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Now 9 00:00:26,640 --> 00:00:30,640 Speaker 1: here's a highlight from Coast to Coast AM on iHeartRadio. 10 00:00:31,120 --> 00:00:34,880 Speaker 1: Let's talk about a little Christmas facts and tidbits of course, 11 00:00:35,040 --> 00:00:39,280 Speaker 1: and what are some of your favorite things about Christmas 12 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:43,240 Speaker 1: turtles that are strange? Well, one thing I noticed you 13 00:00:43,320 --> 00:00:47,199 Speaker 1: played a song about Rudolph the Red Noose Reindeer. Yeah, 14 00:00:47,200 --> 00:00:50,120 Speaker 1: that's an interesting story. It's an amazing story how Rudolph 15 00:00:50,120 --> 00:00:53,040 Speaker 1: the Red Noose Reindeer came to be. Originally, it was 16 00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:56,920 Speaker 1: not a song. There was an advertising director of a 17 00:00:57,040 --> 00:01:00,880 Speaker 1: department store in Chicago whose name was Robert May and 18 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:05,040 Speaker 1: in the late nineteen thirties he wrote this poem about 19 00:01:05,120 --> 00:01:07,319 Speaker 1: Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. It wasn't a song, as 20 00:01:07,319 --> 00:01:10,520 Speaker 1: I say, And what he did with it he used 21 00:01:10,520 --> 00:01:13,560 Speaker 1: it as a giveaway at the store and also used 22 00:01:13,600 --> 00:01:16,000 Speaker 1: it as a newspaper ad. It was just a you know, 23 00:01:16,040 --> 00:01:18,840 Speaker 1: a poem about Rudolph the red Nose reindeer. It was 24 00:01:18,880 --> 00:01:22,600 Speaker 1: like nineteen thirty eight, ten years later, nineteen forty eight. 25 00:01:22,880 --> 00:01:26,279 Speaker 1: His brother in law. It was a man named Johnny Marks, 26 00:01:26,959 --> 00:01:31,800 Speaker 1: who was a songwriter, and he saw that he saw 27 00:01:31,840 --> 00:01:34,880 Speaker 1: the poem that Robert May had written about Rudolph the 28 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:37,920 Speaker 1: Red Nose Reindeer, and so he put music to it 29 00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:40,640 Speaker 1: and then tried to get somebody to record it. And 30 00:01:40,720 --> 00:01:44,680 Speaker 1: he took it around to all he was from Los Angeles. 31 00:01:45,120 --> 00:01:48,120 Speaker 1: He took it all all around the artists he knew. 32 00:01:48,800 --> 00:01:51,680 Speaker 1: Nobody wanted to record it, nobody was interested in it. 33 00:01:52,160 --> 00:01:54,480 Speaker 1: And he spent all about six months trying to get 34 00:01:54,520 --> 00:01:58,280 Speaker 1: somebody to record the words and the song he had 35 00:01:58,280 --> 00:02:03,520 Speaker 1: written about Rudolph. Finally, in desperation, he went to He 36 00:02:03,560 --> 00:02:07,240 Speaker 1: was an old friend of Gene Autrey's. Oh great, yeah, 37 00:02:07,280 --> 00:02:10,440 Speaker 1: and Gene Autrey as a favor. Johnny Mark said, Jeez, 38 00:02:10,480 --> 00:02:12,360 Speaker 1: I've been trying to get this recorded for so long, 39 00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:15,880 Speaker 1: so gene Audrey said, okay, he did it as a favor, 40 00:02:15,960 --> 00:02:18,320 Speaker 1: he said, he said, I'll put it on the flip 41 00:02:18,360 --> 00:02:22,200 Speaker 1: side of the next record I have coming out, and 42 00:02:22,280 --> 00:02:23,880 Speaker 1: he did. He put it on the flip side and 43 00:02:24,160 --> 00:02:28,400 Speaker 1: everybody's surprise. Everybody's surprised. It became one of the biggest 44 00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:32,840 Speaker 1: hits in music history. And you know, it's just amazing. 