Christmas 1945 - Part 4 - Comic Books

While hanging around Christmas of 1945, we take a look at some of the comic books kids could read back then!

It gets confusing at times, as comic books always had a cover date a couple of moths in the future, so the ones available in December of 1945 would actually show a 1946 date.

That being said, I think these were on sale in December of 1945:

This next one was published in 1944, but it's cool, so we'll say it escaped the paper drive and some kids were still reading it a year later:

Good fun!

Christmas 1945 - Part 3 - The Movies

So, there was good holiday entertainment at home with radio and records in 1946, but what put people in the holiday spirit when they ventured out of the house to the local movie theater?

Well, the big Christmas-themed movie of the year was Warner Bothers' "Christmas in Connecticut" starring Barbara Stanwyck and Dennis Morgan, with great support from Sydney Greenstreet and S.Z. Sakall.

It tapped into the new "returning war hero" vibe and was a huge hit. The curious thing, though? It was released in August!

Here's the trailer:

It's a lot of fun and worth a watch when the holidays roll around. After you're done with all the version of "A Christmas Carol," of course!

Dennis Morgan being a singer, "Christmas in Connecticut" included an origial song for him, "The Wish That I Wish Tonight." Dennis wasn't a recording artist, however, so he didn't have a record of the song, but here's a nice version by Ray Noble:

Not sure if Trudy Erwin's name was misspelled on the label of if she was trying out an alternate spelling!

Although it's not a Christmas picture per se, the big holiday release of the year was "The Bells of St. Mary's," which was released in December and does have a Christmas scene and does have a sort of Scroogey character (played by Henry Travers, best (only) known to modern audiences from "It's a Wonderful Life").

Here's a trailer:

This was, of course, a follow-up to the previous year's smash "Going My Way" with Bing Crosby's "Father O'Malley" and producer/director/writer Leo McCarey returning.

Bing and Leo had won Academy awards for "Going My Way" and interestingly Bing's new co-star, Ingrid Bergman, won the same year for "Gaslight!"

Bing was the biggest star on the planet at the time, so this was also a smash.

"Swinging on a Star" from "Going My Way" was a huge hit song as well, so Bing was given a similar song for "Bells of St. Mary's":

I don't think there were any new Christmas-themed cartoons for movie-goers in 1945, but here's some newsreel footage they would have seen:

Fun especially to see the stars in the parade!

This one has more of a British feel:

So, some good stuff for holiday-minded movie-goers! 

Christmas 1945 - Part 2 - Radio

Now we're ready to listen to some old-time radio shows that listeners enjoyed during the 1945 holiday season!

As always, we're glad that any survive at all!

Jerry Colonna and Bob Hope ham it up!

We start with the most popular comic on the radio, Bob Hope, synonymous with WWII entertainment, and his show of December 18:

Funny stuff and I love Jerry Colonna! 

Skinnay Ennis at the mic.

And dig Skinnay Ennis with the new song "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!"

Also from December 18 is this episode of "Challenge of the Yukon":

I think a lot of people think that "Sergeant Preston" was the name of the radio show, but it was the later TV version that was titled "Sergeant Preston of the Yukon."

We stay on December 18 with an episode of" Fibber McGee & Molly" show:

Of course, announcer Harlow Wilcox performed that same duty on Basil Rathbone's 1942 recording of "A Christmas Carol" and Ken Darby, who arranged the great version of "The Night Before Christmas" as heard annually on the show, was the vocal director on Ronald Colman's 1941 recording!

Harlow was back at work the next night, December 19, announcing for the Andrews Sisters:

A fun show, but, wow, Harlow Wilcox can really sell the product, Johnson's Wax or Nash vehicles, doesn't matter! And fun to hear the girls tackle "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" They summon up the era as much as anybody!

Next up are Bud Abbott & Lou Costello with their show from December 20:

I enjoy those guys a lot and their verbal humor works so well on the radio!

Next for December 21, we visit the gang down at Duffy's Tavern:

"Duffy's Tavern" was such as funny show. Ed Gardner as "Archie" for my dough is one of the all-time masters of the malaprop - right up there with Doodles Weaver! And Charlie Cantor as "Finnegan" is just brilliant!

Next up is another show from December 21 -  Bill Stern's "Sports Newsreel" with guest Ezra Stone (radio's "Henry Aldrich"):

Are any of those stories true? Doesn't matter, as they're awesome!

Ezra Stone didn't get to do too much, but it's fun hearing him use his real voice in addition to the "Henry Aldrich" voice!

We skip to December 23 with this episode of "The Great Gildersleeve" starring Harold Peary, possessor of another great radio voice:

"Gildersleeve" was a spin-off from "Fibber McGee and Molly." Maybe the first radio spin-off? Certainly the first of note!

Of course, we remember Walter Tetley ("Leroy" on "Gildersleeve") played the kid whom Basil Rathbone's "Scrooge" sends to buy the turkey!

How about Charlotte Greenwood, the delightful character comedienne, she of the crazy high leg kick? Here's her show from December 23:

You don't hear much about her show, but it's fun. 

And guest star Robert Hutton played a lot of soldiers for Warner Brothers during the war. It seems like his character was always nicknamed Slim!

For December 24, Christmas Eve, check out this post!

Love us some Rathbone!

Doc Gamble will not only lose a cigar, he probably won't collect his fee either!

And we wind up back at Wistful Vista to spend Christmas Day with the McGees:

And of course, we remember that Arthur Q. Bryan, who played Doc Gamble, was also on Basil Rathbone's recording of "A Christmas Carol" with Harlow Wilcox!

Lots of fun for radio listeners to enjoy back in 1945!

Christmas 1945: The Records Bonus!

