A Christmas Story - An Axe, An Apple and a Buckskin Jacket

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A Christmas Story - An Axe, An Apple and a Buckskin Jacket
A Christmas Story - An Axe, An Apple and a Buckskin Jacket (album cover).jpg
Studio album by
Bing Crosby
ReleasedOctober, 1957
RecordedApril 24, 1957
Genre Vocal
Length21:28
Label Golden Records (A298:21)
Bing Crosby chronology
Bing with a Beat
(1957)		A Christmas Story - An Axe, An Apple and a Buckskin Jacket
(1957)		 Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
(1957)

A Christmas Story - An Axe, An Apple and a Buckskin Jacket is a LP album by Bing Crosby made for children by Golden Records in 1957. The Arthur Norman Choir and Orchestra provide support. The album has been reissued by various record companies sometimes with different titles such as "How Lovely Is Christmas" and even as a cardboard record by Bing Crosby Phonocards Inc. This took the form of a 7" cardboard disc at 33 1/3 revs which was issued as a publicity item for Goodyear Tyres and was issued free at Goodyear Service Stations. [1]

Bing Crosby American singer and actor

Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. The first multimedia star, Crosby was a leader in record sales, radio ratings, and motion picture grosses from 1931 to 1954. His early career coincided with recording innovations that allowed him to develop an intimate singing style that influenced many male singers who followed him, including Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, Dick Haymes, and Dean Martin. Yank magazine said that he was "the person who had done the most for the morale of overseas servicemen" during World War II. In 1948, American polls declared him the "most admired man alive", ahead of Jackie Robinson and Pope Pius XII. Also in 1948, Music Digest estimated that his recordings filled more than half of the 80,000 weekly hours allocated to recorded radio music.

Golden Records

Golden Records was a Simon & Schuster record label based in New York City. It was conceived and founded in 1948 by the Grammy-Award winning children's music producer, Arthur Shimkin, then a new recruit in the S&S business department. Shimkin went on to found Sesame Street Records with Children's Television Workshop in 1970. Golden was one of the first children's music labels to combine story with melody. It featured music to accompany Little Golden Books. However, they were not the first instance of a published series which combined books and records. This distinction goes to Bubble Books, published between 1917 and 1922.

A cardboard record was a type of cheaply made phonograph record made of plastic-coated thin paperboard. These discs were usually small, had poor audio quality compared to vinyl or acetate discs, and were often only marginally playable due to their light weight, slick surface, and tendency to warp like a taco shell. Playability could be improved by placing a coin between the lock groove and the spindle hole to add weight and stability. These records are distinct from both flexi discs, which are sturdier, and from many of the old home-recording discs since cardboard discs were mass-produced for a specific purpose.

Contents

The album was issued on CD by Drive Entertainment in 1998 with catalogue No. PUR1214.

Background

In the fall and winter of 1957, Golden Records issued a number of new children's records and repackaged some of its steady favorites in a variety of speeds. The general trend was toward the long-playing record, LP, for the older child nearer 10 than 5, as this was more convenient and had greater fidelity. The small 78's and 45's were suitable for the younger child running his own machine fitfully—children seemed to enjoy changing the record as much as playing it.

Bing Crosby was enlisted to read and sing four of the stories and in addition to A Christmas Story there were Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Never Be Afraid and Jack B. Nimble – A Mother Goose Fantasy.

<i>Never Be Afraid</i> album by Bing Crosby

Never Be Afraid is a LP album by Bing Crosby made for children by Golden Records in 1957. It is a musical adaptation of The Emperor's New Clothes, the fairy story with a moral by Hans Christian Andersen. The music was by Lew Spence and the lyrics by Alan Bergman and Marilyn Keith.

<i>Jack B. Nimble – A Mother Goose Fantasy</i> album by Bing Crosby

Jack B. Nimble – A Mother Goose Fantasy is an LP album by Bing Crosby made for children by Golden Records in 1957. It was a story of a small boy in search of his name. The music was by Dean Fuller and the lyrics and book by Marshall Barer.

A Christmas Story was an original piece of work with book and lyrics by Arnold Sundgaard and music by Alec Wilder. [2]

Arnold Olaf Sundgaard was an American playwright, librettist, and lyricist. He was also a writer of short stories and children's books as well as a college professor specializing in drama and theatrics. Sundgaard was best known for his role in the production of six Broadway plays.

