Christmas in the 1950s

Dad built a Christmas tree stand that allowed the tree to revolve and still have lights on it-think about it-that was pretty amazing for those days...what do you do have a very LONG extension cord that wraps around the tree till it gets to the end and then reverses directions.

Dad had that talent-he would envision something and he could build it.

Frequently the studio would come to him with a problem and he would solve it...

There was a movie called FROM HELL IT CAME which involved a tree monster with a beating heart-Dad solved that problem....also the marching wooden soldiers in THE MUSIC MAN and quite a number of others issues.

Since at the beginning he was not in a union they had to play it all very close to the vest but later he became a member of IATSE and could do more out in the open.

Dad approached Christmas and Christmas decorations like a B Movie-he didn't have a "A" budget so he used his ingenuity to create the effects he wanted.

It all started when Frank Mazotta (neighbor to the east) asked him if he was going to put up lights "this year"?

That somehow motivated him to think about holiday lighting and the possibilities therein...

We had a Christmas tree routine early on-the BEST trees came from Firestone Blvd in Downey-so said my Uncle Donald and he had MONEY and a tasteful home so he knew his trees.

We would go as a family on the tree hunt-not unlike the Griswold's in a urban setting or Ralphie and his old man-it was US against THEM and we had to come out on top.

In order for the turntable to work out properly the tree had to be almost perfectly symmetrical-no artistically shaped Picasso trees would do....AND, Dad liked to revolve his tree colour options.

In the 50s someone had the bright idea that as long as one was flocking a tree one might as well make it a colour that would go with the décor-the most up to date colours were in the better neighborhoods so when Turquoise and Coral was a "thing" in the colour scheme sense you could find BOTH choices and even a combination on Firestone Ave.

They also had these huge abstract trees with ,long needles that were more like a giant bush that a traditional conical Christmas tree-they often appeared in picture windows over in the better neighborhoods festooned with ONLY RED glass balls (or only silver or gold or blue) shimmering in the changing light of a "color wheel". Those were actually created for Aluminum trees which could not have lights on them because of electric shock hazard but they worked well for the Big White bushy trees as well (here's a little known fact-some people bought several and when they clipped to gather the colour wheel portion instead of red, blue, green, yellow they might do red, green, red, green making the whole effect even more decorator designed.

GLITTER-especially big, chunky Glitter became a thing (for a small extra fee) in about 1955 so a white tree with silver glitter and silver balls on it with a properly programmed colour wheel was "almost like having 4 trees (or so said one of our neighbors).

Dad wanted a cone with traditional lights and decorations BUT it could be (and at some point was) baby Blue, Pink, Lavender and his favorite: Triple Flocked Champagne beige with iridescent glitter.

He tried to buy a black tree with black glitter one year and my mother pursed her lips and just refused-I guess that vision was one he just had to use for his private musings.

In the 60's I feel in love with a day glo pink and orange monstrosity that would "glow under black light" we didn't get that one either.

Once the tree was tied to the car and driven back to our home the REAL stress began.

The tree had to go up first before anything and everything else-that was a rule-tree stand, balance the tree, do an electrical check for rotation check lights one at a time-discard frayed or non working strings (this also included the every debated problem : Bubble Lights or NO Bubble Lights).

Once it was spinning and lit my DAD and ONLY my Dad would add the icicles ONE STRAND AT A TIME---in those years they were still the old fashioned ones that could break and had to be hung carefully for the proper effect-since my dad came from a mostly German background he considered himself an expert on icicles and their application. one layer went on BEFORE the various ornaments and then a finishing layer after-he also had a NO PLASTIC rule on his trees-so the "cute little plastic crap had to be used elsewhere.

This process from search to finish took about 4 days-usually right after Thanksgiving.

Next my MOTHER would do the mantle piece: Light up plastic church on the right end, Nativity Scene on the left end something festive in the center and then add in the various traditional bits.

She had some pieces that only she was allowed to touch these included 3 angels and 3 choirboys with red flocked costumes and that petrified lace that is dipped in ceramic and then fired-they had gold painted details---1 choir boy and 2 angels by the nativity and 2 choir boys and one angel by the church.

There was also a ceramic Santa in bright green long Johns that HAD to go on the mantle and one of those gold candle things that spins and makes little chimes when the candles are lit-it all was displayed on a base of sparkly cotton batting "snow".

I have neglected to mention that we did not have a fireplace---for the first few years we had a cardboard fireplace that could be assembled and displayed at the holidays against the grey and maroon jungle wall paper with a little battery light and a crinkly wheel of red foil that gave a "cheery" representation of a fire burning.

Later on since it seemed so important to my Mother's enjoyment of the holidays, my Dad installed an actual mantel piece that was made of Plaster or something similar and at Christmas we had a plug in version of the fake fire for a short time-it actually caught fire and was never replaced-nor did they ever invest in a REAL fireplace.

