Is it any wonder we don't celebrate Christmas like we did in the 1950s and 1960s given the deadly ways we once decked the halls?br
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Actually, some people still do, dusting off Christmas kitsch carefully preservedbrfor decades. Roberta Mullen of Papillionbris one of those people. Every December,brMullen assembles her 6-foot-tall aluminum tree with foil needles that isbrilluminated by a translucent wheel thatbrturns the tree blue, red, green, and yellowbraccording to the color passing in front of the bulb.br
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“This was the tree we had growing up inbrthe ’60s,” said Mullen, who inherited itbrfrom her parents.br
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Those who didn’t get such mid-20th century classics passed down to them havebrsparked a nostalgic online demand forbrthe originals or replicas.br
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“It’s a big part of the tradition thatbrpeople celebrated as families,” said Jeff Jorgensen, longtime owner ofbrTannenbaum Christmas Shop in the OldbrMarket. “‘Grandma had this; I rememberbrseeing that.’”br
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What many might not know is why somebrof the 1950s/1960s Christmas bling wentbrbye-bye. Part of the reason was changingbrstyles—the space-age fascination for shinybrand metallic things fell out of favor.br
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Accidental death & dismemberment hadbrsomething to do with it, too. Mullen’sbraluminum tree, for instance, was potentially lethal.br
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“You could not put electric lights onbrthem,” she said, “or you could get a powerful shock.”br
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Other Christmas decorations alsobrcame with hazards, but darn it if theybrdidn’t look good.br
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That said, Omaha Magazine is going on abrYuletide stroll through these throwbackbrChristmas decorations that will havebrreaders dreaming of a winter wonderland.br
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Aluminum Treesbr
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This was a craze sparked in the 1950s by several manufacturers, including thebrAluminum Specialty Co. Its Evergleambrtree, introduced at the 1959 AmericanbrToy Fair, was an instant smash. Trunkbrand branches were made of aluminum,brthe needles of foil. A rotating color wheelbrbathed it in slowly changing hues. Thebrtree could be put on a rotating stand, too.brOne problem, though—aluminum is abrconductor of electricity, so if a faulty wirebrwas added, it might provide a shock orbrstart a fire. That prompted the ConsumerbrProduct Safety Commission to issue abrwarning about them. Still, that’s notbrwhat crushed the craze. Turns out that all the bashing the Peanuts gang did on such kitsch as holiday commercialization struck a chord with the publicbrwatching the 1965 classic A CharliebrBrown Christmas. That, along with newbrtrees made from plastic, contributed tobrplummeting sales. American Specialtybrproduced nearly a million aluminumbrtrees, but discontinued their production in 1970.br
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Flocked Treesbr
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Flocking—putting fake snow on a tree or other decoration—has been aroundbrsince the 1920s but became popular inbrthe 1960s. It, too, came with danger.brCraftmaster sold a Sno-Flok kit that gavebrtrees “the soft, snowy beauty of outdoors”brwhile “helping prevent needle fall.” Andbrit was fire-retardant. The kit came with a spray gun attachment for the vacuumbrcleaner to blow the fluff and one poundbrof “Sno-Flok” in white or decoratorbrcolors. One pound of asbestos, that is.brUse of the cancer-causing silicate led tobrflocking falling from favor.
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Tinselbr
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Another great idea was decorating thebrtree with poison...er, tinsel. Tinsel wasbrinitially made with silver, then lead,brwhich is cheaper and doesn’t tarnish. In the 1950s and 1960s, seeminglybreveryone was globbing it onto trees. Thebrproblem was that lead tinsel is hazardous, as a 1971 FDA report noted. Today,brthe stringy stuff is made from PVC—but hanging remains a chore. “Peoplebrnowadays are not nearly patient enoughbrto put tinsel on their tree the way webrdid,” Jorgensen said. “There were onlybrtwo and then three stations to watch [onbrTV] then. You could put all the tinselbron the tree.”
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Shiny Brite Ornamentsbr
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Never heard of them? These iconicbrdecorations were popularized in thebr1950s by Max Eckhardt's Shiny Britebrcompany. The colorful glass ornamentsbrcame in a variety of sizes, shapes, andbrcolors, or decorated with snowy scenesbrof sleigh rides, carolers, and otherbrChristmasy depictions. And they canbrstill be had today. The Shiny Brite brandbrrevived and is sold online and in storesbrsuch as Menards.br
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Train around the Treebr
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So what in the N-O-E-L did trainsbrchugging around a conifer have to dobrwith Christmas? Mostly marketing.brManufacturer Lionel popularized the tradition in the early 1900s and, like manybrof these traditions, the practice reachedbrits peak in the ’50s and ’60s. With thebrrise of cars and planes, it’s one traditionbrthat went off track.br
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Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeerbr
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Montgomery Ward introduced him in abr1939 booklet, Gene Autry sang of himbrin 1949, then he got a stop-action specialbrin 1964. Almost from the start, Rudolphbrwas a hit decoration, coming in variousbrshapes, sizes, and colors, but with onebrcommonality—that red honker.br
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Village Peoplebr
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It takes a village to celebrate Christmas.brNot long after World War II, Christmasbrvillages comprised of tiny houses,brchurches, and other buildings became a thing. These were first mass-producedbrby Japanese companies from cardboard or paper. In the 1970s, they were made of ceramic or porcelain. Nobrmatter what they’re made of, they seembrto multiply like Gremlins. Jorgensenbrsaid, “We’ll hear stories, ‘My mantle is full, my dining room table is full,brmy closet is full, my basement is full,brmy garage is full...but the kids don’tbrwant them.’”
This article first appeared in the 60 Plus section of the November/December 2020 issue of Omaha Magazine. Click here to subscribe to the print edition.
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