Age differences - White Christmas (1954) Discussion

[–] glorioreo 13 years ago

I never even gave the age differences a thought until I read your post. I grew up watching this movie in the 1960s.(I'm 55 now.) As a kid, all adults were the same age so I never even questioned the age of anyone in the movie, except for the general. He always seemed really old to me, you know like 50 something! :)

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[–] SinemaGirl 13 years ago

Yeah, it's funny how everyone calls the General "The Old Man," including Bob, when Bing is about 6 months older than Dean Jagger!

And my husband is always joking that Bing was too old to be attractive to the young Rosemary Clooney.

Okay, so the May-December romance between Bob and Betty seems like a stretch, with an oabvious 25 year difference in the ages of the actors. BUT, it should be remembered that in 1957, Bing married actress Kathryn Grant -- who was THIRTY years younger than him. So if it can happen in real life, then it's not so much of a stretch in the movie.

There must have been some reason they called him the "Old Groaner."

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[–] jackboot 13 years ago

SinemaGirl ~ Okay, so the May-December romance between Bob and Betty seems like a stretch...

It isn't that much of a stretch.

Also, Rosemary Clooney has gone on record as being awfully close and friendly with Bing in real, off-screen, life.

At 26 years of age, "Betty" would be flirting with being an old maid! She must have been playing her own age or younger.

Bing's Bob Wallace, a Captain in the Army during WWII, was probably intended to be about ten to fifteen years younger than his actual age. The General should have been nearly ten years older than Dean Jagger's actual age of fifty to have had children and then a granddaughter who appears to be in the neighborhood of sixteen to eighteen years old.

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[–] SinemaGirl 13 years ago

jackboot, while I began acknowledging the OP's observation that no matter how old the characters are supposed to be, Bing looks every minute of being twice as old as Rosemary. That never bothered me, but my husband mentions it every single time.

Of course, every single time, I respond with what is in the rest of my post, that in real life, Bing ended up with a younger wife than Rosemary! My point was that while the movie plays fast and loose with the characters' ages, none of the relationships are outside the realm of possibility (debate on Phil and Judy's relationship can be saved for another thread ).

So, in short, in spite of this aspect of the movie's fantastic nature, I personally agree with you.

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[–] 13 years ago

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[–] cherihaymon 13 years ago

I am in the same boat as you. Have seen the movie countless times, and never even gave their ages a thought. I guess they all looked the same to me too, plus we all know everyone in the movies plays parts younger than they usually are.

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[–] doowop14 13 years ago

Also remember that Rosemary was five years younger than Vera but played her older sister. So it's my guess that they thought that she looked older than her actual age. In the movie, Vera Ellen looked to be approximately her real age of thirty one. Add a couple of years to that for "Betty's" age, putting her somewhere around her mid thirties. "Bob"/Crosby looked about his real age of fifty one. So the difference between "Bob" & "Betty's" age is about fifteen years. Not nearly as dramatic a difference as in real life.

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[–] deladrewdrake 13 years ago

Ummm, is it also a sacrilege that I don't find Bob at all attractive? Haha! I feel bad admitting that because I love this movie so much. Maybe that is part of the reason I just don't see these two together...but considering the huge talent of each of them, I do see sense in the pairing.

Also, I only last year discovered this movie and my one and only previous exposure to Bing was in the David Bowie/Crosby White Christmas music video on MTV (which was probably a few years old by the time I had seen it) and only knew of Rosemary from her nephew, George. Shocking. I know. My film education was quite lacking considering my mom was born a few days before Pearl Harbor and has a fascination with anything related to WW II.

"Happiness is a warm puppy." Lucy Van Pelt

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[–] 13 years ago

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[–] devy62 13 years ago

It is funny, the age thing. It rarely seems to matter, especially these days.

I really never noticed it on White Christmas until the end when I was just watching it on AMC. Bing had so much makeup on, it aged him even more, while Rosemary's makeup was light, she looks her age at the time.

As for Dean Jagger; they had to age him by graying his hair more than the normal.

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[–] generalusgrant 13 years ago

I have seen White Christmas probably 70 times in my life. I have never once given the age difference between Bing and Rosie Clooney a thought. Not once. In any case, Bing was incredibly attractive in the movie (his blue eyes are to DIE for!), and Rosie was never remotely pretty. She was lucky to have gotten him in the movie, IMO.

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[–] 13 years ago

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[–] thehair100 13 years ago

I'm close to Bing's age when he did the moving (older) and I think he looks too old for me. I didn't think he was at all attractive. I suppose that's why it bothers me. (Yes, I'm female)

The age dif shouldn't have mattered, except in this case, as Bing looks like Rosemary's drunken father. And, that god-awful toupee.... I always cringe during their love scenes. HOWEVER, I DID forgive Bing everything when he sang. Danny and Vera were much better matched, and age-appropriate.

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[–] Portrait-of-a-Statue 13 years ago

The age difference "problem" is handled neatly within the film. In their dressing room, before the Haynes Sisters meet Bob and Phil and before they sing "Sisters" for the first time, Judy is telling Betty that she thinks "he'll like you." Betty replies "Which one?" meaning Bob or Phil and Judy replies "What does it matter? They're both rich."

