Previously at Centuries of Sound:

Christmas 1902-1924: Deep Magic From Before The Dawn Of Time
A Holiday Between The Wars, Christmas Records 1926-1938
A Wartime Christmas 1939-1945

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The period between the end of the Second World War and the Rock & Roll craze of 1954 may be strangely absent from popular memory on the whole, but when it comes to the Christmas season everything is suddenly reversed. The age of It’s A Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street, of Nat King Cole’s The Christmas Song, The Andrews Sisters’ Winter Wonderland, the hit version of Bing Crosby’s White Christmas, and of course Baby, It’s Cold Outside – these all seem to have been set in amber as the prototypical classic American Christmas experience. But meanwhile, of course, Rhythm & Blues, Western Swing, Mambo and Be-Bop are all at their peak, so don’t expect an entirely mainstream Christmas here.

Tracklist

0:00:00 Red Skelton – Clip from Raleigh-Kool Radio Program – Christmas Stories (1946)
0:00:04 Nat King Cole – The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You) (1946)
0:03:11 Jimmy Stewart – Clip from It’s A Wonderful Life (1946)
0:03:50 Bing Crosby with John Scott Trotter Orchestra – White Christmas (1947)
0:06:43 Burns & Allen – Clip from Christmas Presents (1946)
0:07:31 Guy Lombardo & The Andrews Sisters – Winter Wonderland (1946)
0:10:09 Abbott & Costello – Clip from Christmas Show (1947)
0:11:24 Frankie Carle & His Orchestra with Majorie Hughes – Little Jack Frost Get Lost (1947)
0:14:02 Gene Lockhart – Clip from Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
0:14:32 Gene Autry – Here Comes Santa Claus (1947)
0:17:02 Life of Riley – Clip from Family Christmas Present (1947)
0:17:05 Spike Jones & His City Slickers – All I Want For Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth) (1948)
0:20:12 Phil Harris & Alice Faye Show – Clip from Christmas Present (1948)
0:20:23 Andrews Sisters & Danny Kaye – Merry Christmas At Grandmother’s House (1948)
0:22:38 David Niven – Clip from The Bishop’s Wife (1947)
0:23:01 Kay Starr – December (1949)
0:26:21 Unknown – Radio Commercial for Eggnog (1949)
0:26:36 Louis Jordan & Ella Fitzgerald – Baby, It’s Cold Outside (1949)
0:29:15 Much Binding In The Marsh – Clip from Christmas Programme (1948)
0:29:28 Amos Milburn – Let’s Make Christmas Merry, Baby (1949)
0:32:18 Dragnet – Clip from 22 Calibre Rifle for Christmas (1950)
0:32:23 Lionel Hampton Orchestra – Boogie Woogie, Santa Claus (1950)
0:35:04 Matinee with Bob and Ray – Clip from Christmas Season Program (1949)
0:35:08 Henry Jerome and His Orchestra – Sleigh Ride (1950)
0:36:47 Stars Over Hollywood – Clip from A Christmas Carol (1951)
0:36:57 Sauter-Finegan Orchestra – Midnight Sleighride (1952)
0:39:13 Suspense – Clip from The Night Before Christmas (1951)
0:39:35 Weekend Hyttens Kor And Orkester – Bjaldeklang (Jingle Bells) (1951)
0:41:53 Jack Benny Program – Clip from Christmas Shopping (1951)
0:42:26 Jan Garber And His Orchestra – Frosty The Snowman (1951)
0:45:01 Let’s Pretend – Clip from ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas (1952)
0:45:23 Les Brown Orchestra – Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! (1952)
0:47:46 Billy May and His Orchestra – Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer Mambo (1954)
0:50:20 Bing Crosby with The Rhythmaires – Sleigh Ride / Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer (1953)
0:55:30 John Payne – Clip from Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
0:55:54 Eartha Kitt – Santa Baby (1953)
0:59:13 Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet – Clip from The Lost Christmas Gift (1953)
0:59:16 Clyde McPhatter & The Drifters – White Christmas (1954)
1:01:53 Truth or Consequences – Clip from Christmas Show (1947)