Rare Holiday Broadcasts

The concept of holidays goes back to the ancient Church. Each of the most important Saints was given their own "Holy Day" on the calendar, often in conjunction with a particular Saint's birthday. The degree of celebration on a Saint's Day would usually be tied to the importance of this or that Saint. A relatively minor Saint might warrant extra mention in daily prayers while the patron saint of the local parish or the patron Saint of the local monarch might be an occasion for a feast or even a day's long festival.

Since a Saint's Holy Day held relatively more importance than the weekly non-working Sabbath day, holidays also became times of rest and relaxation. This led to the connotation that a holiday could also mean a vacation from work. In the United States, most workers count themselves fortunate if they are given two weeks of paid vacation each year, while many of their European counterparts sometimes have three times that much, which is often used for traveling.

The most important figure in Christianity is Jesus Christ, which is given as the reason for the celebration of His birth evolving into the biggest holiday of the year. Christmas has grown in importance for largely secular reasons.

Many scholars point to the pre-Christian celebration of Saturnalia when daylight hours began increasing while nights began to get shorter, signifying that spring was bound to return. In modern times, marketers have latched upon the tradition of gift-giving and feasting at Christmas, making the period from the last weekend of November through New Year's Day the time which could spell success of failure for an entire business year in the retail sector.

• Armed Forces Radio Service Thanksgiving Program 1944, November 23, 1944, AFRS. Although many G.I.s had been existing on a steady diet of C-Rations, the Brass felt very strongly that during late November 1944, it was important for everyone in uniform to at least get a taste of roast turkey for Thanksgiving so as to remember what they were fighting for. AFRS pulled out the stops as well; Lionel Barrymore hosts, the program features Doris Day, Percy Faith, Wally Brown, and Harry von Zell are featured.
• AFRTS Station Library 1958 Christmas Songs, A disk of original Christmas tunes, including the fun masterpiece "Reach for the Rafters Santa!".
• The Allen Prescott Show, June 21, 1946, WJZ New York, "What to do this weekend." Reasons for New Yorkers to spend Saturday and Sunday in the city. The program features an extended ad for Holiday Magazine.
• Anniversary Night with Horace Heidt, March 7, 1945, audition program. Band leader Heidt hands out prizes for couples' celebrating their first, fifth, tenth, twentieth, and fiftieth anniversary. Listeners are encouraged to nominate couples with upcoming anniversaries to be flown to Hollywood and featured on later broadcasts.
  Spike Jones and His City Slickers, New Years 1949. The Slickers share their well-thought-out New Year's Resolutions.
• California Caravan, December 21, 1947, Don-Lee Network, sponsored by California Physician's Service, "How Santa Claus Came to Simpson's Bar". Based on the story by Bret Harte, the rain has life at a standstill on Christmas Eve in the mining town of Simpson's Bar, and the bachelor miners are getting restless, but they come together to make a merry holiday for a sick boy.
• Mr. Pickwick's Christmas, May 9, 1944, World Broadcasting Syndication. Charles Laughton stars in this reading of Dicken's "other" Christmas story, a much cheerier story than A Christmas Carol.
• Rare Performances of A Christmas Carol, Various. Charles Dickens' tale of Scrooge, the misanthropic miser who discovered the joy of life after being visited on Christmas Eve by three ghosts is hardly a rarity in Old Time Radio. The novella, first published in 1843, maybe as widely known as the Nativity tale in the Christian gospel, and has as much of a moral lesson. Dickens made a good deal of cash by holding public readings of his work (not being inspired to compose another Christmas tale) and the work was quickly adapted for the stage. The story first appeared on film in a British silent feature dated 1901, and it was broadcast by the British radio as early as 1923. The great Lionel Barrymore performed the role of Scrooge for CBS Radio every year from 1934 until 1953 (except for 1936 when mourning the passing of his wife, brother John Barrymore played the role; Orson Welles assumed the role in 1938 when Lionel was ill). Included in this collection is a 1951 BBC version starring Alec Guinness, and a broadcast with uncredited actors from the 1940s, apparently syndicated for Popular Science Monthly. Lionel is featured in this collection on NBC Monitor more than a decade after his passing.
• Christmas Eve with Ferde Grofé and his Orchestra, 1935 Thesaurus Syndication. The former arranger for the Paul Whiteman Orchestra puts together this delightful medley of instrumental Christmas music. Many Jazz critics have criticized Grofé and his arrangements for being too flowery and commercial, but we are sure you will agree this piece is music to enjoy with a mug of hot chocolate in your hand.
