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“Green Chri$tma$“ Green Does Good

The day after Christmas, 1958, author, actor, recording artist, comedian and puppeteer Stan Freberg donates $1,000 in royalties from “Green Chri$tma$,” his satire on the commercialization of Christmas, to the Hemophiliac Foundation of Southern California.

“Department Store at Christmas” Painting by John Falter

Freberg, son of a Pasadena Baptist minister, is almost prevented by Capitol, his record company, from releasing the biting parody. In his 1988 autobiography, It Only Hurts When I Laugh, Freberg recalls the president of Capitol saying the 6 minute 50 second recording would “offend everybody in advertising.”  Freberg replies: “Not everybody. Just the ones who should be offended.”

Eventually Freberg gets his way and “Green Chri$tma$” is released as originally produced – with no promotion by Capitol. It doesn’t need the record company’s help getting attention. A Christmas Day 1958 editorial by the Los Angeles Times accuses Freberg of being anti “giving.” Opines the Times:

Two three floor high decorated christmas trees stand in front of entrance in lobby with floor display featuring childrens toys on circular platform. At Barker Bros. Photograph dated Dec. 11, 1958.
1958 Store Display [1992-6236] California State Library

“We are not an authority on what is pleasing to the Lord but this is a field of speculation in which any number may play. So we dare to guess that the crescendo of pre-Christmas cash register jingling may be one of the few surviving sounds from the earth that gratify the Lord. For it is the signal of the greatest act of generosity, of loving kindness of charity in the whole so-called Christian year…. The people who spell it ‘Chri$tma$’ are blind to the whole emotional background of Christmas.”

In a January 14, 1959 reply, Freberg notes that nowhere in “Green Chri$tma$” does he criticize “the spirit of giving” or the purchase of Christmas gifts. Writes Freberg:

Stan and Hunter Freberg at the San Diego ComicCon 2009. Stan is standing behind a speaker's desk
Stan and Hunter Freberg at the San Diego ComicCon 2009. Photo by Dave Fayram

“The jingle of the cash register that I attacked is the precise jingle that comes from the more mercenary type of Christmas profiteering. When you (the Times) generalize saying it is ‘one of the few surviving sounds from the earth that gratify the Lord,’ it becomes a rather pitiable attempt to whitewash the more grim overtones of the sounds. It is a little like saying ‘the sound of gunfire is a happy one because it starts a 100-yard dash.’ “

Letters and responses from the public to “Green Chri$tma$” are 90 percent positive, Freberg says in his autobiography. A thorough examination of  “Green Chri$tma$” can be found on ChristmasYuleBlog.