45 00:02:33,360 --> 00:02:36,040 Speaker 1: Had he not been friendly with Gene Audrey, we might 46 00:02:36,160 --> 00:02:38,800 Speaker 1: never have heard that song. What was the song on 47 00:02:38,840 --> 00:02:42,440 Speaker 1: the other side that I don't know? Nobody, nobody remembers that, 48 00:02:43,880 --> 00:02:46,920 Speaker 1: but he forgot that song, and they remember saying. We 49 00:02:46,960 --> 00:02:49,480 Speaker 1: have that story in the All Time Book of Fascinating Facts. 50 00:02:49,600 --> 00:02:53,959 Speaker 1: One other little fact about that story is, originally Robert 51 00:02:53,960 --> 00:02:57,160 Speaker 1: May was going to call the reindeer Rollo. He wrote 52 00:02:57,160 --> 00:03:00,520 Speaker 1: it originally as Rollo the Red Nose Reindeer. And he 53 00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:04,119 Speaker 1: had a four year old daughter who said, I think Rudolph. 54 00:03:04,440 --> 00:03:06,360 Speaker 1: She came up with a name Rudolph. She said, I 55 00:03:06,400 --> 00:03:10,880 Speaker 1: like Rudolph better than Rollop out of the matha babes. Yeah, 56 00:03:10,960 --> 00:03:14,320 Speaker 1: And it was really her name, that name Rudolph. And 57 00:03:14,560 --> 00:03:18,080 Speaker 1: as we say, he became the most famous reindeer of 58 00:03:18,120 --> 00:03:23,400 Speaker 1: all My granddaughter sent my mother a Christmas card and 59 00:03:23,560 --> 00:03:27,520 Speaker 1: it came back because she put the address wrong and 60 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:31,480 Speaker 1: it freaked her out. But I began to think, how 61 00:03:31,520 --> 00:03:34,280 Speaker 1: many Christmas cards are being sent these days. I mean, 62 00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:37,720 Speaker 1: some of them are electronic, but people are still sending 63 00:03:37,720 --> 00:03:41,160 Speaker 1: out a lot of Christmas cards. How did that tradition start? Charles? Well, 64 00:03:41,200 --> 00:03:45,280 Speaker 1: it started in the middle eighteen hundreds in England. There 65 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:48,880 Speaker 1: was a man named Sir Henry Cole who liked to 66 00:03:48,920 --> 00:03:54,240 Speaker 1: engrave pictures on cards and send them to people. And 67 00:03:54,320 --> 00:03:59,600 Speaker 1: of course regular mail delivery basically just started around that time, 68 00:04:00,360 --> 00:04:03,680 Speaker 1: so he sent He used to making different engravings of 69 00:04:03,760 --> 00:04:07,240 Speaker 1: different scenes and send him their friends. He was basically 70 00:04:07,240 --> 00:04:10,960 Speaker 1: an artist, an aristocratic artist, and he sent it to 71 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:15,760 Speaker 1: his friends. And one Christmas around the middle eighteen hundreds, 72 00:04:16,360 --> 00:04:21,719 Speaker 1: he made a nice Christmas picture and sent it to 73 00:04:21,760 --> 00:04:24,200 Speaker 1: some of his friends, and then he had some cards 74 00:04:24,279 --> 00:04:26,919 Speaker 1: left over, so he took them to a store in 75 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:30,159 Speaker 1: London and they put them on sale and they sold 76 00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:34,320 Speaker 1: out like immediately. So the next year they said to him, 77 00:04:34,480 --> 00:04:39,240 Speaker 1: you know, I'd given us some more cards with Christmas 78 00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:42,400 Speaker 1: pictures Christmas drawings on it, and he did, and that 79 00:04:42,560 --> 00:04:45,919 Speaker 1: started the tradition. That's where it started. In England in 80 00:04:45,960 --> 00:04:49,520 Speaker 1: the middle eighteen hundreds, people again went to the store, 81 00:04:49,640 --> 00:04:52,800 Speaker 1: bought the cards and mailed them to their friends and family. 