Bad Santa moments: You won’t believe how politically incorrect some Christmas classics are

Boston Herald ^ | December 21, 2005 | Heather V. Eng

[billorites]

No Christmas season would be complete without “Nutcracker” performances, Bing Crosby holiday music and the stop-motion animated TV classic “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”

    Though times have changed, these cherished holiday traditions remain frozen in Christmas nostalgia. But a closer look at these Ghosts of Christmas Past reveal shockers and unpolitically correct moments that could benefit from a visit from the Ghost of Christmas Present.
     Beloved Christmas tradition: “Holiday Inn”
     Year: 1942
     Christmas legacy: Irving Berlin wrote the song “White Christmas” for “Holiday Inn.” Performed by Bing Crosby, the movie’s star, “White Christmas” became an instant Christmas classic and the biggest hit of Crosby’s career.
     Holiday shocker: During the “Abraham” number, Crosby appears in blackface and sings, “When black folks lived in slavery/Who was it set the darkie free? Abraham, Abraham.” You’ll never look at Crosby - or listen to “White Christmas” - the same way ever again.
    Beloved Christmas tradition: Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”
     Year: 1984
     Christmas legacy: Rock star, humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Bob Geldof wrote the song with Midge Ure to raise money for famine victims in Ethiopia.
     Holiday shocker: Sting, Boy George, Phil Collins and friends sing about Africa being a place “Where nothing ever grows/No rain nor rivers flow.” The crowning moment is when fellow humanitarian, Nobel Peace Prize nominee and one of Time’s 2005 Persons of the Year, Bono, belts out, “Well tonight thank God it’s them instead of you!” Um, thanks for the advice.
     Beloved Christmas tradition: “The Nutcracker”
     Year: 1816
     Christmas legacy: E.T.A. Hoffmann’s story “Nussknacker und Mausekonig” (“The Nutcracker and the Mouse King”) inspired the classical ballet and Tchaikovsky’s commissioned score, “The Nutcracker Suite.”
     Holiday shocker: The joyous party scenes and enchanted Kingdom of Sweets from the ballet don’t exist in Hoffmann’s story. This dark tale is filled with war references, suffering and bloodshed: In the battle with the Mouse King, Marie, now known as Clara, cuts her arm and nearly bleeds to death.
     Beloved Christmas tradition: “The Christmas Song”
     Year: 1946
     Christmas legacy: Nat King Cole’s crooning of “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire” has given people the holiday warm fuzzies for years. Mel Torme, who co-wrote the song with Robert Wells, estimated that there have been more than 1,700 recordings of the song, since its release more than a half-century ago.
     Holiday shocker: The line “folks dressed up like Eskimos” doesn’t sit well with the folks up north. “Inuit” has become the politically correct term for indigenous people of the arctic region. Though its etymology is disputed, “Eskimo” is believed to mean “eaters of raw meat” in Abenaki.
    Beloved Christmas tradition: “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer”
     Year: 1964
     Christmas legacy: Rudolph and company are so darn cute in this stop-motion animated, Burl Ives-narrated show.
     Holiday shocker: It’s common knowledge that the North Pole doesn’t embrace diversity; Rudolph’s red nose makes him a pariah. But Rudolph’s father, Donner, holds some old-fashioned views, telling his wife that searching for their lost son is “man’s work.”
    

[trebb]

I'm shocked, shocked I tell you. Oh for the days when common sense and the truth were not pariahs...

[BenLurkin]

Holiday shocker: The line “folks dressed up like Eskimos” doesn’t sit well with the folks up north. “Inuit” has become the politically correct term for indigenous people of the arctic region. Though its etymology is disputed, “Eskimo” is believed to mean “eaters of raw meat” in Abenaki.

This has got to be a joke.

[rwa265]

I'm stuned, myself. This is series.

[Pete]

This just makes the author look rediculous.

[Zacs Mom]

Yeah, whatever ...

[camle]

how about the one where the kid wants a bb-gun? THAT'S un-pc!

[twigs]

I've been watching some of the Christmas shorts that Turner Classic Movies runs between movies. Amazing clips from the past. One was from the early 40's, I think--Jackie Cooper's Christmas Party. A party by a very young star on a Hollywood set. We were stunned at how rude the kids were to the stars who waited on them. They found that acceptable back then. And some of the holiday greetings from the 40's were just that--"Happy Holiday" greetings, nary a word about Christmas. And the politically PC cartoons "Peace On Earth." One from 1939, remade 1955. Interesting, interesting blasts from the past. Some things don't change.