• Christmas in California, December 24, 1952, CBS Pacific net, sponsored by Bank of America. The story of shepherds on the first Christmas as it would have been told in an early California Mission Chapel to the Indians and Mexicans living nearby.
• Christmas Message for Libby-Owens-Ford, 1951 Syndication. The great Lionel Barrymore recorded this message of Holiday hope and patriotism for the then 100-year-old manufacturer of plate glass.
• The Christmas Miracle of Jasper Crown, Thesaurus Syndication. Charlie Ruggles stars in this heartwarming Holiday tale of a mean old man, a sweet little girl, and the miracle of a thread-bare rented Santa Claus suit.
• Christmas Reunion, December 25, 1943, NBC Sustained. A globe-circling broadcast on the third Christmas of the War which attempts to bring together civilians and their fighting sons in every theater of the conflict.
• Christmas Sing with Bing, December 24, 1961, CBS, sponsored by the Insurance Company of North America. In terms of Christmas celebrities, Bing Crosby ranks up there with Santa Claus. This is the sixth annual broadcast and features a Charlie McCarthy sketch of Edgar Bergen's sidekick butchering "Twas the Night Before Christmas".
• Coronet Story Teller, Mutual net, December 24, 1944. An inspiring telling of the story of the Little Shephard who sees a great light and finds a babe lying in a manger in Bethlehem.
• Gracie Fields Christmas Greeting from Vancouver, B.C., recorded December 18, 1941, rebroadcast via British Shortwave on December 21. Beloved British film and music star was born over a fish and chips shop in Lancashire. She arrived in North America via Pan Am Clipper in August 1941 to stump for support for the War effort in Canada and the States and raised a good deal of money as well as goodwill.
• Harry Truman Christmas Peace Address, December 24, 1948, the President quotes from Acts 17:26.
• Horace Heidt Show, December 25, 1944, Mr. Heidt leads a Christmas broadcast from the stage of the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. Opening with "The Santa Claus Express", Horace and the choir find time to call for Peace on Earth in consideration of his War Time audience.
• The Human Family Tree, broadcast December 25, 1937, syndicated. A series of Christmas greeting from syndicated radio personalities, hosted by Ray "Santa Claus" Knight.
• King George VI Christmas Address, via CBS, December 25, 1941. His Majesty takes time to thank those brave men who have come from throughout the Empire to serve in defense of the Homeland. The King speaks slowly and clearly in the broadcast, a reminder of the months of therapy He underwent to overcome a crippling stammer before ascending to the throne.
• The Mystery Castle, December 1947, WKBN, Youngstown, Ohio. An after-school Christmas serial, a la The Cinnamon Bear. During the lead up to the big day, kids tune in each afternoon to hear the adventures of Ronnie and Happy the Rabbit as they approach Santa's Castle to get their hand on the mysterious key which will unlock all the presents. Not as nefarious as it sounds, Santa is a rather unsavory character in this story.
• National Boys' Club Week Fund Drive. The Boys' Clubs were formed in Hartford, Connecticut, 1860, to provide boys (and later, girls) constructive and beneficial activities in the period between the end of school classes and the tie their parents were done with work. Currently, the Boys & Girls Clubs of America is considered the number one charitable organization in America.
• The Passing Parade, Special Edition, December 1943, NBC sustaining. Harlow Wilcox and John Nesbitt host this inspirational telling of the founding of the Christmas Seals movement.
• Teller of Hawaiian Tales, Bell Transcriptions. Holiday also means vacation, and even before regular jet service to the islands, a Hawaiian vacation was a dream holiday for many Americans. These programs of Island legends helped to feed desires for Island Romance.
• These the Humble, World Program Service Transcription. Joe E. Brown stars as dancer Johnny Quick in this Christmas story of how those who seem to have everything sometimes are less thankful than those who are just starting out.
• Twelve Days of Christmas. This ancient Christmas song was first published in Mirth Without Mischief (1780) as a 'memory and forfeit' game. Beginning in 1984, the cumulative costs of the 364 items mentioned in the song have been used as the Christmas Price Index, a sort of tongue-in-cheek economic indicator. In 2017, the Christmas Price Index estimated the True Price of Christmas at $157,558.00.
• White House Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony, December 24, 1941. After the American fleet was attacked at Pearl Harbor, Prime Minister Winston Churchill sailed across a U-boat filled Atlantic to visit and support his friend, President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It was widely assumed that lighting the Christmas tree on the White House lawn would be canceled because of the War, but Churchill counseled to "Let the children have their night of fun and laughter" and joined in the ceremony.