Come on over to Jennifer’s house for her annual Christmas party! There’s plenty of cheesecake—and really bad egg nog—to go around. Olive will be there to greet you at the door, and if you can somehow make it past her, you’ll encounter an interesting collection of guests, such as Steve Allen, the first host of the Tonight Show, and the Anderson family from the old radio program Father Knows Best. Jennifer talks Christmas movies, plays a little game of Christmas movie trivia, and counts down the hottest gift ideas—of 1921. What other party could possibly include both synchronized swimmers and an annual visit to the Kmart of yesteryear (“Attention: Security to section 10!”)? No other party; just this one. So stop in, take off your coat, and stay awhile. It’s time to celebrate the season the Circa Sunday Night way, and we’re waiting for you to get the party started.
Cool Links
The Steve Allen Christmas Show (1961)
Famous dance scene from Picnic with William Holden and Kim Novak (1955)
Saturday Evening Post: "Popular Christmas Gift Ads from the 1920s"
Kmart Christmas Loop from Archive.org
Jennifer's favorite Christmas album: Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme's That Holiday Feeling (1964)
Louis Armstrong Christmas album
"First Date" clip from The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
Circa 19xx Land
Follow Jennifer on Instagram!
Circa19xx.com
Meet Jennifer
Come on over to Jennifer’s house for her annual Christmas party! There’s plenty of cheesecake—and really bad egg nog—to go around. Olive will be there to greet you at the door, and if you can somehow make it past her, you’ll encounter an interesting collection of guests, such as Steve Allen, the first host of the Tonight Show, and the Anderson family from the old radio program Father Knows Best. Jennifer talks Christmas movies, plays a little game of Christmas movie trivia, and counts down the hottest gift ideas—of 1921. What other party could possibly include both synchronized swimmers and an annual visit to the Kmart of yesteryear (“Attention: Security to section 10!”)? No other party; just this one. So stop in, take off your coat, and stay awhile. It’s time to celebrate the season the Circa Sunday Night way, and we’re waiting for you to get the party started.
Cool Links
The Steve Allen Christmas Show (1961)
Famous dance scene from Picnic with William Holden and Kim Novak (1955)
Saturday Evening Post: "Popular Christmas Gift Ads from the 1920s"
Kmart Christmas Loop from Archive.org
Jennifer's favorite Christmas album: Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme's That Holiday Feeling (1964)
Louis Armstrong Christmas album
"First Date" clip from The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
Circa 19xx Land
Follow Jennifer on Instagram!
Circa19xx.com
Meet Jennifer
[Ding Dong, door opening sound, Olive barking]
Hi there! Come in, come in. I’m so glad you’re here!
Olive…[Olive growling] Come on, now. Get back. Get back. Don’t mind Olive. She’s here for security purposes.
Did you have any trouble finding the place? Some people get lost. Actually, very few people find their way here. Let me take your coat. [Rustle sound]. Brrrr, it’s cold outside, isn’t it? I can hear that wind howling. You know, Kansas City has had a mild fall and early winter, but the north wind is blowing tonight! Winter has arrived!
What can I get you? Oh, I know--let me get you some egg nog. It’s actually not very good, but, well, you have to have egg nog at a Christmas party, right? While I get it, why don’t you come over here by the fire, and I’ll introduce you to everyone. Everyone, look who’s arrived! [greeting sounds]. We’ve been waiting for you! OK, so now for that egg nog. And, as I make my way to the kitchen, how about a little traveling music?
[theme song].
Well, here we are, celebrating Christmas together again! Oh, and this is episode #25! I really can’t believe I’ve produced 25 shows. Now, I know there are podcasts out there with hundreds of episodes, but I remember being so astonished when I rendered that first one. I was sooo NERVOUS when I put that episode out into the world. Well, and excited, too. I was excited because I had wanted to do my own radio show ever since I was a kid, and I had finally put one together. But I was nervous because I was presenting my dream to the world. Back then I had the silly notion that when you put things out on the Internet, they immediately draw a crowd. Well, it took weeks for anyone to even notice that I put something out there! And then I had like 5 listeners.