As mentioned, there was one new seasonal song introduced in 1945 that had lasting impact: "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne!

Sammy Cahn in deep thought as Jule Styne looks on!

It was published and recorded in a number of versions in 1945, but was most popular at the beginning of 1946, as a winter song. In subsequent years, it's become co-opted as a Christmas/Holiday song, like so many others, and has been recorded so many times that it makes your head spin.

Let's get back to basics, though, and check out the "Billboard" chart from January 31, 1946, when the song hit Number One:

They mention the competing versions available, so we'll give them all a listen!

The biggest selling version was by Vaughn Monroe on Victor:

Curious that the blurb from "Billboard" has a typo and calls the Norton Sisters "Morton!"

Vaughn Monroe is an interesting case study, as he was a singing bandleader and as such was actually able to increase his popularity as the singers started taking over from the big bands. When he started recording in 1940, it was more like he was a bandleader who sang (and played trumpet), whereas by 1945 he was more like a singer who led a band - if that makes any sense!

Next up is Connee Boswell, whom we ran into in 1936 when she was a member of the Boswell Sisters (and still spelled her name as "Connie!"). By now, she was an established solo star and teamed up with Russ Morgan's band for this version on Decca Records:

Connee was a great singer and very much admired!

As seen in the lobby card above, Connee usually performed sitting down, the result of contracting polio as a child, but she overcame that disability to have a great career!

The most obscure artist of the bunch is Danny O'Neil, a talented singer when tons of other talented singers were fighting for the spotlight. He cut his take of the tune on the smaller Majestic label:

Not bad and definitely has more of an orchestral backing (courtesy of Ruby Newman) than the others, which have a "band" sound.

Speaking of band sounds, Woody Herman had assembled his "First Herd" by this time and they laid down this awesome version for Columbia Records:

Woody could really sing as well as play alto sax/clarinet and seemed more willing than a lot of veteran bandleaders to change with the times and I think Neil Hefti's arrangement on this record still has a fresh sound.

Sonny Berman has the trumpet solo here and Bill Harris plays the spectacular trombone solo!

Last up is another singing bandleader: Bob Crosby, forever known as Bing's younger brother, but a very successful performer in his own right. Here's his take on the independent ARA label:

Another solid version!

Bob sounded like Bing but I don't think tried to copy him. He had a great band before the war and formed a new group after having served in the Marines.

So, "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" was a popular sing back in the day that seemed to gradually morph into a holiday standard!

Christmas 1945 - Part 1 - The Records

Since we landed in 1945 with "The Fireside Book of Christmas Stories," I'm not going to leave for a while!

So, here's a look at some of the notable Christmas records from 1945!

We start off with a cut from Dick Haymes, outstanding crooner of the 1940s who had previously sung with the bands of Harry James, Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey - as solid a resumé as anyone!

This is the only recording of this song of which I'm aware:

I think this was recorded in 1944 but released in 1945, so close enough!

Of note is that Ken Darby and Victor Young performed similar roles on both this record and Ronald Colman's adaptation of "A Christmas Carol," also on Decca Records.

Bob Wills fiddles while Tommy Duncan strums.

Christmas of 1945 was significant as it followed the end of WWII. A time for celebration indeed, but this record from Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys shows a different side:

Bob Wills had a great band and singer Tommy Duncan was one of the best Western Swing vocalists ever!

I think this next record is one of those rare gems you come across every now and again.

It's by Mark Warnow, who was leading the orchestra on the "Your Hit Parade" radio show, and vocalist Dick Todd who was also featured on that show. We throw in the fun B-side as well, as it contains a snappy version of "Jingle Bells":

I think that's just great!

Dick Todd was from Montreal and was sometimes called the Canadian Crosby, because he kind of sounded like Bing. I think he does, but I think he sounds even more like Bob Crosby, Bing's brother!

This next record is interesting as the label implies that it's a band led by legendary songwriter Hoagy Carmichael. I don't think of him as a bandleader and I don't know what his contribution to the record other than composing the song would be. Did he play piano on the recording? It's good, though:

Singer Martha Mears is an interesting personality as she did a ton of voice dubbing in the 1940s for actresses who were not as capable in the singing department!

Nice to hear her as herself!

None of the pop songs from above really went anywhere, but I think they all had merit.

This next record didn't become a standard, but it was a huge hit on the Country (then called "Folk") charts. Here's singing cowboy Tex Ritter:

At this point in time, there still wasn't a flood of holiday releases each year, but some standbys did get recorded.

"White Christmas" was only three years old, but already a standard. Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians gave it their typical treatment. I see sources that indicate this record was from 1946, but "Billboard" reviewed it in 1945, so here we go:

So totally square, but not unpleasant! Guy Lombardo was really popular for a really long time!

Far more hip (hep?) is this treatment of "Jingle Bells" by the Slam Stewart Quintet:

Great work from Slam, formerly of Slim & Slam of "Flat Feet Floogee/Flat Foot Floogie" fame, and a stellar group including vibraphone master Red Norvo. Love Slam's humming along while bowing!

Frank Sinatra with Axel Stordahl

Frank Sinatra had preceded Dick Haymes in both the Harry James and Tommy Dorsey bands and they and other former band vocalists were making strong inroads by 1945, crowding out the bands.

Frank had this nice double-sided record of Christmas carols, which I think are from 1945? It should be easier to tell. I like 'em so here they are:

Very nice with the usual outstanding musical direction of Axel Stordahl, who had worked with Sinatra in the Dorsey band.

So, so some good new records for listeners to enjoy while spending the holidays with their loved ones in 1945!

In retrospect, there was a song published in 1945 that became a Seasonal/Holiday standard.

We'll check it out next!