tree-tops glisten

The character Bing Crosby played in Irving Berlin's Holiday Inn was sort of like a "drop-out." But not in a negative way -- as he says, "I just have my own ideas about living."

At the start of the movie, three people --
"Jim Hardy" (Bing Crosby)
"Ted Hanover" (Fred Astaire)
"Lila Dixon" (Virginia Dale)
have a hot song-and-dance act in New York.

But they are about to split up: they all understand the plan -- Lila and Jim are going to be married and sort of semi-retire to a farm in Connecticut where he wants a more relaxed, stop-and-smell-the-flowers type of lifestyle, and Lila agreed with him that she wants it, too.

Except that she's all set to throw Jim over in favor of Ted. She would rather marry Ted (she currently believes, in the first scene) and keep on with her stage career. Bright lights, big city. Da-da-da-da-da.

Jim finds out; his heart is (currently) broken, and he goes ahead and retires to his farm and farmhouse in the Connecticut countryside on his own.

Sometimes people from big cities think farming is "relaxing." LOL. Jim Hardy (Crosby) quickly finds out living on the farm is not less work, it's nothing but work.

The number "Lazy" is sung in the background while you see a montage of Crosby / Jim trying to do all the farm stuff -- a bunch of hay or straw falls down on him -- nothing works out right, it's all hard -- not the "taking it easy" that he had envisioned.

Evry time
I see a puppy upon a summers day
A puppy dog at play
My heart is filled with envy
Thats because
My heart is yearning to pass the time away
Like that pup
cause I'm all fed up
And tho its wrong to be
I long to be
[chorus:]
Lazy
I want to be lazy
I want to be out in the sun
With no work to be done
Under that awning
They call the sky
Stretching and yawning
And let the world go drifting by
I want to peep
Through the deep
Tangled wildwood
Counting sheep
til I sleep
Like a child would
With a great big valise full
Of books to read where its peaceful
While im
Killing time
Being lazy
[2nd verse:]
Life is short
And getting shorter with each day that goes by
And how the time does fly
Before you know, its over
Thats why im
In such a hurry to pack my things and fly
To a spot
Where its nice and hot
And hear the birdies sing
While Im being ...Lazy...
------------------------------
Pretty soon he flips out, with all the pressure -- today, they want to slap us with initials [ADD, ADHD, CTIA -- "can't take it anymore"] & prescribe Drugs -- back then people could go to a "sanitarium" where a person could get help, take a rest, and get their balance back.

Bing Crosby's Jim Hardy character emerges from his "rest cure" at the sanitarium with a new plan for his country place: he tells it to his old Broadway associates -- he is going to open up "Holiday Inn." It will be open only fifteen days a year, on holidays, with dinner and nightclub acts. The rest of the year, he will relax and enjoy life. A reverse schedule from the rest of the working world.

His buddies raise their eyebrows, upon hearing this plan.
"Say, did you get your discharge papers from that sanitarium?" asks one.

-----------------------------
The Holiday Inn thing starts working out -- a lovely singing / dancing woman named Linda Mason comes to work at the inn, and Jim Hardy starts falling in love with her.

(There's no kissing or hand-holding, but he writes songs for her, treats her nicely, and -- looks at her with tenderness.)

Meanwhile Ted Hanover (Astaire), who stole Lila from Jim at the beginning, shows up at the inn -- Lila has since run off with "some Texan from Texas," and Ted gets interested in performing at the inn, then meets & dances with Linda Mason and becomes interested in her...Bing Crosby looks askance -- he's worried...
Ted: "She's wonderful! I feel like I've known her for months!"
Jim: "Umh -- same ol' feeling, huh?"

Jim tries to keep Linda Mason with him at the inn, but since he hasn't got the financial stability he wants, yet, with the new project, he has not asked her to marry him -- and Ted Hanover moves in.

Ted and the agent lure Linda to Hollywood. Out there, in the last scene, she's up on a busy movie set, about to sing the song "White Christmas," but she's sad and lonely, missing Jim out there in Connecticut. Meanwhile, he has flown out to Hollywood to declare his love for her and bring her back with him, if she will agree: when she begins singing, he chimes in and sings harmony -- and she's all surprised, and looking around. Then when she spots him, she cries out, "Jim!" and she's so happy, she runs to him.

Then the camera focuses on the closed door to the set, where Fred Astaire and the agent (having escaped the room where Crosby locked them in, several minutes ago, to give himself a head start) burst through and look around wildly, then see something at the same time. Both men look intently, with surprised expressions, off-stage. We cannot see what they're looking at, we can only see them looking.

Agent (incredulous): "How could he get that far in five minutes?"
Astaire (resigned to his loss, this time): "The lady must have been willing."

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The movie features singing-and-dancing routines throughout, all plot-related, & once they're at the inn, it's an act for each holiday. Hard to pick a highlight because they're all such dazzling-good fun, but if I could only bring one to a desert island with me, it would be Fred Astaire's famous "Fireworks Dance" the 4th-of-July number. Expert critics say it is the fastest-moving, most complicated dance ever filmed. I want to dance it, too. ...Ehrm.

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