Christmas 1936 - Part 1 - The Records

That pamphlet "What If Old Scrooge Came Back Today..." was published by the U.S. Department of Labor in 1936, so that got me to thinking about what Christmas of 1936 was like from a pop culture standpoint.

Kind of what was new that year and what had been around for a while. 

I love Christmas music, so as I started thinking, I realized that there really weren't an awful lot of "new" Christmas songs at that time, at least not ones that became standards. 

There were two songs published in 1934 that fit the bill, however: "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" and "Winter Wonderland" (which I know is a seasonal song rather than a Christmas song, but we all know they get lumped together!).

You would think the success of those two songs would've jump-started the whole modern Christmas music thing, but that didn't really happen until 1942 with Bing Crosby and "White Christmas." 

That record being the biggest thing ever made the suits realize that there was gold to be mined in seasonal tunes!

But in 1936, there weren't too many new mainstream Christmas recordings. 

The not-actually-Christmas-but-rather-seasonal granddaddy of all songs is 1857's "Jingle Bells," and that song seemed to get recorded more than any other seasonal song back then, old or new.

From 1936 we have this version by the Hoosier Hot Shots (one of my favorite groups):

Good corny fun!

And the legendary Fats Waller cut two versions of "Swingin' Them Jingle Bells," one with a vocal:

And one as an instrumental:

Both great!

Mike Riley and Eddie Farley, who were riding high from "The Music Goes 'Round and Around," their massive hit of the previous year, cut "Jingle Bells" with their orchestra (featuring vocalist Wayne Gregg) as one side of a 78 rpm record:

With the more recent "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" as the flipside of this terrific record:

"Jingle Bells" and "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" seemed to be paired up quite a bit in the 78 era. 

There was one new Christmas song of note, written and recorded by the great Louis Prima:

I think Louis Prima's record of "What Will Santa Claus Say (When He Finds Everybody Swingin') is more popular in recent years than it was when first recorded, as Prima was rediscovered by neo-Swing fans as the great talent he was! This cut doesn't sound like his later, Vegas-style recordings at all, however.

So, not a ton of new holiday records for listeners in 1936, but the ones that were released are terrific!

Next up: What was on the radio?