Why is there no movie soundtrack?? I don't want recordings with Rosemary Clooney and her daughter for "Sisters" (that's the best I could find on iTunes), I don't want any versions except the movie version! I don't want the new cast recording. Does anyone know of a soundtrack to this movie? I can't find one.
shareOh, man ... A soundtrack would be sweet. I heard a version of "Snow" on the radio the other day, but it was just Rosemary Clooney singing. Mid-way through, I turned the radio off because it wasn't the version I was used to.
"FRA-GEE-LAY. That must be Italian!"
"I think that says 'fragile', honey."
This is the closest I could find except that Rosemary Clooney and Vera Ellen aren't included.
http://www.amazon.com/Selections-Irving-Berlins-White-Christmas/dp/B000003PBJ
"FRA-GEE-LAY. That must be Italian!"
"I think that says 'fragile', honey."
lol, I love your first reply! Turning it off b/c you didn't like the version, haha. I would do that too.
OMG, that is a GREAT find! Except, it's not really the movie soundtrack. Look at this comment:
Although this album is advertised as the "original soundtrack" of Irving Berlin's WHITE CHRISTMAS, it is not so. It is merely a STUDIO RECORDING of the songs from the film. The two male leads are heard on this album but the leading ladies are not. Rosemary Clooney was not allowed to appear on this album as she was under contract to Columbia, and the soundtrack rights were controlled by Decca. Her numbers are done by Peggy Lee, who does a commendable job with them. Trudy Stevens steps in for Vera-Ellen. Incidently, Vera-Ellen's voice is not heard in the film anyway, as her singing was dubbed in all her musical pictures.
That explains why there isn't a real soundtrack, I guess.
Hey, I recognize that comment (it's mine) - glad you found it useful. The closest you can come is to hook your DVD player up to your tape recorder or computer and make your own recording of the songs. A bit crude, I know, but since no soundtrack album for WC has ever existed, it's as close as you're going to come. Good luck.
"Snozberries? Who ever heard of a snozberry?"
There isn't a legit soundtrack because of which stars were "owned" by which studios. If I remember correctly, Rosemary was owned by one studio and loaned out to do "White Christmas" the movie. However, they wouldn't allow her to record an album for another label.
Interestingly - Vera-Ellen's voice CAN be heard in the movie on the Snow Reprise. And in Sisters, Rosemary actually sings both parts.
Rosemary did not sing both parts on "Sisters," Vera's part was dubbed by another voice actress.
All the songs were pre-recorded for the film. These recordings must surely exist in a vault SOMEWHERE on the Paramount Lot. Since all the contractual obligations that originally made release of these recordings are no longer an issue, I see no reason why Paramount couldn't issue an ACTUAL soundtrack album using the recordings heard in the film, sans the dialog cues.
And the recording of "Sisters" the original poster refers to is not Rosemary and her daughter; it's Rosemary and her sister Betty.
JOE TYRIA
http://www.youtube.com/user/SilverCreedWolf
In the DVD commentary, Rosemary Clooney mentions that it was Trudy Stevens http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1203762/ who is the voice-double for Vera Ellen's character's singing. Rosemary Clooney also mentions that Trudy Stevens was married to Dick Stabile http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0820895/, the real-life band leader and actor who plays the band leader at the Carousel Club, where Betty sings "Love You Didn't Do Right By Me". But, apparently, Rosemary Clooney is credited with singing both parts in Sisters. To me, it sounds like a different woman's voice, when they are singing it at Novello's.
We do get to hear a brief, tiny snatch of Vera Ellen singing, when they are about to pile into the station wagon for the Columbia Inn, after they arrive in Pine Tree and Bing starts up the opening line of Snow.
Something else, wasn't Danny Kaye a contract player with Goldwyn? Maybe he left that studio by 1954, but that would seem to be another possible reason there was no soundtrack if he was on loan from another studio (the poster mentioned that Rosemary Clooney was also on loan).
I did find a Bing Crosby solo version of "Count Your Blessings" on YouTube. It's just Bing with a piano accompaniment as opposed to the orchestration in the film.
I don't think it had anything to do with which *movie* studio they were under contract to, but rather which record label. I don't recall reading anywhere that Danny Kaye was under recording contract to a record label (Honestly, when was the last time any of us saw a Danny Kaye album on the shelf?). What it was, was a major record company (Columbia) forbidding one of its top selling artists (Clooney) to appear on a record from a competing label (Decca).
"Snozberries? Who ever heard of a snozberry?"
Danny Kaye did sing a bunch of songs (not just the ones in his movies), maybe not on a specific label, but just check out iTunes. I have about 75 songs of his so far that I've collected. Some are beautiful, some are silly, and some are from soundtracks. He had such a wonderful voice.
shareI appreciate everyone's input on this because I have been looking for the soundtrack for years!
shareI could kick myself, some time ago I did a search on this and came upon a site where this guy took the tracks from the movie and it was available to download for free. The tracks were excellent. I figured it would be around for some time so I didn't bother to download them at that time. :-( Can't find that site for nothin' now as I did not put it in my favorites.
shareI actually heard "Snow" - the real "Snow" with all 4 of them singing - on an online radio station just the other day, so it must be out there somewhere!
shareAs said before on the album released for the fim "Rosemary Clooney" is the only one who does not appear "Bing Crosby" "Danny Kaye", and "Trudy Stevens" (who dubbed "Vera Ellen") are all on the released recording.
shareIncidently, there is ONE track on the Decca WC album that is taken from the actual film soundtrack: the Minstrel Show/Mandy number, in which of course Rosemary Clooney's voice is not heard.
"Snozberries? Who ever heard of a snozberry?"