At this point in the decorating there was garland on the Swag lamps, little knick-knacks on the various tables- a runner and more tat on the coffee table and in later years even a Christmas village on the bay grand piano that lived where the dining room had once been,

It would now be about the 2nd weekend in December and dad would start on the outdoor lighting-it started with that one string of lights and the eaves-it followed with more and more lights, lights in trees and bushes, a string a giant light up ornaments that spelled out MERRY CHRISTMAS across the porch-2 giant candles which he made out of Carpet rolls, a light up angel and a cute Santa face (they found that on sale) also a light up-festive bows on the street lamp and finally the crown jewel of his decorating schemes-SANTA in a FLYING SAUCER.

Now this was no small effort the saucer was about 9 feet in diameter had chasing red lights behind a scrim around the rim-the actual gunners bubble from an airplane located at a war surplus store and a cheerful Santa inside-NO ALIENS....it weighed about half a ton-it lasted exactly one year but people stopped to see Santa landing on our lawn for the month of December.

My Dad took special delight in lurking near the picture window t the holidays and counting the number of cars that SLOWED down or stopped in front of our house to admire his handiwork.

He was up against two fellows over on Washington Blvd-one of them an electrician who seemed to have bottomless pockets when it came to Holiday Décor and for about a decade or more those two waged a friendly war against each other as the two most decorated homes in town-they also won the annual lighting contest so Dad wouldn't even enter although the flying saucer was tempting.

The next year a sheet of plywood appeared an I has enlisted to render a portrait of our family as Snow people which was painted and jig sawed out and displayed where the saucer had been with appropriate spotlights and glitter accents...it was too traditional even considering the French poodle snow animal I had included and I remember it only lasted one year as well.

Donna and I had school stuff and as I got into my singing and performing years I was very busy at the holidays-we had people in but didn't do so much visiting until Christmas Night.

Christmas Eve was for family that would include Aunt Mildred and Fran and Elmer-with them came a veritable tsunami of gifts-the living room would be nearly full on Christmas Morning-when we were older the Grandparents started showing up EARLY on Christmas day instead-then we would do the rounds of the rest of the relations-usually at Rosemary and Bobs although occasionally Jean and Larry's.

Then it would be over, the cleaning up started Jan 2 and the house looked sadly bare without all the stuff-it was so bare my Mother started collecting "STUFF" for Valentines Day, Easter and Halloween which could double for Thanksgiving.

For most of my formative years Thanksgiving was at Grandma Fran's in Van Nuys and Christmas was at our house---we had to be careful because holidays included High Balls and Grasshoppers and Martinis so the drive home became treacherous if one wasn't careful.

Grandma Hilliard was not a fan of hitting the bottle-she was temperance and had been for many years (except for the Manischewitz Concord Grape wine she took for her nerves) and she was fond of sharing her views on WHY the "folks" went on weekends to Las Vegas-most of it was about sin and degradation and the yawning jaws of hell-not suitable for a piece on the cheery holidays-she did have an ally in Nina Souard and Christmas she could hunker down with her in a corner and skillfully destroy the young folk and their deteriorating morals.

New Years was never a huge thing for me-the "folks" went to the Moose Lodge or a house Party somewhere-one banner year there was some special event and my Mother had a new white chiffon, waltz length dress that showed quite a bit of skin-matching
glass" slippers with flirty little rhinestone butterflies on the toes-diamante jewelry and he mink stole-she had done her hair a strawberry blonde and the latest Italian cut-Grandmas Hillard was livid and inquired if Mother was going out in public so exposed? and did she intend to consume liquor in this costume?

The legend is she an Aunt Mildred drove at a high rate of speed through the quiet streets of Maywood while "tipsy" and Mother landed a bull's-eye on the WAGON WHEEL INNS aptly designed sign with an empty Old Crow Bottle at 50 MPH-first attempt.

Other holidays come and go but Christmas is still the one I like the best-its an excuse to roast a turkey-I don't know why we don't do it the rest of the year?

In good years we would have special fixings like pickled watermelon rind and both mashed and candied potatoes and even a ham and a Turkey-I was amazed to find that some people in the world eat Roasted Beef or Duck or Goose-I thought all those went out with Dickens and Scrooge.

Speaking of A CHRISTMAS CAROL-even today I have to watch at least one version and sometimes more of that story-it caught my fancy early on and has never faded as a Christmas Tradition for me.

Back then everything was decorated for the holidays-the malls, the parks even the markets: they say it wasn't as commercial and I think that's because it was more hand made and glued together than it is now-I'm sure if you look you can find a ready to switch on Santa in a flying Saucer maybe even a drone version but back then the process was as important as the product even more important and I fear that magic is gone forever.