WHITE CHRISTMAS Lobby Card VERA ELLEN Irving Berlin '54

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Great ORIGINAL Lobby Card measuring 11 x 14" for the 1954 Irving Berlin HOLIDAY classic film, White Christmas Directed by Michael Curtiz Written by Norman Krasna. First and unforgettable picture in VISTAVISION. After leaving the Army after W.W.II, Bob Wallace and Phil Davis team up to become a top song-and-dance act. Davis plays matchmaker and introduces Wallace to a pair of beautiful sisters (Betty and Judy) who also have a song-and-dance act. When Betty and Judy travel to a Vermont lodge to perform a Christmas show, Wallace and Davis follow, only to find their former commander, General Waverly, is the lodge owner. A series of romantic mix-ups ensue as the performers try to help the General. The entire cast included: Bing Crosby .... Bob Wallace Danny Kaye .... Phil Davis Rosemary Clooney .... Betty Haynes Vera-Ellen .... Judy Haynes (as Vera Ellen) Dean Jagger .... Major General Thomas F. Waverly Mary Wickes .... Emma Allen John Brascia .... John Anne Whitfield .... Susan Waverly. This Lobby card features a dance sequence with Vera Ellen. Lobby card has masking tape remnants on both sides of of lobby card. small pinholes and light bend but still nice to display or frame for over 50 years old!!! MORE INFO ON VERA ELLEN: One of film's most vivacious and vibrant dancing talents who glided effortlessly through Hollywood's "Golden Age" of musicals in the 40s and 50s was Vera-Ellen Westmeyer Rohe, better known to all her fans simply by her hyphenated first name. Whether performing solo or dueting with the best male partners of her generation, which included Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly, Vera-Ellen gave life to some of the most extraordinary dance routines ever caught on film. Sadly, out-and-out stardom eluded her, and she never did earn the recognition or accolades that were bestowed upon many of her musical peers. Born of German descent in Cincinnati, Ohio on February 16, 1921 (some sources incorrectly indicate 1926), the only child of a piano tuner, she was painfully shy and frail as a youngster and had developed severe health issues by age 9. Using dance as both physical and emotional therapy, what was once recreational became a soulful and burning passion, and her talent became obvious nearly from the onset. As a teen she appeared in nightclub acts and became one of the Rockettes' youngest members, quickly graduating to a dancer on the "Great White Way." Vera-Ellen made her Broadway debut with "Very Warm for May" at age 18 in 1939, which also featured another young hopeful, June Allyson. She then segued into "Higher and Higher" (1940), which also had Allyson in the cast, "Panama Hattie" (1940) which starred Ethel Merman, "By Jupiter (1942) with Ray Bolger, and a revival of "A Connecticut Yankee" (1943). Blessed with a sweet, apple blossom appeal and touching, elfin charm, her movie career began taking shape in 1945. Supposedly her mother thought that since Vera-Ellen looked much younger than she was, it might be wise to shave five years off of her age in order to build her up as a dancing teen sensation. Her first two films were musical vehicles for the up-and-coming Danny Kaye in Wonder Man (1945) and The Kid from Brooklyn (1946). They and the movies were both hits and people soon fell in love with her fresh-faced innocence. A hard-working, uncomplicated talent, she paired famously with Gene Kelly in MGM's Words and Music (1948) in which their "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" number was a critical highlight, and On the Town (1949) as "Miss Turnstiles," the apple of Kelly's eye. She also appeared twice with Fred Astaire in her heyday, though in the lesser known Three Little Words (1950) and The Belle of New York (1952). Musicals went out of vogue by the late 50s and, as Vera-Ellen was practically synonymous with musicals, her career fell apart as well. But that was only one reason. A light acting talent, she might have continued in films in dramatic roles, as she had in the movie Big Leaguer (1953) with Edward G. Robinson, but dark, outside influences steered her away altogether... read more

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