Basil Rathbone
Columbia Records
We now turn from the mash-up of "A Christmas Carol" and "The Night Before Christmas" to a straightforward recording of the poem by frequent Scrooge portrayer Basil Rathbone.
"The Night Before Christmas" being the colloquial title of "A Visit from St. Nicholas," the famous poem credited to Clement C. Moore.
I say "credited to" because there is apparently some debate over whether Moore actually wrote the poem, which was originally published anonymously. Such matters don't matter an awful lot in the general scheme of things, but it's interesting.
In any event, this 12-inch 78rpm record was released by Columbia Records.
Give it a listen:
I've seen this record occasionally listed as being from 1939, but the 1942 date seems more appropriate, as it has a cappella backing from the Robert Mitchell Boychoir with no orchestration, befitting the 1942-1944 musicians' strike and the resulting recording ban.
1942 was also the release year for Basil's recording of "A Christmas Carol," which no doubt had a much longer production schedule.
Here's the flipside of "Night Before," "Little Jesus":
Basil Rathbone and Christmas - a good combination!
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