Every year around this time, a discussion usually arises as to what makes a film a Christmas movie. Folks have varying criteria for qualification on this point, and contention usually arises. I’m not about to open that can of worms. I am, however, going to begin this year’s Yuletide entry on what constitutes a good Christmas film.
Quite simply, a good Christmas movie contains one or more of those genuine “lump in the throat” moments, especially at the end. Miracle on 34th Street and It’s a Wonderful Life are the gold standard for this. But there are such moments even in widely disparate films which touch on the holiday, such as White Christmas and Three Godfathers. It’s these moments which embody the sentiment and magic of the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.
Unfortunately, it’s a quality which seems to have been forgotten in Christmas movies of the last forty years or so. The Good Mrs. Benson and I spend every Christmas at my brother’s home, and every year, someone suggests watching A Christmas Story. I always roll my eyes, but put up with it, in order to keep harmony. A Christmas Story is nothing more than a sardonic view of a boyhood Christmas. I’ll allow that it occasionally has a humourous sequence, but it is completely lacking in the sentimental gratification that a holiday film should bring. (And, aye, my hatches are battened down, for all of you who will write in, telling me I’m wrong and insisting that A Christmas Story is a wonderful holiday film. In an Abominable Snow Monster’s eye, it is.)
A Christmas Story seemed to initiate a trend. Christmas movies since have been filled with over-the-top antics and juvenile humour. If there is an attempt at sentimentality, it’s forced and awkward. I think part of the problem is that the producers are actively striving to make a holiday classic. The best ones, Miracle on 34th Street and It’s a Wonderful Life, weren’t intended to be treasured Christmas films---they just became so in the hearts of the public.
I apply the same standard to Christmas specials on television. At the end of the Rankin-Bass Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, when the Misfit Toys feel they’ve been forgotten again, whose eyes don’t water up a little when the bells of Santa’s sleigh ring overhead? (Incidentally, there’s a Christmas Deck Log Entry in that final scene which I’ll get around to doing some year.) Most of the subsequent TV specials try too hard and come off as artificial.
The one Christmas medium in which I’m more liberal---getting closer to the topic of this entry, now---is the music of the holiday season. There, I’m wide open as to what I enjoy. There are joyful Christmas songs (“Deck the Halls”, “Here We Come A-Caroling”, “Sleigh Ride”). There are upbeat Christmas songs (the 1959 version of “Home for the Holidays” by Perry Como is the absolute best). There are big-band renditions of Christmas songs (“Frosty the Snowman” by the Glenn Miller Orchestra will knock your socks off). There are inspirational Christmas songs (“Do You Hear What I Hear?”). And, of course, there are the religious-based traditional Christmas carols (“Adeste Fideles”, by Nat King Cole, is responsible for the only Latin I speak). I love them all.
But the point of this Deck Log Entry is one of the sentimental Christmas songs. In fact, probably the most sentimental of them all. Likely, you’ll agree. I’m speaking of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”. That one is guaranteed to bring that lump-in-the-throat moment that I’ve been talking about.
First, a little history. “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” was written in 1944 by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane. The pair had been hired by MGM to compose songs for the movie Meet Me in St. Louis, starring Judy Garland. The film relates a year in the life of the Smith family, just before the opening of the 1904 World’s Fair. The plot is divided into seasonal vignettes. The Smiths’ comfortable, upper-middle-class life in St. Louis is upended in the winter segment, when the father announces that his company has promoted him. The position, however, requires that he relocate, and the family will move to New York City after Christmas.
This leads to the film’s most notable scene, when Judy Garland’s character, Esther, consoles her younger sister (played by seven-year-old Margaret O’Brien), miserable over being uprooted from the only home she has ever known. Garland sings “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” to the tearful O’Brien, bringing an endearing moment of tenderness in the otherwise-cheerful movie. As Gary and Susan Svehla related in their book, It’s Christmas Time at the Movies (Midnight Marquee Press, Inc., 1998):
Although the lyrics of the song are not sad, Garland’s rendition of this holiday treasure rarely leaves a dry eye in the house. The song and Judy Garland brilliantly manage to compress all the confusing feelings of Christmas into a few short stanzas---the love, happiness, sadness, and longing for perfection.
