Holiday This 'N That

The (more or less) unusual Friday Funnies posted here is on holiday hiatus. It's being replaced by holiday trivia posts, as I need some holiday distraction, maybe you do as well? Spoiler Alert, this first one is quite long and others could be too.

Did you know that . . .

The Christmas Song, often subtitled Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire was first titled, Merry Christmas to You. The now classic holiday song was written by Robert Wells and Mel Tormé in July 1945 during a hot summer in CA.

The words were an effort to stay cool by thinking of cold weather activities. Check out the first four lines of the song:

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire

Jack Frost nipping at your nose

Yuletide carols being sung by a choir

And folks dressed up like Eskimos

After Tormé saw that Wells had written these lines, they co-wrote the song in 40 minutes. Not only was the song written in warm weather but recorded then too. In June 1946, The Nat King Cole Trio recorded it at WMCA Radio Studios, NYC. Two months later over the objections of the label, Capitol Records, Cole re-recorded the tune adding a small string section. This version became a massive hit on both the pop and R&B charts. 

The 1940s song White Christmas led to two films . . .

Written by Irving Berlin, accounts differ as to when and where the tune was penned, the west coast or east coast. One source claims that Berlin wrote it in 1940, in sunny CA, while staying at the La Quinta Hotel, a frequent Hollywood retreat. Consider the opening lines:

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

Other song experts claim that while it may have been drafted in CA, it was most likely completed in NYC. Oddly, according to Berlin, White Christmas was written as a satire. While that sounds hard to believe, he saw it as part of a musical revue and performed by sophisticates with drinks in hand and milling about a Hollywood pool surrounded by palm trees.

Thankfully, that changed in the spring of 1940, when Berlin signed on to do a musical for Paramount. The plot featured a vaudeville performer who retired to run a country inn as a “holiday inn” open only to overnight guests on you-guessed-it, holidays. Berlin was to pen a holiday-themed score through the year of holidays.

The song did not debut in the 1942 Holiday Inn film. Berlin knew that White Christmas was one of his best songs and made a deal with Paramount was that the tune would be included only if Paramount could sign Bing Crosby, a major star at the time, to star in the film. Casting was set and early rehearsals began in the autumn of 1941. 

The unexpected happened in the midst of planning to film when America was rocked by the December 7, 1941 surprise attack at Pearl Harbor by the Japanese. A day later, on December 8, President Franklin Roosevelt delivered the Day of Infamy Speech. Congress declared war, and the U.S. entered WW II.

Two weeks later on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1941, Crosby introduced White Christmas on the Kraft Music Hall, his highly popular radio show. America mobilized for war; men enlisted in record numbers. The song's lyrics took on a new meaning for soldiers headed overseas.

The film Holiday Inn premiered in NYC in August 1942 and radio requests for White Christmas started in early fall. Crosby's October 1942 recording of White Christmas received heavy airplay not only on Armed Forces Radio but on commercial radio during its first Christmas season and became a No. 1 hit. 

The success of the song, White Christmas, then led to a 1954 film based on that title. It again starred Crosby with Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, and Vera-Ellen. The plot once again included an inn and the film was viewed as another version of the earlier Holiday Inn.

The 1946 film, It's a Wonderful Life . .

Started as 1 1939 short story, The Greatest Gift, written by Philip Van Doren Stern who after having no luck publishing it opted to print the story as a 21-page Christmas card and sent it to friends in 1943. An RKO Pictures producer, who saw the card, convinced the studio to buy the  story rights, eventually sold to Frank Capra's production company, Liberty Films. Stern's story was published as a book in 1944. It also was published in the January 1945 issue of Good Housekeeping titled, The Man Who Was Never Born.

Actor James Stewart was not the first choice for the lead role as Cary Grant was selected to play George Bailey. However, after RKO Pictures sold the movie rights to Capra's company, Capra replaced Cary Grant with James Stewart in the lead. Stewart had recently home from serving as a flight leader in WW II, the 1946 film was his first movie since then. According to his biographer, Stewart was hesitant to do the film, his only offer aside from a film featuring his war service.