A couple of weeks ago I put out a story on Instagram asking for questions. You know, I’ve seen Youtubers do that. They invite people to ask questions, and then they answer them on their channels. So, I did that. Yeah, I got very few responses. I think I got like 6 questions. But anyway, one of the questions was “What is the hardest part about doing a podcast?” Far and away the hardest thing is attracting an audience. Developing content, recording, editing, producing—none of that is very hard. Getting people to listen is a gargantuan task. Incidentally, my favorite part about podcasting is editing. I love it when I get to that stage in the process. That’s where I can get pretty creative.
Well, let’s put on some Christmas music. I like this one written by Steve Allen and popularized by Louis Armstrong back in the early 1950s. That’ll help us get the party started. Here is Cool Yule.
[Cool Yule]
Anyway, come check this out. Take a look at these cheesecakes. I’ve been making cheesecakes. Yeah, I got on this cheesecake kick. I wanted to master the New York Style cake, so I’ve been making a lot of them. So, on our table tonight I have a plain cheesecake, a white chocolate swirl cake with raspberries, a chocolate cheesecake, and—there’s one here with only one piece left. That was the M&M cheesecake. Apparently that’s the favorite with the crowd tonight.
I simplified my decorating considerably this year—just one tree. It’s all I had time for, but I tripled up on the Christmas lights. I’ve tucked them into every corner, and wound them around swags on the staircase and above my fireplace because I love that glow. You know, at the beginning of the season I made a promise to myself that I wouldn’t buy any more decorations, but then I saw these amazing art deco inspired ornaments at Dillards Department store that I couldn’t resist. They’re called “DECOdence by Trimsetter”—cute, huh? DECOdence? So, yeah, they’re on my tree. And you wouldn’t think so, but I think they actually go nicely with my vintage nativity sets. My favorite of the Decodence ornaments is a beautiful deep royal blue with a star that looks like the star of Bethlehem on it. It’s a pretty backdrop for my wise men.
Hey, how about another song by Steve Allen? A little earlier we heard Cool Yule, a song written by Allen that has been covered by, I don’t know, a million singers, probably—the best of which is Louis Armstrong. But for those of you who don’t know, Steve Allen was a significant entertainer in his lifetime. He was the first host of the tonight show, for one thing. He was the host from 1954 to 1957. He also hosted a show with his name on it, “The Steve Alan Show.” He died in the year 2000, and I do remember him—vaguely—as being on game shows. I’m not entirely sure I’m remembering that right.
Here’s a little tidbit about Allen’s writing career from Wikipedia:
Allen was a prolific composer. In one famous stunt, he made a bet with singer-songwriter Frankie Laine that he could write 50 songs a day for a week. Composing on public display in the window of Wallach's Music City, a Hollywood music store, Allen met the quota and won $1,000 from Laine. One of the songs, "Let's Go to Church (Next Sunday Morning)" became a chart hit for the duo of Jimmy Wakely and Margaret Whiting in 1950.
I’d never heard of that song, but I found a copy, and it’s actually pretty sweet. It’s the kind of song you would never heard today—I mean anyplace other than here in Circa 19xx Land. So here it is, “Let’s Go to Church.”
[Let’s go to Church].
Goodness, that really is a song from another time, isn’t it? I think it’s so sweet and lovely. Anyway, here’s more on Steve Allen from Wikipedia:
Allen began his recording career in 1951. Allen's best-known song, "This Could Be the Start of Something Big", dates from 1954. Though it was never a hit, the song was recorded by numerous artists, including Count Basie, Tony Bennett, Bobby Darin, Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland, Aretha Franklin, Lionel Hampton, Claire Martin, and Oscar Peterson. Allen used it as the theme song of The Tonight Show in 1956/57, and as the theme song to many of his later television projects.