The poignancy of that scene infects the song itself. It’s impossible to hear it without feeling the same mix of emotions. But you already know this. What you might not know, however, is this song started out as a darker, rather bleak version of Christmastime.
As Martin and Blane understood it, the scene in which Judy Garland and Margaret O’Brien were despondent at the prospect of leaving their cherished home was an exceptionally sad one. It’s also significant that by November, 1944, America had already endured almost three years of World War II. Though Martin insisted that the war wasn’t a deliberate factor in the song’s composition, it’s hard to believe that the gold-star families across the country, facing empty chairs at the Christmas table, didn’t have an unconscious influence on it.
As a result, the lyrics originally written for “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” were suitably downcast . . .
Pretty gloomy, eh? Especially the part about “it may be your last”.
About a week before the scene was to be shot, Judy Garland went over the song during a rehearsal---and was horrified. The lyrics were too depressing. She approached Hugh Martin and asked him to lighten up the tone. “If I sing that to Margaret O'Brien,” she argued, “people are going to be streaming out of the theater. It's going to make me sound like a monster, to sing that to this sweet little girl.”
The film’s director (and Garland’s future husband) Vincente Minnelli lobbied on Judy’s behalf, weighing in with, “Look, the movie is about hope and dreams, and there’s got to be some hope in this song.”
Still, Martin resisted the pressure to do a re-write---until a close friend, Tom Drake, who happened to be the film’s male lead, persuaded him that such a dark take on Christmas would hurt his reputation as a songwriter.
So, Martin relented and revised the original lyrics to be more optimistic. This was the version that was filmed (changes in red) . . .
Despite giving in to the request for more hopeful lyrics, Hugh Martin wouldn't change the line "Until then, we’ll have to muddle through, somehow”. It was a powerful line, and the most memorable one. And whether the song was motivated, in part, by the war or not, it should be noted that when Judy Garland sang it at the Hollywood Canteen, the tough, battle-hardened servicemen were often moved to tears.
Yet, despite the enormous success of Meet Me in St. Louis, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” didn’t break out as a Christmas standard. It was looked upon as merely a beloved show tune from a popular musical. It didn’t become the signature holiday anthem it is to-day until it got another re-write---in 1957.
That’s when Frank Sinatra, whose languishing career had been revived by his appearance in the film From Here to Etermity (Columbia Pictures, 1953), got involved. In 1957, he was back at the top of the charts. That September would see the release of his first full-length Christmas album---A Jolly Christmas from Frank Sinatra. “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” was set to close out Side One. But Sinatra was uncomfortable with the song’s melancholy tone.
Sinatra came to Hugh Martin, requesting yet another revision. He had a particular problem with the “muddle through somehow” line. “The name of my album is A Jolly Christmas,” he told Martin. “Do you think you could jolly up that line for me?”
Evidently, Sinatra had more clout with the songwriter than Judy Garland had. This time, Martin willfully complied. He brightened up the song with a more positive approach. He toned down the sense of longing by shifting the lyrics into the present tense, implying a perennial happiness of the season. Most critically, Martin completely re-wrote the “muddle through somehow” line---into the line which you probably know best.
The re-polished song got the nod of approval from the Chairman of the Board (changes in green) . . .
The untroubled Sinatra rendition is what turned “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” into a Yuletide classic. There’s no denying the richness of its emotional depth. Its celebration of the joy of the season, while, at the same time, recalling our nostalgia for Christmases past, touches our hearts in a way no other Christmas song can manage. Even the more ebullient version is tinged with a longing that tugs at our memories.
Unlike many other holiday favourites, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” doesn’t reference any outdated Christmas customs, like wassailing or figgy pudding, things which sound strange or archaic to modern listeners. It’s perfectly understandable to any generation, leaving each listener to follow along with his own images of Christmas.
The song has been recorded nearly sixteen-hundred times, by thousands of artists around the world. (In case you were wondering, my favourite is Jimmy Dean’s performance of it in 1965.) If you hear the Garland lyrics, then it’s likely a version recorded before 1957. But not necessarily. Contemporary performers such as Toni Braxton, Phoebe Bridgers, and Norah Jones have preferred to go with the more bittersweet Garland version.
