Mel Tormé composed the music for “The Christmas Song” (“Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire”) and co-wrote the lyrics with Bob Wells. Nat King Cole first recorded it the year after WWII ended and then Bing Crosby performed it later that same year. Many artists have covered it, including Karen Carpenter in 1970.
This winter, Christmas song — Mel Tormé actually wrote it during a sweltering summer heatwave.
Even though the song White Christmas evokes thoughts of snow, cold, and a stereotypical holiday, the seldom-heard lead-in verse – as written by composer Irving Berlin – describes a quite different scene…
The sun is shining, the grass is green
The orange and palm trees sway
There’s never been such a day
In Beverly Hills, L. A.
But it’s December the 24th
And I am longing to be up north…
And from there it goes into the song that most people are familiar with.
(listen to it here)
-“BB”-
The colors of Princeton University are orange and black, honoring King William III of England, a leader of the royal House of Orange-Nassau. The original main classroom building on Princeton’s current campus is Nassau Hall.
The colors orange and black are traditionally associated with Halloween - and by “Halloween” I mean the intensely-commercialized, completely secular American version of the holiday - because they featured prominently in the ancient pagan holiday - Samhain - from which Halloween originated. Orange represents the vibrant colors of the changing autumn leaves, and black represented all things death-related; the coming winter, the long, dark nights, and the dead themselves, as the ancients believed that Samhain is the night when the veil between the living and the dead is at its thinnest.
U.S. professional sports teams which use the traditional Halloween colors of orange and black for their primary uniform colors include the Cincinnati Bengals of the NFL, the Philadelphia Flyers and Anaheim Ducks of the NHL, and the San Francisco Giants and Baltimore Orioles of MLB.
In the movie Space Jam, when the cartoon characters are trying to decide on a team name, Daffy suggests “The Ducks”, to which Bugs replies , “Please! What kind of Mickey Mouse organization would name their team ‘the Ducks’?”
This is generally accepted as a jibe directed by Warner Brothers toward the Walt Disney Corporation, who had founded and still owned the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (as they were known at that time) NHL hockey team.
-“BB”-
The Anaheim Ducks won the Stanley Cup in 2007 over the Ottawa Senators and thus became the first of the three California-based teams to win the Stanley Cup.
The Los Angeles Kings won the Stanley Cup in 2012 and in 2014. The San Jose Sharks have never (yet) won the Stanley Cup. And we here in Northern California have been waiting…!
Frederick Arthur Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby was the 6th Governor General of Canada, serving as the Crowns Representative in Canada. Much like the Monarch, the Governor General holds many legal and theoretical executive powers, but in practice, very few. However, the Governor General does hold real “reserve powers” which have been occasionally used. Oddly, until recently, the office has been rotated between Francophone (Quebec) and Anglophone candidates. I say oddly, as Francophone Canadians are only some 22% of the population. Mary Simon, the recent previous Governor General was from the Indigenous peoples (Inuk), and thus neither Francophone or Anglophone .
The Prussian king and noted battlefield general Frederick the Great said that George Washington’s Continental Army generalship during the 1776-77 New Jersey campaign was “the most brilliant of any recorded in the annals of military achievements.”
Saul Bass was an American graphic designer and filmmaker. Bass was best known for his work in the movie industry, where he created landmark title sequences and posters for films including The Man with the Golden Arm, North by Northwest, Vertigo, Anatomy of a Murder, and Psycho. He also designed logos for a number of brands and companies, including AT&T, Continental Airlines, Rockwell International, The Quaker Oats Company, and Geffen Records.
Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment was an American production company known for their holiday television specials like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964), The Little Drummer Boy (1968), Frosty the Snowman (1969), and Santa Claus is Coming to Town (1970). The studio also made theatrical films, including Mad Monster Party? (1967), which was one of Boris Karloff’s last appearances. In 1985 the studio produced Thundercats, perhaps their best-remembered of a long list of Saturday morning cartoons. The studio dissolved in 1987.
The Little Drummer Boy was written by American composer Katherine Kennicott Davis in 1941. Originally titled ‘Carol of the Drum’, it was first recorded by the Trapp Family Singers in 1951. Seven years later, musical arranger Harry Simeone adapted the song, retitled it ‘The Little Drummer Boy,’ and recorded it with his choral group for the 1958 album Sing We Now of Christmas. That release turned the song into a huge holiday classic.
“Carol of the Bells” is a Christmas carol based on the traditional Ukrainian song “Shchedryk”, a New Year celebration song which translates as “The Little Swallow.” In Ukrainian lore, a swallow arrives on New Years’ Day to announce wealth to come with the following spring.
The State Anthem of Ukraine has it’s origins in the the patriotic song “Shche ne vmerla Ukrainy”, written in 1862 by Pavlo Chubynskyi. That translates to “Ukraine’s glory and freedom have not yet perished” or “Ukraine has not yet died”. The modern lyrics translate to “The glory and will of Ukraine has not yet perished”.
The shortest (fewest syllables) national anthem in the world belongs to Japan. Kimigayo roughly translates to “His Imperial Majesty’s Reign.”
Kimigayo wa
Chiyo ni yachiyo ni
Sazare-ishi no
Iwao to narite
Koke no musu made
May your reign
Continue for a thousand, eight thousand generations,
Until the tiny pebbles
Grow into massive boulders
Lush with moss
“Pebbles” is a line of pre-sweetened breakfast cereals, marketed by Post Consumer Brands since 1971. The cereals and their ads feature characters from the animated television series The Flintstones, particularly Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble; the name of the cereal line is borrowed from the name of Pebbles Flintstone, daughter of Fred and Wilma.
The line has featured two flavors for most of its existence – Fruity Pebbles and Cocoa Pebbles – though numerous additional flavors have been introduced over the years.
At 55 years since its introduction, Pebbles is the longest-running U.S. cereal brand which uses licensed TV or movie characters
Frederick Moore “Fred” Vinson was a close friend and regular poker partner of Harry Truman. After Vinson served as a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, director of the Office of Economic Stabilization and Secretary of the Treasury, Truman named him Chief Justice of the United States in 1946. Vinson served in the role until his death in 1953.
Carl Vinson (1883-1981) was a US House of Representatives politician from Georgia who championed and massively expanded the US Navy and Marine Corps in the years before WWII. Vinson is known as the “Father of the Two-Ocean Navy” who led both the House Naval Affairs Committee and the House Armed Services Committee.
The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) was named in his honor while he was still alive — a rare distinction for a non-president or non-general. He attended its launch in 1980 at age 96.
Georgia Engel was an American actress, known for her soft, high-pitched voice. She rose to prominence in the role of Georgette Franklin (later Georgette Baxter) on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, for which she received two Emmy nominations. Engel had a long career of comic roles, including recurring roles on Everybody Loves Raymond and Hot in Cleveland.
Hot l Baltimore was a 1975 TV show, based on the hit Off-Broadway comedy of the same name. Produced by Norman Lear, it focused on residents and staff of a decrepit hotel facing eviction. Several controversial characters made up the cast, including the first openly gay couple to appear on network television. The show failed to find and audience and was cancelled after 13 shows.