A look at a Yuletide tradition from my mis-spent youth, after the jump ….
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I recall as a 10 year-old (growing up in the NYC suburbs) seeing in TV Guide an ad for this 1966 upcoming Yule Log program — with several hours of Christmas music played commercial-free (and simulcast in stereo on the local TV network’s FM radio channel) on Christmas Eve with simply a roaring fireplace on the screen.
Alas, in showing this to my father …. he thought that was the dumbest idea he had ever heard of, and when reading that the film was filmed at Gracie Mansion (the residence of the mayor of NYC) he cited the name of the then-mayor, saying “What do I want to watch Lindsay’s Logs for?!?” (As the years went by, he jokingly called the show “Beame’s Beams”, “Koch’s Kindling”).
But within a year-or-so … he grew to love the program’s music, and if we didn’t turn it on — he did. My father was always exhorting his kids to try new foods, yet when it came to cultural changes: often he was initially disdainful of change, then adopting it (and sometimes going all-in) once he became comfortable with it. (My mother noted that he poo-poohed a velour shirt that she bought for him … then wore-it-out). In a situation comedy, the scriptwriters would have him say later on, “What a great idea to watch this program — glad I thought of it!”
Yet he was the exception when this show premiered on Christmas Eve of 1966: with New Yorkers embracing it (even for non-Christians). Here’s a look at the back-story of a TV event that is now shown on many local networks around the country (if they are Tribune-owned stations) and has spawned similar Yule Log programming on other networks.
In the autumn of 1966 the general manager of local TV station WPIX Channel 11 in New York (today part of the CW network) was named Fred Thrower— who had the idea for something different based upon several reported influences (and no two accounts are the same). In today’s 24-hour cycle with infomercials galore it seems strange: but in 1966, commercial advertisers would not pay top-dollar for a spot on Christmas Eve (when few viewers would be watching). In addition to allowing more employees to be off with their families, he took note that few New York City residents had fireplaces: so why not provide one for them?
Amazingly, here is a yellowed-out copy of the memo he sent in November — noting that he was willing to cancel a showing … of Roller Derby.
The choice of music then has held-up over the years: among them, recordings by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Arthur Fielder and the Boston Pops Orchestra and — in playing nine of the ten selections on the original release — this show made the Nat King Cole Christmas album my favorite, a slot it has not relinquished yet.
Yet after four years: the initial tape loop (filmed on 16mm tape) was fraying. And when they contacted the staff at Gracie Mansion to ask about re-filming there (on 35mm film this time): it seems that a spark from the original taping burned a $4,000 antique rug, so they were denied. Somehow, they were alerted to a similar-looking fireplace located in NYC …. actually, in Palo Alto, California — and so a longer loop was filmed on a hot day in August, 1970(!) This became the new tape loop … (more on that later).
The show became a cultural phenomenon, with the Newsday entertainment critic Marvin Kitman— author of the Bill O’Reilly book The Man Who Would Not Shut Up— dedicating part of several columns to the technical aspects … even printing letters from readers who spotted the change in tape (“We have been duped!” wrote one reader with an ostensibly Jewish name).
And so the show continued, with Thrower’s successor as general manager (Richard Hughes) supporting it — even taping a message before it ran — despite the more-and-more lucrative advertising revenue the station was forgoing. When Hughes retired in 1990, his successor felt that it was too costly to continue showing. The decision to cancel it received much public criticism, and I even wrote a letter …. receiving a courteous reply, (citing the availability of home videos as part of its defense, as I recall). The Yule Log remained dormant from 1990 to 2000.
Then after the tragedy of 9/11… the station’s then-general manager Betty Ellen Berlamino decided to revive the broadcast (as “comfort food” to New Yorkers) — this time, just on Christmas morning. That was only possible after the station could locate the 1970 film in the first place: it was finally located in a New Jersey film archive (and in a mis-labeled can…. of a Honeymooners episode)!
It became the most-watched show that day in the metro NY area … and the station, recognizing the cultural value (beyond the foregone advertising revenue) has pledged to continue it from then on. In 2003, the Tribune Company (which had become the owner of WPIX) made it available to its affiliates, and as noted: other TV networks often created their own versions.
One more recent development: in July, 2016 a station archivist named Rolando Pujol was going through their library, seeking old tapes of you-know-who during his presidential campaign … when he came across a tape (accurately) labeled as “Original WPIX Fireplace” …. which was the original 16mm tape that was shown on the inaugural 1966 broadcast. After an extensive clean-up, that loop is now shown during part of the Yule Log broadcasts.
If I was eligible to run for mayor of NYC: in addition to my positions on municipal services, my #1 pledge would be to have WPIX re-record the tape loop at Gracie Mansion — where it belongs — going forward.
Let’s close with one of Nat King Cole’s renditions that are part of the broadcast:
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And from Ed Tracey, your faithful correspondent this evening ........
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