Interesting back story of a great film, thanks for passing it along.
Another good, but not as well-known, “Christmas” movie is “Remember The Night” (1940), with Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F391_23ysbU
Remember The Night is playing at the moment on my TV.
I still have the VCR version after many years and it still plays perfectly.