Seraphic Secret

Robert J. Avrech: Emmy Award winning screenwriter. Movie fanatic. Helplessly and hopelessly in love with my wife since age nine.

Flashback: When Hollywood Celebrated Christmas

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Mary Pickford helps Hollywood celebrate Christmas, 1920s.
Mary Pickford helps Hollywood celebrate Christmas, 1920s.

There was a time when Hollywood openly and joyously celebrated Christmas. Now, among the Hollywood elite, the greeting I hear is “Happy Holidays.”

Look, we at Seraphic Secret are Orthodox Jews. This is not our holiday.

But we want our Christian friends to celebrate Christmas. The politically correct Happy Holidays shtick is another nail in the coffin of American culture; another instance where a minority of obnoxious liberals bully the larger culture into secular nothingness.

American Christianity is a unique force for good in world history. It is not the Christianity of Europe that is poisoned with genocidal Jew-hatred.

Hollywood used to celebrate Christmas using every tool in the cinematic playbook.

Before she achieved fame and immortality in King Kong (1933), Fay Wray was a struggling starlet. In this studio shot, she hangs a Christmas wreath c/1925. Her memoir On the Other Hand is one of the best I have ever read.

 

Myrna Loy with either Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, or Blitzen, 1920s. Confession: all reindeer look alike to me.

 

Silent star Clara Bow, 1920s.
Silent star Clara Bow, 1920s. A great pantomime actress, the coming of sound terrified her and she retired at age 32.

 

Anita Page, a huge star in the 1920s, turned down a marriage proposal from Benito Mussolini.
Anita Page, a huge star in the 1920s, turned down a marriage proposal from Benito Mussolini.

 

Carole Lombard, before she became a star. This photo is probably from the early 1930s.
Carole Lombard, before she became a star. This photo is probably from the late 1920s.

 

Anna May Wong was the first American-Chinese movie star.
Anna May Wong was the first American-Chinese movie star. Her career stretched from 1919 to 1960. One of her best roles is in Shanghai Express, where she plays opposite Marlene Dietrich.

 

Jean Harlow, a hugely talented actress, died at the age of 26, cutting short a brilliant career.
Jean Harlow, a hugely talented actress, died at the age of 26, cutting short a brilliant career.

 

Marceline Day was also a star of the silent era.
Marceline Day was also a star of the silent era.  She started as a Mack Sennett bathing beauty in 1924, but retired in 1932 when she found herself consigned to B westerns. One of her very best films is Captain Salvation, 1927, a lovely film with a strong Christian message.

 

Unlike many Hollywood stars, Joan Crawford enjoyed posing for still photos. This Christmas photo is notable for its lovely simplicity.

 

Shirley Temple is featured in a Christmas photo that has a blessedly religious overtone.

 

Rita Hayworth celebrates Christmas in eye scorching color.

 

Christmas parade along Hollywood Boulevard, 1940s.
Christmas parade along Hollywood Boulevard, 1940s.

Karen and I, grateful to Christian America for the countless blessings of liberty, wish all our Christian friends a Merry Christmas.

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  2. Merry Christmas, Robert and Karen.

    I find it interesting how some of the photos are framed in “innocence” while others are much more “cheesecake” in format. For example, Rita’s eye scorching red outfit seems to highlight her legs and breasts more than any winter outfit I’ve ever seen. Fay Wray’s photo, on the other hand, has a softer sensuality to it. Lastly, that photo of Myrna is probably the least flattering photo I’ve seen of her. I’m not sure what is going on with that scarf and I’m not sure what she’s feeding him. As a side note, I prefer the original Dunder and Blixem over the modern Donner and Blitzen. 🙂

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