History of Christmas Carols...

The answer to yesterday's Carol Quiz is 'The Christmas Song' (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire).

Robert Wells wrote the words and 21 year-old Mel Torme wrote the music and recorded it in 1946. But Nat "King" Cole's version that year was the big hit, and remained Nat's Top 10 personal repertoire thereafter.


History of Christmas Carols...

This Christmas Carol was published in 1954 by Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn. Styne and Cahn had written a string of hits for Frank Sinatra and Sinatra asked them to write a Christmas song to sing. They were a little reluctant to write one because Bing Crosby just had the mega hit: 'White Christmas.' What they came up with was a waltz.

NAME THAT CHRISTMAS CAROL.

History of Christmas Carols...

The answer to yesterday's Carol Quiz is 'The Christmas Song' (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire).

Robert Wells wrote the words and 21 year-old Mel Torme wrote the music and recorded it in 1946. But Nat "King" Cole's version that year was the big hit, and remained Nat's Top 10 personal repertoire thereafter.

HISTORY OF CHRISTMAS CAROLS...

This popular Christmas Carol was inspired on Robert Wells' birthday as he noticed vendors selling bags of warm chestnuts along the street just before Christmas. He took all his thoughts and memories of 'Christmas-time' and wrote the words to a poem he called: 'Thoughts of Christmas.'
He took the poem to his friend, Mel Torme, who wrote the music and recorded this classic Christmas Carol in 1946.
NAME THAT CHRISTMAS CAROL...

History of Toys...

What child's toy was invented by Johann Maelzel in 1820 and then became hugely successful by a state-of-the-art improvement by Thomas Edison in 1887?

The Pilgrims...

On the south side of the Rotunda in the United States Capitol Building is a painting titled The Embarkation of the Pilgrims.

The painting depicts the deck of the ship as it departs from Holland for the New World in 1620. Look, and you will see that the pilgrims are praying. A rainbow rises on the left side of the painting, symbolizing hope and divine protection.

Protestant pilgrims are shown on the deck of the ship Speedwell before their departure for the New World from Delft Haven, Holland, on July 22, 1620. William Brewster, holding the Bible, and pastor John Robinson lead Governor Carver, William Bradford, Miles Standish, and their families in prayer. The prominence of women and children suggests the importance of the family in the community. At the left side of the painting is a rainbow, which symbolizes hope and divine protection.
Weir (1803–1890) had studied art in Italy and taught art at the military academy at West Point.
The dimensions of this oil painting on canvas are 365.76 cm by 548.64 cm (144.00 in by 216.00 in).

Chorus jokes...

What's the definition of an optimist?
A choir director with a mortgage.

What's the difference between a puppy and a choir director?
Eventually the puppy stops whining.

Why are choir conductor's hearts so coveted for transplants?
They've had so little use.

What's the difference between a choir conductor and a sack of fertilizer?
The sack.

What's the difference between God and a choir conductor?
God knows He's not a choir conductor.

History of the Hymns...

'Blessed Assurance'...

Fanny Crosby wrote more than 8,000 hymns and used more than 200 pen names. Under contract to a music publisher, she wrote 3 new hymns each week during much of her adult life. The fact that she was blind didn't diminish her productivity. She would formulate an entire song in her mind and then dictate it to a friend or secretary.

Phoebe Palmer Knapp, wife of the founder of Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, composed a tune in 1873 and brought it to Crosby in Brooklyn. "Play it for me on the organ," Crosby asked. Knapp did and then asked, "What does this tune say?" She turned to see Crosby kneeling in prayer. Knapp played it a second time and then a third. Then the blind woman responded: "That says, 'Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! O what a foretaste of glory divine!"
This hymn was sung in the 1985 Academy Award winning movie; 'Trip to Bountiful.'