Alexander Lafayette Chew Wilder was an American composer.

Reception

Billboard was positive. "Sales can be made on this the year around, if pushed. It's Bing again at $2.98, in a fine story that leans on several American folk heroes, including Paul Bunyan, Johnny Appleseed, and Dan'l Boone. Story and lyrics by Arnold Sundgaard, music by Alec Wilder, and includes one tune that could become a big seasonal hit — "How Lovely Is Christmas". Sock packaging at the price." [3]

<i>Billboard</i> (magazine) American music magazine

Billboard is an American entertainment media brand owned by the Billboard-Hollywood Reporter Media Group, a division of Eldridge Industries. It publishes pieces involving news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style, and is also known for its music charts, including the Hot 100 and Billboard 200, tracking the most popular songs and albums in different genres. It also hosts events, owns a publishing firm, and operates several TV shows.

Paul Bunyan fictional character

Paul Bunyan is a giant lumberjack in American folklore. His exploits revolve around the tall tales of his superhuman labors, and he is customarily accompanied by Babe the Blue Ox. The character originated in the oral tradition of North American loggers, and was later popularized by freelance writer William B. Laughead (1882–1958) in a 1916 promotional pamphlet for the Red River Lumber Company. He has been the subject of various literary compositions, musical pieces, commercial works, and theatrical productions. His likeness is displayed in several oversized statues across North America.

Johnny Appleseed American nurseryman and missionary

John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed, was an American pioneer nurseryman who introduced apple trees to large parts of Pennsylvania, Ontario, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, as well as the northern counties of present-day West Virginia. He became an American legend while still alive, due to his kind, generous ways, his leadership in conservation, and the symbolic importance he attributed to apples. He was also a missionary for The New Church (Swedenborgian) and the inspiration for many museums and historical sites such as the Johnny Appleseed Museum in Urbana, Ohio, and the Johnny Appleseed Heritage Center in Ashland County, Ohio. The Fort Wayne TinCaps, a minor league baseball team in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where Chapman spent his final years, is named in his honor.

The New York Times commented: "There are seven songs on the long-play record. The one most likely to be heard again, and again, in December is 'How Lovely Is Christmas', a somewhat sentimental song that is not especially for children. But there is one among these songs that is a standout and right in keeping with the story on the record. It is called 'An Axe, An Apple and a Buckskin Jacket'…Singing these songs, Crosby is his amiable self, but as a narrator he occasionally sounds as if he has not removed his pipe stem from his mouth!" [4]

<i>The New York Times</i> Daily broadsheet newspaper based in New York City

The New York Times is an American newspaper based in New York City with worldwide influence and readership. Founded in 1851, the paper has won 125 Pulitzer Prizes, more than any other newspaper. The Times is ranked 17th in the world by circulation and 2nd in the U.S.

Crosby enthusiast and author, Fred Reynolds, had a favourable reaction too. "Crosby, the Chorus and musicians all give an excellent performance of this well constructed children's tale wherein character building qualities are bestowed upon the boy (strength from Paul Bunyan, hope from Johnny Appleseed and courage from Daniel Boone). The score is tuneful and well balanced and the instrumental arrangements most attractive." [5]

Track listing

SIDE ONE

  1. How Lovely Is Christmas
  2. "There have been almost 2000 Christmases…"
  3. An Axe, an Apple and a Buckskin Jacket
  4. "Now this cabin was so remote…"
  5. Boy at a Window
  6. "All of a sudden young Jethro heard…"
  7. Young Jethro Swung His Mighty Axe

SIDE TWO

  1. "Soon the cleared field looked mighty fine..."
  2. Johnny Appleseed
  3. "...and sure enough there was Dan'l Boone!"
  4. Incident on Rogers Creek
  5. "Well, of course young Jethro thought…"
  6. How Lovely Is Christmas (reprise)

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References

  1. ↑ Reynolds, Fred (1963). The Road to Bing Crosby. Ralph S. Harding. p. 278.
  2. ↑ "New York Times". September 22, 1957.
  3. ↑ "Billboard". Billboard. September 9, 1957.
  4. ↑ "New York Times". September 22, 1957.
  5. ↑ Reynolds, Fred. The Crosby Collection 1926-1977 (Part Four: 1951-1960 ed.). John Joyce. p. 229.
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