Fun Fact $448
Fun Fact #448
š¯„˛Santa is Coming
Life can be difficult sometimes and Christmas 1933 sure seemed to be among the worst possible days for James Haven Gillespie. His life had been a tale of poverty and woe, born penniless, he had to propose to his wife via postcard, and finally was able to eek out a living as a typesetter in NewYork (barely). Yet now life had a new curveball, the death of his little brother Irwin, and then his boss came by to ask if he could write a Christmas song “as a favor…” since he had the vocabulary of a child.
He took the train home fuming, how could he write a song on that day of all days? Yet his memory drifted to his childhood in Covington with Irwin and how their mother would try to calm them whenever life got rough
“You better watch out,
You better not cry,
Better not pout,
I’m telling you why:
Santa Claus is comin’ to town.”
WIthin 15 minutes he had the entire song’s lyrics scrawled on the back of an envelope, and J. Fred Coots (his drinking buddy) composed the music. His boss hated the song, stating it was corny and refused to publish it. So it sat until Thanksgiving 1934 –when unbeknownst to Gillespie– singer Eddie Cantor debuted the song on his Thanksgiving Macy’s Parade Radio Broadcast which Gillespie happened to be listening to with his family. Within the first 24 hours the song had sold 500,000c copies of sheet music and 30,000 records had been ordered –even though no such records existed! Gillespie would start receiving regular checks for the rest of his life and spent far more time with his son and Wife as a result.
Today the song “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” is a classic having become a Christmas and to many people, Christmas doesn't begin until the tune is played after the Macy’s day parade every year.
