movie: White Christmas (1954)

They played the Wurlitzer organ tonight at the Heights, then a local jazz artist sang some Christmas tunes, and finally the sold-out theater watched White Christmas on the big screen. It was a nice evening.

Maud Hixson sang well, and her performance worked really well to "set the stage" for the movie.  Right before the show started, however, the theater showed a movie clip with a bouncing ball sing-a-long.  The whole audience joined in singing another Christmas tune.

White Christmas was a lot more comical than I expected.  It had its moments of romance, patriotism, and sentimentalism, but mostly it's an entertaining comedy filled with gentle humor throughout the story.  And lots of great singing.  I can live without the long dance routines, but the rest of the audience seemed to appreciate them.  A few times, many people applauded after some of the dances as if the show was a live performance.

I enjoyed the movie, but the strange thing is that I know I'd have been unimpressed watching the same film on television.  One or two images seemed familiar, as if I had seen the movie before.  Yet the rest of it was new to me, and the experience in the theater was fun.  I had a good night.  I enjoy living within walking distance of the Heights, so I can frequently go see these old films.  This film has sold out for the last 7 years that they've been hosting this holiday show.  They even added a 4th showing this weekend, and they sold out for it too.  Good for the Heights.

I was hoping for snow on my walk back home.  It's in our forecast tonight, but I had no such luck.  I stepped through the occasional thin mound of snow/ice, but most of our precipitation has melted away already.  Maybe by morning?

p.s. It snowed all night, and the snow is continuing this morning too.  We have above-freezing days in our forecast (thank you, global warming), but there's a chance we might still have a White Christmas in Minneapolis this year.