Hang on. Wikipedia doesn’t mention the absolute best version of “This Could be the Start of Something Big.” In my opinion, that would be the 1960 recording by my all-time favorite recording duo of Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme. I LOVE Steve and Eydie. LOVE THEM. I have several of their recordings in my personal collection, and their 1964 Christmas Album, “That Holiday Feeling,” is amazing. It’s what I listen to each year when I’m stringing the lights on my tree. That is just a horrible task, so to help me push past all of the frustration, I put on Steve and Eydie, and it just makes it all better.
Anyway, here they are with Steve Allen’s, “This Could be the Start of Something Big” from 1960.
[This could be the Start of Something Big]
Oh, that’s a good one. Again, Steve and Eydie are just the best. I’m not going to play any songs from their Christmas album, but do go out to Youtube to find it. If you’ve heard Wam’s “Last Christmas I gave you my Heart,” or what’s that Mariah Carey song…ummm…my local radio station plays it. Oh, um “All I want for Christmas is you.” Ok, if you have heard those songs just one too many times, put on Steve and Eydie’s “That Holiday Feeling” Album and I promise you, you’ll thank me.
OK, back to Steve Allen. He wrote the lyrics for the theme from Picnic.
[Theme from Picnic].
We’re listening to the McGuire Sisters sing the “Theme from Picnic” from 1956. Have you seen the movie Picnic? I have, and I didn’t care much for it—except for that amazing scene that everyone loves in which William Holden and Kim Novak are on that pier dancing to a mash up of “The Theme from Picnic” and “Moonglow,” two awesome songs in their own right, and then when you smash them together…wow! And that dance scene. Oh, that HAS to be one of the all-time great scenes on film—in what is otherwise what I think of as a pretty forgettable movie.
Well, Steve Allen didn’t write the melody for “Theme from Picnic,” and what people typically hear is the instrumental version. But he wrote the words.
Ok, well, I have here a little Steve Allen Christmas special from 1956, and, I’ve got to say, it’s unlike any Christmas special I’ve ever seen. It was filmed at his home, and it begins with a comedic home tour that he conducts with Jayne as celebrity guests arrive for their Christmas party. There are a bunch of people—and kids—gathered on their lawn for acts like a puppet show, and some singers. But I think my favorite act is when Steve is at the piano—in the rain, beside his pool—playing “Misty” while a group of ladies do a synchronized swimming routine. I mean, it’s wild—and pretty mesmerizing, actually. These ladies are really good.
I’m going to play a clip of this act, and as you listen, I want you to imagine ladies with swim caps and nose clips in the background doing crazy flips and float formations in time to the music.
[Clip]
Steve Allen’s career profile goes on and on. He was a singer, a composer, a talk show host, a television show producer, an actor. He did it all. And apparently, he was a really nice guy, too.
Here is his obit section from Wikipedia:
Allen died on October 30, 2000, at the age of 78. At first, it was suspected he had suffered a fatal heart attack while napping at his son's Los Angeles area home. However, a Los Angeles Coroner's spokesperson later said autopsy results showed the real cause of death was a ruptured blood vessel caused by chest injuries he did not realize he had sustained in a minor traffic accident earlier in the day. According to Jayne Meadows, "Typical of Steve, [who] was the dearest, sweetest man: He was hit by a man, backing into him, breaking all of his ribs, that pierced his heart ... and when he got out of the car, he said to the man, 'What some people will do to get my autograph.”
[Moonglow/Picnic transition]
So, what is under your Christmas tree this year? Do you find yourself buying your own Christmas gift? I admit, I do that. I like to buy presents for other people. That’s so fun to shop for them and figure out what they’ll like. But along the way, I always find something I want, too.
This year target was having a big sale on Kuerig coffee makers, so I bought one of their minis. I had gone back and forth on getting a coffee maker. I like coffee, but I didn’t want to bother with making it, and I didn’t want a big coffee maker that would take up counter space. Well, I consulted a young friend of mine—I don’t think she listens to the show, but in case she happens to come across this, “hello, Isabella!” She’s in college, and I knew she had one, so I texted her to get her opinion, and she convinced me to take the plunge. Well, now I’m drinking more coffee than ever, and am probably developing a new addiction, so… “Merry Christmas to me.”
