What Earlier Generations Gave to this one....

November 29, 2012, an article appeared in the Wall Street Journal:
" Cue the Holly, It's Time for Bing &Co."
 It was written by none other than the son of Allan Funt -
remember Alan from Candid Camera?

His son is Peter Funt. It was a great article and I would like to share some of it 

along with my own thoughts.  Here goes.

As we hear interminable Christmas songs everywhere we go during

 this pre-holiday period, this may soften the blow.

Much of the American Christmas music tradition took root during World War II, a period that saw the release of "Holiday Inn" in 1941 in which Bing Crosby first sang Irving Berlin's heart-string tugging "White Christmas".  It was a time when live music ruled the radio networks, giving prominence to pop-standard stars of the time who recorded the songs that remain popular today as holiday classics.

Soldiers far from home and families awaiting their return, shared these tunes that stressed home, hearth and family.  Back then, most people heard the same radio shows and saw the same movies.  It was all a shared experience, quite unlike with today's fragmented media.  Today's music media usually means ear plugs isolating a person from those around them.  No more gathering around the radio...

The war era was a golden age of holiday spirit, not only for Christmas music, but also for the holiday films still cherished at this time of year - It's A wonderful Life, multiple versions of The Christmas Carol, Miracle on 34th Street and more.  It was a time of relative innocence that many folks regard with a sense of deep nostalgia (that's us).  In 1949, Gene Autry sang Holly Jolly Christmas and it still takes second place to White Christmas in holiday hits. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas was 1943 and Blue Christmas in 1949.  Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer was written in 1939 as part of a printed promotion for MongomeryWard department stores.  Talk about longevity! I'll be Home for Christmas released in 1943.

Newer more recent songs of the season just do not have that sticking power. I think that is because when the older ones are played our hearts and memories go into overdrive.  We are sent back to a more family oriented simpler time.

'Our special fondness for decades-old holiday music seems immune to forces that change almost everything else around is.  Now that's a holly jolly thought.'


                               Yes, it is holiday music but the slides are great!  Merry, merry...
                       p.s if the little ad comes on at the bottom, just hit the x and it will go away/