Bob and Marcia discuss the origins and evolution of Christmas music, including lesser-known facts and cultural significance. They also share inspiring stories of perseverance and determination, such as Sidney Measure’s journey to becoming a Rockette despite bullying and a lack of a left hand. Marcia provides historical facts, including Christmas gift statistics, while Bob seeks clarification on some historical facts. Through their conversation, the speakers offer insights into the history and cultural significance of Christmas music and inspiring stories of perseverance.
Outline
Christmas movies, songs, and history.
- Bob and Marcia discuss a Christmas movie originally released in the summer, with people not realizing it was a Christmas film until they saw it in theaters.
- The movie, “Miracle on 34th Street,” was released in May 1947 and became a huge hit, despite being marketed as a summer film without revealing its Christmas setting.
- Marcia and Bob discuss the origins of Christmas colors, with Marcia providing historical context and Bob sharing interesting facts about Christmas songs written by Jewish people.
- Bob shares 11 Christmas songs written by Jewish people, including “White Christmas” and “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire,” and mentions their composers’ backgrounds and experiences.
- Marcia and Bob discuss the evolution of American football, including the introduction of the forward pass and the abolition of the “single wing” offense.
- The Christmas carol “Silent Night” was erroneously attributed to famous composers Beethoven, Mozart, and Haydn before its true author, Joseph Moore, was identified in the 1990s.
History of deodorant and Rockettes performance.
- Marcia and Bob discuss a 1919 deodorant product called “Odo Row No” that warned women about body odor and social success.
- Former bullied child becomes a Rockette with 650 high kicks per show.
Christmas songs, history, and gift preferences.
- Bob and Marcia discuss Christmas songs written by Jewish people, including “Let It Snow” and “Santa Baby.”
- Marcia and Bob Smith discuss the history of computers and Christmas songs, including “Silent Night” during the Christmas truce of 1914 in World War One.
- Marcia and Bob discuss most desired Christmas gifts, with money and gift cards topping the list.
Christmas songs and presidential history.
- Bob and Marcia discuss Andrew Johnson, the only former president elected to the Senate, and Christmas songs.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss Christmas songs, including “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” and “All I Want for Christmas Is You.”
- George Washington warned about the danger of political parties leading to temporary or permanent despotism.
Christmas songs, their origins, and famous quotes.
- Marcia and Bob discuss the origins of the phrase “keep it under your hat” and its connection to President Abraham Lincoln’s top hat.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss Christmas songs written by Jewish people, including Johnny Marks, who wrote “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer,” “Rocking Around the Christmas Tree,” and “Holly Jolly Christmas.”
- Marcia Smith shares quotes from Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa, emphasizing the importance of love and giving during the holiday season.
Bob Smith 0:00
What famous Christmas movie was originally released in the summer? People didn’t realize it had a Christmas plot until they saw it on the silver screen.
Marcia Smith 0:09
Why are the traditional colors of Christmas bread and green
Bob Smith 0:13
answers to those and other holiday questions coming up in this episode of the off ramp with Bob and
Marcia Smith 0:19
Marsha Smith?
Bob Smith 0:36
Welcome to the off ramp a chance to slow down steer clear of crazy and take a side road to sanity with fascinating facts and tantalizing trivia. And we’ve got some real good holiday questions coming up today. I think this is a good one. Marshall. What famous Christmas movie was originally released in the summer.
Marcia Smith 0:55
Well, that wasn’t like it’s not die hard. Is it? No, no, that’s
Bob Smith 0:59
not a Christmas movie.
Marcia Smith 1:01
Oh, people call it a Christmas
Bob Smith 1:02
movie that took place at Christmas. Yes. Yeah. That’s
Marcia Smith 1:05
so people bring it out at Christmas. This is a
Bob Smith 1:08
classic Christmas movie that’s been around for more than a half a century. Okay.