But what would your dream gift be, if the sky was the limit? Now, in this little game, don’t think of practical things. Let’s go all the way and be really extravagant and Impractical. You know what my impractical gift would be for myself?
A set of riviere (riv-yair) necklaces like Anna Wintour wears. I’ve loved these necklaces ever since I saw the documentary a few years ago about Vogue’s “September” issue. Anna Wintour, the editor-in-chief of Vogue, featured prominently in that documentary, and in every scene, regardless of her outfits, she would wears these stunning necklaces at the base of her neck with large gemstones. Now, because she is Anna Wintour, she has her own way of wearing them. She layers them, combining different necklaces to match the colors in her outfits. They are old, beautiful, very chic, and extraordinarily expensive.
[Riv-yair] is the French word for “river,” and I’m not sure I get why the Wintour necklaces are called rivyairs—I guess because they “flow”? I don’t know. But I’ve actually heard of them as “collet” necklaces, but I think the name “collet” has to do with a particular mount style for the gemstones. Anyway, the necklaces I’m talking about are simple “collars” of gemstones that date back to Georgian and Victorian times. According to Collectors Weekly, these collet sets often came in a little set that included a necklace, a detachable pendant, earrings, bracelets, and sometimes even a tiara. Oh, yes, I’ll take one of those!
The ones that are sought after today are gold with real gems like aquamarines, amethysts, pink and golden topazes, and others.
They were fashionable through the late 18th century, then sort of fell out of style, to come back again in the Deco period. Then they went out of fashion again. According to Collector’s Weekly, “in the mid-to-late 20th century, you couldn’t give them away.
Until Anna Wintour started wearing them. Now they go for thousands of dollars. And remember, to get the Anna Wintour look, one necklace just won’t do. You need several that you can layer.
So, check your great grandma’s stash of jewelry. If she has one of these necklaces, you could be sitting on a nice little investment. Or, of course, you could send it my way.
And speaking of Christmas gifts…what were some popular Christmas gifts in the 1920s? I was curious, so I did some checking. The Saturday Evening Post has an article featuring ads in their 1920s Christmas issues that provide a glimpse of what types of gifts people were buying. If you need some last-minute gift ideas, maybe this list from 100 years ago will provide a little inspiration:
1. Overland Sedan – The 1920s was a boomtime, and cars were becoming popular. One ad urged husbands to buy their wives an Overland car. Overland Sedans were made from 1903 to 1924.
2. Prince Albert Tobacco – This was introduced by R.J. Reynolds in 1907.
3. Mesh Handbags – Mesh bags were all the rage in the early 1920s. They were emblematic of the new “flapper” style.
4. New Electric Appliances (washers and ironers)
The Ad: “A diamond necklace is nothing more than a handful of jewels, but to be presented at Christmas with a complete equipments of Apex Rotarex housekeeping aids is to receive the most priceless of gifts—time.”
5. Jewelry for him: Collar buttons, cuff links, and tuxedo sets
The Ad: “Please him with a gift of Krementz jewelry. Selection can be made from a variety of designs, in white, green, or yellow gold. Does he wear evening clothes? For evening wear, correct jewelry is an absolute essential. Krementz Correct Evening Jewelry is standard. They are in the latest mode, of pleasing design, finely made, and, above all, correct.”
6. Bicycles -Bicycles had been popular for some time, but as the automobile became more affordable (and therefore more popular) bicycles fell out of favor for adults and began to be viewed as a children’s toy.
7. Socks – Not the most exciting of gifts, but ever the popular default option: even in the 1920s.
8. A “Health Builder Shaking Machine” - Now this is one of those fitness contraptions you’ve probably seen pictures of before: It’s a machine with a type of belt that fits around the waist and when you turn it on, it shakes you up.
