(Jack Benny - along with Bing Crosby, American Institutions)

My guess is, you're probably looking for some relief from the family traditions right about now. Christmas is something of a minefield with a lot of people and no doubt you're looking for some escape.

In keeping with the concept of Guilty Pleasures, I thought I would post a Jack Benny radio program from Christmas 1953. As a rule, I'm not a fan of "old time radio" - I'm really not. But there are two radio comedians I am a complete fan of; Jack Benny and Fred Allen. Maybe for New Years I'll dig up a Fred Allen show, if you've never heard him before.

I am assuming most people reading this blog will know who Jack Benny is. If not, I've directed you to the Wikipedia page above so you can get some background. Also be aware that Benny, around this time was doing a completely different radio show than he was TV - so if you wonder why there is no video, there isn't any - it was radio only.

In any case, here is a Christmas show, typical of the Benny style of humor. It's also complete and a CBS Radio master, which means it has the original Lucky Strike Cigarette commercials intact. So, those of you in high-voltage anti-cigarette mode may want to skip this one - or at least you can fast forward if they offend you. Fair enough?

Enjoy.

With 8 days until Christmas (7 if you don't want to count Christmas day), it's getting about that time to get into the spirit of things and toss some Christmas music on the Roundtable.

Tonight it's by way of a sampler the late/great IRS Records put out in 1987 called Just In Time For Christmas, and I will most likely be featuring a lot of these tracks between now and the 25th because I don't think this little seven track sampler has been reissued anywhere and there's some pretty good stuff on it.

Like this one from Tirez Tirez. Christmas Time And You (Let's Put The X Back In X-mas) isn't one of those beat-you-over-the-nose-with-a-tire iron type Christmas songs. It's actually a great song and right up your alley if you want to get into the spirit but don't want to get all mental about it.

Like our Christmases, we like low-key - and this track nails it.

More tomorrow.

I think we are literally looking at 12 days until Christmas. Uh-oh. Okay, it took me by surprise this year. So as a way of getting up to speed, here's something you may not have heard in a very-very long time, if ever.

Leon Russell and his lone Christmas single from 1972. Slipping Into Christmas was, for some unknown reason, never available on an lp, compilation or any reissue. Only released as a 45 and only released in 1972.

Go figure. It's a great song.

Leon Russell was (and still is) one of the great singer/songwriter/producers, whose career has taken a big upswing in recent years via his association with Elton John. It's a somewhat unlikely combination, but it's putting Russell back in the limelight where he's belonged.

So here is Leon Russell's contribution to the Christmas spirit.

December 13, 1947 and news from Europe on this day had everything to do with the Council of Foreign Ministers Meeting in London. The Soviet Union were busy being less than enthusiastic, particularly with regards to reparations from Germany. There were also reactions to the implementation of the Marshall Plan, which the Soviets weren't too wild about either.

Basically, the meeting of the Big Four former Allies was giving every indication of where the Cold War was heading. And this was prelude for a long and bumpy ride.

Other news, via this NBC Report From Europe, focused on the upcoming Christmas season and the state of British economy during the holiday. Austerity was the watchword and, even though there was a scarcity of just about everything, and of those things prices were soaring, Christmas in 1947 was getting better than it was during the War years and the post-War period.

And that's how it looked in Europe, this December 13th, 1947.

Nothing like Christmas in wartime to put a perspective on things. This one, from 1940 was new and strange for the time. London had been going through the Blitz throughout 1940 and a goodly part of London was either destroyed or badly damaged. People who got the worst of it landed in these underground shelters. They were home to them for a very long time and there were usually hundreds of people crammed into them.

Since the BBC pioneered the concept of "on-the-spot" coverage of news and events, documentaries and special programs like this were commonplace, even during the war and it gave the rest of the world an opportunity to hear, almost first hand, what it was like for a country to withstand the devastation of war and somehow find some reason to celebrate.

This broadcast comes early on Christmas Day 1940. It ends with the King's Christmas Message.

So if you were curious what Christmas was like seventy years ago, pretend you're hearing this for the first time.

So on Christmas eve-eve, what better way to get in the spirit than to have a word from The Pilgrim Travelers. One of the greatest Gospel outfits of the late 1940's and 1950's, they had countless recordings and hits to their credit and many noteworthy names passing through their ranks, among them Lou Rawls.

Tonight it's one of their Christmas songs. Their rendition of I'll Be Home For Christmas.

Listening to this program, broadcast on December 20, 1956, I was reminded that, not only is the art of conversation extinct, it's been extinct for a while. There was fear it was becoming obsolete in the 1950's, the reason why programs like this came into existence. Why it's extinct now has probably something more to do with mainstream media than a general lack of interest in conversation between people. But in any event, listening to this program now it may seem really odd to a lot of people.

The subject is Christmas and the participants are mostly from the literary world except Commander Edward Whitehead who was President of Schwepps U.S.A. - and most notable, the spokesman for Schwepps Tonic Water ads throughout the 1950's and 60's. I'm trying to remember the last time an advertising icon was actually asked an opinion on something and drew blanks.

The other participants were well known names to a lot of people in the 1950's. was a regular on early Television Gameshows and something of a wit who wrote a number of books as well as a publisher who founded Random House. Clifton Fadiman was known more as a personality although he was highly regarded by many as a mid-Century philosopher and intellectual. Emily Kilbrough was a writer, auther and contributing editor to The New Yorker Magazine and numerous other publications in the 1920's all the way almost until her death.

Well known names for their time who are mostly forgotten now.

But here they are on December 20, 1956 all talking about Christmas - how it was in the deep distant past and how it was in the then-present.

These are most likely people who would be condemned in the mainstream media today as "elitist snobs" - something that appears to be a universal assessment for anyone with an i.q. over room temperature and who can put more than three syllables together in a simple sentence.

It's not a desire to dwell on the past as much as it's a desire to steer away from The Stupid.

Just saying.

(Dr. Martin Luther King - words for bewildering times)

In 1967 The CBC aired a series of five lectures delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King as part of its ongoing Massey Lectures series. The last of those lectures was "A Christmas Sermon on Peace".

Needless to say, the message is as relevant now as it was then.

Dr. Martin Luther King: “Peace on earth this Christmas season finds us a rather bewildered human race.”

Yes, we are. Still.

This was a repost from 2009. It seems, in 2011 the message is more meaningful than ever.

(Just wouldn't be Christmas without them)

A little something via The Beatles Fanclub to get you into the spirit, or keep you there, or to just get you rolling on a Sunday.

Enjoy and remember to hit the "donate" button -pennies, nickels and dimes work wonders.

(FDR Lights the National Christmas Tree (photo from 1940)

It's getting to be that time of year again - and you know Christmas is just around the corner when they start lighting the National Tree. Since the season keeps moving up, I suppose it's only natural the tree gets lit today, as opposed to December 24th as it was during the Roosevelt years.

And in 1935, FDR did the honors.

FDR: “For the spirit of Christmas knows no race, no creed, no clime, no limitation of time or space. Yes, the spirit of Christmas breathes an eternal message of peace and goodwill to all men.”

I think it's safe to say the season has officially begun.