LeRoy Pennysaver & News

LE ROY PENNYSAVER & NEWS - DECEMBER 22, 2019 by Lynne Belluscio When the Historical Soci- ety visited the German Christ- mas Fair in Kitchener-Water- loo, Ontario last Friday, some of us had a chance to see an exhibit of Christmas post card photographs. It was common to take a photograph of the family, or the Christmas tree, and then have it made into a post card. This became pos- sible in 1903, when Kodak introduced the pocket camera that produced photographs the same dimension as a standard post card – 3 ½ “ by 5 ½” . A few years later in 1907, Kodak introduced “real photo post- cards” which made it possible to make a postcard from any photo. This was also the year that the post office allowed a message on the back of a post- card in addition to the address. The address was on the right and the message was on the left. On the other side was a photograph or artwork. The postcard that caught my attention was a “Christmas ladder.” Tom Reitz, who put the exhibit together, is a friend and I mentioned to him that I had read in the LeRoy Ga- zette, about a Christmas lad- der. But it was so long ago, that I couldn’t remember when the article appeared, but I’d try to find it when I got back to LeRoy. As it turned out, I was at the library and men- tioned the story to Trish Rig- gi and she said she’d give it a try. A couple of days later, she emailed me and said she found the notation in the 1892 December 28 LeRoy Gazette: “ among the Christmas plea- sures at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Jas. H. Covert was a lad- der trimmed with evergreens and surmounted by a large snowball composed of cotton which was filled with pres- ents. The ladder was trimmed with bags of candy, popcorn, dates, and raisins which the children know how to enjoy.” So I sent that account to Tom. In the meantime, I thought I’d do a little Google search, and discovered another account of a Christmas ladder in a 1908 book on primary education. A series of articles described a variety of Christmas activities for primary school students. For second grade students, it mentioned: “We have nothing elaborate. Everyone takes part and our ‘dressing up’ consists of gilt and crepe paper, and tinsel over the suits. There are so many calls on the jan- itors we have given up hav- ing a tree, but have a ladder instead. We wind a high step ladder with white and trim it with evergreens and red bells. It is very pretty. We can do it all ourselves and the children are just as happy as when we had a tree.” So I sent that off to Tom to add information with his photo of the Christmas lad- der in the church. I did a quick search about artificial trees. In the 19th century, because there was a shortage of pine trees due to deforestation in Eu- rope, the German’s started making “feather trees” from goose feathers died green. The feathers were wrapped around wire and assembled in a tree shape often with a red “berry” on the end of each branch. These feather trees were imported to the United States and were popular in the German communities in Pennsylvania. “Bottle brush” trees were introduced by the Addis Housewares Company of England. The trees were very popular and were made from animal-hair bristles used in brushes and were made on machines that made toilet brushes. The bristles were dyed green and were not as flammable as the feather trees. Aluminum trees were first manufactured in Chicago in 1958 and later in Wisconsin. They remained popular until 1965 which was the year that “A Charlie Brown Christmas” aired on television. Charlie Brown’s Christ- mas brought down the pop- ularity of the aluminum tree business. Partway through the story, Charlie Brown is searching for the true meaning of Christmas and Lucy says” “Let’s face it. We all know that Christmas is a big commercial racket. It’s run by a big eastern syndicate you know.” Later as Charlie Brown and Linus are looking for the perfect tree for their Christmas play, they wander through a display of aluminum trees. Linus raps on the shell of one of the trees, and there is this cold metal sound. Linus tells Charlie, with sarcasm : “This one re- ally brings Christmas close to a person.” And of course we all know that Charlie finds a small pathetic tree for his play. A “Charlie Brown tree.” This 1965 cartoon is credited with the demise of the million dol- lar aluminum tree business, and by 1970, the aluminum tree became a collectors’ item. So whether you have an artificial tree of goose feath- ers, bristle brushes, aluminum, or a “real tree” or a ladder tree, all of us here at the Jell-O Gallery and the LeRoy House wish you all a Happy Christ- mas and a great New Year. A Christmas Ladder