An aluminum Christmas tree is a type of artificial Christmas tree that was popular in the United States from 1958 until about the mid-1960s. As its name suggests, the tree is made of aluminum, featuring foil needles and illumination from below via a rotating color wheel.
The aluminum Christmas tree was used as a symbol of the commercialization of Christmas in the 1965 television special, A Charlie Brown Christmas , which discredited its suitability as a holiday decoration. By the mid-2000s aluminum trees found a secondary market online, often selling for high premiums. The trees have also appeared in museum collections.
Aluminum trees have been said to be the first artificial Christmas trees that were not green in color. [1] It is more accurate to say that aluminum Christmas trees were the first nongreen Christmas trees commercially successful on a grand scale. Long before aluminum Christmas trees were commercially available at least by the late 19th century, white "Christmas trees" were made at home by wrapping strips of cotton batting around leafless branches, making what appeared to be snow-laden trees that stayed white in the home. These non-green trees made perfect displays for ornaments and dropped no needles. After Christmas, the cotton was unwrapped and stored with the ornaments for the next year while the branches were burnt or otherwise discarded. Flocked trees, real or artificial, to which flocking was applied became fashionable for the wealthy during the 1930s and have been commercially available since. A 1937 issue of Popular Science advocated spraying aluminum paint using an insect spray gun to coat Christmas trees causing it to appear as if "fashioned of molten silver". [2]
Aluminum Christmas trees were first commercially manufactured sometime around 1955, remained popular into the 1960s, and were manufactured into the 1970s. [3] [4] The trees were first manufactured by Modern Coatings, Inc. of Chicago. [4] [5] Between 1959 and 1969, the bulk of aluminum Christmas trees were produced in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, by the Aluminum Specialty Company; [6] [5] in that decade the company produced more than one million aluminum trees. [4] At the time they were produced in Manitowoc the trees, including the company's flagship product the "Evergleam", retailed for $25 and wholesaled for $11.25. [4]
During the 1960s, the aluminum Christmas tree enjoyed its most popular period of usage. [1] As the mid-1960s passed, the aluminum Christmas tree began to fall out of favor, with many thrown away or relegated to basements and attics. [3] [7] The airing of A Charlie Brown Christmas in 1965 has been credited with ending the era of the aluminum tree, [4] [6] [7] and by 1967 their time had almost completely passed. [8]
At the height of the aluminum tree's popularity, the trees were sold in the Sears catalog. [7]
Whether you decorate with blue or red balls . . . or use the tree without ornaments - this exquisite tree is sure to be the talk of your neighborhood. High luster aluminum gives a dazzling brilliance. Shimmering silvery branches are swirled and tapered to a handsome realistic fullness. It's really durable . . needles are glued and mechanically locked on. Fireproof . . you can use it year after year.
— Sears, 1963 Christmas Book [9]
By 1989, it was not uncommon to find aluminum Christmas trees for sale in yard sales or at estate sales being sold for as little as 25 cents. [8] In recent years the aluminum Christmas tree has seen a re-emergence in popularity. Collectors began buying and selling the trees, especially on online auction web sites. [3] A rare 7-foot-tall (2.1 m) pink aluminum Christmas tree sold on the Internet for $3,600 in 2005. [3]
Aluminum Christmas trees consisted of aluminum branches attached to a wooden or aluminum central pole. [1] The central pole had holes drilled into at angles so when the aluminum foil branches were attached they formed a tree shape. [4] The foil branches had woven aluminum "needles" as well. [8] Each tree took about 15 minutes to assemble. [4]
The first aluminum trees could not be illuminated in the manner traditional for natural Christmas trees or other artificial trees. Fire safety concerns prevented lights from being strung through the tree's branches; [4] draping electric lights through an aluminum tree could cause a short circuit. [8] The common method of illumination was a floor-based "color wheel" which was placed under the tree. [8] The color wheel featured various colored segments on a clear plastic wheel; when the wheel rotated a light shone through the clear plastic casting an array of colors throughout the tree's metallic branches. [7] Sometimes this spectacle was enhanced by a rotating Christmas tree stand. [8]
Aluminum Christmas trees have been variously described as futuristic or as cast in a style which evoked the glitter of the Space Age. [3] [6] [7] A Money magazine article published on the CNN website in 2004 called the design of aluminum Christmas trees "clever". [8] The same article asserted that once the trees overcame their cultural baggage as icons of bad-taste, that aluminum Christmas trees were actually beautiful decor. [8] The Space Age-feel of the trees made them especially suited to the streamlined home decor of the time period. [9]