Marcia Smith 1:13
And I don’t know. Okay, I’ll
Bob Smith 1:14
give you a choice this year. Scrooged. Elf. Remember the night or Miracle on 34th? Street? Scrooged. No, believe it or not. It was Miracle on 34th Street that was released in the summer. I know what a weird story. Darryl F Zanuck was the studio head. He insisted this movie be released in May. He said more people go to the movies in warmer weather. So the studio promoted it but keeping its Christmas setting a secret foxes promotional trailer depicted a fictional producer roaming the studio backlot encountering stars like Rex Harrison and Anne Baxter and Piggy and garner and Dickens and asking them about this movie. And they say, Oh, that’s a great film. It’s a great film that didn’t reveal what the film was about. So people didn’t know what it was until they went to the movies.
Marcia Smith 2:03
Is that the one with that Natalie Wood and yes, this is the Chris cradle story. Yeah,
Bob Smith 2:08
yeah. No, Hera and John Payne. Yeah, yeah, the movie posters featured O’Hara and John Payne. But it didn’t have Edwin gwynn’s Kris Kringle in the front. Now, the film opened at the Roxy Theater in New York, June 1947. I’ll be darned. I think there’d be some people. They’re like, wow, this is a Christmas film. But it turned out to be one of the best Christmas movies ever. Did
Marcia Smith 2:29
it get a big following then? People watch it and oh, yeah, it became a huge hit.
Bob Smith 2:34
And of course, today all the video packaging is you know, his admin Gwen as the as Santa Claus and Natalie Wood dominating the imagery. But originally, it was released as a summer movie, because that’s when people went to the theater.
Marcia Smith 2:50
Okay, Bob, why are the traditional colors of Christmas red and green? Yeah.
Bob Smith 2:54
Why are they red and green? That’s a good question. Well, I always thought green meant, you know, growth and life, things like that. Read though. That’s a good question. Why was read in there? I don’t know why. What’s the answer?
Marcia Smith 3:09
Well, different people have appropriated it for different reasons or religions. But Country Living Magazine did a deep dive into the original color scheme choice. And it goes back to of course, centuries to the winter solstice and the Celtic people who believe that green and red Holly plants brought beauty and good fortune in the middle of winter. Okay, so come 21st of December, they’d bring in the holly plants for good luck and good fortune. And as such, they regularly decorated their homes with the red and green plants as a way to promote a prosperous new year. Okay. And over time, the habit of red and green decorations became a pass down winter tradition across the world. That
Bob Smith 3:51
makes sense. Yeah, yeah. Okay. And then natural plants
Marcia Smith 3:55
to Yeah, brighten up. Anything to brighten it up.
Bob Smith 4:00
Well, I got some interesting things here, Marcia about Christmas songs. Okay, okay. I’m talking to pop music songs. Now. Most of us know White Christmas was written by a famous Jewish composer Irving Berlin, Irving Berlin. But how many other pop Christmas tunes were written by Jewish people? A lot of fun. Okay, four more six more 10 more.
Marcia Smith 4:21
Oh, gosh. Oh my god. So
Bob Smith 4:23
White Christmas we know is written by a master. Yeah, but for six or 10 More,
Marcia Smith 4:30
and some of the best songs were sung by Jewish people to like Barbra Streisand, right? She’s saying had Christmas. So many people who
Bob Smith 4:37
wrote them. I’m saying yes, I know for six or 10 More, please answer. 10 You’re exactly right. I will be reading you the titles of 11 songs in this podcast and they were all written by Jewish people. So Irving Berlin, of course, wrote White Christmas and his daughter said she thought it was her father’s gratitude for America, the country that brought his family out of poverty that fostered his appreciation for Christmas and it was almost a patriotic thing to write that. Okay, another tune chestnuts roasting over and open fire the Christmas song, melt when he wrote it. I know he was Jewish. Yeah, he grew up on the south side of Chicago in a working class Jewish family. And he collaborated with Robert wells. They wrote the Christmas song in 1846. And of course it was, who was the big person who had that as a hit? Nat King Cole? King? Cool. Yeah. Okay, more Christmas songs coming up. Okay,
Marcia Smith 5:30
I thought you were gonna name 10 of them. I will. I’ve given you two of them so far. Okay, so what big thing happened in American football in 1941? It’s a new rule, which is still of course firmly in place today. But everything changed about football. American football in 1941. You know what it was the forward pass? No, no.