82 00:04:53,480 --> 00:04:57,120 Speaker 1: And then the father of the US Christmas card is 83 00:04:57,160 --> 00:05:01,039 Speaker 1: a man named Lewis Prang who was a winter in Boston, 84 00:05:01,560 --> 00:05:06,920 Speaker 1: and he printed some Christmas cards about ten years later, 85 00:05:07,040 --> 00:05:10,440 Speaker 1: a keen sixties, and put them on sale in Boston 86 00:05:10,520 --> 00:05:12,960 Speaker 1: and they were a big hit. And that's how the 87 00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:15,960 Speaker 1: tradition that Christmas cards started. It goes back to that, 88 00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:18,840 Speaker 1: and I guess from there it probably branched out into 89 00:05:18,839 --> 00:05:22,800 Speaker 1: all kinds of stuff like Valentine's Day and everything else, right, right, Yeah. 90 00:05:22,920 --> 00:05:26,880 Speaker 1: We have to realize that before that time, mail was 91 00:05:27,200 --> 00:05:33,599 Speaker 1: entirely different. The receiver had to pay for the letter. Yeah, yeah, 92 00:05:34,440 --> 00:05:37,160 Speaker 1: and you know that we didn't have regular letter carriers 93 00:05:37,160 --> 00:05:39,280 Speaker 1: in those days. In the old days. I would you 94 00:05:39,360 --> 00:05:41,280 Speaker 1: like to pay for a bill you get in the mail? 95 00:05:41,760 --> 00:05:48,440 Speaker 1: That's right, Santa Claus? How did that develop? Santa Claus? 96 00:05:48,680 --> 00:05:51,960 Speaker 1: You know there really was a real Saint Nicholas. He 97 00:05:52,120 --> 00:05:53,960 Speaker 1: lived in the I just talked to him at the 98 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:57,760 Speaker 1: top of the show, by the way. Yeah, he's out 99 00:05:57,800 --> 00:06:00,320 Speaker 1: there in Manitoba right about now. Oh yeah, yeah, I 100 00:06:00,320 --> 00:06:04,000 Speaker 1: guess he's making his rounds anyhow. In the fourth century 101 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:05,960 Speaker 1: in what is now Turkey, and we have this story 102 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:09,880 Speaker 1: in the Old time Bookfestinating Effects, there really was a 103 00:06:09,920 --> 00:06:12,520 Speaker 1: Saint Nicholas, and he was from a very wealthy family 104 00:06:12,640 --> 00:06:17,720 Speaker 1: and became well known for giving money and gifts to people. 105 00:06:18,800 --> 00:06:23,520 Speaker 1: And that tradition of doing that from his name spread 106 00:06:23,920 --> 00:06:27,719 Speaker 1: basically around the world, and today, you know, Santa Claus 107 00:06:27,800 --> 00:06:32,040 Speaker 1: has all different kinds of names around the world. For example, 108 00:06:32,080 --> 00:06:35,719 Speaker 1: in England he's called Father Christmas. In France he's called 109 00:06:35,760 --> 00:06:41,039 Speaker 1: Papa Noel. But it was the Dutch who Their name 110 00:06:41,240 --> 00:06:45,880 Speaker 1: for Saint Nicholas was center Costs, which in the Dutch 111 00:06:45,960 --> 00:06:49,960 Speaker 1: language means good saint. And in the sixteen hundreds, when 112 00:06:49,960 --> 00:06:52,560 Speaker 1: a lot of Dutch immigrants came to the United States, 113 00:06:52,920 --> 00:06:57,000 Speaker 1: they brought with them their custom of calling him center Costs, 114 00:06:57,080 --> 00:07:01,640 Speaker 1: and then that evolved in English from center clause into 115 00:07:02,120 --> 00:07:05,400 Speaker 1: Santa clause. And that's why we call him Santa Claus today. 