Holiday Inn (1942)

 Production Company : Paramount

Directed : Mark Sandrich

Starring : Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, Marjorie Reynolds, Virginia Dale

Plot : Lovely Linda Mason (played by Marjorie Reynolds) has crooner Jim Hardy (played by Bing Crosby)head over heels, but suave stepper Ted Hanover (played by Fred Astaire) wants her for his new dance partner after femme fatale Lila Dixon (played by Virginia Dale) gives him the brush. Jim's supper club, Holiday Inn, is the setting for the chase by Hanover and manager Danny Reed. The music's the thing.

Trivia : *Director Mark Sandrich originally wanted Ginger Rogers and Rita Hayworth as the female leads. However, executives at Paramount vetoed this idea, since Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire, two of the studio's highest-paid stars, were already co-starring in the movie.

*This was the first of three films to feature Crosby singing "White Christmas" and featuring Irving Berlin's music.

*The firecracker dance sequence was added to the movie as a patriotic number, following the attack on Pearl Harbor, which took place during filming. The montage preceding the firecracker dance includes shots of war-time production, military exercises, General MacArthur, and President Roosevelt. The dance number required three days of rehearsal and took two days to film. Fred Astaire did 38 takes of the number before he was satisfied with it. The crew members had to wear goggles during filming, because the sand from the firecrackers flew into their faces. Also, animation was added to make the firecracker "blasts" more dramatic. Later, Astaire's shoes for the dance were auctioned off for $116,000 worth of war bonds.