SilentPhotoplay Blog
Now, most people know this song as a Christmas song, but this is an alternative (with a note that “Christmas Day” could be substituted for “New Years Day”. I don’t remember ever hearing the second verse exactly like it is here. Happy New Year! THREE SHIPS A-SAILING I saw three ships a-sailing by A-sailing … Continue reading Three Ships A-Sailing
Here’s another short one from Songs of Childhood, 1923. Have a very merry Christmas! CHRISTMAS DAY Christmas Day, Christmas Day, Little children now are gay; Christmas Day, Christmas Day, Ev’ry one is happy. Continue reading Christmas Day
Happy Christmas Eve! Here’s a song from Songs of Childhood, 1923. This one’s pretty weird. Why are they encouraging their children to wait up for Santa? CHRISTMAS EVE Do you hear the merry jingle Of the bells of old Kriss Kringle on his way? Fast he’s speeding in the night, Through a silv’ry sheen of … Continue reading Christmas Eve
This little snippet is from Harvest Home, 1891. I kind of feel like I know these people who wrote this book, like I am one of the children they wrote it for! It gives me immense joy to read these interesting books. ORIGIN OF “YULE.” The ancient name (Yule) for Christmas is still used throughout … Continue reading Origin of “Yule.”
Christmas is nearly upon us, and what better way to shop (in 1900) than using a catalogue to browse the inventory of a store? I found it on vintageadbrowser, which has many amazing advertisements scanned in great clarity. This is a 24 page catalogue book put out by H. O’Neill & Co., New York. Hugh … Continue reading Gift Book – A Few Timely Hints for Christmas Shoppers
The following story is from one of the first antique books I ever owned. It is from the 1880s, and it is called Merry Doings of Childhood. It has fantastic stories, and has some of the most beautiful pictures that are still vibrant and dark. Some stories are not so sunny. They are there to … Continue reading Christmas
Often, these little story books were not just storybooks, but they taught the child something, too. This would include things I can only describe as ‘articles’, where they talked directly to the reader and taught about other countries, their customs, or just simply talk about a picture on the page. In these ‘articles’, they would … Continue reading Christmas Berries and Flowers
This was printed in the December 1912 Motion Picture Story Magazine. Can you name all the photoplayers featured? I thought this was pretty awesome. Some of them have names under the pictures, but others don’t. I’d have to consult the Gallery of Players section and compare faces to be able to name them all! As … Continue reading Silent Photoplayer Christmas Tree
This picture is from a ‘new’ publication called The Complete Book of the Flower Fairies. It combines all Cicily Mary Barker’s Summer, Autumn, Spring, and Winter fairy books. The first ‘fairy’ book of hers that was published was Spring, in 1923. It wasn’t until 1985 that a winter collection was created, although this is all … Continue reading The Christmas Tree Fairy
This sweet story is from Our Darlings, a British publication that I acquired in York, England. THE ROBIN’S CHRISTMAS. The Robin was fast asleep in his nest when the bells began to ring. He really could not help waking up, they made such a Ding dong, ding, ding, ding, ding, dong, dong, dong, dong. … Continue reading The Robin’s Christmas