James Laird - Christmas Celebrations in the 1930s - Page 2

Often it was someone who worked in Hollywood or the entertainment industry such as Mel Blank who did the voices of many cartoon characters? These guests would usually stay to have a special breakfast with us before going to their own Christmas celebration. Sometimes a parent would come early enough to be with us for the early morning celebration. I remember my brothers and I were picked up on Christmas day a couple of times to spend the day with our father.

I don't remember the names of the all the people who came to entertain us in the living room. I remember one who came fairly often who would sing a few songs and then have us sing along with her. A lot of the songs were from WWI like "Every cloud has a Silver Lining," and "When the boys come marching home again, The Beer Barrel Polka, Under the Weeping Willow Tree" are just a few. A couple came and did ballroom dancing like Waltzes and the Flamingo and Tango. One helped us organize a harmonica band and came regularly to instruct us for several months. I tried out for the band but gave it up when I found I could not curl my tongue right and could played only cords.

The man teaching us the Harmonica had a really neat car. He said it was a model "B" and was really fancy for a Ford with two-tone paint and fancy metal things just in back of the back window, and white wall tires. Another person played the violin and was teaching some of us to play also. I gave that up also as I did not have the patience to keep playing the same notes over and over again as required to do it right.