Estate / Collection: The Rita Arlen Trust

[CROSBY, BING]
BERLIN, IRVING. White Christmas. [New York: Irving Berlin Music Co., 1942]. A 1942 edition of the sheet music for Berlin's White Christmas, altered with a mounted reproduction of Berlin's painted portrait of Bing Crosby, and sent as Bing Crosby's personal Christmas card for 1942. 12 x 9 inches (30 x 23 cm); 4 pp. on one folded sheet. Some creases and toning.

Provenance: A Portion of the Harold Arlen Archives, Property of Mrs. Rita Arlen

Sent to Harold Arlen at the peak of White Christmas mania in 1942, the present sheet music was sent by Irving Berlin to close friends as his Christmas card that year. Written in late 1940, the first public performance of the song was by Bing Crosby on Christmas Day, 1941, just a few weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Featured in the 1942 film Holiday Inn, the composition went on to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song. The original 1942 Bing Crosby master recording was eventually retired due to damage from overuse and the version most people are familiar with today was recorded in 1947. We do not trace any other examples of this Christmas card.