But whether it’s “muddling through” or “hanging a shining star”, the song evokes the warmth, the sentiment, the hope of the Christmas spirit.
Excuse me, while I go clear my throat.
* * * * *
From Cheryl and myself, to all of you, our fondest wishes for a Merry Christmas, and many more of them!
Replies
Whoa! Glad the signs are looking positive. Merry Christmas, and God bless us, every one!
My best to the Good Mrs. Benson, and thanks that she was attended to swiftly and the prognosis is positive. There's nothing like a Christmas miracle.
I'm so glad it wasn't worse. Best wishes for a smooth recovery.
I love A Christmas Story. TNT's regular Christmas airings made it good comfort food for a stretch of years I was by myself at Christmas time.
I wouldn't count the lump in my throat as mandatory for a good Christmas movie but it doesn't hurt. TZ's classic "Night of the Meek" has it in spades. Or Albert Finney singing about the new life he's embracing in "Scrooge." Or in the charming but melancholy Bishop's Wife (original Cary Grant version).
SITREP on the Good Mrs. Benson:
She's coming home to-day (Sunday, 29 December)!
She's regained full strength in her left arm and leg. She can stand and walk unaided and normally. The injury caused by the stoke is limited to the fine motor skills in the fingers of her left hand, things like she finds it difficult to hold a fork or type text on her phone. There are also minimal random-but-curious gaps in her memory. For example, she cannot remember how to ball up a pair of socks. The neurologist says that simple lapses like this will appear from time to time. However, the good news is these gaps and the fine motor skills of her fingers can be restored, with effort and practise. When the damage to the brain is this minimal, the brain will construct new neural paths to perform the movements or restore knowledge.
I had a long conversation with her attending physician yesterday. In fact, we did a walk-and-talk around the halls of the I.C.U. The "inspecific" dissection that appeared in the imagery of her first CT scan is still an unknown, but it's not a red-blanket sort of thing. The doctor informs me that, if the dissection of the carotid did exist, then the treatment to dissolve the offending blood-clot will also repair the dissection. So, that's not a concern.
They also submitted Cheryl to a test to determine if her heart was the source of the blood-clot (i.e., a coronary thrombosis), which would open up a new can of concerns. The doctor thought that a coronary thrombosis was a long shot, but he wanted to dot his I's and cross his T's (over-caution with which I agree and approve). That test came up negative, as expected.
So, in brief, the GMB has been restored to health as much as the hospital can do, so she's being discharged to-day. (I'm waiting for the word that she's ready to be picked up.) A blood-thinner has been added to her daily regimen of medicines, and she has a follow-up with another neuralogist next week. She's also met with a physical therapist, to help her regain those fine motor skills. (This has been one of those occasions when I'm reminded that the best benefit of my military retirement is TRICARE medical coverage. None of this is going to cost us a cent [outside of the $185 a month for Medicare, which TRICARE requires me to have].)
And, once again, the irony is impressed upon me that, for all of the times when I've been in serious harm's way as a Naval officer and a cop, I've never gotten so much as a scratch. It never occurred to me that it would be the GMB for whom my TRICARE benefits would prove so necessary.
Thank you all for your caring words of support. Cheryl wanted me to tell you how much they meant to her, as well.
I've often commented on how this site that Cap created is a forum, in the genuine sense of the word. And there are times, like this one, when it's also a family.
Glad to hear the the good lady is doing well. Hopefully being in familiar surroundings will speed her recovery.
Glad there are no immediate red flag underlying conditions, though it is frustrating not having a pinpointed cause.
Good luck dealing with things going forward. I've dealt with relatives in recovery (not from anything this severe) and it gets exhausting.
Excellent news that she seems to have made a nearly complete recovery! And it's great that your medical coverage is so affordable. This could have been REAL expensive... glad that it was covered! Wishing you and GMB a happy and healthy new year!
Good to hear.
Wishing you an excellent and healthier 2025.
Good to hear that things are going well. She continues to be in our prayers.
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