Christmas is a day away. Can I say that? Or to be politically correct, should I say that a holiday that will go unidentified is upon us. Far be it from me to offend anyone. In any case, I’ve had enough of the fiscal cliff, Washington, and all things economic. So today we return to the staple of mindless columns: fluff.
Ever wonder how much money is spent annually on Christmas … err … holiday decorations?
Actually, I don’t care if you’ve wondered or not. I’m going to tell you. According to data from the National Retail Federation and BIG Research, in 2011 nearly $6 billion was spent. Gee, that’s almost as much as would be raised by increasing taxes on million-dollar earners.
Ever wonder who invented the Christmas light? Again, that was a rhetorical question. In 1882 Thomas Edison’s business partner, Edward H. Johnson, adorned his tree with a hand-wired strand of 80 white, red and blue light bulbs, and the concept of Christmas lights was born. But it wasn’t until 1885, when President Grover Cleveland decorated the White House Christmas Tree with the electric baubles that the craze gained momentum.
In a case of people doing the dumbest things, most remained reticent to put electrical devices on their trees.
Perceived to be safer, lit candles were the era’s preferred decoration. Candles may not have been safer but they were certainly cheaper.
Lighting a typical tree cost roughly $2,000 in today’s dollars, and that didn’t include the cost of hiring an electrician to connect the newfangled light string to a power source.
The real turning point came in 1903, when General Electric introduced affordable lighting kits. Rumor has it that GE lobbied hard for a religious tax exemption for brightening the Christmas holiday. But preferring the natural luminescence of the candle, Teddy Roosevelt denied the request. GE opted not to pursue the business.
Yes, that was a joke.
But GE did not become the market leader in Christmas lights.
That achievement went to Albert Sadacca whose family owned a novelty lighting company.
In 1917, Albert, still in his teens, suggested that his family sell colored strands of Christmas lights in their store.
Business was bright and in the 1920s Albert and his brother organized the National Outfit Manufacturers Association, a trade association. NOMA soon morphed into the NOMA Electric Co., and its members cornered the Christmas light market until the 1960s.
Fascinating stuff, huh?
That’s how one Christmas tradition was born. But have you ever wondered about the myriad traditions that have faded into obscurity? OK … you’re just not getting this whole rhetorical thing. The correct answer is yes, Tony, please share some examples with us.
Why, I’d be happy to.
It seems that “A Charlie Brown Christmas” has seen better days. Last year, the Christmas classic came in behind an episode of “Glee” and lost more than 800,000 viewers in its second half-hour.
Talk about pulling the football away. The total audience for the once Christmas classic was down 30 percent from the prior year.
Those ratings results sound eerily similar to Sarah Palin’s reality show. The only difference is that it took Charlie Brown 30 years to get played out. It only took “Nanette from the North” 30 days.
Remember tinsel? That was a real question. I doubt many millennials read this column, so I suspect the answer is yes. Tinsel dates back to 17th century Germany, when strands of silver were used to make trees sparkle from the light of flickering candles.
That is, until they burned to the ground. Back then tinsel was a luxury that only the 1 percent could afford.
Cheaper materials came along in the early 20th century, but there was a minor problem: Manufacturers mixed aluminum with lead because it helped the strands hang better. Oops. Along came aluminized paper, which solved the lead problem but posed a slight fire hazard when it came into contact with the high-wattage lights used at the time.
And I scoffed at people who thought candles were the safe approach. Needless to say, the bad press put a damper on the public’s fascination with tinsel.
Speaking of aluminum, how many of you owned an aluminum Christmas tree? Come on, admit it. My family had one, and I was chartered with assembling it each year. It sat atop a baby grand piano in our living room, and I thought it was pretty cool.
As a craze for the space age took hold, aluminum trees emerged in the ’50s. Another attraction was that they eliminated the need to sweep up fallen needles. The metallic tress came in pink, blue, silver, or whatever color the color-wheel projector shone on them.
Then the aforementioned Charlie Brown took it upon himself to mock the pop art symbols of Christmas as gaudy, hollow, soulless totems to commercialism. The final straw came in 1974, when price controls on aluminum were lifted.
But take heart, aluminum lovers. The metallic pine proxies are making a comeback, with some models fetching thousands of dollars on eBay.
I have to go now and search the attic for my soulless totem of commercialism.
Wishing everyone a wonderful and safe holiday.
Author, professor, entrepreneur, radio and TV commentator Tony Paradiso can be reached at tparadiso@tds.net. His website can be found at www.tonyparadiso.com.
Source:
http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/business/988031-464/holidays-are-big-business-for-some.html