The Golden Age of Christmas Music and Movies
Jan. 13, 20, 27, Feb. 3, 10
On-Campus – Tuesday 1:10 pm – 2:50 pm
During this Golden Age the music and film industries produced an astonishing number of Christmas-themed records and movies that charmed and delighted generations. Many of these records even topped the charts—often more than once—becoming perennial favorites that were re-interpreted by literally dozens of artists in every musical genre! Hollywood also got into the act, releasing many films in a variety of genres, some of which became instant classics; other under-appreciated gems were discovered later. Christmas-themed TV specials also became enormously popular and were often re-broadcast year after year—some for decades!
We chart the growth and development of this Christmas entertainment boom of the 40’s through the 60’s by listening to and watching an array of recording artists, films and TV clips. Enjoy this nostalgic fun—hopefully there will be a few surprises, a few laughs, and maybe even a few tears along the way. Hope to see you there!
- Week 1: The early 40’s – The WWII Years
- Week 2: The mid-late 40’s – The Post-War Boom
- Week 3: The early 50’s – Pop, Semi-Classical, Jazz, Country, and Rhythm ’n’ Blues
all “go Christmas” - Week 4: The mid-50’s to the early 60’s – Christmas meets Rock ’n’ Roll and TV
- Week 5: The early-mid 60’s – From Phil Spector and The Beach Boys to Rudolph and Charlie Brown
Gary Carlson, retired Professor of English at Norwalk Community College (now CT State Norwalk), created and taught a wide variety of courses on writing, literature, film, and pop culture. A published writer of fiction, non-fiction, film and music criticism, he also hosted several local radio programs on music history and was the founder and host of NCC’s long-running Movies-of-the-Month Film Series.