The Ad: “Here’s a gift that’s different—a gift that all the family can use and enjoy—a gift of tested value—the greatest gift of all—radiant health! Make radiant health your gift this year by giving them a Health Builder Machine for Christmas. 15 minutes a day of easy, enjoyable exercise with the health builder stimulates circulation, tones up flabby muscles, aids digestion and elimination and reduces weight in any part of the body desired.
9. Raggedy Ann and Andy – Johnny Gruelle was a cartoonist and illustrator who wrote and illustrated children’s books about Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy—dolls who came to life when humans weren’t looking. These dolls were hugely popular throughout the 1920s, and made their way under many a Christmas Tree.
10. Hoover Vacuum Cleaners
The Ad: “I can’t Say This to my Husband…” My husband will give me this Christmas, as he does every year, some lovely and very useless trinket. He likes to be extravagant and a little foolish in his gift to me. He feels that way about me. But sometimes I wish—how can I say it? He wants so much to please me—only, like other men, he’s just a bit unseeing. To him I’m still the girl he married: young and strong and radiant with health. He doesn’t know—no one but the woman who cares for a home can know—how much of that youth and strength and health can slip from one under the burden of cleaning duties just a little heavier than they need be. Yet how can I suggest the gift I really want? He would only laugh at me, tell me that Christmas is no time for such a sensible purchase, that I must have something for myself. If only he could see that what I want IS for myself. More for myself than any pretty trinket. That it means the very preservation of those things about which he cares so much: my youth. My freshness. That sparkle which is unwearied health. I can’t say this to my husband. But I can say it to other husbands like mine: Why not give her this year what she REALLY wants? A Hoover Vacuum cleaner.”
[Father Knows Best Christmas Theme Song]
I want to share something with you that has become part of my own little Christmas tradition each year. On Christmas Eve my family all comes over to my house after Church, and I put out a big spread similar to what we have here tonight. I spend the whole day in the kitchen, and as I’m doing all the preparations, I listen to Christmas episodes of my favorite oldtime radio shows. In fact, now that I think about it, I might have talked about this at last years Christmas party. I think I shared with you a clip from Duffy’s Tavern Christmas show—you know Duffy’s: “Where the elite meet to eat.”
I love that day. It’s just me and Olive in the kitchen and the radio shows playing all day. Well, a favorite of mine is the old Father Knows Best radio show. You may be familiar with old re-runs of the 1950s television show, but first their was the radio version, and that’s the one I prefer. I actually like to listen to full seasons of that show—I’ve got a lot of episodes in my collection. But the Christmas episode I’m about to share is, I think, my favorite. This is one to listen to by the fire with a cup of hot chocolate and your eyes closed. It’s called “An Old Fashioned Christmas” from 1953.
Here’s part I.
[Play Part 1]
Ok, we’ll come back to our story in a bit, but does the voice of the mother, Margaret Anderson, sound familiar? It might. Margaret was played here by Jean Vander Pyl, who was the voice of Wilma Flintstone on the Flinstones and Rosie the Robot on the Jetsons. Others in the cast included Robert Young as Jim Anderson, of course. The children were played by—wait, let me check my notes—OK Betty was played by Rhoda Williams, Bud was played by Ted Donaldson, and Kathy was played by Norma Jean Nilsson.
Before we go back to our story, it’s time for a Circa Sunday Night Christmas tradition of our own. Well, I mean, we did this last year. If you do something twice, does that constitute a tradition? I’m going to call is a tradition, how about that? I just think this is too much fun to not do again.
