Vintage Christmas Tree Old Hollywood Holiday Decoration Ideas

Decorating with Christmas trees

"There's no reason why your Christmas tree should cost a great deal of money

A special tree lighting
downtown Boston 1921 **

in order to be attractive looking. Why not this year for a change have a one-colored or two-colored Christmas tree? 

"I can think of nothing lovelier than a Christmas tree that is all silver. It will attract immediate attention and will be so fairy-like and new that the spirit of Christmas will seem to flame out of it. For your all-silver Christmas tree use plenty of crystal balls and silver ornaments. Use festoons of silver too." 

• Harold Lloyd's spectacular tree
• Celebrate wherever you are, the desert or at sea
• Theme trees
• Make some festive decorations 1925 video
• Home movies, Christmas party footage from the 1930s 
• Paint your own costume then paint yourself into a Christmas Card
• Decorate at work, your business or office for the Christmas party

Decorating doesn't have to be expensive. Repurpose, recycle things you have. More tree decorating tips:

"Make chains from bright silver paper, paste on both sides of cardboard and then make innumerable stars and crescents and a few moons too for your silver tree fastening them on with silver cord. Start saving silver papers of all sorts a few weeks before Christmas and you will have a lot of it by the time you tree should be decorated. 

"Tin-foil, too is useful. Cover oddly shaped candies, little toys and nuts with these papers and put them on your tree. You will need silver paint of course. Paint some tiny objects such as tree cones, the tips of some of the branches. For a silver tree they suggest white lights are best."



1937 "Christmas Is Coming To Dr Barnardo's Home"

Declutter First
"Get rid of all of the superfluous ornaments in your home and let this include all of the things that have been lying around during the year that have added neither beauty nor comfort to your home. After you have got rid of all extras you may start to add the special Christmas decorations.
 
"I should use a lot of wreaths for Christmas.  If your home has only adults, consider having a tiny tree, a living plant decorated with familiar Christmas things will add a great deal to your holiday happiness.

"Pepper plants in bloom are among the most charming of the Christmas decorations. Fir boughs and festoons will add a great deal to your halls and dining room.  Add a tall vase of leaves with if possible some red berries." These Christmas ideas are timeless.
-- Stephen Goosson, Art Director aka Interior Decorator First National Studios (Merged with Warner Brothers 1928)

** "Over 50,000 people thronged the common in Boston on Christmas eve on the occasion of the third annual celebration of its kind in that city. Christmas carols were rendered by a choir of five thousand singers. A great tree was the centre of attraction and this was decorated with a dazzling and bewildering variety of electric lights. A red star surmounted the tree and a varied and beautiful display of fireworks made the scene one of enchantment."
-- Mid-Week Pictorial 1921/22 (Re: Image at top of page.)

Christmas 1926 "'Somewhere on this Christmas tree Alberta Vaughn is hidden can you find her?'  John Oshanna a Persian artist paints on costumes and in so doing carries out his idea of backgrounds on the subjects here he is doing some decorating on Alberta Vaughn." Try this for a truly unique card.

The Family Xmas Tree: Rooted in the fertile soil of Hollywood, 1922: Press Agent is at the top. Other ornaments are marked: Producer, Cameraman, Director, Assistant Director, Property Man, Wardrobe Mistress, Scenario Writer and one, interestingly seems to say, Spy.

Radko Charlie Chaplin
Glass Ornament
Silent Movie Golden New

Bloom where you're planted, Make it Christmas where you are. The desert or at sea:
Christmas 1923: Word from Claire Windsor who was out on the Sahara in North Africa at work A Son of the Sahara for First National, under the direction of Edward Carewe. 

Windsor "tells of the thrill she gave sheiks when she set up a Christmas tree in the middle of the desert." The film also starred Walter McGrail, Rosemary Theby and Bert Lytel.

Christmas 1929 Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks spent Christmas aboard a steamer somewhere between here and China but at least Mary says they were en route home. 

In the very early 1930s, Richard Arlen and his wife, Jobyna Ralston spent Thanksgiving on their yacht as it skimmed down toward lower California.

Conrad Nagel is going to have the tree lighted with electric bulbs the presents a Santa Claus who comes through a porthole and all in 1930. The Nagels will be on a cruise off the coast of southern California. 

