White Christmas

When my ex first bought the movie, I was skeptical. As the review on IMDB says, it is schmaltzy, the plot is thin, and escapist. However, I have grown to like it for its snapshot of post-WWII Americana. Among other things, I marvel at the

• escapist story about a famous traveling song-n-dance show. This was definitely Virgin America, before the Kennedy Assassination.
  
• extremely white-washed version of America. I believe there is only one non-white character in the entire movie, a black train porter whose face we possibly never see as he serves sandwiches. It seems amazing even for that time that they don't even have a black singer or dancer in the show.
• drag performance of "Sisters" by Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye. At one point, they make a choreographed hand gesture that is also a vulgar gesture for female genitalia, which I don't believe was accidental.
• Kaye was reputed to have had an affair with Laurence Olivier during this period. Knowing this, it makes the drag number and his reluctance to get involved with girls all the more funny.
• One of Crosby's kids claimed after his death that Bing was abusive. Other kids denied it, but two of them committed suicide. This background stands in stark contrast to his gently paternalistic character in the movie. Crosby, apparently, was also a helluva businessman according to his Wiki bio, which is entirely resonant with his character. For example, Crosby invested in Ampex in the early days; Ampex developed the first reel-to-reel recorder, and Crosby was the first performer to pre-record his shows. You could probably learn a lot about how show business was conducted in those days by watching this movie.
• Vera Ellen's athleticism as a dancer. She is as fun to watch as Jackie Chan in several of the numbers.
• Train travel! Train travel is almost an integral part of the plot. It seems much more relaxed and civilized than plane travel. I went from Madrid to Paris by hotel train one time, and didn't feel nearly as wrung out as I would have had I flown.
• military hero worship. As The Gittering Eye points out, one song if not the whole movie appears to be a pro-Eisenhower commercial for the 1954 mid-term election. I'm not sure I'm willing to go that far; I always assumed that it was an attempt to recapture or cash in on the popularity of Berlin's and Crosby's wartime hit. Still, I'm baffled by the song in which Crosby appeals to the soldiers to come to the show for the retired general. It goes
  

[VERSE:]
When the war was over, why, there were jobs galore
For the G.I. Josephs who were in the war
But for generals things were not so grand
And it's not so hard to understand

[REFRAIN:]
What can you do with a general
When he stops being a general?
Oh, what can you do with a general who retires?

Who's got a job for a general
When he stops being a general?
They all get a job but a general no one hires

They fill his chest with medals while he's across the foam
And they spread the crimson carpet when he comes marching home
The next day someone hollers when he comes into view
"Here comes the general" and they all say "General who?"
They're delighted that he came
But they can't recall his name

Nobody thinks of assigning him
When they stop wining and dining him
It seems this country never has enjoyed
So many one and two and three and four star generals
Unemployed

Are we really supposed to feel sorry for them? And isn't peace a good thing?