Bob Smith 5:53
Okay. I thought that’s what it was. Because I thought that was prohibited at one point. Okay, what was it? Okay,
Marcia Smith 5:58
this kills me. Until 1941. All 11 players had to play both offense and defense. Oh, of course. Well, that’s the way things were done back. You can imagine how it must have killed them. Majan. You there was no resting. There were no substitutions allowed, except in the case of severe injury. Yeah, that
Bob Smith 6:17
in basketball, too. You know, almost all team sports had the same people playing all the positions, both offense and defense.
Marcia Smith 6:24
I didn’t know that. Yeah. Especially football. Yeah, that’s where the specialization
Bob Smith 6:27
really took hold.
Marcia Smith 6:28
Okay, okay.
Bob Smith 6:30
What do you got? All right, what Christmas song was erroneously attributed to such famous composers as Beethoven, Mozart and Haydn? Because nobody, for sure knew who wrote it. And it was always this rumor that oh, one of these great composers,
Marcia Smith 6:46
the Hallelujah chorus, was it Mendel’s now very simple song. Very simple song. Silent Night.
Bob Smith 6:54
That’s it? Yeah. It wasn’t really until the 1990s that they were able to prove that because they found in 1820 document, a manuscript of Silent Night written in the handwriting of Joseph Moore, who was one of the writers. He was the guy who wrote it because the Oregon broke down and thing. Yeah. And he and his friend who was also a composer, they were both Austrian priests and people in a very small village, alpine village. They’ve sang it as a duet with a guitar one night in 18 1816. Was
Marcia Smith 7:22
there something about the piano tuner came and yes, sang it, what story but
Bob Smith 7:28
the tuner came, he liked it, and he took it with him and then eventually was heard by one of the great rulers and that was played at the court. Yeah. You know, though it’s interesting. The term silent night it was written because they just gone through 12 years of the Napoleonic Wars. Jeez, no, I didn’t make that connection. And then the Indonesian volcano, Mount Tambora erupted and that caused the year with no summer because it was even snowing in the summer. The skies were cloudy for the whole year. A
Marcia Smith 7:56
snowing I mean, like flakes from the volcano or what it actually snowed
Bob Smith 7:59
because the weather was so out of whack there really so silent night was all about God is there God is taking care of us. It’s quiet. At least it’s quiet. Yeah, that was a poem to convey hope that there was still a God who cared.
Marcia Smith 8:13
That’s interesting. You know, when times are bad. Like right now things aren’t great in the world. You think? Oh, is it ever been like this? Oh, yeah, there’s been a lot worse. Yeah. Back in 1919. Bob, women were warned if they didn’t use this product, that you’d always be a bridesmaid, but never a bride.
Bob Smith 8:31
Oh my goodness. Was this a deodorant product by any chance? I don’t know. It just sounds like some kind of personal care.
Marcia Smith 8:38
I’m just gonna give you a clue the name are you ready for the name? This is so funny. Odo row no
Bob Smith 8:43
odo row No, that was one you everyone’s Well, you heard those advertised on old radio shows you
Marcia Smith 8:48
did. It’s Odile are all gash and No, no odor odor. So funny. A product was called odo roto and it was the first product that coined the name Bo for body odor. Okay, so
Bob Smith 9:03
that’s in a commercial
Marcia Smith 9:04
1919 Wow, it warned that your social success hinged on eliminating Bo before aronow deodorant makers were more delicate and said their products would foster daintiness and sweetness. I don’t know how they address the guys but women apparently had to be dainty and sweet. We guys were DD and sweet. But Otto Romo went right for the jugular and advised women to take the armhole odor test. Dear
Bob Smith 9:33
looks like Molly, what was her name on Saturday Night Live always sniffly? Yeah, snifter underarms. Remember that was that was a hilarious bit. So tell me again the no odor. How does that reflect it in the name? Read
Marcia Smith 9:44
it backwards. Od O dash R O dash no odor, no no odor, odor. Alright, so if you want to be a bride, baby girl. Oh no. Okay,
Bob Smith 9:58
so the holidays are The time of the Big Show at Radio City Music Hall with Rockettes. And in the New York Times, they have a section for kids and there was an interesting little article by Sidney mesure. She is now a Rockette, she grew up in Portland, Oregon. And she said when she was little, she used to lip sync to Britney Spears or pink and spin and kick and shake her shoulders. But one thing she was born without a left hand. And at school, she was bullied. Some kids called her Sydney, no hands, so she didn’t know she’d ever be able to do what she wanted to do. But when she was 10, she won a scholarship to a dance convention in New York, where members of the Rockettes taught a workshop and today she is a rock cat. I’ll be darned. She says every year we entertain more than a million people at our Christmas Spectacular rehearsal starts six weeks in advance. I usually performed two to four shows every day in our dressing rooms, we do our own hair and makeup. Then we put on the first of nine costumes, no kit every show they every show time costumes Wow. And suit throughout the show. We’re dressed as soldiers, reindeer and fairies. She says We’re famous for our high kicks where our toes nearly line up with our foreheads. And some of us perform up to 650 kicks in a day. So that’s a lot of work. And she says when the show ends, there are people waiting at the stage door to treat us like celebrities in that suite.
