within a sparkling Christmas context—that ends in holy matrimony. What is the happy ending? What does it depend upon? Marriage.
Think about other favorite Christmas movies from the era. At the core of “It’s a Wonderful Life” is the wonderful life Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed forge together. Look at “White Christmas:” another war story, with Irving Berlin’s magical music, that’s all about getting together Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney in a church before a preacher. The two that conspire to bring them together, Danny Kaye and Vera Ellen, end up marrying as well—after they all sing “White Christmas.”
Or, take the precursor to “White Christmas,” the 1942 musical “Holiday Inn,” with Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire. The boys battle over the lovely Marjorie Reynolds for her hand in marriage. The ambition for the boy is not to get the girl to bed and move to his next conquest, but to get her to the altar and stay with her forever.
That America, sadly, is gone. For countless Americans, marriage is no longer the goal. It has become optional, replaceable, switchable, less preferable to living together. There’s a popular term now in our culture: “baby-mama” or “baby-mother,” which a man uses to describe the single mother of his child (or, conversely, “baby-father”). It’s extremely common.
I recently spoke to a pediatrician from a small town that’s as close as you can get to traditional values. He told me he had 12 new babies to attend to in the maternity ward, born over the previous couple of days. Only two of the mothers were married. Yes, the moms chose to give life, which was commendable, but they didn’t have marriages and homes with fathers for their babies.
I don’t know how long America can survive this. When marriage isn’t being merrily redefined, it’s being shrugged off as merely optional. We’re no longer celebrating marriage as we once did. Hollywood certainly isn’t.
I don’t see a happy ending to this story. We need a culture that celebrates not only Christmas but marriage.
Personal analysis, ping!
Cozi TV been showing Holiday Inn and White Christmas last weekend for Holiday Cozi weekend
Yeah I think those days the screenwriter know how write a script
This was The World as we saw it, long before the terms Micro-agressions or Hetronormaitve Monopolies were cobbled together in an effort to shut people up because they don’t parrot the Cool View of the day.
Tearjerker on today - Penny Serenade
Darn ... missed it. Big Cary Grant fan. However, consider the film's theme: A woman on the verge of divorce recalls her heartbreaking attempts to adopt a child. The film is from 1941, a period of transition from the divorce films of the 30's and the unwanted children of the 50's. It fits the pattern in my comment above.
You need a heavy dose of "A Christmas Story"! Both TBS and TNT have scheduled it for a 24 hour loop, beginning tomorrow night. This is a traditional Christmas - family, kids and oozing with nostalgia.
Brings back happy memories from simpler times.
Got it on dvd. No commercials!
Ditto on TCM. I’ve hosted a film festival every Monday night for over a year featuring TCM offerings. The quality is amazing. And who could possibly dislike Robert Osborne? No one! He’s one of those people that virtually everyone likes, a true national treasure.
Back when you had the Hayes Code, aka a censorship code rooted in Catholic theology, placed on a heavily Jewiah industry, to influence a Protestant nation. Funny that.
Yeah they recently not only restored Christmas story for first time Blue ray release
Yeah there was saying in Hollywood on that
Jews control
Cathoic censorship
to influence Protestant nation
If you want see pre code film
Get Baby face Night Nurse from Barbara Stanwick
Those movie are Citizen kane of pre code films
No, baby-mamas are of any age ... at least into their 30s. I don’t know if anyone would use the term of a woman 40+.
It’s not that she’s a Mama who’s a baby ... it’s that she’s the Mama OF a baby. Same with “baby-daddy.”
I have gained this wisdom through getting to know the cashiers at my local Walmart. One girl stopped me one day on my way out so I could help another girl figure out her due date!
NO way are you kidding me WHOA
If you haven’t seen Penny Serenade, see it.
I have a lot of children, so the cashiers figured I would know all about this stuff. (I pegged her due date, in fact.)
Merry Christmas, Clemenza.
An interesting pre-code film that often gets overlooked is “The Sin of Nora Moran” (1933), as it was made by poverty-row studio Majestic Pictures, and doesn’t tend to pop up on television. Very fascinating little oddity, which is woven with lots of flashbacks and even surreal imaginings, which were wildly original for the time. Even had a bit of mild profanity in it too.
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