"White Christmas" (found original radio performance of Christmas song; 1941)
"White Christmas", the classic Christmas song written by professional songwriter Irving Berlin and originally performed by legendary singer Bing Crosby, was first released on record in 1942; however, the first time it was performed publicly was on December 25th, Christmas Day, 1941 as part of The Kraft Music Hall, Bing Crosby's NBC radio show at the time. The song and possibly more of or even the entire episode was simultaneously recorded as it was being broadcast. The recording fell into the hands of Bing Crosby's estate.
Exactly 70 years later on December 25th, 2011, the record was loaned to CBS News Sunday Morning, which was doing a Christmas morning special.[1] Part of the special celebrated the 70th anniversary of the song, looking at Crosby's many performances of it in various different media, other artists who covered it, and the impact it made on modern Christmas culture.[1][2] A brief, low-quality fragment of the 1941 recording was played, with some narration playing over it. The original broadcast version of the song in its entirety has never been officially released or played publicly since its premiere.
On September 14th, 2018, after getting in contact with Malcolm Macfarlane, editor of BING magazine, Lost Media Wiki user Morphzero uploaded a low-quality aircheck of the song sourced from a deteriorated acetate transcription disc.
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- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Wall Street Journal article on the song. Retrieved 15 Sept '18
- ↑ Clip from the CBS News Sunday Morning Christmas 2011 special. Retrieved 15 Sept '18