Marcia Smith 11:17
How old were you when you went to New York to see that
Bob Smith 11:20
first time I saw them there was my high school senior trip and when I was 18, they took 17 or 18. And then you and I saw the Rockettes when they came to Milwaukee and did a show I thought that was kind of interesting and one handed rocket. Yeah. Despite that disability, she made it as a dancer in a major stage show. Fantastic. I just thought that was endearing thing. Yeah, for the holidays. Okay, more songs written by Jews that we use at Christmas time. What Christmas song was written by a man who won four Oscars and wrote 89 songs for Frank Sinatra. 8989 of his songs were sung by Frank Sinatra. I should
Marcia Smith 11:56
know this if he was that prolific. His first
Bob Smith 11:59
name was Sammy. Sammy calm. That’s right. And what Christmas song Did he and Julie Stein writes, I don’t know. Let it snow.
Marcia Smith 12:07
Let it snow. It’s not like a big religious song that didn’t say
Bob Smith 12:12
a song. Christmas time songs. Here’s another one Santa baby. That was also written by two Jewish people, Joan Javits and Phil Springer. And Arthur kid recorded that in 1955,
Marcia Smith 12:24
I remember that being played in the 60s a lot. Yes, very sexy. Yeah. Okay, Bob, I’m going to actually give you a multiple choice.
Bob Smith 12:32
Okay. This is the thing I always have to give to you, but you rarely give to me. I
Marcia Smith 12:35
do rarely to poor choice. Did the first digital computer in 1945 weigh five tonnes? 20 tonnes 30 tonnes,
Bob Smith 12:46
Oh, I bet it’s 25 or 30 tonnes because it filled a whole room. So
Marcia Smith 12:50
your answer is 30 tonnes? That’s correct. The first ENIAC computers that I say en AC it weighed 30 tons and stood two storeys tall programming it required 3000 switches and wiring cable connections all by hand that computer use 19,000 vacuum tubes which rapidly burned out tried carrying that around on your pocket phone 19,000 vacuum tubes Yeah, that little nugget comes from good old days my ass
Bob Smith 13:22
yep, that’s I think wasn’t that in Pittsburgh? Or Philadelphia was somewhere in Pennsylvania. And what does that stand for?
Marcia Smith 13:27
Electronic Numerical Integrator and computer so
Bob Smith 13:31
they even called a computer bank that was funded by the federal government in the waning years of the war and the first uses of it were to determine the trajectory of artillery shells for World War Two. Yes, World War Two. And then these those two guys that started that mostly and I forget the other fellow, I think they eventually formed a company that was known as UNIVAC.
Marcia Smith 13:55
I hate asking you questions and you know more about the answer than I do. And then
Bob Smith 13:59
in 1969 Okay, that’s enough of that as good. Okay, Marcia, back to Christmas songs. Okay, speaking of war, what Christmas song played a role in a famous Christmas Eve celebration in World War One. A Christmas song we know. i Huh. We’ve already spoken of it. Uh huh.
Marcia Smith 14:16
What’s the question?
Bob Smith 14:17
Why’d Christmas song played a role in a famous Christmas Eve celebration in World War One.
Marcia Smith 14:23
I will be home for Christmas. No,
Bob Smith 14:24
it was.
