She looks like a concentration camp survivor in this film, and it's sickening!
Why didn't they replace her? She clearly had some MAJOR problems!
Ouch! Way harsh, Tai! I didn't like how she looked either. I thought a more full body type was preferred back then.
shareOP is an idiot. There was nothing wrong with Vera-Ellen's appearance. She was a perfectly healthy professional dancer, and looked like an elite athlete. Her legs were spectacular. All this crap about her being anorexic is a myth. Also, there was nothing wrong with her neck. She favored high-necked costumes because she thought they made her look good. You can easily find photographs of her in which she is wearing low-necked clothing and her neck is perfectly normal. In the film "Let's Be Happy" she wears an open-neck shirt that reveals that her neck has nothing wrong.
shareYes I agree. I love this movie, but never watch it in real time cause as talented as she was, I can't get past how sickening it makes me 2 watch her numbers. I can only watch the ones when she's in a dress. I usually fast forward past the ones that show her full legs and the one where she is in pants she looks like Beevo-latte, got more head than she's got body.
I did see her in a movie once on #TCM where she was younger and wasn't as blond as she is in this movie but she looked so cute & healthy. Too bad Hollywood made these actresses/dancers feel so bad about themselves all it did was lead 2 serious psychological issues down the road like abusive drug use or anorexia/bulimia. I wish they would have loved themselves more 2 not harm themselves in these ways #WhiteChristmas
Too busy watching her dance to really care.
shareVera Ellen was absolutely anorexic in White Christmas. Yes, even anorexic people have energy like that...it's part of what people do when they have this illness. Extreme exercise is just one of the symptoms.
Having a child who is recovery I can tell you without a doubt she was so severely below a safe weight that a studio would have trouble insuring her.
When the film was made anorexic and bulimia were not recognized as diagnoses. If you look closely her impossibility small costumes actually bag a bit over her concave abdomen.
Look up corset training.. Google "wasp waist"
Vera Ellen probably ate 6000 calories a day to keep up with months of rehearsing. There was nothing at all about her appearance that suggests anorexia or bulimia. People can be underweight by choice, that doesn't make them anorexic. That was probably the look she was going for, and I think she looked wonderful.
Describe your rehearsal day with Vera Ellen and the cast on White Christmas.
"She’d come in in the morning and we would start with a ballet barre, Vera and I would always do a ballet barre together. And then we’d start working until lunch. She would go into her dressing room and have a French lesson or something and then we’d work until 5. She worked hard, she danced the whole time. I’d dance the number with her and then she would do it without me and I would just watch her and correct her. Rehearsal would last for two weeks for the “Mandy” number. Danny would come in, not for that many hours but he would work hard when he was there."