The Darryl Zanucks will have three trees filled with lovely trees one for each of their children. Christmas 1935

Harold Lloyd's 30-Foot Christmas Tree 

"Walter Dymond stands in front of the Harold Lloyd Christmas Tree. As Groundskeeper of the Harold Lloyd Estate, he was responsible for the construction of the Christmas tree from two trees (wiring the branches of one into the other) and placed the ornaments where Mr. Lloyd directed." (1972 made available by Mr. Dymond's grandson)

Each year the order for the first and largest Christmas tree comes from Harold Lloyd, one that will touch the 30-foot ceiling in the mammoth Lloyd drawing room.
-- The Milwaukee Journal, December 1935



Christmas home movie 1936, Cheers

"At Harold Lloyd's there is a special Christmas custom. The tree which little Gloria has each year is a live one in a box. After Christmas each year the decorations are removed and the tree replanted until today she has living trees as memories of each Christmas. -- 1930

Lloyd's daughter, Gloria Lloyd Roberts was an actress. She appeared in the Merle Oberon film, Temptation in 1946. She can also be seen (as herself) in American Masters Harold Lloyd: The Third Genius.





The Thin Man, Myrna Loy and William Powell  

"Among the screen players who have lighted trees ranging from 40 to 100 feet in height in their yards each season are Fay Wray, Richard Arlen, Clive Brook, Ruth Chatterton, Clara Bow, June Collyer, Conrad Nagel and Gary Cooper.  

Christmas tree decorated with photos, dolls, ornaments
featuring movie stars
Tom Mix, Mary Pickford, more
What an idea :-)
Picturegoer Magazine 1915 illustration

1939 Bette Davis telegraphed a request for a tree to be cut from her 110-acre estate on Sugar Hill which she purchased as a summer home. The 10-foot New Hampshire fir tree, wrapped in burlap started its long rail journey across the country December 8, 1939 bound for Miss Davis' Los Angeles Home.  

1933 Greta Garbo will celebrate with a little bit of Sweden having had her Christmas tree from the old country shipped from there. 

Christopher Radko Bubble-Lite Bubble Light, Light Strand, Set of 7
The same Christopher Radko who brings you those beautiful glass ornaments

Theme Trees: 
Do you have a collection that you use to decorate a tree, or ornaments that represent your collection? They suggest that Anne Francis may have Hollywood's most unusual Christmas tree.


She has a collection of wishbones which she places on a Christmas tree. On the top branch of Anne's wishbone tree there is an empty space just large enough for the wishbone from a Christmas turkey. 

"I'm saving that space for Marlon Brando. I was supposed to go to his house for Christmas dinner . At the last minute something happened and I couldn't make it. Marlon solemnly promised to save the wishbone for me. Since Marlon never breaks a promise, someday I'm going to collect." Christmas 1957

Do you have some wishbones? Cover them in glue then glitter and place them on your tree. 

What's your vocation, what do you do for a living? Do you know someone who drives a taxi? Get some amazing yellow glass taxicab ornaments. I have a cool old wooden German dentist ornament. There are dinosaurs, ornaments made to look like movie stars. Funny because some of them are up for debate. Is that this person or that one?!

In The Thin Man with William Powell and Myrna Loy they had some balloons on their Christmas tree.   

Make these Festive Decorations from 1925

Use fireproof paper they suggest

"Merry Christmas, Marilyn," said a note from Joe DiMaggio on a Christmas tree that Marilyn Monroe found in her hotel room. She also found Joe himself sitting in a chair in the corner. "It's the first time in my life anyone ever gave me a Christmas tree,' she told me days later. 'I was so happy I cried.' This is from the blonde who sings Diamonds are a girl's best friend." -- Christmas 1952

Do you trim, decorate or dress the tree??

Christmas 1942 was Tyrone Power's first liberty after weeks in boot camp. He was hoping get his furlough to be home around Christmas Eve in time for tree trimming with his mother and sister, his wife, Annabella and her little daughter joining in.

Decorate at work  

Whether it's an entire building, office, your desk, vehicle or your particular workspace. Maybe you're on the Office Party committee. 



London Hospital Office Christmas Party 1937


Willesden General Hospital (London) staff Christmas Party 1937...
Decorating for your office Christmas party?
   