Marcia Smith 14:26
It was something we just spoke about. You know that one?
Bob Smith 14:29
Yeah, it was that one Marsh? Which one? Ah, okay,
Marcia Smith 14:33
I’ll give it to you. I’m dreaming of a white Christmas Silent Night silent night. It was silent night. Yes,
Bob Smith 14:37
during the Christmas truce of 1914. At the height of World War One German and British soldiers on the frontlines in Flanders laid down their weapons on Christmas Eve and saying silent night to just kill you that they sweeten both
Marcia Smith 14:53
sides. Right, right. Just for a moment in time and then they go back to killing each other. All right.
Bob Smith 15:01
I think it’s time for a break. Okay, you’re listening to the off ramp with Bob and Marsha Smith. We’ll be back in just a moment. We’re back. We’re doing some holiday questions here today on the off ramp. We do this every week for the Cedarburg, Public Library Cedarburg, Wisconsin. And then after that, we put it on the podcast platforms and it goes all
Marcia Smith 15:23
over the world. There we go. I almost missed my cue there. Sorry.
Bob Smith 15:27
I have another Christmas song question. Okay, okay. What Christmas song? A popular Christmas song was co written again by a Jew, a co writer of the Gilligan’s Island theme. I had no idea. Oh, yes, you do. Okay. It’s about being a certain time of the year.
Marcia Smith 15:45
The most wonderful time of the year George
Bob Smith 15:49
Wiley and Eddie Pola. Now, George Wiley went on to eventually co write the theme to Gilligan’s Island, and 1963 George Whaley and Eddie Poehler collaborated on this song. It’s the most wonderful time of the year, which was a hit for Andy Williams. Okay,
Marcia Smith 16:05
Bob, according to statistics.com Sounds like a Cuban military group. What is the most desired Christmas gifts? What are currently the most are the current most desired Christmas gifts. So
Bob Smith 16:19
now you’re asking me for more than one answer. Yeah,
Marcia Smith 16:21
well, your question, I’m letting you if you’re wrong, it might be second or third. Yes. What do you think most people want for Christmas this year?
Bob Smith 16:29
Is this for male and females? Well, yes. Okay. Is there any other hint I can have?
Marcia Smith 16:33
No, we’re giving two of these things this year we are is yes, that’s number one. Okay. Yes. 50% of women. And 36% of men say their preferred gift is money. Cash, cold cash. Gift cards come in second. And it’s followed by clothing, textiles and shoes. Kind
Bob Smith 16:56
of sad that money and gift cards are the number one and two things for most people. I know
Marcia Smith 17:00
I never wanted either for Christmas. Oh, but I guess it’s better than getting something you know your third pot and pan set or something? Well, it’s
Bob Smith 17:10
better than getting nothing do. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Marcia Smith 17:13
And gift cards. And you know what happens people lose them. Yeah. And then it just goes money right down the toilet. Oh, well, speaking
Bob Smith 17:21
of that Marsh what Christmas song almost had a bathroom connotation. This again is another Christmas song written by juice.
Marcia Smith 17:28
I don’t know Bob. Bathroom connotation kind of flush you right down the toilet for Christmas. Well,
Bob Smith 17:34
the song was called Yeah, originally called tinkle Bell’s Silver Bells written by Ray Evans and Jay Livingston that was almost called tinkle bells. But Jay Livingston’s Jewish wife, Lynn Gordon was aware of the double entendre of tinkle so she persuaded her husband don’t call it tinkle bells call it Silverbell. Something else?
Marcia Smith 17:54
And that is a lovely song. Yes. My brother’s favorite Christmas song, who was the only president Bob to serve in the Senate after presidency?
Bob Smith 18:04
That was let me see here. That was a 20th century president and it was after Roosevelt or right before Roosevelt, what was his name? Is it William Howard Taft?
Unknown Speaker 18:16
No, is it?
Bob Smith 18:18
I’m thinking of a guy. I think he was a Supreme Court justice after he was president. I don’t know what’s the answer. Andrew Johnson. Andrew Johnson served in the Senate. Yeah,
Marcia Smith 18:27
he was president from 1865 to 1869. Right. He
Bob Smith 18:31
followed Lincoln. He was his vice president.
