Christmas in Vintage Hollywood

Scholars now believe that that Christmas has existed for at least 115 years. This is an exciting revelation, as Christmas was previously only believed to have begun in 1989. This makes Christmas much older than the previously thought. Below is documentation of how early people celebrated the holiday. While records frequently mention "cheesecake" no deserts can be found in the photos for some reason...

"On the eve of the advent of Santa Claus to Hollywood, Nancy Carroll went entirely without sleep and--it hardly need be pointed out--quite as entirely without stockings." How scandalous.

"The night before Christmas and not a stocking in the house. Here Clara Bow has climbed on the roof to wait for Santa Claus only to find that she has nothing to hang on the chimney. Pity the poor flapper on Christmas Eve!"

Here is a colorized photo of It girl Clara Bow, also without stockings.

Silent film star Esther Ralston skiing during shooting of the 1929 movie Betrayal. Though I'm afraid it looks like she has stockings.

The song Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas was first preformed by Judy Garland for the 1944 movie Meet Me in St. Louis.

"Betty Grable, the star of a score or more of Hollywood musicals in the nineteen‐forties and one of the movies’ enduring ??x symbols [sic]" This photo is entitled "Betty Grable Christmas 1942."

The petite, seductive and sassy Grace Bradley, who never made a color film, was a redhead but was frequently seen as a blonde. She appeared in B-Movies, often cast as what were termed "good-time girls", which was distinct from good girls.

Silent film star Claire Windsor as the ideal Christmas gift (no notes). She tended to be cast as an upscale society girl.

Here is Rodgers and Hammerstein's muse Mary Martin delivering some cheer. I find it so funny that Martin played Peter Pan. Not in Peter Pan, she was Peter Pan.

Virginia Grey appeared in movies and TV shows for decades, but modern audiences are most likely to be aware of her because of Anna Torv's portrayal of Grey in the WWII drama The Pacific.

This one has a bit of a darker tone to it. Why does actress and flapper Joan Crawford have a gun? Is she going to dispatch some naughty children?

Here we have pop icon Marilyn Monroe posing in little more than her nylon Christmas stocking in 1951.

"Claire Trevor, lovely Fox Films player, doesn't believe in wearing her heart on her sleeve. Says it looks much better on her tummy. Claire found it on the Christmas tree but hasn't revealed its owner." I'm told that was the original caption of this picture, but I have no idea what any of that means.

English actress and signer Diana Dors became famous doing sex film-comedies and risqué modelling. She was also known as Diana d'Ors , The Siren of Swindon , The Hurricane in Mink, and The Blonde Bombshell. There's also a version of this photo is signed "With best wishes to Picture Show readers."

Not confirmed, but I believe this is also Claire Windsor from the lost 1927 film The Bugle Call. (Early film was absurdly unstable.) This is a charming film about *checks notes* a child soldier's relationship with his stepmother.

British Actress Julie Christie's dress maybe dangerously short for her to be inspecting the Christmas tree. This photo was from the same year she appeared in Doctor Zhivago (1965).

We may never know when the first Christmas happened or the reason for the season, but these photos indicate that early Christmas were pretty amazing. We should be trying to get back to the old ways, you know focusing more on tradition during the holidays.