Last year I found an old Christmas song loop that had been played as background shopping music at Kmart. I just love this, so I’m asking you to humor me again, and let me play it. Grab your cart and let’s head for that blue-light special. Our time machine is taking us to Kmart, back in the day…
[Kmart Track]
Uh, oh. Sounds like trouble. You know, I think I mentioned this last year, but it cracks me up that they pre-recorded these security messages. There are others in this recording as well. That was to make people think twice about stealing—because they were being watched! Now that last piece is really great, isn’t it? That was a mashup of “Pinecones and Holly Berries” and “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas.” Wow, it was just like Theme from Picnic and Moonglow. Maybe not quite as good, but I have to say, I liked it. Let’s see, that one was from the Living Strings in 1963. Actually, all three of these songs were from 1963. Before that we heard “Jingo Jango” by Bert Kaempfert and His Orchestra and “Snowbound” by the Wayne King Orchestra.
I don’t know what this says about my personality, but I just get so much enjoyment from that Kmart recording. I’ll put a link to the whole thing if you want to listen. There’s like 2 hours worth of Christmas music on there. So much fun.
https://archive.org/details/KmartDecember1974ReelToReel
All right, now let’s get back to the Andersons and Father Knows Best.
[Father Knows Best Part 2]
How about a little Christmas trivia game? I’ve been watching a few classic Christmas movies and shows—I’ll talk about three classic movies in particular that I watched over the weekend in a little while. But I bet I know less about classic Christmas movies than a lot of you do. I don’t really watch them usually. Are you ready for a shock? I just saw “It’s a Wonderful Life” for the first time a couple of years ago—and I only watched it then because a friend was so aggravated by the fact that I hadn’t seen it that he bought if for me on DVD. So I watched it…and it was excellent, of course. But, anyway, here are a few trivia questions. Let’s see how well you know these movies. I have 10 questions here, and if you get them all right, you win a car. You know what, if you can get them all right, I’ll give you a—what was that thing—an Overland Limo!
1. The following quote is from which movie?
“I believe, I believe, I believe.”
· The Bells of St. Mary’s
· Miracle on 34th Street
· It Happened on 5th Avenue
2. Which of the following shows is the oldest?
· Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)
· The Grinch who Stole Christmas (1966)
· Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964)
3. The song “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” was introduced in which classic Christmas film?
· White Christmas
· Holiday Inn
· Meet Me in St. Louis
4. Which of the following Christmas films does NOT take place in part within a Department Store?
· Christmas in Connecticutt
· A Holiday Affair
· Miracle on 34th Street
5. The following line comes from which movie?
“I can’t fight a shadow. I tried. The competition is too tough. You were even going to play it safe and settle for someone you didn’t love so you wouldn’t be unfaithful to your husband.”
· A Holiday Affair (Steve)
· The Shop Around the Corner
· Meet me in St. Louis
6. In which film do the two primary characters sing the folk song, “Buffalo Gals Won’t You Come Out Tonight.” (Buffalo gals, won’t you come out tonight? Come out tonight, Come out tonight? Buffalo gals, won’t you come out tonight and dance by the light of the moon.”
· White Christmas
· Holiday Inn
· It’s a Wonderful Life
7. Which of the following films was NOT released in the 1940s?
· It Happened on Fifth Avenue (1947)
· Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
· White Christmas (1954)
8. The song, “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas” was written for which film?
· Meet me in St. Louis
· Holiday Inn
· White Christmas
9. Santa Claus is taken to court in which of the following films?
· Miracle on 34th Street
· It happened on 5th Avenue
· The Shop Around the Corner
10. Which of the following films feature a newspaper column entitled “Diary of a Housewife?”
· A Holiday Affair
· Christmas in Connecticut
· It’s a Wonderful Life
How did you do? So, I wouldn’t have done well on this little quiz had I not had the answers right here in front of me. I haven’t seen all of these movies. I haven’t seen Christmas in Connecticut. I haven’t seen Holiday Inn, or It Happened on 5th Avenue. Let’s see, what else…I haven’t seen Meet me in St. Louis! I know, that’s a classic. Shame on me for not watching that one. When I was a kid I loved Miracle on 34th Street. That was an annual thing for me. I thought Natalie Wood was the luckiest little girl in the world in that movie.