In 1916 some movie theaters were decorating for the holiday
Snow scene on stage for Christmas Christmas Buffalo, New York
The Strand Moving Picture Theater Buffalo New York is using a snow scene on the stage for the Christmas holidays.  

"There are two Christmas trees ablaze with vari-colored lights. The lobby has laurel decorations. 'I am also working special film titles pertaining to Christmas,' said the manager."  

New York movie theater celebrates the season 1916

Greens and Decorations on Yonge Street, Toronto Ontario. 
"Managers of downtown picture theaters of Toronto without exception arranged for special lobby and front displays of holiday nature for Christmas week. Through a cooperative arrangement the front of every theater on lower Yonge Street was gaily festooned with evergreen and strings of electric lights. 

"More than $150 was spent by the manager of the Rialto Theater to advertise Mary Pickford's feature, Less than Dust. The decorations included panel oil paintings, Oriental lamps and festoons of holiday evergreens."
-- Moving Picture World, December 1916



Related Pages of Interest:


Charles Boyer Receives a Christmas Gift: Parents and Grown Children, Expectations and Acceptance

Gift Certificates : Gift Cards : Employee Recognition : Kindle Gift Cards Print Out and slip into a card, email to friends, family, last minute


Giants Decorations Celebrate the SF Giants and NY Giants, Your team this Holiday; Bring your team home for the holidays


Theme Decorations, Christmas Window Displays

Grinch steals holiday decorations off neighbors' lawns 

Christopher Radko is known for his beautiful quality blown glass Christmas ornaments, including those dedicated to beloved film stars. They sell out very quickly. Radko Petite Lucy Ole PINK Ornament Love New 



Christopher Radko Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 1997 Limited Edition Ornament Set (Set of 8)  Honors the 60th anniversary of the Disney film.


Modern Screen October 1953, December 1957 
Spokane Daily Chronicle - December 23, 1933
The Lewiston Daily Sun - December 8, 1939  
Screenland September 1922
The Pittsburgh Press - December 13, 1930
Photoplay 1926 

Hands in Film Fashion Surrealist Influences

Fashion and hands forever linked

The human body has always served as an artists staple subject matter. Styles

Bejeweled hand clasp
on a swimsuit cover up
Fashion show in The Women 1939

change and the depictions are different.

One of the most public and still most personal body part is the hand. We may be adorning our own with rings and bracelets or the very latest in nail art. Put a ring on it. Hand work in art and fashion is prized.

Religions join hands in ceremonies, hands are seen in iconography, we pray, shake hands, wave hello and goodbye. Palmistry is used to foretell your future, whether you're a believer or not. 

The Beatles will forever want to hold your hand. It makes them feel happy inside. Delightful as it would be to hold hands with any of The Beatles (is there a place where I can sign up?), holding hands with someone can be one of the sweetest, most loving, even most comforting things we do.

The hand and heart is popular in folk art even as a cookie cutter design. What the hand is doing, how it's positioned, as Fonzie knew - be it thumbs up or down, can be vitally important.

Rosalind Russell won't miss a thing in this dress

Fashion designers have incorporated the hand into their clothing and accessories for years. Influenced by Surrealism, Italian fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli incorporated hands, among other things into her accessories in the 1930s. 

Her hand themed buttons and belts are museum pieces and collectors items now.

The Women
Gloves with golden extensions

We can't ignore Cedric Gibbons' contribution to The Women. As art director, his set designs added glamor, ambiance and just the right environment to each scene.

In The Women, major developments happen early on in a scene with a manicurist. 

The theme of fingers, claws and Jungle Red nail polish carries throughout, so it's fitting that Gibbons created an outstanding piece of glowing hand sculpture to catch our eyes. 




The spa and department store sets were said to take up several rooms alone. Why couldn't Mary's husband keep his hands off of Crystal??

Hands, and a nod to Schiaparelli's designs of the day, also served as inspiration for the costume designs in films such as The

My department store
doesn't have
a display like that

Women (1939) and 1942's The Man Who Came to Dinner. 

Adrian produced outfits for a Technicolor fashion show in the middle of black and white movie The Women, much to the chagrin of director George Cukor. 

