Let's put on our boots, coats, hats, scarves and gloves...time to stroll on over to Fifth Avenue and see the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. Ever wonder how it all got started? Well I'm here to tell you! I remember my first Christmas in New York and seeing the tree here for the first time, later when I became a Mom I took Corey to see it, when he got older it was a thrill to watch him at 6 years old ice skating under the tree, he looked like a toy under that big tree. I make sure that I go to see it at least once every year. It's Christmas in New York! Year after year, the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree appears as surely as December, and Christmas in New York wouldn't be the same if it didn't. In a city of superlatives, it is the biggest, brightest, most famous Christmas tree of them all; as venerable and beloved a tradition as the World Series, Fourth of July fireworks and New Year's Eve celebrations. It is, quite simply, a crowd-stopper. Skaters swirl beneath its branches and shoppers stop to stare. Carolers serenade beside its branches, their voices climbing to the shining star on top, and sightseers are held rapt by the thousands of lights that blanket its limbs, glistening like fresh snow in the moonlight. America has celebrated Christmas around the Rockefeller Center Tree since 1931, when Rockefeller Center was still a muddy construction site. It was a Christmas darkened by the Great Depression, and workmen proudly placed their tree in the dirt that meant jobs. That first tree celebrated the indomitable human spirit as much as Christmas, and the workmen received their precious Christmas Eve paychecks around its sprightly green branches. Rockefeller Center - 1945 The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree tradition had more formal beginnings in 1933, when a tree was adorned with 700 lights and placed in front of the 8-month-old RCA Building. The Christmas tradition was enhanced in 1936 with the opening of the Rockefeller Plaza Outdoor Ice-Skating Pond and the first ice skating pageant. In 1941, two live reindeer borrowed from the Bronx Zoo shared the holiday limelight with the Christmas Tree. Housed in cages on either side of the Prometheus Fountain, these sleigh-pullers added something extra to a Christmas darkened by the attack on Pearl Harbor. The attack pre-empted plans to light a candle in every window of the RCA Building that Christmas. It would have been too difficult to extinguish them in the event of a blackout. The tree was still illuminated, however, but it was the last time for the duration of World War II. Patriotism prevailed in 1942, on the eve of America's second wartime Christmas. Three living trees were placed on Rockefeller Plaza, one decorated in red, one in white and the other in blue. In accordance with wartime restrictions on electricity, these trees wore no lights. After three Christmases darkened by the war, the 1945 celebration brought lights back to the Rockefeller Center Tree in an unusual way. The tree was trimmed with fluorescent plastic globes that glowed when a "black" light was focused on them. In 1949, the tree was sprayed silver. Rockefeller Center - 1956 The Museum of Natural History's Hayden Planetarium served as a consultant to Rockefeller Center in 1950, when a ceiling of stars was suspended over the Channel Gardens, a walkway that leads from Fifth Avenue to the skating pond. The 550 blue lights duplicated several major constellations. The Rockefeller Center Tree lighting ceremony was seen coast-to-coast in 1951 when it was televised on The Kate Smith Show. The tree received more national television coverage that year when the Lucky Strike Hit Parade broadcast its Christmas show from Rockefeller Plaza. In 1964, the tree lighting ceremony in Rockefeller Center had become an annual television special, broadcast each Christmas with a celebrity host. Over the years, hosts have included Johnny Carson, Hugh Downs, Mitzi Gaynor, Ed McMahon, Garry Moore, Arthur Godfrey, Barbara Walters, Debbie Reynolds, Marlo Thomas, Tammy Grimes, Richard Chamberlain, Madeline Kahn and Phil Donahue. Rockefeller Center - 1968 The first tree from outside the United States was erected in 1966. Canada gave it to Rockefeller Center in honor of the centennial of its confederation. The 1970s spread the environmental movement throughout the United States, and since 1971, the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree has been recycled after it is removed from its pedestal. The average tree provides 3 tons of mulch for ground cover and other horticultural uses. In the years since the first tree graced a muddy construction site, the Rockefeller Center Christmas celebration has grown into a national tradition. Whether dressed in red, white and blue, glowing under fluorescent lighting or standing unlit under the threat of war, the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree has a special history. It has given Christmas in Rockefeller Center a continuity that has outlasted wars, energy woes and the incredible changes in New York City over the years. If there is one place like home for the holidays, it could well be Rockefeller Center, where a nation has celebrated Christmas for more than half a century. Wishing all our members the Merriest of Christmas' whether you're in New York City or in the comfort of your own home with family and friends.......Have A Great Christmas and say a prayer for our troops who are allowing you to enjoy the freedoms we all share! If you'd like to return to the Main Page, Just click below. Thank You Pam for the TFF Animation!! Taggin' For Fun Links My Compliments to Candy on Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree I'd Love to Join Taggin' For Fun Taggin' For Fun Information Page
Let's put on our boots, coats, hats, scarves and gloves...time to stroll on over to Fifth Avenue and see the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. Ever wonder how it all got started? Well I'm here to tell you!
