An American Christmas
There are some things about Christmas, as we know it today, that are distinctly American, and most of these contributions are also distinctly secular.
The vision we have of Santa Claus is largely based on a combination of the works of Clement Clarke Moore ('Twas the Night Before Christmas) and Thomas Nast, the political cartoonist that gave us Uncle Sam and the symbols of our political parties, the Democratic Donkey and the Republican Elephant.
But perhaps no contribution has been larger than that of the secular carol, songs about the season that touch on the things we love about Christmas but never quite deal with the religious underpinnings of the celebration.
In 1938, Irving Berlin toyed with the idea of a Broadway show that would highlight a song for every American holiday. For one reason or another that show was never produced. But Berlin, who never let a good idea go to waste, filed it away to await the best future opportunity. That opportunity came in the form of Paramount Pictures. In 1941 they had the world's number one singing star in its stable, Bing Crosby, and had signed the number one dancing star, Fred Astaire, to a multiple-picture deal after he left RKO.
The result was Holiday Inn, the story of a performer so lazy, he only wanted to work on the 15 or so holidays that populated the calendar. Berlin produced a cadre of songs, from the minor hit Be Careful It's My Heart for Valentine's Day, to the Fourth of July's Say It With Firecrackers, to the cringe-inducing Abraham, that celebrated Lincoln by asking "Who was it set the darkie free?" and was performed in blackface.
All of those might be forgotten today had it not been for the Christmas number. Initially, Crosby was not particularly happy with the idea of recording Christmas songs. When the founder of Decca Records, Jack Kapp, approached Bing about recording Silent Night and Adeste Fidelis in 1935, he balked. As a devout Catholic, Crosby thought it would be unseemly for a pop star to profit from the recording of religious songs. Only when Kapp agreed to donate large portions of the profits to charity did Crosby put the songs to disc.
For Holiday Inn, the song Berlin penned for Christmas originally contained the following verse:
The sun is shining, the grass is green,
The orange and palm trees sway.
There's never been such a day
in Beverly Hills, L.A.
But it's December the twenty-fourth,—
And I am longing to be up North—
But the setting was an inn in Connecticut, so the verse had to go. Instead, Crosby simply sang the opening line, "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the ones I used to know..."
Bing introduced the song on Christmas Day 1941 on the Kraft Music Hall, a performance that does not survive because NBC recycled the aluminum-based recording master for the war effort. But if that performance was a casualty of war, the song certainly owes some of its success to it.
Holiday Inn was released in August of 1942. By December, the song that took Crosby 18 minutes to rehearse and record back in July, had spent 11 weeks atop the Billboard charts (where it would return again in 1945 and '46). Armed Forces radio was flooded with requests. It's melancholy theme of longing for the simple, remembered Christmases of the past resonated with the GIs spending their first holiday season away from home.
Over the ensuing decades the song would sell upwards of 50 million copies, and that number would double if album sales were included. When Crosby embarked on his 50th anniversary tour in 1976, Berlin sent him a telegram wishing him well and advising him that he had written a little Christmas tune he might be interested in putting in his show.
Today, the man who was so reluctant to record Silent Night, is largely forgotten. While rock stars profess to worship the memory of Frank Sinatra, the man Sinatra idolized has faded into a footnote in musical history. Except... Except just after Santa makes his annual appearance on Herald Square, the warm baritone that last sang in 1977 reappears, and washes over us with the familiar tunes of Decembers long past.
I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
with every Christmas card I write.
May your days be merry and bright
and may all your Christmases be white.
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Aug '10
Re: An American Christmas
EJHill:
May your days be merry and bright
and may all your Christmases be white.
Racist!
May '11
Re: An American Christmas
His duet of Little Drummer Boy with David Bowie is tremendous.
Jul '10
Re: An American Christmas
Lil' confused Here... if it's Me just tell Me:
"When Crosby embarked on his 50th anniversary tour in 1976, Berlin sent him a telegram wishing him well and advising him that he had written a little Christmas tune he might be interested in putting in his show. [which tune is that?]
Today, the man who was so reluctant to record Silent Night [is this suppose to be 'White Christmas' or was Crosby reluctant to sing either... and is 'Silent Night' the tune Berlin wrote that would have been sent to Crosby in 1976?], is largely forgotten."
May '10
Re: An American Christmas
Mmmm. Could be you. The point is that Crosby resisted singing Christmas carols and ended up being eternally linked to them.
Berlin was trying to be cute in his telegram.
Apr '11
Re: An American Christmas
I happened to see that television special. I always loathed Bowie until I saw him with der Bingle.
Apr '11
Re: An American Christmas
I was in Germany for Christmas 1982. I expected too much of them. I was all, "Man, these people don't know how to do Christmas at all!" :-)
I don't mean to say that I'm entirely comfortable with all the crass commercialization, and I despise hearing carols on Halloween, but yeah. Give me the American Christmas.
