February 22. Washington’s birthday. Not the contemporary holiday (a.k.a. Presidents Day), mind you, but the actual anniversary of his birth.
Anybody else a fan of “Holiday Inn” (1942), with Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire? Irving Berlin astounds with a dozen songs constructed on holidays from the American calendar. Some have earned their immortality (“White Christmas” and “Easter Parade”). Others are completely forgettable. The song celebrating Washington’s Birthday falls soundly into the latter category – which, I argue, only makes it all the more enjoyable.
I find “Holiday Inn” vastly superior to its remake-of-sorts, “White Christmas” (1954), which pairs Crosby with Danny Kaye. Unfortunately Berlin’s celebration of Lincoln’s Birthday as a jaw-dropping black face number hasn’t aged particularly well. (At one point, Bing actually interjects, “Who dat?”) These days, the segment is edited out of most television airings of the film, with the exception of those broadcast on TCM, which doesn’t attempt to white wash history.
This number, more than anything, is probably what damns “Holiday Inn” to comparative obscurity – next to “White Christmas,” anyway – which is a shame, because it is very entertaining. Every time I check YouTube, there’s not even a clip of Washington’s Birthday, which features Bing in a disheveled powdered wig attempting to undermine Astaire, his rival in love, with a schizophrenic musical accompaniment that ping-pongs wildly (in the film) between 18th century minuet and 1940s big band.
Oh well. At least we have this recording, with Berlin’s excruciatingly contrived lyrics. They can’t all be “White Christmas,” you know.