Like The Wizard of Oz in the same year, The Women was a black and white film that had a color segment included. Though some find it jarring, most viewers adore the fashion sequence.

He was costume designer for the entire film.  Rosalind Russell wore an eye-popping three-eyed dress early in the film. This served to define the character but also gave a nod to the Surrealist fashion movement. 

Norma Shearer Photo

Schiaparelli designed a line of gloves with elaborate ruffles and even mock fingernails. Gloves with 3-D nails or claws can be found today, be they fancy dress costume-quality or high fashion designer quality with the price tags to match.

Some of the film's fashion show is online. The Women (the original from 1939 particularly) is a great film that's pretty regularly shown on television, be it PBS or channels such as Turner Classic Movies, TCM. 

Just some of the stars are Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell, Paulette Goddard, Joan Fontaine, Lucile Watson, Butterfly McQueen and Mary Boland. 



One of Schiaparelli's famous accessories was a simple silk evening belt with a plastic hand clasp from the designers fall 1934 collection. "The wearer is literally embraced around the waist by the belt," they said.

Ann Sheridan
The Man Who Came to Dinner

Orry-Kelly was costume designer on The Man Who Came to Dinner. Ann Sheridan wears a blouse with hand-shaped buttons. 

She and her pretentious behavior frustrates the characters played by Bette Davis and Monty Woolley.

Some reviewers of the day referred to the garments as faux Schiaparelli gowns. Do you remember other movies with outfits like these?

Schiaparelli created a silk dress with a larger-than-life hand-painted lobster on the skirt for Wallis Simpson's trousseau when she was to marry King-Emperor Edward VIII. 



The lobster motif is reminiscent of a  brooch Joan Crawford wore in, I believe, Mildred Pierce. Fashion and accessories, especially for those who could afford the very best, was getting more surreal in the 30s and early 40s.

The Man Who Came to Dinner Movie Poster

The collections of designers Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons in 2007 and Hussein Chalayan in 2010 have incorporated hands in unique ways. 

Kawakubo's hands are more decorative while in Chalayan's looks they may serve to be utilitarian as well. (This is based on seeing their partial collections.) Jewelry designer Margaux Lange is one who incorporates parts of the iconic Barbie doll into her jewelry.

How about the hand in architecture? The entrance to the car park of Estonian State Opera at the Estonia Theatre in Tallinn has barrier gates. When you've paid for admittance they raise and allow you inside. Some of the gates are fashioned in the shape of an oversized hand holding a conductor's baton.  

Barbra Streisand Fine Art Paper Print

from The Owl and the Pussycat, with George Segal 1973
Not quite the same thing, but a famous costume

Joan Crawford in Bathing Suit Wristlet Purse
Several sizes/styles. By Jakestuff

The book, Architecture and Film has a section on Cedric Gibbons. This is now available on Kindle. Film buffs will enjoy how many eras are discussed and historians, especially those who are makers and builders will really love it. Who built Mr. Blandings' Dream House?

George Cukor, Master of Elegance: Hollywood's Legendary Director and His Stars by Emanuel Levy is just one where you can the director's feelings about the technicolor fashion show sequence. Imposed by the producers, Cukor felt that "it made the black and white footage that followed look bad." Since color was a novelty in 1939 it was inserted at least partly to get added attention for the movie.

Shocking Life: The Autobiography of Elsa Schiaparelli Her autobiography is on Kindle. Are any of her pieces at your local museum?

Chromatic Cinema: A History of Screen Color is a good guide to early use of color in film.

 

 

Related Links of Interest:

Philadelphia Museum's Shocking! The Art and Fashion of Elsa Schiaparelli

Check out the Lobster Dress at The Philadelphia Museum

Remember Max Factor SophistiCat and Schiaparelli Perfumes? 

Comparing The Unknown & Edward Scissorhands; Lon Chaney and Johnny Depp

Six movies where characters have possessed hands 

It's spreading New Viral Art

Hand Shadows Lamps and Shades Customize or Create new A little bit of light or a lot
 
Palmistry Bagettes Bag Wristlet Purse by EndlessVintage
Browse Palmistry Bagettes Bags online at Zazzle.com

Staying fit the old Hollywood way - classic stars exercise photos

Exercise your right to be fit
and glamorous like a star

Exercise is good for us. It can be fun, aid in weight loss and keep sickness at bay. Get out in the fresh air. An Old Hollywood photo essay, actresses at play, and exercising. The stars can give some ideas of great exercises we can do to stay fit, trim and looking mahvelous. What tips do you have?

