I was watching the Bing Crosby classic White Christmas tonight, and it suddenly hit me why I've never been comfortable watching this film. One of the female leads is played by the wonderful and talented Vera-Ellen. However, I was alarmed to finally realize what had bothered me about her in this movie: she is absolutely skeletal compared to the other leading ladies of the day, including her co-star Rosemary Clooney. She enjoyed a great career in the musicals of this time period, but it was apparently later discovered that she had battled anorexia all throughout the fifties, before there was even a diagnosis, much less a treatment for the disease. Her career went downhill after the heyday of the Hollywood musical, and though she could have continued her career as a dramatic actress, ill health and personal misfortune plagued her until her death in 1981.
Nowadays, she would look normal in a fashion magazine, and downright plump compared to some of the starving starlets of today. But how starkly she stands out on the screen in this picture, and how sad it is to see her that way.
