No man is a failure who has friends.

The Frank Capra film It's A Wonderful Life had a preview showing for charity at New York City's Globe Theatre, (a day before its official premiere) on this date.



The film is regarded as a classic and is a staple of Christmas television around the world, although, due to its high production costs and stiff competition at the box office, financially, it was considered a flop.



There have been countless parody of this classic film -













(Another, more adult alternate ending of the film) -



This is truly a strange little film.




Our second holiday feature is Rockin' Christmas songs (male edition):

Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town    Bruce Springsteen -



Written by J. Frederick Coots (music) and Haven Gillespie (lyrics) in 1934. Coots brought it to his publisher, who didn’t think much of the song but thought it might sell to kids.


Run Rudolph Run   Chuck Berry -



Chuck Berry based this tale on Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, giving Rudolph a bit of an attitude as he delivers the toys. Unlike Santa, however, Rudolph is copyrighted, and Berry had to give the publishing rights to Johnny Marks, who wrote the original Rudolph. Perhaps if Berry had used "Randolph" (another reindeer he mentions), he could have kept the publishing.


We Three Kings   The Ventures -



This carol was written in 1857 by the Reverend John Henry Hopkins. He wrote both words and music as part of a Christmas pageant for the General Theological Seminary in New York City. As it proved popular within his circle of family and friends, Hopkins decided to publish the carol in 1862.


O Holy Night   Brian Setzer Orchestra -



Written by French composer Adolphe Adam in 1847. Based on the work of French poet Placide Cappeau’s Minuit Chretiens. In 1855 Unitarian minister John Sullivan Dwight wrote English lyrics. Holds the distinction of being literally the second piece of music to play on the radio.


Christmas Eve / Sarajevo 12/24   Trans-Siberian Orchestra -



This song originated on Savatage's Dead Winter Dead album in 1995 but became an important hit for the band's side project, Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Because Savatage had the well-earned reputation of being an '80s Heavy Metal band, many radio stations were reluctant to play the Christmas offering.


Father Christmas  The Kinks -



Ray Davies frequently stole shows by performing the song live wearing a Santa costume. "When the record came out we were on tour with a very successful band at the time supporting them," he recalled during an interview with Southern California radio station KSWD. "I went on dressed as Santa at the end of the show to do 'Father Christmas.' And the other band found it hard to follow us. The following night with the same band I went to run on but there was a bunch of heavies preventing me from running on stage. And I was protesting. But the people said, 'The Kinks didn't do an encore but Santa Claus was there and they were stopping him from going on stage.'"



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