A Couple of White Dudes
(L) Vintage Coca Cola Ad Xmas Santa 1952 (R) Vintage Illustration of Jesus from “New Catholic Picture Bible” 1964 Catholic Book Publishing Co.
From the Christmas Vault:
50 Shades of Santa
The great debate recently about the color of Santa makes me wonder- if that all time Christmas classic “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas” could be written by a Irving Berlin, a Jew, who’s to say what color Santa actually is?
I say why not 50 shades of Santa?
Who can forget when Fox newscaster Megyn Kelly not only confirmed that Santa was white but on the same show she announced “Jesus was a white man too…I mean, he was an historical figure, that was a verifiable fact, as is Santa…I just wanted the kids watching to know that.”
Verified by who? Coca Cola?
“I’ve Got a Secret” Vintage Christmas Coke ad 1948
Spoiler alert- Santa isn’t real!
This historical figure is a figure of our imagination, commercialized by the Mad Men of Madison Avenue for generations to hawk products ranging from kitchen ware to toys.
A Red White and Blue Santa…”For the Best Gifts of All…..From the Best Santa of All”
This 1953 vintage ad from the American Toy Institute exclaimed:”Give American Toys”
Honest Santa! Vintage ad Van Heusen Shirt for Christmas 1951
Universally portrayed Santa. Vintage Christmas ad Universal kitchen appliances 1949
Is Santa real? Asked and answered! Vintage Christmas ad World Book Encyclopedia 1954
A White Christmas Dream – Vintage Christmas ad Plymouth cars 1949
The debate was sparked off by a Slate.com piece opining that perhaps Santa shouldn’t be portrayed merely as a white man anymore.
Given the diversity of our country it’s not unreasonable.
Jesus Christ Superstar
Is it true Blondes have more fun?
A decidedly blonde Jesus in illustrations from vintage children’s book “New Catholic Picture Bible” 1964 Catholic Book Publishers Co.
As far as that other historical figure, Jesus Christ, his oft time portrayal as a blue-eyed blonde is as fictitious as jolly old Santa, white or black.
It is quite doubtful that Jesus looked like he was of Nordic descent.
Jesus was born to a Jewish family in the Middle East, and most scholars agree that he most likely looked like what folks of Middle Eastern decent look like.
Not Aryan.
Color Me Tolerant
Perhaps the best solution to that would be to color Jesus in whatever color you wish and everyone will be happy.
Color Me Tolerant
“The Bible Coloring Book” 1985 Playmore Inc and Waldman Publishing
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Envisioning The American Dream 
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Festive Yule, Yummy Solstice, whatever y’all got!
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THe same to you and more. And let’s not forget Festivus!
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Don’t forget the feast of Cthulhu and his minions…oh wait, Mike and the bots covered that one last holiday Rifftrax, dang. Funny thing, I used to have that bible coloring book–almost forgot about it til now. It was HUGE, and I loved that.
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Ditto what Lynn said! I’m worn out trying to keep up with the holidays. That said, I like your approach to what color Jesus (or Santa) should be, though Saint Nicolas was Greek, so probably a bit darker than Coca Cola Santa.
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I had always read that St. NIcholas was Turkish which would make him equally darker in skin color.
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Now I’ll be hearing Dreaming of a White Christmas by Bing Crosby all day. I thought it was about the mountains of snow we had up here north of the 49th. It always snowed on Christmas eve and made it all so bright. Now we rarely see snow and the song doesn’t make sense. Thanks to you I’ll be humming it all day 🙂
No matter how one colors it Have a Merry Christmas anyway. It’s supposed to be colorful as was our Winter Solstice gathering.
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There are worse songs than that one that could be playing through your mind, especially this time of year. Have a very Merry Christmas!
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And next you’ll be telling me that the Purple One, Prince, was not purple. Since Santa Claus is an American, why does he not have any blue on his suit. Then he could be a red, white and blue Santa.
My question is: Since Irving and many of his songwriting cohorts were Jewish, how come there are no Hanukkah, Purim, Passover or Yom Kippur songs written by them. At least, they could have given us a Thanksgiving song or two.
Another great post. And here is a favorite from one of my all time favorite films:
I just want to wish you a very happy Hanukkah and a magical holiday season. And let you know how much you’ve meant to me during this year of madness.
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Oh, and a very happy belated Festivus.
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Thank you Don, and Happy holidays and Merry Xmas to you. Your always insightful, often humorous comments are always meaningful to me and have helped sustained me through this incredible year
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I celebrated Festivus yesterday!
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