A Very Vintage Christmas post #6
10 days until Christmas
Happy holidays to all of you!
Our Christmas countdown is getting smaller with every post. But there is still over a week left, and therefore still classic Christmas posts to share. Today is a Sunday, so we hope you are ready for a new post on a classic holiday movie.
Holiday Inn
1942 film
Starring Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, Marjorie Reynolds, and Virginia Dale
Musical trio Jim Hardy (Crosby), Ted Hanover (Astaire), and Lila Dixon (Dale) are successful performers in New York City. Jim and Lila had fallen in love and been making plans to retire from show business and commit to a quiet life in the country. With all of their affairs set in order, they go to perform their last show as a trio in a Christmas Eve special. Lila breaks his heart, telling him that she is really in love with Ted, and that she is not ready to give up her career, so she is planning to stay with Ted in New York. Jim doesn't know what to do, but decides that since he already has a farm waiting for him in Connecticut, he might as well retire as planned and move out of the city.
Time flies by, and on Christmas Eve a year later, Jim is visiting New York City. He enjoys the country, but doesn't have as much of a knack for farming as he had previously thought. He comes up with the idea of renovating the farm and turning it into a special entertainment venue that is only open for the holidays.
While in the city, Jim meets up with Ted and his agent to catch up and to tell them of his plan. They think it is ridiculous and bound to failure, but since Jim is determined, they wish him the best of luck. Later that same day, Ted's agent goes into a flower shop to pick up an order for Lila. The clerk behind the counter, Linda Mason (Reynolds), recognizes him as a talent scout and gets excited. She begs him to give her a chance, so he tells her to come to Ted's club where she can meet up with Jim, because he is looking for talent for his new Holiday Inn.
Linda shows up at the club that evening, and she is seated at the same table as Jim. Despite the fact that she has talent and Jim is in need of a partner, things don't go as smoothly as both of them pretend to be something they're not in an attempt to impress each other. Jim pretends to be an important businessman who already owns an immensely successful club venue, and Linda pretends that she is a celebrity who is an intimate friend of Ted's. They both keep up their facades until Linda finds a time to escape.
Linda goes to the Holiday Inn the next day and meets up with Jim for a second time. Both of
One week later, the Holiday Inn has its grand opening with enormous success. Ted unexpectedly shows up right at midnight. He drove up right away to talk with Jim because Lila told him he was leaving him for another man. As he wanders across the dance floor, he runs into Linda. The two of them dance splendidly together and Ted's agent shows up and sees them just as the dance comes to a close. He had heard about Lila and is ecstatic to see that Ted has so quickly found a new dance partner for his act. The next morning, Ted, who had been intoxicated the night before, does not remember anything that happened. Jim is relieved, because he was afraid that Ted was going to steal Linda away from the Holiday Inn. He takes all precautions, though, and keeps the two of them away from each other until Ted and his agent leave.
The next time the inn is opened for more performances, Ted is front and center, determined to find the wonderful lady he supposedly danced with on New Year's Eve. Jim sees him in the audience, and does his best to secure Linda for his own purposes. He asks her backstage if she will stay with him at the inn, even during the off-season. Linda, who thinks he is proposing, is delighted and says that she will. Jim then sends her out to perform in stage makeup so that Ted will not be able to tell who she is.
Ted returns on Valentine's Day, and he dances with Linda, knowing that he has finally found the woman he danced with on New Year's Eve. After the number, Ted confronts Jim and convinces him to play a special number on the next holiday so that he can dance with her again. So Jim grudgingly gives them their own number, but continually tries to sabotage them throughout their performance. Despite the difficulties, Ted and Linda finish their dance, and once it is complete, Ted asks her to go back to the city with him and be his new partner. Linda declines his offer, telling him that she would rather stay at the inn, and stay with Jim because she is going to marry him. Ted refuses to give Linda up, and asks Jim to hire him to perform at the inn so that he can find the same happiness that they have. Jim does not like the idea, but he agrees to give Ted the job. As time goes on, Jim finds out that Ted is planning to have talent scouts come to watch one of his upcoming numbers with Linda, so that they can go to Hollywood on a motion picture contract. Jim panics and pays one of the workers at the inn to prevent Linda from getting there the day of the performance. While Linda is out, she runs into Lila, who is trying to find the inn because she has decided she wants to continue dancing with Ted. Linda assumes that Jim is trying to replace her with Lila. When she finally makes it back to the inn, she scolds Jim for trying to prevent her from exercising her own right to make her own decision. Out of spite, she accepts Ted's offer to go to Hollywood and make a movie out of their experience at Holiday Inn.
Jim is completely forlorn and depressed when she leaves, and seems to have no heart in him when Thanksgiving rolls around. His loyal housekeeper knows exactly what his trouble is, and she convinces him to fly directly to Hollywood and convince Linda to forgive him and come back. Jim takes her advice and travels to California. When he arrives on the movie set, he finds Ted and locks him in his own dressing room so that he can have his chance. He goes to the set, which looks exactly like his inn back in Connecticut. Before Linda comes out to shoot her final scene, he leaves his pipe on the edge of the piano so that she will see it. When she does, she knows that he is there and runs to him.
Everyone returns to the Holiday Inn for New Year's Eve. There, Ted is finally reunited with Lila, who is committed to staying on as his dance partner; and Linda and Jim are set to be married and live at the inn.
Holiday Inn is a seasonal musical that will have you dancing and singing with delight this holiday season.
If you are interested in pricing/purchasing Holiday Inn for yourself or somebody else this season, click on the following links:
Thank you for joining us so far this month as we celebrate A Very Vintage Christmas. We hope that you will come back again this Thursday, December 19th, as we give you the final carol for your classic Christmas playlist this year.
We would now like to take a moment to offer our condolences to the family and friends of actor Peter O'Toole, who passed away yesterday at the age of 81. O'Toole was a brilliant actor who made many contributions to the film industry. He starred in over 70 major motion pictures, including memorable classics such as Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Goodbye Mr. Chips (1969), The Lion in Winter (1968), Man of La Mancha (1972), and many more. In recent years he also notably played parts in films such as Troy (2004), Ratatouille (2007), and Stardust (2007).
"I will not be a common man. I will stir the smooth sands of monotony."
-Peter O'Toole
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