OK, so I did watch some Christmas movies over the weekend. I saw three, as a matter of fact: I watched the 1949 film A Holiday Affair starring the very handsome Robert Mitchem opposite a very young Janet Leigh. This was before her “Psycho” fame. If you haven’t seen it, it’s about a young mother, played by Janet Leigh, you lost her husband in the War. She has a friend Carl who is a great guy—nice, considerate, stable, has a good job, is great with her son—and he loves her. She’s still grieving the loss of her husband even though it’s been a few years, so she can’t quite commit to Carl. He asks her to marry him, and she tells him instead that she’ll ask HIM when she’s ready. Enter Robert Mitchem—great looking guy who loses his job and is really kind of a jerk. Who does she pick? Well, I won’t tell you, but I did not approve of her choice. You can probably guess how I set that up, but I’m not good at keeping endings to myself. Anyway, I did actually like this movie. It was pretty entertaining. And Connie—Janet Leigh’s character—has a cool job. She’s a comparison shopper for a major department store.
Movie number 2 was A Christmas Story—yeah, the one from the early 1980s that was set in the 1940s. This is the one with the kid who stick his tongue to a flagpole, and the father who won that crazy lamp made out of a woman’s mannequin leg. I had never seen that movie before, and now that I have, I do understand why people like that movie. There’s nostalgia, it’s VERY Christmassy, and it has some things in it that make you smile. My favorite scene is the one in which Ralphie and his brother visit the Department Store Santa Clause. That’s a fun scene. I liked the movie OK, but didn’t love it. I just felt like it went on too long. It has kind of a sweet ending.
Movie number 3 was The Shop Around the Corner, starring Jimmie Stewart and Margaret Sullavan. Remember that name: Margaret Sullavan. She is on my short list of people to profile next season. Her real life was quite sad. I became familiar with her story years and years ago when a mini-series about her life aired on television. The show was called Haywire, based on a book written by her daughter, Brooke Hayward, about their tumultuous family situation and Sullavan’s mental breakdown and ultimate death. Kind of a downer, for sure, but I remember being fascinated by that story. Over the Christmas break I’m going to be reading Haywire—the book.
Anyway, when was The Shop Around the Corner made…hmmm. It was in the 1940s. Hold on. What year…oh, 1940. So many of the classic Christmas movies were made in the 1940s. The Shop Around the Corner was remade as “You’ve Got Mail,” in the 1990s starring Tom Hanks and meg Ryan. In both films an anonymous romance between two people who don’t like each other, but develop this lovely relationship through letters that they don’t realize the other has written.
They both work in a store—and in fact Clara Novak (Margaret Sullavan’s character) reports to Alfred Kralick (Jimmie Stewart’s character). Before they had even met, however, Clara had put an ad in the paper asking for someone to correspond with, and Jimmie answered by letter, and they essentially became pen pals and fell in love—only they had never actually met.
At one point they agree to meet, and Alfred ends up discovering the true identity of his pen pal. Clara still doesn’t know that she has been corresponding with Alfred all along. They agreed to meet in a café. Here’s a cute little clip of the two of them meeting. Remember Jimmie Stewart knows everything; Clara is still in the dark about him.
[Shop around the corner Clip].
The film concludes on Christmas Eve—and I will restrain myself and not let the ending slip. It’s a sweet little story, though, and I highly recommend it if you haven’t seen it. It’s funny, charming, and the ending is very romantic, and heart warming—oh, it’s sooooo good!
Well, goodness. Where has the night gone? It’s time for our little party to start winding down. Thank you so much for listening to my little show this year. It means the world to me. If you liked this show (and you know how much I hate asking), but would you please give it a 5-Star rating on Apple podcasts or wherever you listen? And also please share the show with someone you think might like it. I’ll be gone in January but back in February to with Season 3 of Circa Sunday Night.
In the meantime, I wish you the merriest of Christmases, pray for great blessings for you and your family, and hope you have a happy and prosperous new year.
Let’s let Ray Noble and Al Bowlly take us out with “Everyday’s a Holiday” from 1937. Goodnight everybody.
[Everyday’s a Holiday].