116 00:07:05,440 --> 00:07:08,359 Speaker 1: It's really from the Dutch center clause, which means the 117 00:07:08,440 --> 00:07:13,480 Speaker 1: good saint. We will be ending our program tonight, Charles, 118 00:07:13,480 --> 00:07:17,119 Speaker 1: with one of our guests Lionel Fanthorpe's rendition of Twas 119 00:07:17,200 --> 00:07:20,600 Speaker 1: the Night before Christmas. He does a great job doing that. 120 00:07:20,880 --> 00:07:24,200 Speaker 1: How did that start? Who composed that? Well, that's an 121 00:07:24,280 --> 00:07:28,760 Speaker 1: interesting story too. There was a man named Clement Clark Moore, 122 00:07:29,480 --> 00:07:31,760 Speaker 1: and I think, as I recall, the year was eighteen 123 00:07:32,040 --> 00:07:35,160 Speaker 1: twenty three is run around that time. He was a 124 00:07:35,200 --> 00:07:40,800 Speaker 1: professor at a theological seminary and he wrote a visit 125 00:07:40,880 --> 00:07:45,640 Speaker 1: from Saint Nicholas Twas the Night before Christmas. He wrote 126 00:07:45,640 --> 00:07:49,720 Speaker 1: it basically for the children in his family. He, as 127 00:07:49,760 --> 00:07:53,680 Speaker 1: I say, was at this theological seminary, did not want 128 00:07:53,720 --> 00:07:57,960 Speaker 1: to make it public apparently, but a friend saw it. 129 00:07:58,240 --> 00:08:01,000 Speaker 1: I guess one of the kids showed it around, and 130 00:08:01,120 --> 00:08:03,400 Speaker 1: the friends sent it to a newspaper in Troy, New York. 131 00:08:03,440 --> 00:08:06,480 Speaker 1: They published it and it became a big hit and 132 00:08:06,600 --> 00:08:10,800 Speaker 1: was picked up by other newspapers and published. And the 133 00:08:10,880 --> 00:08:14,840 Speaker 1: story is that Clement Clark Moore was very embarrassed by it. 134 00:08:16,120 --> 00:08:20,080 Speaker 1: Some said he denied authorship of it. He didn't acknowledge 135 00:08:20,120 --> 00:08:24,960 Speaker 1: authorship of it for about twenty years, but finally I 136 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:29,120 Speaker 1: guess he did, and he got over the embarrassment of 137 00:08:29,200 --> 00:08:34,800 Speaker 1: a theological professor writing a poem like that. The interesting 138 00:08:34,840 --> 00:08:36,559 Speaker 1: thing about that, we can talk a little bit later 139 00:08:36,600 --> 00:08:42,080 Speaker 1: about hanging stockings for Christmas. That helped popularize that in 140 00:08:42,160 --> 00:08:46,200 Speaker 1: the United States with the lines in that poem the 141 00:08:46,320 --> 00:08:49,880 Speaker 1: stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes 142 00:08:49,960 --> 00:08:53,680 Speaker 1: that Saint Nicholas would soon be there, and that was 143 00:08:53,679 --> 00:08:56,560 Speaker 1: the famous, famous lines. And then the other thing he 144 00:08:56,679 --> 00:09:01,440 Speaker 1: did in that poem was named the Reindeer. These are 145 00:09:01,480 --> 00:09:06,920 Speaker 1: the reindeer before Rudolph, the a reindeer. He popularized their 146 00:09:07,040 --> 00:09:11,520 Speaker 1: names in that poem, of course, and so that that 147 00:09:11,679 --> 00:09:15,040 Speaker 1: one poem did a lot, and it's kind of funny 148 00:09:15,080 --> 00:09:18,520 Speaker 1: that he did not want to acknowledge authorship of it. 149 00:09:18,880 --> 00:09:22,120 Speaker 1: Listen to more Coast to Coast AM every weeknight at 150 00:09:22,200 --> 00:09:25,120 Speaker 1: one am Eastern, and go to Coast to Coast am 151 00:09:25,200 --> 00:09:26,240 Speaker 1: dot com for more