The aluminum Christmas tree was used as a symbol of the over-commercialization of Christmas in the 1965 Peanuts holiday special, A Charlie Brown Christmas . [4] The program is considered a classic among Christmas specials, [8] and its mention of the aluminum tree solidified the tree's legendary status while satirizing it as well. [3] In the special, Lucy van Pelt implored Charlie Brown to get a "big, shiny aluminum tree...maybe painted pink" for the group's nativity play. [3] Charlie Brown lamented the commercialization of Christmas and, in a lot surrounded by many huge aluminum trees (much larger than most aluminum trees of the era), purchased a small, scrawny natural tree on a whim instead. [7]
The re-emergent popularity of aluminum Christmas trees has allowed them to find their way into museum collections. One example is the Aluminum Christmas Tree Museum (officially known as the Aluminum Tree and Aesthetically Challenged Seasonal Ornament Museum and Research Center). [10] The museum, variously located in Brevard or Asheville, North Carolina was called "campy" by Fodor's in 2009. [11] The Children's Museum of Indianapolis holds a vintage aluminum Christmas tree and color wheel in its collections. [12] The Wisconsin Historical Museum has held the "'Tis the Season" exhibition at least twice, featuring a collection of vintage aluminum Christmas trees. [13]
A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen conifer, such as a spruce, pine or fir, or an artificial tree of similar appearance, associated with the celebration of Christmas.
Ruby is a pinkish red to blood-red colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum. Ruby is one of the most popular traditional jewelry gems and is very durable. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sapphires. Ruby is one of the traditional cardinal gems, alongside amethyst, sapphire, emerald, and diamond. The word ruby comes from ruber, Latin for red. The color of a ruby is due to the element chromium.
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A Charlie Brown Christmas is a 1965 animated television special. It is the first TV special based on the comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz, and features the voices of Peter Robbins, Christopher Shea, Kathy Steinberg, Tracy Stratford, and Bill Melendez. Produced by Lee Mendelson and directed by Melendez, the program made its debut on the CBS television network on December 9, 1965. In the special, Charlie Brown (Robbins) finds himself depressed despite the onset of the cheerful holiday season. After Lucy van Pelt (Stratford) suggests he direct a neighborhood Christmas play, his best efforts are ignored and mocked by his peers when he chooses a puny Christmas tree as a centerpiece.
Abies balsamea or balsam fir is a North American fir, native to most of eastern and central Canada and the northeastern United States.
Tsarskoye Selo was the town containing a former residence of the Russian imperial family and visiting nobility, located 24 kilometers (15 mi) south from the center of Saint Petersburg. The residence now forms part of the town of Pushkin. Tsarskoye Selo forms one of the World Heritage Site Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments.
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The blue spruce, also commonly known as green spruce, Colorado spruce, or Colorado blue spruce, is a species of spruce tree native to North America in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. It is noted for its blue-green colored needles, and has therefore been used as an ornamental tree in many places far beyond its native range.
A Christmas decoration is any of several types of ornamentation used at Christmastide and the greater holiday season. The traditional colors of Christmas are pine green (evergreen), snow white, and heart red. Gold and silver are also prevalent, as are other metallic colours. Typical images on Christmas decorations include Baby Jesus, Mother Mary, angels, Father Christmas, Santa Claus, and the star of Bethlehem. Advent wreaths, nativity scenes, illuminations, and Moravian stars are popular Christmas decorations.
The White House Christmas Tree, also known as the Blue Room Christmas Tree, is the official indoor Christmas tree at the residence of the president of the United States, the White House. The first indoor Christmas tree was installed in the White House sometime in the 19th century and since 1961 the tree has had a themed motif at the discretion of the First Lady of the United States.
A toilet brush is a tool for cleaning a toilet bowl.
The National Christmas Tree is a large evergreen tree located in the northeast quadrant of the Ellipse near the White House in Washington, D.C. Each year since 1923, the tree has been decorated as a Christmas tree. Every year, early in December, the tree is traditionally lit by the President and First Lady of the United States. Every president since Franklin D. Roosevelt has also made formal remarks during the tree lighting ceremony.
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Christmas tree cultivation is an agricultural, forestry, and horticultural occupation which involves growing pine, spruce, and fir trees specifically for use as Christmas trees.
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