Marcia Smith 18:34
He was the only former president to be elected to the US Senate. The very body that almost kicked him out of office. No kidding. His triumph return was short. However, in less than four months, he died of stroke, and then replacing him was Ulysses S.
Bob Smith 18:49
Grant replaced him. Yeah. Wow. Okay. So Andrew Johnson, the only former president who was elected to the Senate after his term as President, I did not know that I have to admit,
Marcia Smith 18:59
okay, Bob, it’s okay. Not to know something.
Bob Smith 19:03
I know, but you’re always calling me Mr. History. So yeah,
Marcia Smith 19:06
I went to a presidential history in particular, I want to admit the ignorance here. All right, excepted. Oh, thank
Bob Smith 19:11
you. So I feel so much better. I love coming to confession, father. All right, moving on what Christmas song finally hit number 125 years after it was issued. We don’t realize this, but a lot of these pop songs weren’t that big when they were first released. Brenda Lee’s song rocking around the Christmas tree was not that popular when she recorded it at the age of 13 and 1958 or something. But in the early 60s, she became very popular and they decided Let’s release it again. That’s what became a Yeah, okay, so this is like that, too. This is a more recent artist. Her song became number one on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart for the first time in 2019 25 years after it was first released. Oh, really? And she is
Marcia Smith 19:56
she is no idea Mariah Carey. She corded oh, I want for Christmas is you? Yes. What year did she recorded
Bob Smith 20:04
that 25 years before? 2019. So that was recorded in the 1990s. Well, how
Marcia Smith 20:09
old was she?
Bob Smith 20:10
She was young. Yeah, she’s in her 50s. Now, but yeah, that was a big hit. But it wasn’t a big hit for a long time plays
Marcia Smith 20:18
in a big loop on Christmas.
Bob Smith 20:20
Now, that’s from britannica.com. Okay,
Marcia Smith 20:23
we have another president question. Okay. I’ll try it this time. That’s my Christmas present for you. Okay. What famous person warned about the danger of political parties leading to temporary or permanent despotism?
Bob Smith 20:40
Okay, now that word takes it back to earlier times. So I think that was George Washington. Very good. Yeah. And why do you think because those parties began during his administration. Yeah.
Marcia Smith 20:52
And he was elected without a party without a party. Party. He was the only one that didn’t belong to a political party. It was Alexander Hamilton, who organized the first political party. That’s the Federalists, right? In 1790. And then Thomas Jefferson opposed him with the so called What do you know,
Bob Smith 21:10
they were called Democrats but democratic Republicans? Is
Marcia Smith 21:13
that what it was? Yeah, very good. Very.
Bob Smith 21:15
They were mortal enemies. Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton. Yeah, couldn’t stand one another because he’s totally different concepts of what the government should be. Washington had these two juniors in his administration fighting and yelling at each other all the time. Yeah. And he’s going this is not good. And he could see what was coming and
Marcia Smith 21:33
despots Of course, they execute absolute power, and he was worried that one party would become too strong and rule Yes. And equitably, very wise. He was long before his time.
Bob Smith 21:45
Marcia what Christmas song again. Another Christmas song written by Jews, was written as a poem by a patient in a tuberculosis Sanitarium. This is a person who couldn’t do what the song was about. Oh, he was a young man too. He
Marcia Smith 21:59
was a one horse open sleigh.
Bob Smith 22:01
No know what something more basic than that. But they’ll just know man when you get up everyday. What
Marcia Smith 22:06
do you do? Build a Snowman. You
Bob Smith 22:09
walk somewhere. Walk out Catherine walking into winter wonderland. Oh, yes. By Felix Bernard and Richard B. Smith. Now, the Jewish composer was Felix Bernard, the non Jewish composer was Richard B. Smith. And he was being treated in the West mountain sanatorium for tuberculosis in 1934. His sister said he was inspired by the freshly fallen snow in the park. He’d love to walk through that winter wonderland. But he died the following year at age 34.
