“White Christmas” is an Irving Berlin song reminiscing about an old-fashioned Christmas setting. The song was written by Berlin for the 1942 musical film Holiday Inn. The composition won the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 15th Academy Awards.
Irving Berlin (born Israel Beilin; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was an American composer and lyricist. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook. The first public performance of the “White Christmas” song on Bing Crosby’s NBC radio show The Kraft Music Hall on Christmas Day.
Crosby subsequently recorded the song with the John Scott Trotter Orchestra and the Ken Darby Singers in 18 minutes on May 29, 1942, and it was released on July 30 as part of an album from the musical film Holiday Inn. By the end of October 1942, “White Christmas” topped the Your Hit Parade chart. It remained in that position until well into the new year.
Since its release, “White Christmas” has been covered by many artists, the version sung by Bing Crosby being the world’s best-selling single (in terms of sales of physical media) with estimated sales in excess of 50 million physical copies worldwide. When the figures for other versions of the song are added to Crosby’s, sales of the song exceed 100 million.
According to en.wikipedia.org. Source of photos: internet
