December 24, 1934 …The First Traditional Christmas Special Debuts

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December 24, 1934 …The First Traditional Christmas Special Debuts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gDeZ4vuBCc
From 1934 till 1953, Lionel Barrymore played the role of Ebeneezer Scrooge on the annual holiday broadcast of “A Christmas Carol” on CBS Radio. When what became a tradition started, it was a huge event as this was the movie star’s first ever radio performance. Its popularity grew to imminence proportions over the years.

In a very real sense, this was America’s first traditional Christmas media special. It was performed live Christmas Eve on coast-to-coast radio with Barrymore at CBS in Los Angeles. At the top is a link to the 1939 version directed by Orson Wells. The newspaper article is from 1934.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! -Bobby Ellerbee


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