The San Francisco Call, December 15, 1901 "Christmas Edition"--

Christmas Past: "Entertaining on Christmas"

December 18, 1915, City Times, Galveston, Texas
ENTERTAINING ON CHRISTMAS

The Christmas season brings to mind the many Christmas days gone by, with their four great features—turkey, cranberry sauce, plum pudding and mince pie.

It was a good old English custom, not to be rejected by the American colonists, although modificatlons were necessary to suit the religion and conditions of living in the colonies, the. Chrlst-splrlt being substituted for the pagan Yuletlde, the famous "boar's, head" was omitted, and the Christmas pie became known as-mince pie. However, many old observances were kept, including the mistletoe and holly, and Christmas was a day for family gatherings, with a feast prepared by the" women of the house.

A Classic Disney Silly Symphony: "The Night Before Christmas" (1936)

"Christmas Comes But Once a Year," 1936

A Max and Dave Fleischer cartoon, in which "Grampy" (a Betty Boop character) saves Christmas for a group of orphans.

"The Night Before Christmas" (1905)

The Night Before Christmas is a 1905 American silent short film directed by Edwin S. Porter for the Charles Edison. It is based on Clement Clarke Moore's 1823 poem, "T'was the Night Before Christmas" (originally "A Visit from Saint Nicholas") and was the first film production of the poem(1903).

The Christmas Season, 100 years ago

Centralia Washington, The Centralia Chronicle, Dec. 12, 1907



Cumberland, Maryland, The Evening Times, Dec. 16, 1907

"Baby It's Cold Outside," 1957: Fred MacMurray, Dinah Shore, and Ann Miller

The Fred MacMurray-Dinah Shore version has been removed from YouTube for whatever reason.  In lieu of that, I give you  Margaret Whiting and Johnny Mercer - a very nice version.

A holiday season,  50 years ago. :)

The poster at YouTube, writes:

Fred MacMurray finds himself in a bind as Dinah Shore and Ann Miller put their obvious charms to use in a slightly risque three-way take on Frank Loesser's "Baby, It's Cold Outside" from the December 29, 1957 episode of the Dinah Shore Chevy Show. Here, Fred takes the role of the "Lamb" whereas Dinah and Ann share "Wolf" duties. This song was originally a huge hit, in duet form, for Dinah Shore and Buddy Clark, and their 1949 Columbia recording is still heard today, especially this time of year.

There's about ten seconds of digital noise at the beginning, but that clears up.

David Bowie-Bing Crosby X'mas Special, 1977

I remember seeing this when it first aired, 30 years ago (my God, has it been that long?) and not knowing quite what to think about it. I still don't, but it's a fun bit of Christmas musical history.

If video doesn't appear below, click on post title.

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=gKTHvW2JcAA]