Christmas in 1954

Here is what Christmas sounded like in 1954 - at least if you confined yourself to the products that the RCA Victor recording company had on sale that year.

And quite a pleasant sound it was, with RCA's biggest stars in mostly familiar fare, which actually had been released as singles and on other LPs in earlier years.

One highlight is Perry Como's fine version of "White Christmas," which he manages to make personal, even though as a vocalist he is descended from the immortal Bing, the song's originator.

Dinah Shore offers "Happy Christmas Little Friend," welcome perhaps because the song is not overplayed like most traditional holiday material. Life Magazine commissioned this particular song from Rodgers and Hammerstein, but it nonetheless never entered the popular repertoire.

Tony Martin is excellent in "Silent Night" - one of his best records. And Eddy Arnold's country hit "C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S" is appealing even though it is a corny alphabet song. Blog favorite Ralph Flanagan adds a Miller-styled "Winter Wonderland" that I much enjoyed.

The low point is the Three Suns' four-square rendition of "Silver Skates," which evokes the roller rink more than the ice house. Also, I could live without Eartha Kitt's overplayed "Santa Baby" (and the Madonna clone version, for that matter).

All in all, though, a fine record. The sound is very good, as usual with RCA Victor products.

Eartha Kitt

Another icon of the popular arts has passed away - Eartha Kitt, at the age of 81.

Kitt had a remarkable personality, which shows through every moment on this, her first LP on RCA Victor, from the early 1950s. It contains many of her most recognizable tunes, although not the inescapable Santa Baby, nor Monotonous, which she introduced in New Faces of 1952. That performance is on video (but not, it appears, on YouTube.)

I've included separately the Stan Freberg version of C'Est Si Bon, which manages to parody both Kitt's vocal mannerisms and the Henri Rene arrangement.