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The
Reluctant Mythmaker
Clement Moore |
Clement Moore certainly
did not intend to create the myth or the story that is now a regular
part of the Christmas tradition. In fact, even when his famous poem
became extraordinarily popular, it was years before he admitted authorship.
Clement Moore is said to have written his famous poem “A Visit
From St. Nicholas,” which is also know by its first line: “T’was
the night before Christmas,” on a ride from his homestead in Elmhurst
to Greenwich Village, where he was headed to buy his family’s
Christmas turkey in 1822.
Moore was the son of Benjamin Moore, president of Columbia College and
bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in New York. He married Catherine
Elizabeth Taylor in 1813 and they settled for some time in Elmhurst,
which was then a country estate outside of New York City.
Moore said the famous poem was written as a Christmas gift for his children.
He originally wrote it anonymously and it might have been left in obscurity
if a Moore relative had not sent the poem to a newspaper upstate. The
paper published the poem with no name but when it became a perennial
favorite, Moore finally admitted authorship.
The ballad has contributed, by some accounts more than anything else,
to the formation of the modern concept of the secular aspects of Christmas.
Clement Moore’s homestead can still be visited in Elmhurst at
the Clement Moore Homestead Park at 45th Avenue and Broadway.
Dreaming
of A White Christmas
Irving Berlin
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Before he passed
away, Irving Berlin was one of the most prolific songwriters ever. He
wrote more than 900 songs, 19 musicals and the scores of 18 movies.
He is credited as one of the most inspiring songwriters during the World
War I and II eras, writing such favorites like “God Bless America,”
which was so popular it threatened to replace the National Anthem.
But his most famous song might be “White Christmas,” which
helped usher in the age of popular holiday music. In 1924, a fellow
songwriter named Jerome Kern said, “Irving Berlin has no place
in American music. He is American music.”
Berlin moved to Bayside in 1893 to escape the pogroms in Russia. At
the age of eight, he took to the streets of the Lower East Side of New
York City to help support his mother and family after his father had
died. In the early 1900s he worked as a singing waiter in many restaurants
and started writing songs. His first published hit was “Marie
From Sunny Italy.”
In World War I, he wrote the musical Yip, Yip, Yaphank, which was produced
by the men of Camp Upton. In this musical, the big hit song was “Oh,
How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning.” This musical raised more
than $150,000 to build a service center at Camp Upton.
It was on Armistice Day, 1938 that he introduced “God Bless America,”
which was sung by Kate Smith. This song threatened to replace the National
Anthem because of its patriotism and popularity.
In World War II, he wrote the musical This is the Army, which raised
$10 million for the Army Emergency Relief.
Berlin supported Jewish charities and organizations and donated many
dollars to worthwhile causes. He was honored in 1944 by the National
Conference of Christians and Jews for “advancing the aims of the
conference to eliminate religious and racial conflict.”
Five years later, he was honored by the New York YMHA as one of “12
outstanding Americans of the Jewish faith.”
On Feb. 18, 1955, President Dwight D. Eisenhower presented him with
a gold medal in recognition of his services in composing patriotic songs
for the country. Berlin had assigned the copyright for “God Bless
America” to the God Bless America Fund, which has raised millions
of dollars for the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.
Irving Berlin died Sept. 22, 1989, at the age of 101.
Following a gala 100th birthday celebration concert at Carnegie Hall,
Morton Gould, president of ASCAP, said that “Irving Berlin’s
music will last not for just an hour, not for just a day, not for just
a year, but always.”
“Visit From St.Nicholas”
By Clement Moore
T’was the
night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, -not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled
down for a long winter’s nap,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,
With a little old driver,
so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;
”Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on Cupid! on, Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!”
As dry leaves that before
the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my hand, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.
His eyes - how they twinkled!
his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.
He was chubby and plump,
a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
“HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL,
AND TO ALL A GOOD-NIGHT.”
White
Christmas
By Irving Berlin
I'm dreaming of
a white Christmas,
Just like the ones I used to know
Where the treetops glisten and children listen
To hear sleigh bells in the snow
I'm dreaming of a white Christmas,
With every Christmas card I write
May your days be merry and bright,
And may all your Christmases be white
May your days be merry and
bright,
And may all your Christmases be white
And may all your christmases
be white
And may all your christmases be white
A
Southeast Queens Christmas
By Raynelle Cerica Bull
Run DMC |
Armed with gold
chains and Adidas apparel, Run-DMC emerged on the scene in the early
1980s to change the rap game forever.
Joseph Simmons (Run) and Darryl McDaniels (DMC) were introduced to Jason
Mizzell (Jam Master Jay) by a mutual friend right before Run-DMC’s
second album came out. The Hollis-raised trio went on to release albums
like self-titled “Run-DMC” in 1984, which went gold, making
them the first rappers to have a gold album. They were also the first
rappers to go platinum with the 1985 “King of Rock,” and
the first to go multi-platinum with “Raising Hell” in 1986.
Run-DMC soon became a household name, and under the management of Run’s
older brother Russell Simmons, the group crossed all music lines, especially
with the remake of “Walk this Way” with Aerosmith.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the group released “Tougher
Than Leather” and “Back From Hell,” neither album
received the same commercial acclaim as previous releases.
In 2002, Mizzell’s family, friends and fans suffered a terrible
loss when he was shot and killed in a Jamaica recording studio.
During Run-DMC’s reign at the top, they wanted everyone to know
where they were from, and the group went on to represent with their
holiday release, “Christmas in Hollis.”
Christmas
in Hollis
By Run-DMC
It was December
24th on Hollis Ave in the dark
When I see a man chilling with his dog in the park
I approached very slowly with my heart full of fear
Looked at his dog, oh my God, an ill reindeer
But then I was illin because
the man had a beard
And a bag full of goodies, 12 o'clock had neared
So I turned my head a second and the man had gone
But he left his driver's wallet smack dead on the lawn
I picket the wallet up then
I took a pause
Took out the license and it cold said 'Santa Claus'
A million dollars in it, cold hundreds of G's
Enough to buy a boat and matching car with ease
But I'd never steal from
Santa, cause that ain't right
So I'm going home to mail it back to him that night
But when I got home I bugged, cause under the tree
Was a letter from Santa and all the dough was for me
[DMC]
It's Christmas time in Hollis Queens
Mom's cooking chicken and collard greens
Rice and stuffing, macaroni
and cheese
And Santa put gifts under Christmas trees
Decorate the house with lights at night
Snow's on the ground, snow white so bright
In the fireplace is the yule log
Beneath the mistle toe as we drink egg nog
The rhymes you hear are the rhymes of Darryl's
But each and every year we bust Christmas carols
(Christmas melodies)
[Run-DMC]
Rhymes so loud and proud you hear it
It's Christmas time and we got the spirit
Jack Frost chilling, the hawk is out
And that's what Christmas is all about
The time is now, the place is here
And the whole wide world is filled with cheer
[DMC]
My name's D.M.C. with the mic in my hand
And I'm chilling and cooling just like a snowman
So open your eyes, lend us an ear
We want to say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
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