15 gay facts about "White Christmas": gay actors, beefcake dancers, drag, Spartacus, and the source of your holiday depression

I'm not a big fan of the Holiday Season -- too big, bright, and noisy, with forced exuberance, and way too much melancholy.  I try to stay away from Christmas songs, movies, trees, holly, mistletoe, parties, and depression.  But I'll make an exception for White Christmas (1954).

1. It's not a Christmas movie.  It's a backstage musical that just happens to end at Christmastime.  Backstage movies were well-known for gay subtexts.

2. The song "White Christmas," by Irving Berlin (who was Jewish), first appeared in the backstage musical Holiday Inn, with Big Crosby and Fred Astaire. 

3. It's been covered by everyone, including gay favorites Bett Midler and Lady Gaga.

4. White Christmas is about two showbiz partners, Bob and Phil (Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye), who find their relationship threatened by women.

5. A musical based on the movie, Irving Berlin's White Christmas, opened in St. Louis in 2000. Lara Teeter (a guy with a girl's name) played Bob, and gay actor Lee Roy Reams played Phil Davis.

6. Phil has also been performed by Tony Yazbeck (top photo) and David Elder, who Google Images thinks is cowboy star Clint Walker (left).

7. The women in the movie, Judy and Betty (Vera-Ellen, Rosemary Clooney), are sisters.  At least, they perform as sisters, although their numbers would work well in a drag act.

God help the mister who comes between me and my sister
And God help the sister who comes between me and my man!

More after the break

8. Bob and Phil perform as "sisters," too.

9. Rosemary Clooney was a gay icon and reputedly bisexual.

10. Early in his career, Bing Crosby was the roommate of gay jazz musician Bix Beiderbecke.

11. Danny Kaye played Hans Christian Anderson, author of depressing fantasy stories, whose psychiatrist coined the word "homosexual" to describe his interest in men.

12.  Although they both married women, Danny had a long-term romance with Sir Laurence Olivier, seen here having a closeted discussion about being gay with Tony Curtis in Spartacus (1960). 

13. John Brascia was in the cast of White Christmas as a "special dancer."  You can see his physique, and his bulge, in several numbers.  As far as I can determine, he didn't have any gay rumors.

14. Gay dancer George Chakiris, best known for West Side Story, also appeared.

15. White Christmas is credited for drawing Hollywood's attention to Christmas as a moneymaker, and introducing the barrage of romcoms and melancholy songs.  So you can blame Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye for your holiday depression.

See also: Spartacus: From Tony Curtis cruising Olivier to "House of Ashur," with gladiators, gay guys, gore, and a lot of penises

"The Holiday Exchange": Immensely wealthy A-gays look for love at Christmas. Watch with your grandmother

Danny Kaye was Gay

Bix Beiderbecke: First Gay Jazz Musician