(Although I did get some terrific little glass bells while in Germany. I really enjoy hanging them on the tree every year.)
Aug '10
Re: An American Christmas
No mention of the 1954 Bing Crosby movie with the same name?
May '10
Re: An American Christmas
Thanks, EJ. I hope you will continue these glimpses into American media history. Yours read smoother than Steyn's, which are often muddled with too many snide remarks and diversions.
What was the most recent addiiton to the American canon of Christmas songs which is overtly religious? And how many Christmas carols come from films or stageplays?
I enjoy a wide variety of Christmas tunes, but the best are the ones that could be sung around a manger without waking the baby. Pure and pleasant, like a fire in winter.
May '10
Re: An American Christmas
I could write a book, actually. But brevity is the soul of wit and most appreciated in a Ricochet post.
What I wanted to note but did not particularly thought fit was the notion of the All-American character of the whole event surrounding the song. What could be more fitting that the best selling song of all-time was a celebration of a Christian holiday, written by a Russian-born Jew, made famous by an Irish Catholic with seven children who won an Oscar portraying a priest?
Edited on Dec 4, 2011 at 8:03pmJan '11
Re: An American Christmas
I usually don't mind the non-religious Christmas stuff. Listening to a Perry Como song, or Andy Williams, or remembering occasionally goofy Christmas TV specials, was all part of my growing up.
On the other hand, I already had a strong religious tradition about celebrating Christmas. One didn't interfere with the other, and I never expected them to. One was church, the other TV. I loved both.
Although, EJ, if you're lamenting that Bing Crosby is slipping from the American consciousness, I'm with you there. I have quite a few Crosby songs - thank God for iTunes - and they're in my "regular rotation." It would be a horrible shame if we lost that treasure.
May '10
Re: An American Christmas
The most recent I know of is Mary, Did You Know? (1984) written by Mark Lowry and Buddy Greene that got its first real wide exposure by country star Kathy Mattea in 1994.
From stage and screen I can immediately think of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas from Meet Me in St. Louis and We Need a Little Christmas from Mame. And, of course, Bing's buddy, Bob Hope introduced Silver Bells in The Lemon Drop Kid with the beautiful Marilyn Maxwell.
And thank you for the early Christmas president! A comparison to the great Steyn!
Edited on Dec 4, 2011 at 7:52pmMay '10
Re: An American Christmas
I love Bing for Christmas :) I don't know why I don't listen to his other stuff! Can you recommend some of the best for me?
May '10
Re: An American Christmas
Katie O - Bing was at his best when performing with others. When he no longer had to care about covering everything (not even Crosby got exclusive song rights from publishers and he made over 3,000 commercial recordings) he made some terrific albums with Rosemary Clooney and Louis Armstrong.
And for pure cinematic joy, nothing beats Bing, Sinatra and Grace Kelly in a musical remake of The Philadelphia Story. High Society features the Groaner, the Voice and a great score by Cole Porter.
Aug '10
Re: An American Christmas
EJ, despite my juvenile remark above, I just wanted to say that I love your pop culture posts. You can get me to appreciate pop culture and get me interested in pop culture history, which hardly anyone besides Mark Steyn and Lileks can get me to do.
Thanks.
Aug '10
Re: An American Christmas
Great post, EJ. Thanks for the peek back into the history of one of the most popular songs in the American songbook.
The enormous success of "White Christmas" is a result of two American musical giants, Berlin and Crosby, doing what they did best. The result is a terrific illusion - because they made it appear so easy. (And it ain't.)
Dec '10
Re: An American Christmas
Tradition in my house is to watch it 7 times between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It's hard to decide who to idolize in it, Crosby or Kaye.
EJ, I agree completely it is a travesty for one of the nation's greatest voices to fade into obscurity. I couldn't even find a youtube video of Black Ball Ferry Line for my post about commutes near Seattle.
May '10
Re: An American Christmas
Kaye was third choice for that role. Originally it was offered to Fred Astaire who declined after reading the script. The official line was that he thought it was too close to Holiday Inn, but later it was said that Astaire was tired of losing the girl to Crosby in every movie they made together. Donald O'Connor was next but pulled out because of an illness. (They would team later in a semi-remake of Anything Goes.)
My only beef with the film is that it is gaffe-tastic. Michael Curtiz was a fantastic director (The Adventures of Robin Hood, Casablanca, Yankee Doodle Dandy) but whoever he hired or was assigned to check for continuity errors should have been shot. There are about 18 different flubs and/or bad edits in that film.
Re: An American Christmas
Lovely, EJ. Lovely.
Jun '10
Re: An American Christmas
Thanks, EJ.
Jun '10
Re: An American Christmas
I love the song Gone Fishing as recorded by Crosby and Armstrong.