Christmas Through and Through

 Did you hear? Christmas is tomorrow! It was in all the papers! Well, most of them, anyway! I hope the news reached your corner of the globe! 

With that in mind, today's post will be entirely Christmas and End-of-the-Year related. If that's not your thing, please come back after the first of the year (after checking out the first two shares, I would suggest), but for those who revel in such things, we're going all Christmas, all the time. 

I have a lot of Christmas related things on my plate, so I will be brief in most of my comments:  

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I think the most interesting recording here, by far, and the one which will likely have the broadest appeal, is this first offering, which I suspect is exceptionally rare. Not rare in the sense that some of the other items here are - home recordings which literally only exist in one copy - but rare in the sense of it being a recording made at a radio station in 1938. The station is WTIC in Hartford, Connecticut, a station which still exists, with those same call letters, and which will soon celebrate its 100th birthday

Not only are recordings of local stations (as opposed to network programming) of that vintage fairly rare, I don't think this isn't even a broadcast. From what I can tell It's a jokey program created by and for the staff of the radio station, for Christmas that year, poking fun at themselves. . 

At least, that's what I think it is. (It's also not clear to me if this is the entire program, or if some is missing.) Please let me know if you have other impressions, in the comments. 

And oh, yes, this could also qualify as our "Acetate of the Month", as it clearly comes from a recording of multiple acetate sides. But this recording came to me on a reel of tape, where someone had recorded those acetate sides. 

Download: WTIC - A Self-Parody for a Christmas Party - 12-22-38

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What's more, the same tape contained a later, joking recording, created at the same station for some Christmas in the 1940's, a shorter piece of humor titled "The Announcer's Nightmare": 

Download: WTIC - A 1940's Self-Parody for a Christmas Party - The Announcer's Nightmare

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For an entirely more homey feel, here is a tape of an unknown family singing Christmas Carols at home around 1950 or so. This comes from one of those early paper reels that only were in production until about 1951. Please enjoy these voices from over 70 years ago, sounding (for the most part, anyway) like they could have been recorded last week - such is the magic of reel to reel tape.  

Download: Christmas Carols at Home, Circa 1950

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But mayhap you prefer your Christmas entertainment to be provided by the more... professional of performers. If that's the case, I present to you: Perry Como's 1964 Christmas Episode of the Kraft Music Hall, from December 17th of that year: 

Download: Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall - Christmas Show - 12-17-64

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Getting back into the domestic life, in 1960, Hope and Franklin decided to record about 42 minutes of their Christmas gathering, including, among other things, what sounds very much like some conversation around the dining room table, and some caroling. And in 2022, I am sharing that recording with you. As one participant suggests, "listen to it while you're having dessert".

Download: Christmas, 1960, at Hope and Franklin's House

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Now that dessert is over, it's time for a few reflections. Here is a gentlemen and his family, living in Sioux Falls, looking back at the events of Christmas that year (1978), as well as the events of the year. The recording was made on Christmas night of that year -  it would appear that this was one of a series, and that this family made such a recording every year, for some number of years, at least. Sort of an end-of-the-year family diary. As far as I've found thus far, I do not have any of their other Christmas recordings. Names of several family members are given, during the reporting, but I'll let you hear those. Something about this tape resonates with me very deeply - I find it extremely sweet and very affecting. 

Download: Christmas Evening, 1978, and Review of the Year

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Our "Very Short Reel" feature for today is also Christmas themed, although it was recorded nearly a month after Christmas of 1951, on January 20, 1952. In this recording, a very small child plays some of his or her (presumably) favorite records, and makes a very small child's attempt to sing along. Note that I don't hold this child to the same standard as the tone-deaf singer who apparently wanted to hear himself singing along to hit records, which I featured last time. It's not this tiny person's fault that the ability to carry a tune has not made itself known yet, nor that the parent decided to record the singing. 

What's more, this kid is in tune at least as often than our would-be singer from last time around. And your mileage may vary a great deal, but I find this recording endearing, something I couldn't say about the aforementioned recording. Perhaps that has something to do with just how long its been since I had a toddler in my life...

After we hear part of a Spike Jones record of nursery rhymes (our only non-Christmas content this week), we go straight into the classic Bing Crosby/Andrews Sisters versions of "Jingle Bells" and "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" (with another record overlapping the first song, for a moment, for some reason)

Download: Small Child Sings with Christmas Records - 1-20-52

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And finally, our "Acetate of the Month". And here's a surprise - it's Christmas related! And it's a "very short acetate", lasting barely two minutes. The "Duodisc"-brand acetate was a souvenir of a visit to see Santa at a store - Toyland within "Lord's, in Evanston" (Illinois, of course), you can read about the store here, and see a picture of it - what a fantastic building - here. Santa introduces himself, interviews a child about his life and his wishes for Christmas, then sings a few songs with him. My guess is that each of Santa's visitors got such a record. 

Download: Duodisc Acetate - A Visit with Santa at Lord's in Evanston, IL

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