Old School Radio Christmas
Back in the day, I’m told people didn’t watch cable TV or search the Web for their media consumption. All they had was that thing you listen to in your car, a radio. One time I remember my mom trying to sit me down to get into a radio program when I was like 5. It was NPR?! I remember buying into it, only because it was the Star Wars radio drama that ran from around 1981 to about 1986.
That’s Lionel Barrymore, Drew’s granduncle, up top. On Christmas Eve of 1939 he played Scrooge for Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre of the Air. If you’re hanging with your grandparents or some other really old relatives, ask them if they want to listen to the ’39 radio recording of “A Christmas Carol” on this new fandangled thing they call the Internets. They might trip.
And if you do get their attention, ask them what they think about this classic Christmas radio special from 1948 featuring Abbott and Costello
Here’s another one, a suspenseful-type Twas the Night Before Christmas from 1951:
And an undated episode of The Shadow called “Joey’s Christmas
All tracks merrily jacked from Elsmar Cove Web Site.
P.S. I’m really cool on the Amos and Andy radio show X-mas episodes they have on their site.
Feeling the Pagan Spirit
There was a time back when I was in college and learning about being a 5% (this from listening to too much Wu-Tang) that I thought of Christmas as a pagan holiday and not worth my time. The joys of Christmastime only felt with a marathon movie screening on TNT. Afterall, if you grew up in a household that gave presents every year, reality starts to set in as you leave your teens and you’re more likely to get socks or a tie, instead of something electronic, expensive and fun.
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