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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

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Bing’s ‘White Christmas’ still enthralls listeners

Bing Crosby 's song "White Christmas" and the movie of the same name still attracts new fans with each generation. Memorabilia associated with it is displayed in the Bing Crosby house on the Gonzaga University campus. (Jesse Tinsley/SR photo)

It was Christmas Day, 1941, 18 days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Bing Crosby was on the air with “The Kraft Music Hall,” a variety radio program he hosted for a decade. He announced that he would be debuting revered songwriter Irving Berlin’s newest tune, a Christmas song that was to be the musical centerpiece of Crosby and Fred Astaire’s upcoming vehicle, “Holiday Inn.”

That song was, of course, “White Christmas,” and 75 years later, it hasn’t faded away. In fact, it’s such an indelible part of American culture that it’s almost difficult to imagine a time when the song didn’t exist.

Among Crosby’s vast catalog of nearly 1,700 recordings, “White Christmas” is the one that most stands out. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Crosby’s version of the Berlin song is the best-selling single of all time, with an estimated 50 million sales since its debut, and it’s been covered by nearly every major artist you can think of.

But the signature tune of Spokane’s most beloved former resident nearly wasn’t a classic at all, and it seems that Berlin was one of the only people who initially had any faith in it/Nathan Weinbender, SR. More here.



D.F. Oliveria
D.F. (Dave) Oliveria joined The Spokesman-Review in 1984. He currently is a columnist and compiles the Huckleberries Online blog and writes about North Idaho in his Huckleberries column.

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