Christmas time is here, happiness and cheer.

The first Christmas card was created in England on December 9, 1843.

Like most of us, Henry Cole, an Englishman, was too busy to write personal greetings for all of his Christmas greetings in 1843. Cole hired artist John Calcott Horsley to design a ready-to-be-sent card.



The hand-colored card Horsley designed was lithographed on stiff, dark cardboard and featured adults and children raising wine glasses in a toast. Some thought the card blasphemous with the family, surrounded with religious symbols, holding glasses of wine



Printed in an edition of 1,000, Horsley's card was sold in London stores. At the time, the greeting cards could be mailed for a penny each. Less than a dozen of those cards exists today. Printed cards soon became the rage in England; the controversy is thought to have helped promote Cole's idea.


December 9, 1947 -
An oft forgotten holiday classic, The Bishop's Wife, starring Cary Grant, David Nivens, and Loretta Young premiered in NYC on this date.



William A. Seiter was the original director, but producer Samuel Goldwyn didn't like what he had shot and brought in Henry Koster to shoot a completely new film. The preview audience didn't like the new version, so Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett had to rewrite a couple of scenes without screen credit.


December 9, 1965 -
A pre-teen drama about the bi-polar kid and his wacky friends first experiences of the depressive nature of the holiday season premiered on this date -



Aluminum Christmas trees were marketed beginning in 1958 and enjoyed fairly strong sales by eliminating pesky needles and tree sap. But the annual airings of A Charlie Brown Christmas swayed public thinking: In the special, Charlie Brown refuses to get a fake tree. Viewers began to do the same, and the product was virtually phased out by 1969.

Now you know.


December 9, 1978 -
Nicolas Roeg's iconic thriller Don't Look Now, starring Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland, was released in New York City on this date.



Shooting the drowning sequence was particularly problematic: Sharon Williams, who played Christine, became hysterical when submersed in the pond, despite the rehearsals at the swimming pool going well. A farmer on the neighboring land volunteered his daughter who was an accomplished swimmer, but who refused to be submersed when it came to filming. In the end, the scene was filmed in a water tank using three girls.


December 9, 1989 –
Billy Joel's history lesson, We Didn’t Start the Fire hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts on this date.



Joel wrote the lyrics first, which he rarely does. He says that is why the song has no melody. Joel told Billboard magazine: "It's terrible musically. It's like a mosquito buzzing around your head."


December 9, 2005 -
The adaptation of C. S. Lewis's fantasy series, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe premiered on this date.



The wolves that destroyed the Beavers' home were mostly real animals, with one or two CGI ones added in, although their tails had to be digitally removed and re-added. Their tails kept wagging while filming the scene, making them seem less vicious, showing instead, being happy with frolicking around.


December 9, 2005 -
Rob Marshall's adaptation of critically acclaimed novel (of the same name) Memoirs of a Geisha, starring Zhang Ziyi, Ken Watanabe, Gong Li, Michelle Yeoh, Youki Kudoh, and Suzuka Ohgo premiered in the US on this date.



The film was heavily criticized by Asian critics for having Chinese actresses portraying the geishas. In reality, according to producer Lucy Fisher, the producers held an open day for audition for Japanese actresses to audition for those roles. None turned up and they had to turn to other Asian actresses for casting.


(Today's Special - The holidays can really bring you down)


Today in History:
December 9, 1783 -
The site of London's executions (via the gallows) was moved from Tyburn to Newgate. The public spectacle of prisoners' executions drew large crowds.



Out with the old, in with the new.


December 9, 1902 -
A great deal of my mail comes from fans of the 'Oz' picture - fans of all ages. The scholarly, the curious, the disbelievers write and ask how? why? when? what for? did you fly? melt? scream? cackle? appear? disappear? produce? sky-write? deal with monkeys? etc., etc., etc.



Margaret Hamilton, celebrated character actress best known for her portrayal of The Wicked Witch of the West in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, was born on this date.


December 9, 1957 -
Donny Osmond was born on this date!



Still a little bit Rock and Roll.


December 9, 1968 -
The John Birch Society, is a political education and action organization founded by Robert W. Welch on this date.



The society supports associated with traditionally conservative causes such as anti-communism, support for individual rights and the ownership of private property.

If you think I'm going to make fun of them, given some of the things that the president has said, you've got another thing coming.


December 9, 1994 -
Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders was dismissed after suggesting discussion of masturbation in school classes on sexuality.









This gives rise to the euphemistic term "firing the surgeon general."


Useless Christmas Trivia:

The lighting of candles and decorating with candles has always been popular, but also one of biggest sources of danger during the Christmas holidays.



In 1895 a New England Telephone employee, Ralph Morris, while looking at the newly installed string of lights made for the telephone switchboard decided to take some home to decorate his tree with. And/or it may be attributed to Thomas Edison's partner, Edward Johnson for inventing the first string of lights around the same time Ralph, for safety reasons.

In 1923, after his daily scalp massage with Vaseline, President Calvin Coolidge started the annual tradition of the National Christmas Tree lighting ceremony on the White House lawn.



And so it goes

13 days until Hanukkah
16 days until Christmas

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