THE TIME OF "WHITE CHRISTMAS"

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A HUNDRED MILLION SOLD INCLUDING ALBUMS!
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One of the most popular songs of all time was written by Irving Berlin and first introduced to America on Christmas day in 1941, by Bing Crosby, on his Kraft Music Hall Show. He then performed it in the movie "Holiday Inn," and recorded it in 1942 with other songs.

In 1942 the song really caught on and appealed greatly to the American people, a year into a war they didn't want and were having to send their boys off to fight. It was sung throughout the war, getting more popular each year. Its mix of nostalgia, melancholy, memories of home and better times, appealed to the American people...and their sons away in uniform.

Sources cite fifty million singles sold over the years and one states a hundred million total records sold, counting albums. Any way one cuts it, the song is right at the top of all time!

In recent years we seem not to hear it as much on radio or TV and there are those who suggest that it is sentimental nonsense---after all, it never snows at Christmas in most places in the USA, and who among us has ever heard a sleigh bell? And on they go...

If we listened to this reasoning, we might lose half of our Christmas songs. After all, isn't there a good bit of snow, sleigh-riding, fantasy, imagination, and tradition, including flying reindeer and guys in red suits who come down the chimney---in many of our songs?

How about "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire..." or "Sleighbells ring, are you list'nin?" Then there's "Giddy up, giddy  up let's go..." or Waring's "The stump of a little old pipe he held tight in his teeth..." and what about "Over the river and through the woods," "Walking in a winter wonderland," and "On every street corner you'll hear, silver bells...?" I guess maybe we could indulge in a bit of Bing's forties nostalgia...for old time's sake!

It's clear to me, when it comes to Christmas and its customs and traditions, of warmth, glitter, and excitement, maybe we need to throw some of our "bah humbug," out the window, and just go with the spirit of the season; on the other hand, never forgetting the deeper real meaning of Christmas.

Yes, "White Christmas" caught on--big time. It was a time when folks were perhaps a bit more sentimental than they are now. It was a time when nostalgic words sing to a smooth melodic tune met a need of the people.

Go back with me in time to the "way things were."

It was a time not far removed from the Great Depression.
It was a time when a dollar was a dollar and most people had only a few of them
It was a time when entertainment was not far removed from Vaudeville days.
It was a time when movies. were simple and you could understand what was happening.
It was a time of "National Velvet" and "Lassie, Come Home."
It was a time when the kids had a rare vampire show, not 75% horror films.
It was a time when Gene Autry's best single was "Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer."

It was a time when the American boys of the Greatest Generation were going off to war.
It was a time when much of America was still rural.
It was a time when a man's handshake was as good as his word.
It was a time when "much obliged" meant deep gratitude, and "I'll help you when needed!"

It was a time when a triple dip ice cream cone was 15 cents.
It was a time when a good hamburger or bowl of chili was 20 cents.
It was a time when a post card was one cent and a first class stamp was three cents.
It was a time a pack of Wrigley's gum or a Snicker were 5 cents.
It was a time when a laundered, starched, folded dress shirt was 15 cents.

A time when 50 cents would buy a haircut, 20 cents a shoe shine.
A time when you paid for things with a Buffalo nickel, a Mercury dime, and a Walking Liberty.
A time of "Five and Ten Cent Stores," of Woolworth's and "Monkey" Wards.
A time when store clerks said "May I help you?" or "Come Back To See Us!"
A time when most stuff had that wonderful tag: "MADE IN USA!"
A time when you solved business problems in the USA, not India or Pakistan!

And it was a time before some really good things, which came after the war---outdoor grills, air conditioning, orange juice concentrate---and what about Studebakers, Hudsons, Oldsmobiles, Plymouths, and Thunderbirds?!

Yes, think back to that time. WWII cost only 288 billion dollars. Three  days in a hospital, private room, surgeon fee, major surgery, $185.00.

How far we've come. Erase all things that have happened in the 65-70 years since Bing first sang "White Christmas"---all movies, books, TV shows, technology, computers, I Pads, I Pods, Kindles, cell phones---all acquired knowledge---and maybe we can capture the mindset of the Americans of those days. So "White Christmas" somehow touched them, spoke to them, and in their simpler lives---had meaning.

I was there and absorbed it all. I'm going to sing "White Christmas" this year with renewed appreciation of those people and those times which went a long way toward making our great nation what it is. Most of them are gone...but the song...and their memories...live on.

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"White Christmas", sung by Bing Crosby and Marjorie Reynolds:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8swRkzkO2s&feature=youtube_gdata_player
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BY MIL
11/29/12


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