THE LEFT LANE
Fruitcake history

Advertiser Staff

It is known that in England by the end of the 18th century, there were laws restricting the use of plum cake (plum being the generic word for dried fruit at the time) to Christmas, Easter, weddings, christenings and funerals.

Longtime holiday hits

In 1932, songwriters J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie sat down and wrote a tune called "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town," lighting the fuse for an explosion of songs that would become holiday standards.

Some of the other biggies from that era:

"Winter Wonderland" (1934).
"The Little Drummer Boy" (1941).
"White Christmas" (1942).
"I'll Be Home for Christmas" (1943).
"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" (1944).
"Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" (1945).
"All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth" (1946).
"Here Comes Santa Claus" (1946)
"Sleigh Ride" (1948/1950).
"A Marshmallow World" (1949).
"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (1949).
"Frosty the Snowman" (1950).
"Silver Bells" (1951).
"It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas" (1951).

'Best song ever'

Though it would win the Academy Award for best song in the 1942 film "Holiday Inn," "White Christmas" was first performed by Bing Crosby on his radio show, "The Kraft Music Hall," on Christmas Day 1941.

It was 18 days after Pearl Harbor, and Armed Forces Radio soon started playing the song on its network, making it a hit long before the movie came out. After writing the song, Irving Berlin reportedly told his publishers that it was "not only the best song I ever wrote, but the best song anybody ever wrote."