Christmas Ponder Past – 1956 – Past Daily Holiday Reference Room

Click on the link here for Audio Player – NBC Radio – Conversation: Christmas 1956 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection

Christmas Eve 1956. Certainly a different time – different sets of values, different communication skills, different world all together.

But then, as now, the times were nervous and uncertain. The Cold War cast a shadow over everything, the world was changing in ways no one understood – we were at the dawn of a new age, but no one was quite sure what they new age meant.

So this post is about reflections on Christmas, as viewed from 1956. Hosted by Clifton Fadiman, who was a celebrated author and personality of the time, his guests all give their views and impressions of Christmas and what it meant to them.

Perhaps quaint and naive. Maybe alarming and strange. It represents a time and a place that bears no resemblance to the world we live in  now. But we were worried then – as we’re worried now. And during those times there is always a craving for simplicity – whether it’s real or imagined.

So in case you were wondering if Christmas was always this way, here is something of a reminder that, like everything in life, it’s in a state of constant change.

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