Holiday Inn/Trivia

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • The Cameo: The fellow at the artists' table in the club near the beginning of the movie? One of the other members of "The Rhythm Boys", the band Bing was in when they first got into movies. The nightclub orchestra leader? Harry Barris, another member.
  • Chuck Jones did the sequence with the animated Thanksgiving turkey, whose shrugging "I give up" gesture at the end of its few seconds is a very classic bit of Jones animation.
  • Continuity Nod: In the opening scene, mention is made at least three times that Lila has buttoned up the back of her dress wrong, leaving one button or hole left over. It's hard to see, but freeze-framing at the right moment reveals that yes, the neckline on the back of her dress is uneven.
  • Defictionalization/The Red Stapler: Sortakinda. The "Holiday Inn" hotel chain is named for this movie.
  • Enforced Method Acting: Fred Astaire was really drunk for the drunken dance: he drank two shots of bourbon before the first take, and another shot before each additional take. What ended up in the final film is something like the seventh take.
  • Irving Berlin: Creator of the concept, composer, lyricist...
  • Spiritual Successor: White Christmas was intended to be one to Holiday Inn, and still managed it despite cast changes and massive rewrites.
  • Technology Marches On: Several very obvious examples, ranging from a console record player to a studio telephone that's useless because the operator has gone home for the night.