Dan Cirucci: All Time Favorite Christmas Classics!

Sunday, December 6, 2015

All Time Favorite Christmas Classics!

Christmas movies, music, plays -- all have a special allure. And many of them are perennials. They return again and again. They're become classics -- and with good reason.

Here are more of our favorite Christmas classics:

1) Have A Holly Jolly Christmas - The original version by Burl Ives is still the best!

2) I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus - The Jimmy Boyd original is tops! It reached number One on the Billboard charts in 1952, and on the Cash Box magazine chart at the beginning of the following year. The song was commissioned by Neiman Marcus to promote their Christmas card for the year, which featured an original sketch by artist Perry Barlow, who drew for the New Yorker magazines for many decades.

3) Christmas Time's A 'Comin (and I know I'm goin home) - Don't settle for anything less than the Bill Monroe bluegrass version.

4) It's A Wonderful Life - If you miss this classic Frank Capra Christmas movie, you've missed Christmas itself!

5) A Christmas Carol - Watch ONLY the black and white 1951 movie version (pictured) of this classic tale starring Alistair Sim. No others can match it.

Christmas reached a sort of zenith in America in the 1950s. It was a glorious time for home, family and Christmas. Maybe it was the aftermath of the war and the prosperity that followed that made everything so Christmasy.
Or maybe it was just those crazy 50s novelty songs, all that sentimentality and brave new inventions like spray snow and angel hair that made the difference. Who knows?
But, wait -- we have to expand our list just a bit.

Here are a few post-1950s favorites:
1) Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas - This Muppets Christmas TV event is a heart-tugger and remains true to the Christmas spirit -- a childhood favorite that carries on into adulthood.
2) A Charlie Brown Christmas - Surprisingly meaningful, if not downright religious. The music, the meaning, the simple, heartfelt animation and the distinct characters all make it super-special.
3) Home Alone - The first movie (not the sequel) is still the best. The whole story revolves around Christmas.
4) O. Henry's The Gift of the Magi. about a young couple who are short of money but desperately want to buy each other Christmas gifts. Unbeknownst to Jim, Della sells her most valuable possession, her beautiful hair, in order to buy a platinum fob chain for Jim's watch; while unbeknownst to Della, Jim sells his own most valuable possession, his watch, to buy jeweled combs for Della's hair. The essential premise of this story has been copied, re-worked, parodied, and otherwise re-told countless times in the century since it was written.
5) Christmas In Connecticut. The original film with Barbara Stanwyck and Sydney Greenstreet is great fun.

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About Dan Cirucci

He's been cited by the late Rush Limbaugh, quoted in the New York Times, featured at Real Clear Politics and Lucianne.com and interviewed across all media.

He's Dan Cirucci, the founder and editor-in chief of the Dan Cirucci Blog, a Save Jersey blog columnist, frequent guest on the Matt Rooney radio show and one of the most widely honored public relations professionals in his field. He's also been a public relations consultant to numerous organizations and individuals and hosted The Advocates on RVN-TV.

Inducted into the Philadelphia Public Relations Hall of Fame, for many years he served as a Lecturer in Corporate Communication at Penn State University. A former President of the Philadelphia Public Relations Association (PPRA) he has lectured at Rowan University, Temple University, The College of New Jersey and Arcadia University. He has conducted workshops on public relations for thousands of participants throughout the nation and has taught countless others the art of public speaking. He has also advised numerous lawyers, judges, public officials and political candidates.

Cirucci is a prolific writer and his op-ed pieces have appeared in the Philadelphia Daily News, Philadelphia Inquirer, Courier-Post, Broad and Liberty and other print and online platforms.

A native of Camden NJ, Cirucci is a former President of the Philadelphia chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators. Cirucci served as Associate Executive Director of the Philadelphia Bar Association for nearly 30 years. He served as Chair of Penn State University's Professional Advisory Board for the Corporate Communication major at Penn State Abington and on the Pennsylvania Bar Association's Judicial Selection Commission.

He received his MA degree from Rowan University and his BA from Villanova University. He has been named a Distinguished Alumnus of Rowan's public relations program and received the E. A. "Wally" Richter Leadership Award, the highest honor from the National Association of Bar Executives' Communications Section. He has also been honored by numerous other local, state and national groups.

In his hometown of Camden, Cirucci taught fifth grade at the Ulysses Wiggins Elementary School named for the founder of the Camden NAACP. There he was one of the first teachers in the country to teach African-American history to inner city students. He later served as editor of a local weekly newspaper, as Assistant to the Township Manager of Cherry Hill Township and as Associate Director of Communications at the New Jersey State Bar Association.

Cirucci's passions include all things Italian, politics, the popular culture, books and authors, art, communication, music, theatre, movies, dining and travel.

He and his wife Carole have two grown children and seven grandchildren.

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