I remember my first Christmas in New York and seeing the tree here for the first time, later when I became a Mom I took Corey to see it, when he got older it was a thrill to watch him at 6 years old ice skating under the tree, he looked like a toy under that big tree. I make sure that I go to see it at least once every year.
It is, quite simply, a crowd-stopper. Skaters swirl beneath its branches and shoppers stop to stare. Carolers serenade beside its branches, their voices climbing to the shining star on top, and sightseers are held rapt by the thousands of lights that blanket its limbs, glistening like fresh snow in the moonlight.
In 1941, two live reindeer borrowed from the Bronx Zoo shared the holiday limelight with the Christmas Tree. Housed in cages on either side of the Prometheus Fountain, these sleigh-pullers added something extra to a Christmas darkened by the attack on Pearl Harbor. The attack pre-empted plans to light a candle in every window of the RCA Building that Christmas. It would have been too difficult to extinguish them in the event of a blackout. The tree was still illuminated, however, but it was the last time for the duration of World War II.
Rockefeller Center - 1956 The Museum of Natural History's Hayden Planetarium served as a consultant to Rockefeller Center in 1950, when a ceiling of stars was suspended over the Channel Gardens, a walkway that leads from Fifth Avenue to the skating pond. The 550 blue lights duplicated several major constellations. The Rockefeller Center Tree lighting ceremony was seen coast-to-coast in 1951 when it was televised on The Kate Smith Show. The tree received more national television coverage that year when the Lucky Strike Hit Parade broadcast its Christmas show from Rockefeller Plaza. In 1964, the tree lighting ceremony in Rockefeller Center had become an annual television special, broadcast each Christmas with a celebrity host. Over the years, hosts have included Johnny Carson, Hugh Downs, Mitzi Gaynor, Ed McMahon, Garry Moore, Arthur Godfrey, Barbara Walters, Debbie Reynolds, Marlo Thomas, Tammy Grimes, Richard Chamberlain, Madeline Kahn and Phil Donahue.
Rockefeller Center - 1968 The first tree from outside the United States was erected in 1966. Canada gave it to Rockefeller Center in honor of the centennial of its confederation. The 1970s spread the environmental movement throughout the United States, and since 1971, the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree has been recycled after it is removed from its pedestal. The average tree provides 3 tons of mulch for ground cover and other horticultural uses.
Wishing all our members the Merriest of Christmas' whether you're in New York City or in the comfort of your own home with family and friends.......Have A Great Christmas and say a prayer for our troops who are allowing you to enjoy the freedoms we all share!
If you'd like to return to the Main Page, Just click below.
Taggin' For Fun Links
My Compliments to Candy on Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree I'd Love to Join Taggin' For Fun Taggin' For Fun Information Page