Rosalind Russell Marie Wilson Orig 8x10 photo
Check with your doctor to be sure
you're able to handle the exercise regimen you plan to undertake.
Start a little at a time. That's best for your body and your self confidence.
Make sure you're eating well and getting enough sleep.

Gail Patrick 8x10 Original Photo
Work on having a positive Self Image

Judy Garland Ziegfeld Girl 1941 balancing books on head
Good posture is not only for the sake of appearance but health and self confidence
with Hedy Lamarr, Lana Turner, Eve Arden

Bette Davis 8x10 glossy Photo
Do what you can to give up unhealthy habits like smoking 

Merle Oberon Interval 1973 8X10 Photo
Just take the stairs more often
and you'll be doing a good thing for your body

Rita Hayworth exercising 8x10" Photo

Myrna Loy with her medicine ball
8X10" photo

Joan Blondell A little rope climbing in heels- 11x14
Photograph Master Print High Quality
The right kind of footwear is important.
If you're serious about your exercise
vs your photo shoot vs a
Honky Tonk Badonkadonk (by Trace Adkins)
 look into what's best to wear.

Joan Crawford 8x10" Photo

Scene from The Women 1939, Rosalind Russell, Joan Fontaine calisthenics

Leave the car at home: Ride a bicycle

Doris Day Fine Art Paper Print
13x19 inches
Many of us are choosing to bike to our destinations
rather than take the car.
This is great exercise and it helps the environment.

Marilyn Monroe 8x10 Photograph High Quality
These days though, a stylish and smart bike helmet
is not only a good idea but it's often the law.
Your commuter train or bus may have room for bicycles.

Exercise can be a fun sport that you enjoy
How about tennis?

Barbara Stanwyck tennis fun 8x10 Photograph

Jean Harlow 8x10 Photograph

Lana Turner tennis court, racket,Beverly Hills,CA
E Thiesen,1940
Take lessons if you need to know how to play the sport.

Deanna Durbin Fine Art Paper Print 13x19 inches
Skating and Skiing are sports to get us outside in the wintertime

Doing work around the house and yard
is a great form of exercise
Yard work, gardening, housework, play with the kids, take a walk

Donna Reed very tidy 8x10 photo

Joan Fontaine does a little yard work
11x14 Photograph Master Print High Quality

Housework: Carole Lombard and William Powell
My Man Godfrey
8x10" Photo

"Remember, nobody smiles doing housework but those ladies you see on TV.
Your mommy hates housework. Your daddy hates housework, I hate housework too. And when you grow up, so will you. ...
Children, when you have a house of your own, make sure, when there's house work to do, that you don't have to do it alone. Little boys, little girls, when you're big husbands and wives, if you want all the days of your lives to seem sunny as summer weather make sure, when there's housework to do that you do it together!"
-- excerpt from Housework, Carole Channing, Free to Be You and Me

Eventually you'll probably get curious and weigh yourself

Claudette Colbert 16x20 Photograph High Quality
Glamorous weigh-in

Susan Hayward 8X10 Photo
Try taking off your shoes before weighing in.

Ginger Rogers Original Bachrach Pinup Photo
Follow the Fleet, 1937

What's your favorite pastime?
There's the wife-carrying competition. Just get up and get moving. :)

Original photo - Katharine Hepburn

There were several photos of Katharine Hepburn playing sports,
tennis and golf, even shooting a gun. But this is a fun photo.
She's wearing a gown while apparently throwing a man across the room. 


Related Pages of Interest:

The Psychology of Color, Food and Appetite: How can the color blue help with weight loss?

Our beautiful idols had to exercise too.
Hoping these photos will be of interest and serve as some inspiration.
For equal time a photo page of male stars of the era working out will be next
when enough pics are gathered.



It's too bad that, when putting together a photo spread like this,
one in good humor in a particular scenario,
images of minority actresses such as those who are African American, are very hard to find. 
We have just so much time and available resources but always try to be inclusive and open-minded.