[2banana]

Beloved Christmas tradition: Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”

Year: 1984

Christmas legacy: Rock star, humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Bob Geldof wrote the song with Midge Ure to raise money for famine victims in Ethiopia.

Holiday shocker: Sting, Boy George, Phil Collins and friends sing about Africa being a place “Where nothing ever grows/No rain nor rivers flow.” The crowning moment is when fellow humanitarian, Nobel Peace Prize nominee and one of Time’s 2005 Persons of the Year, Bono, belts out, “Well tonight thank God it’s them instead of you!” Um, thanks for the advice.

Gawd - I hate that song. "There won't be snow in Africa this Christmas" - YA THINK? Africa is mostly in the Southern Hemisphere and a huge chunk of it is center on the equator - it is summer when we have winter.

[TomGuy]

I'll play those songs again...just to make sure.


lol


I hate PC crap.

[randog]

So what's next--a rundown of Christmas entertainment that doesn't meet the Taliban's standards? I want to know what the Baath Party has to say about this. Perhaps we can get the Nazi Party's take on Christmas...? Sheesh.

[mware]

Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer”

I heard on BOR last night that parents in one school were permitted to make reindeer cookies for their children to bring to their winter parties.

They were not permitted to put a red nose on any of the reindeer cookies.

[satchmodog9]

This is hugh news.

[Old Sarge]

Rudolph’s father, Donner, holds some old-fashioned views, telling his wife that searching for their lost son is “man’s work.”

I remember that! I remember Burl Ives narrating those lines, and I didn't think anythin gof it back then. I haven't heard that version in decades!

[johnny7]

I know what Heather needs...

[Obadiah]

Beloved Christmas tradition: “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer”

Year: 1964

Christmas legacy: Rudolph and company are so darn cute in this stop-motion animated, Burl Ives-narrated show.

Holiday shocker: At the very end of the movie the elves (or whoever is in Santa's sleigh) murder the bird! The bird is a misfit toy who can only swim and not fly. All the misfit toys are sent out of Santa's sleigh with an umbrella to allow them to glide to their destination. The misfit bird - who cannot fly - is thrown out of the sleigh with no umbrella wher he then undoubtedly meets his demise! Sad, but true.

[the OlLine Rebel]

"Holiday shocker: During the “Abraham” number, Crosby appears in blackface and sings, “When black folks lived in slavery/Who was it set the darkie free? Abraham, Abraham.” You’ll never look at Crosby - or listen to “White Christmas” - the same way ever again."

This is another thing I'll never understand - what's the big deal. I wouldn't be offended by others wearing "white face" (geishas?); they're only trying to better emulate the people they connect w/certain entertainment (in this case)! It's like a costume and it's merely part of it. I don't see how it's any more insulting than naming football teams for Indians. It's not meant as an insult - if anything, it's paying homage.


"The crowning moment is when fellow humanitarian, Nobel Peace Prize nominee and one of Time’s 2005 Persons of the Year, Bono, belts out, “Well tonight thank God it’s them instead of you!” Um, thanks for the advice."

I NEVER thought I'd ever be defending Sonny BONEHEAD, but come on! That was merely a sarcastic remark in the song, meant to make fun of YOU privileged people and what YOU might be saying. Bono is not saying he *himself* is dismissing the problems in Africa by just being grateful it's not him. He's merely *playing the role* of the spoiled and privileged Western holiday celebrant who might just shrug off the Africa issue by flippantly stating such.

Amazing how PC gets incredibly out of control!

[Obadiah]

Upon further reflect, the bird commits suicide and is not murdered. The bird jumps of his own accord. It's suicide.

[the OlLine Rebel]

I'm not crazy about it either. Hell, it even sounds like some amatuer recording in some kid's garage.

But what I sort of resent is the whole thing of "DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS" - Do they CARE? They're tons of Moslems; yes, there are Christians, but just how many and when Moslems dominate - they dominate. (Except I know they claim to have the 10 Commandments, and that's very open to the public.)

It's just absurd to me to connect Ethiopia and Christmas. I'm not sure what would've been worse - the famine or the constant persecution?

[wideawake]

In Canada, quite a few people find the word "Eskimo" used in reference to the so-called Inuit to be equivalent to using the word "n_____" in reference to American blacks.