by Michael Lyons
It happened on November 30, 1977. I was eleven years old and watched the annual Bing Crosby Christmas special with my mother and father, as we did each year. It was called Bing Crosby's Merrie Olde Christmas, and, as he did each year, he ended the special by singing his iconic trademark song, "White Christmas."
My mom started crying as Bing sang it on our furniture-sized television. When "White Christmas" finished, my mom said, "That's the last time."
Many watching Bing Crosby's Merrie Olde Christmas felt the same way that evening. Sadly, Bing Crosby had just passed away in October of 1977, not long after taping the special (it had been a tough year as Elvis Presley had passed in August).
As it did then, Bing Crosby's Merrie Olde Christmas still feels like an end of an era. Oh sure, there were, and have been similar, variety show-like Christmas specials since, but Bing Crosby represented a time when those comforting Christmas carols weren't re-recorded by every artist with a microphone and weren't played 24 hours a day on the radio.
When you heard Bing Crosby, it was Christmas. Sure, he was known for more, but thanks to "White Christmas" and the movie of the same name, as well as Holiday Inn, seeing him and hearing him felt like a sign of the season.
That's what makes watching Bing Crosby's Merrie Olde Christmas bittersweet.
The special's "story" centers on Bing receiving an invite from a distant relative ("Sir Percy"), inviting him and his family to England to spend Christmas there. Bing, his wife Kathryn, and children Harry, Mary, and Nathaniel, spend the holidays at Sir Percy's estate.
While there, they meet the butler, the cook, and the maid (all played by Scottish comedian Stanley Baxter) and spend some time with Sir Percy's neighbor, David Bowie (during which he and Bing perform the medley of "Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy," which would not only bridge musical generation gaps but also become a hit single in the 1980s).
Also, model and singer Twiggy joins the Crosbys for a discussion about some of Charles Dickens' most famous characters (many of them played in this ethereal sequence by actor Ron Moody, who had played Fagan in 1968's musical Oliver!).
Toward the conclusion, the Trinity Boys Choir joins all for a rousing medley of such Christmas songs as "Jingle Bells," "Winter Wonderland," "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day," and "Carol of the Bells."
And it all concludes with Bing, standing at the piano, for that touching, last rendition of "White Christmas."
Recorded in England, Bing Crosby's Merrie Olde Christmas aired on November 30, 1977, on CBS, a little over a month after Bing's passing on October 14th. Bing's wife Kathryn recorded a special introduction that aired before the special.
Watching Bing Crosby's Merrie Olde Christmas today, 45 years after its debut, it's not only a reminder of how closely Bing was connected to the holidays but also a memory of "another time" when Christmas specials such as this were like televised Christmas cards, from entertainers. And an era when families scheduled time to gather together to watch them.
It was a wonderful time, and Bing Crosby was a wonderful part of it and an amazing talent, who has left quite the legacy, that we get to enjoy every Christmas season.
And Bing's closing words in the special, just before he sings "White Christmas," still resonates today:
“Really, I guess Christmas has a way of calling up the best in people. It's time to review your blessings, to renew your faith, to share the warmth of the season with new and old friends, with family. It's a time of joy, of closeness, a time to look back with gratitude of being able to come this far, and the time to look ahead with hope and optimism to a future day when there'll be peace on earth and goodwill towards all men. We wish you all the blessings of the season and a dream to place under your pillow to see you through the cold nights.”
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