Marcia Smith 22:38
Oh, gosh. All right. Thank you for this incredible musical history presented to us today. I’ve got more. Where did the phrase keep it under your hat? Meaning to keep something secret come from sounds like
Speaker 1 22:53
a world war two thing. Keep it under your head. Keep it under your hat. Why would it be keeping it under your hat though? Because he’s always relate to something specific it does. Somebody had to put something under their hat. So it would be I don’t know. What’s the answer? Well, you’re
Marcia Smith 23:07
like this. You probably knew this. According to many historians. It comes from a habit of President Abraham Lincoln. Oh, yeah. The stove pipette was one of Lincoln signature accessories. And the final hat he ever wore is now at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Yeah, the top hat helped the six foot four President tower over crowds even more than he usually did. But the adornment wasn’t just for looks. He actually kept documents in there and speeches and other things. Do that. Yeah. He would often remove papers, letters from friends as well as speeches from his hat while addressing constituents and he was also known to take documents from a tap his hat and throw them down in front of generals in anger. That’s funny, isn’t it? Oh, yeah. Keep it under your head. The generals would probably think don’t have anything come out there and he’d yell at him and bring that’s funny from under his hat.
Bob Smith 24:02
Well, it’s probably you know, keep it under your hat was a nice quiet place to put things he was going to use later. Okay, Marsha. In a recent interview, singer Brenda Lee pointed out that for four of the most famous Christmas songs were written by a Jew, in this case, Johnny marks. These are famous songs all written in the 40s Okay, what do you think they are? Oh, I have no idea. Okay, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Okay, rocking around the Christmas tree. Really? Yep. Okay, Holly, jolly Christmas, and silver and gold. They were all written by Johnny marks or CO written by Johnny marks. Now what one of those songs was inspired by the ostracism, one of Johnny marks co writers felt as a Jew, and it had to do with a physical feature of his that inspired it.
Marcia Smith 24:44
Oh, really?
Bob Smith 24:47
I think of the Jewish cliche What do you have
Marcia Smith 24:49
as as Was it something with his nose? Yes,
Bob Smith 24:52
it was.
Marcia Smith 24:53
So What song would that be that Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph the Red Nose rainbow had a very shiny no
Bob Smith 24:58
CO written with Robert Lewis May who was another affluent New York Jew, the lyrics represent the ostracism he felt growing up as a Jewish boy with a large nose. He
Marcia Smith 25:08
had a prominent nose in a and Rudolph was the was the guiding light for scent. That’s right. Yeah.
Bob Smith 25:14
And then one more question Which of Johnny marks Christmas songs was inspired by swaying palm trees? swaying palm trees of those four songs? Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer Holly Jolly Christmas rocking around the Christmas tree and silver and gold? I don’t know. It was rocking around the Christmas tree. How so? Well, in a New York Times interview 65 years after she recorded that song as a 13 year old Brenda Lee revealed that secret she asked Johnny marques Johnny, you don’t even believe in Christmas? How did you write this song? He said he’d been on a recent vacation lying on a beach and he was mesmerized by the distant trees swaying in the ocean breeze. They seem to be rocking. And so rocking around the Christmas tree was born
Marcia Smith 25:58
have a happy holiday.
Bob Smith 26:00
So here are the names of 11 songs we just reviewed written all by Jews that are Christmas songs. White Christmas chestnuts roasting on an open fire. Let it snow, Santa’s baby. It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Silver Bells or tinkle bells. Walking in a winter wonderland Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer rocking around the Christmas tree a Holly Jolly Christmas and silver and gold all written by Jewish people Christmas songs. Alright, you got some quotes to wrap this holiday show up
Marcia Smith 26:28
out okay, first one, Mahatma Gandhi. He said the day the power of love overrules the love of power. The world will no peace. That was Gandhi Goodwin and then got all mother tea. It can’t go wrong with Mother Teresa. Okay. That was what I have in my notes here. I didn’t think it through. Okay. She says it’s not how much we give, but how much love we put into giving.
Bob Smith 26:56
All right, well, those are both very great quotes and a great way to wrap up this holiday themed show. Next week we’ll have an encore performance of a former holiday show, and then we’ll move into the new year. I Bob Smith. I’m Marcia Smith. Join us again next week for more fascinating facts and tantalizing trivia here on the off ramp.
The off ramp is produced in association with CPL radio online and the Cedarburg Public Library Cedarburg, Wisconsin.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