I love this movie. My family and I watch it together every Christmas and then I sing the songs for days afterward.

Killing it, beheading it, defeathering it, cooking it, eating it: Not my idea of a holiday.

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[–] 13 years ago

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[–] MyMovieTVRomance 12 years ago

and Rosie was never remotely pretty. She was lucky to have gotten him in the movie, IMO.

Oh my gosh! I'm shocked if you're serious! Because I find her to be possibly the most beautiful woman of the entire 1950s decade! In-fact, she's the whole reason I return to this movie time after time, because I love her. Otherwise, the movie would bore me. I love Rosemary of the 1950s! Sure, later on, she changed and lost her hotness, by most accounts. But, in the 1950s? Brother, she was smokin'!!

I even have to admit that whenever I see her in this movie, it's a bit hard for me to keep up with the plot of the film, because often, all I can think of is how much she looks like the ideal 1950s woman! I am mesmerized by her! If I were a man, and I was alive back then, all I would be able to think of his how lucky her husband is!!

I am the movies I love! (^_^)

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[–] bellamade01 13 years ago

I know this is horribly late, but Rosemary Clooney was close enough to Bing Crosby off screen that she made him the godfather of her children with Mel Ferrer.

I read that she once said it was hard to remember he was Bing Crosby off screen--he was such an ordinary guy--until he opened his mouth to sing, and then it was impossible to forget.

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[–] PillowRock 13 years ago

Does the age difference get in the way of anyone else's enjoyment of the film?

I can't imagine why it would bother anyone, unless they thought that everybody else should conform their own sense of attraction. It doesn't work that way. People are different. Different people find different things attractive, and different things to be deal breakers.

Would Betty really be interested in someone almost twice her age?

Why not?

Such things happen. Bogart was more than twice Bacall's age when the met and fell in love. Chaplin was more than three times the age of his fourth wife when they married. (In fact Chaplin's ages and his brides ages at the times of his four marriages were: 29 - 17, 35 - 16, 47 - 26, 54 - 17.) Wikipedia lists W.R. Hearst as having been the "partner" (Hearst was previously married and never got a divorce) of Marion Davies from 1917 onward; in 1917 their ages would have been 54 and 20. That's just a few of the more famous cases. Like I said: such things happen.

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[–] 13 years ago

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[–] lizcarlo87 13 years ago

I have watched this movie for long time. The age differences have never got I'n the way of me enjoying it. It's one of my favorite Christmas movies.

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[–] arkansasengineer 12 years ago

I’ve seen this movie a few times and I never gave the age difference between Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney much thought until I saw the movie on a new high-definition TV. Then the age difference was so obvious that to me it became distracting. That’s just my humble opinion.

Speaking of what you notice on a high-definition TV, during the big “Minstrel Number Dress Rehearsal” at the General’s inn, Vera Ellen dances her way down a large red staircase, does more dancing at the bottom, then gets carried back to the top of the stairs. Right before she gets carried back up the stairs, there are some female dancers sitting on either side of the stairs at the bottom. Is it just my imagination or is the dancer just to the right of the stairs showing more than the usual amount of skin? Did anyone else notice this?

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[–] Sitcom_Sally 12 years ago

Good point about the high definition. I just watched Holiday Inn for the first time in a few years and on high def and just posted on that board that Bing and Fred look so you to me now. (I'm 45.) I wonder if they will look older to me now when I watch White Christmas on high def.

- Sally

The perfect human being is uninteresting. - Joseph Campbell

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[–] zaphod1957 12 years ago

I do think that the age differnce is more apparent under high-def. This is the first time I watched it and afterwards I decided to look up everybodies age.

I think that we are being asked to beleive Bing is 10 years younger than he really is. That would make him about 31 in the army scenes and 41 for most of the picture, about the same age as Kaye. I also think we are to supposed to think of Rosemary as a little older as she actally is since she is portrayed to be the older sister to Vera who was 33.

So, if we follow this logic the men are in their early 40's and the women in their early 30's, not that much of a gap.

Even though Bing looks too old he was a huge star at the time and it is really easy to see why they would stretch things just to have him in the picture.

I was really surprised to see that actor playing the general was actually older than Bing!

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[–] DocCasualty 12 years ago

I was really surprised to see that actor playing the general was actually older than Bing!

Actually Jagger was 6 months younger than Bing.

"Dave, this conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye." 2001: A Space Odyssey

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[–] rome_adventure 9 years ago

Okay, I had to check the scene you're speaking of. It's actually the Mandy number, not the minstrel number. And sure enough, there's a bit of a wardrobe malfunction! Fortunately she's wearing pantyhose, but still, it's amusing.

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[–] TCMer 12 years ago

I've always found this movie slightly "off," so the age differences have never really bothered me. It's just another piece of the whole cockeyed picture.

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[–] Enigmatic-Ocean 12 years ago

This is kind of an odd thread. I have always found that younger girls/women were attracted to older men because of their maturity and the fact that they tend to be more reliable in terms of faithfulness and being financialy sound.

Get on the chew pipe!

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