White Christmas, the Irving Berlin song reminiscing about an old-fashioned Christmas setting, is, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, the best-selling single of all time. The most popular is the version of Bing Crosby, with an estimated sale of 50 million copies worldwide — and still counting.
Accounts vary as to when and where Berlin wrote White Christmas. One story is that he wrote it in 1940, in warm La Quinta California. But the Arizona Biltmore claimed the song was written there. Berlin reportedly told his secretary, ‘Grab your pen and take down this song. I just wrote the best song I’ve ever written.’
White Christmas was the title and theme of the 1954 movie which starred Crosby (but of course), Rosemary Clooney, Danny Kaye and Vera Ellen.
Actually, White Christmas was much earlier used as the theme of the 1942 Holiday Inn, topbilled by Crosby and Fred Astaire, based on the original story of Irving Berlin. The film gave Berlin two Academy Awards, Best Story and Best Song.
Other singers recorded White Christmas — Barbra Streisand, Elvis Presley, The Carpenters, Libera, Jo Stafford, Eddie Fisher, Perry Como, Darlene Love, Bette Midler, Collin Raye, Frank Sinatra, Kay Thompson — but no one came near Crosby’s version. — RKC