Age differences

The real-life age difference is not appealing to me, but I do believe that Bob and Betty were supposed to be closer in age (he younger, she older) than Bing and Rosemary were in real life. In the film, they certainly didn't look like there was a 25-year age difference. I know this post is a year old, but I just saw this movie for the first time and started to wonder how old Bing was when it was made. I can suspend belief for this particular movie since it's so enjoyable. Kind of grosses me out to think that Clooney was young enough to be his daughter.

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I'm actually watching "White Christmas" right now, for the first time, and had zero idea that their age difference was that gaping. I thought Bing was in his mid 40's and Rosemary in her early to mid 30's. She has a maturity to her in this film that left me not even noticing a major age difference between them.

In fact my sister thought Vera was the older of the two actresses, and I was sure Rosemary was. I figured Vera was in her late 20's or early 30's, but never thought Rosemary was younger.

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the may december romance between bing crosby and rosemarie clooney makes the story more poignant because of the age difference. there is something very touching about the way crosby plays the lonely middle aged man. he looks like a man in his late forties (or even early fifties) and this is how old his character is supposed to be. what people seem to forget is that the story takes place within a show business milieu, and in showbusiness....these things happen. what i find a bit unbelievable is that there is no suggestion that the crosby and clooney characters (or the danny kaye and vera ellen characters) are having sex, or even try to have sex. there is no suggestion of any "hanky panky" (or even attempted "hanky panky") going on at the hotel at all.

Jonathan Becker

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I love Danny Kaye but his character was too old to have been a private(or was it corporal?) at the start of the picture in WW II.Kaye was 41 when he made this movie,so that means his Phil Davis character would have been about 32 during the war.The role was originally intended for Donald O'Connor who was 29 when White Christmas came out.That would make his role a 20-year old during during the war which would be more realistic based upon his military rank.Also,Bing's character was meant to be like an older brother/mentor to Danny's character.That would have played out more naturally between Crosby & O'Connor.Kaye was terrific but O'Connor was equally talented & would have done a fine job in the movie too.

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Crosby was bald by his early thirties and would have looked much older without his hairpiece.

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I actually love this movie and have read back on all the posts. Some of them were so funny my stomach hurt from laughing so hard:) My husband always mentions the age differences of the girls and the guys in this movie and he finds it the most unbelievable part(out of all of the "believable" parts of this movie). Does the age difference get in the way of anyone else's enjoyment of the film? Would Betty really be interested in someone almost twice her age? Or are we supposed to believe they are closer in age than they really were?

How in he world can age matter in any film when obviously most of the time it doesn't to the studios or some directors? When Romeo & Juliet was released in (1932) The roles of the teenaged couple were played by Norma Shearer who was 34 and Leslie Howard who was 43.

Fred Astaire was old enough to be the father of most of his dance partners/romantic leads after Ginger Rogers. Remember he was supposed to be Bing's partner in this film. Imagine if the females leads remained the same. He would have been paired with Rosemary who was 7 yrs younger than Vera-Ellen at the time!



Sheldon:"Was the starfish wearing boxer shorts? Because you might have been watching Nickelodeon."

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During Hollywood's so-called Golden Age established male stars were regularly paired with much younger female stars. Think how often Astaire, Gable, Cooper, et al, in their later years played the swain to actresses young enough to be their daughters (or even granddaughters). I think the only time it's bothered me was in Daddy Long Legs and possibly Funny Face. As much as I adore Astaire, I found the pairing with Caron creepy, especially since his role was indeed a father-figure turned into sugar daddy. But when they dance (or sing Accentuate the Positive), I melt nonetheless. And after all, as another poster pointed out, there were plenty of real-life cases.

And it still happens in film casting with bankable stars.

Of course, the opposite very rarely occurred, at least in the 40s and 50s. The reverse was not considered age-appropriate... no such thing as cougars back then, lol. Though you did have 1950s "women's films" like All This and Heaven Too where the age disparity played a key part of the plot. Joan Crawford and Barbara Stanwyck (often in Westerns) were two notable exceptions, but only as long as they remained viable box office.

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