Foamite "snow" on film set

The movie was shot in the summer of 1946 during a 90-degree heat wave. Before this film, most movie productions used cornflakes painted white for snow. Capra found this special effect was noisy for dialogue and had the special effects department mix foamite (a fire-fighting chemical) with sugar and water. Some 6,000 gallons of chemical snow and the set was transformed into a winter wonderland, that was filmed in CA.

Bedford Falls was one of the most elaborate sets ever built at the time. It's a Wonderful Life had a big budget for its time ($3.7 million). The crew put a lot of effort into constructing the town of Bedford Falls. The set took 2 months to build with 75 buildings stretched out over 4 acres in Encino, CA, one of the longest sets ever made for an American movie.

The swim-gym floor that opens to reveal a pool in the film is real. This one-of-a-kind facility was built in 1939-1940 and is located in Beverly Hills High School and still in use.

It's a Wonderful Life was not a box office hit and put Capra into debt. Receiving mixed reviews, the film only made back $3.3 of its $3.7 million budget at first. It struggled at the Academy Awards and didn't win any of the five major Oscars it was nominated for. It placed 26th in box office sales for all films released in 1947, ahead of Miracle on 34th Street.

The FBI flagged the film "communist" in 1947 issuing the following statement: With regard to the picture 'It's a Wonderful Life,' [redacted] stated in substance that the film represented rather obvious attempts to discredit bankers by casting Lionel Barrymore as a 'scrooge-type' so that he would be the most hated man in the picture. This, according to these sources, is a common trick used by Communists.

Thankfully, the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) opted not to call in the film's writers and director. The film continued to be shown unimpeded. (The HUAC was a congressional committee that investigated alleged disloyalty and subversive activities in the U.S. from 1938 to 1975.)

In the late 1970s, it rose to popularity because of a clerical error. When its copyright elapsed in 1974, copyright holder, Republic Pictures, failed to file a renewal application with the U.S. Copyright Office. This caused the film to enter the public domain and it could be broadcast by any station that wanted to air it, royalty-free without paying licensing fees.

In 1990, the film was added to the Library of Congress's National Film Registry. 

Santa Baby Has Two Versions . . .

It was originally recorded by American singer Eartha Kitt with Henri René and his orchestra at a NYC recording studio in 1953 and again in 1954. Kitt said that it was one of her favorite songs to record.

In August 1953, songwriters Joan Javits and Philip Springer were commissioned to write a
holiday song for Kitt. The result was a tongue-in-cheek look at a list sent to Santa Claus by a woman who wants extravagant gifts because "she has been good all year." Here's what was on that 1953 Santa Baby wish list: 

• Sable under the tree
• '54 convertible, light blue
• Yacht 
• Deed to a platinum mine
• Duplex and checks
• Decorations bought at Tiffany's
• Ring (not on the phone)

The song was released by RCA Victor in the U.S. and Canada. To promote the single, the record label purchased page advertisements in Billboard billing it as "1953's Big Christmas Record" It was pressed as a 7-inch single for wide release; a promotional 10-inch single was created for airplay.

Music critics gave mixed reviews to the single, some labelled it suggestive for a holiday song. It's been included on lists of both the best and worst Christmas songs ever written.

Critics aside, Santa Baby became the best-selling Christmas song of 1953 in the U.S. mainly due to the controversy around it. On the US Billboard Best Selling Singles chart, it debuted at No. 16 before rising to No. 10 the next week and peaking at No. 4. In November 1953, Billboard reported that the single had sold 200,000 copies.

Following the mixed reception for Santa Baby, the original songwriters, Springer and Javits, redid the song a year later in 1954 and updated the wish list. In 1954, Kitt recorded This Year's Santa Baby, featuring these new Christmas wish list wants with the preface: Santa baby, I must admit that you were a dear last year, but December is here, so hurry down the chimney tonight:

• Private plane 
• Queen Elizabeth (the ship)
• White mink (replaces sable)
• Most of the FL coast
• Pet charity - naturally that's "me"
• Big box filled with plain ordinary common stock
• Trim tree with large pear-shaped swimming pool

The tune concluded: There's only 365 days til Christmas

Sadly, on Christmas Day 2008, Kitt, 81, died at her home in Weston, CT, of colon cancer. 

This was a long-ish post, if you made it to here, Thank You. 

Enjoy Your Weekend, Everyone

We're going to RI for grandson's 18th 🎂