December 24, 1934 …The First Traditional Christmas Special Debuts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gDeZ4vuBCc
From 1934 till 1953, Lionel Barrymore played the role of Ebeneezer Scrooge on the annual holiday broadcast of “A Christmas Carol” on CBS Radio. When what became a tradition started, it was a huge event as this was the movie star’s first ever radio performance. It’s popularity grew to imminence proportions over the years.
At this link is a woderfully detailed page on the Barrymore/Scrooge tradition that lasted 19 years, and even after, as many local stations played recordings of these shows…even to this day! http://www.digitaldeliftp.com/DigitalDeliToo/dd2jb-A-Christmas-Carol.html
In a very real sense, this was America’s first traditional Christmas media special. It was performed live Christmas Eve on coast to coast radio with Barrymore at CBS in Los Angeles. At the top is a link to the 1939 version directed by Orson Wells. The newspaper article is from 1934.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! -Bobby Ellerbee
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