Saturday, February 22, 2014

February 22 - Holiday Inn

Today’s movie is a musical comedy with a scene on February 22. I hope you will enjoy this film and watch it tonight.

HOLIDAY INN           

Jim Hardy, Ted Hanover and Lila Dixon are a popular dance team giving their Christmas Eve show.  Jim plans to marry Lila, and then retire to a farm in Connecticut. However, Lila tells him she has fallen in love with Ted and wants to continue as his dance partner. Jim still quits show business and retires to the farm, but after a year he’s had enough of farm life. Back in New York he tells Ted and his agent Danny Reed of his plan to turn the farm into an inn that will open only on holidays. Ted is supportive, Danny scoffing. Later Danny is accosted by Linda Mason, an aspiring dancer, who begs him to give her a start in show biz. He refers her to Holiday Inn and a pass to Ted’s club. At the club she meets Jim, pretending to be a big nightclub owner and she pretends to be a celebrity. The next day at Holiday Inn when they meet, each realizes the other was faking the night before, but they taking a liking to each other after that.  Jim sings her a new song he has written called “White Christmas”. The Inn opens on New Year’s Eve. Then Lila runs off to marry a Texas millionaire. Ted goes to Holiday Inn to be consoled by Jim, but dances with Linda. Danny arrives and seeing them together, thinks he’s found Ted’s new dance partner. However, Ted doesn’t really remember her as he was drunk and Jim spirits her away before Ted and Danny can discover her identity.  At the next open day, Lincoln’s birthday, Jim arranges for the show to be performed in blackface, so Ted and Danny won’t recognize Linda and Jim makes comments to her that she takes as a proposal. However, on Valentine’s Day Ted identifies Linda as the girl and persuades Jim to let them perform together at the next open date. On February 22, 1941, George Washington’s Birthday, Ted and Linda dance together, but Jim tries to sabotage their performance. Linda refuses to leave the Inn and tour as Ted’s new dance partner. [57:51 to 1:04:20] Jim learns that Danny has arranged for Hollywood agents to watch Ted and Linda perform on Independence Day. Jim arranges for Linda to be stopped from reaching the Inn by having the cabbie drive his taxi into the river. Linda leaves the scene and is picked up by Lila, who didn’t marry the millionaire and is returning to Ted. Lila, thinking Linda is a waitress at the Inn, tells her that she is to dance with Ted and about the agents. Linda assumes (correctly) that Jim engineered this scheme to replace her as Ted’s partner, Linda directs Lila to also drive into the river. Ted has been forced to dance alone, but so impresses the agents that their offer to go to Hollywood stands. Linda is angry with Jim for not letting her make her own decision and agrees to go with Ted to Hollywood.  Jim despondently allows Ted to make a movie about Holiday Inn. At Thanksgiving Jim’s maid convinces him to try to win Linda back. On Christmas Eve he arrives on the set where Ted is preparing to marry Linda. Jim foils this plan and is reunited with Linda. They get married and plan to run Holiday Inn together, while Ted and Lila resume their dance partnership.

A musical melodrama. Notorious for the infamous blackface Abraham Lincoln musical number. However, the film also introduced “White Christmas” to the world.

The date is given in the film at 57:45

Producer - Mark Sandrich

Director - Mark Sandrich

Awards – The movie won the Best Original Song Oscar. It was also nominated for the Best Original Score and Best Story Oscars at the 15th Academy Awards. 

Screenplay - Claude Binyon

Runtime – 1 hour 40 minutes

Released – August 4, 1942
       
Starring –

Bing Crosby as Jim Hardy
Fred Astaire as Ted Hanover
Marjorie Reynolds as Linda Mason
Virginia Dale as Lila Dixon
Walter Abel as Danny Reed
Louise Beavers as Mamie
Irving Bacon as Gus
Leon Belasco as the flower store manager
Marek Windheim as François
James Bell as Dunbar
John Gallaudet as Parker
Shelby Bacon as Vanderbilt

Copyright by Ivan Walters 2014.





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