The Retro in the Holidays pt. 2 'Oh Christmas Tree'

 
So here we are a couple days away from another Christmas morning and we realize we made it through one more year..... all be it a very eventful 12 months…
For this holiday season I’ve put together another Music Video that tries to capture the fun and reflection of years past. 
What better way to relive some retro than to pull out the holiday staple from the late 50’s to mid 60’s? The symbol of over commercialization of Christmas played out in the classic holiday special, ‘Charlie Brown Christmas’.

The artificial Christmas Tree.



Evergleam Aluminum Christmas Tree - photo: © Jeremiah Khokhar Photography

Several months ago I found myself trolling through the avenues of Ebay searching for the iconic symbol from the end of the Machine Age, the Evergleam Aluminum Christmas Tree. Complete with the revolving stand and the revolving colored light - classic retro. It's the seasonal visual display that screams retro at a time when retro just seems to fit. I’ve seen so many polaroid pictures of the minimalist / futuristic tree with the time period appropriate furnishings of a contemporary pad.   ‘Groovy Baby’.
What makes them so unique was the actual aluminum foil branches that would reflect and glitter when the tree rotated and also had changing colored lights shining on them. Unlike natural trees, the use of electronic ‘string’ lights was not possible due to the conductivity of metal branches (electrical short circuiting). The solution was a color wheel which would essentially be a spot light with a revolving plastic colored lens that would slowly rotate to make the aluminum branches appear to glisten. As with fire in a fireplace/firepit or water features that constantly move, the overall visual effect is hypnotic. The Aluminum Specialty Company in Manitowoc, Wisconsin produced one of the most popular and most desirable trees at the time, The Evergleam Aluminum Christmas Tree. These could be purchased for $25. 
With the desire to ‘get back to nature’ and ‘all things natural’ movement during the late 60’s and onward, the aluminum Christmas Tree found an attic spot for many years and then became an estate sale regular. 
Today these relics can be found at garage sales occasionally but mainly on Ebay and in antique shops that now know their worth, as many buyers look back to past Christmas's to relive some precious memories of their youth or to just embrace classic Americana.
The book ‘Season’s Greetings, The Art of the Aluminum Christmas Tree’ by J. Shimon & J. Lindemann is a book of the story and the photos that the authors put together of their collection of trees that they acquired upon returning to Manitowoc, Wisconsin to open their storefront gallery.

Here's my Music Video of the Classic tune, ‘O Christmas Tree’.

 

 

 

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