“It’s Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas”: A Perry Como Classic from 1951
“It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” is a Christmas song written in 1951 by Meredith Willson. The song was originally titled “It’s Beginning to Look Like Christmas.” Perry Como was the first to record and release the song in 1951. This is the version you often hear on the radio. “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” has become a standard recorded by many artists. It was first a hit for Perry Como and the Fontane Sisters with Mitchell Ayres & His Orchestra on September 18, 1951. Bing Crosby recorded a version on October 1, 1951, on Decca Records, which was also popular. Does the cold weather make it feel like Christmas to you?
“It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” Summary
A belief in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada, is that Willson wrote “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” while staying in Yarmouth’s Grand Hotel. The song refers to a “tree in the Grand Hotel, one in the park as well…”; the park being Frost Park, directly across the road from the Grand Hotel, which still operates in a newer building on the same site. It also makes mention of the five and ten which was a store operating in Yarmouth, and other places at the time.
It is also possible that the “Grand Hotel” Meredith Willson mentions in “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” was inspired by the Historic Park Inn Hotel in his hometown of Mason City, Iowa, US. The Park Inn Hotel is the last remaining hotel in the world designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and is situated in downtown Mason City overlooking Central Park.
Perry Como and The Fontane Sisters with Mitchell Ayres & His Orchestra released their cover of “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” on September 18, 1951. Their edition became one of the most successful versions of the song, which is still widely played today (it is the version you hear), with over 382 million streams on Spotify as of May 1, 2024. The song is featured in the 2004 film “The Polar Express.”
Johnny Mathis recorded the song for his 1986 album “Christmas Eve with Johnny Mathis”; this version gained popularity after its inclusion in the film “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.” Canadian singer Michael Bublé’s version was first released on October 24, 2011, as the first track of Bublé’s Christmas album. However, it was then re-released as the album’s second single on November 18, 2012, achieving greater success.
Perry Como and the Fontaine Sisters
Perry Como is noteworthy, but the Fontaine Sisters are not, so they will be focused upon here. They were born to an Italian family, their mother, Louise Rosse, was both a soloist and the leader of the St. Joseph’s Church choir in New Milford. Bea and Marge started out singing for local functions, doing so well that they were urged to audition in New York City.
When they returned to New York in 1944, Brother Frank, who was initiallty in the group, was drafted into the Army; he went to France and was mortally wounded by a German sniper. Geri, who had just finished school, took her brother’s place, making it an all-girl trio. So, the trio was Bea, Marge, and Geri. The sisters first performed together as The Three Sisters. Sheet music of two of their songs, “I’m Gonna See My Baby”, and “Pretty Kitty Blue Eyes“, was published by Santly-Joy in 1944.
Conclusion
“It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” is a Christmas song designed to put listeners in a Christmas mood. It helps when it is freezing out, and you get snow. By now most houses have their Christmas lights out, though Caroling is not popular anymore.
