White Christmas/Trivia

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Acting for Two: Veteran character actor Sig Ruman plays two different roles, both identifiable by their German accents: the Florida landlord who wants the girls to pay for a hole burnt in a rug, and a cigar-smoking veteran of the General's division who can't fit into his uniform any more.
  • Dawson Casting: 32-year-old Vera-Ellen as "Little Judy", who appears from all evidence to be about 19. (By contrast, older sister Betty was played by 25-year-old Rosemary Clooney.)
  • Hey, It's That Guy!: In one number, you can see future Academy Award winner George Chakiris, who played Bernardo in West Side Story.
    • A grown-up Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer also makes an uncredited appearance in a photograph as Benny “The Dog-Faced Boy” Haynes.
    • Sister Mary Lazarus is the housekeeper at the inn that hired a sister act.
    • The dim-witted blonde chorus girl with the annoying voice is Barrie Chase, who would become one of Fred Astaire's last regular dancing partners between 1958 and 1966.
    • Piglet is a train conductor.
  • Non-Singing Voice: Vera-Ellen's singing voice was provided by one Trudy Stevens. For the song "Sisters," Rosemary Clooney sang both parts.
  • Recycled Set: The Pine Tree Inn set includes components recycled from the titular Inn of Holiday Inn.
  • Continuity Errors: There are several which are hard to spot, but once you see them you'll never unsee them. Among them:
    • When we first see the sisters in their dressing room at Novello's, Judy is pouring cups of coffee, then puts down the coffeepot. After the next cut, the coffeepot is in her hand again.
    • Bob starts singing on the Ed Harrison Show with his hands at his sides, but after a cut between words in the song, he's suddenly clasping them in front of himself.
    • When the General enters the dining room/theatre at the end of the film, Emma and Susan are behind and flanking him, then step back as he reacts to the full room. Their step back happens two more times in subsequent shots.
    • The General blows out the candles on the anniversary cake at the start of the show, but in all the shots of the audience after the performance of "White Christmas" the candles are lit again.