Being homesick at Christmastime in the 1940s in Beverly Hills, LA


Christmas is a tough time to be away from home, no matter what the circumstances. When the song "White Christmas" became popular, it spoke volumes to men who were away from home fighting in World War II. I'm sure you've heard the song, but if you haven't, this is how it goes:

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
Just like the ones I used to know.
Where the treetops glisten,
And children listen,
To hear sleigh bells in the snow.

And it was just another Christmas song to me until I found myself spending Christmases alone, in Phoenix, and in Los Angeles. And it was especially in LA that it hit me, when I heard the entire lyrics for the first time, and then I would wait to hear them again on the radio. I suppose that I could have bought a recording of it, but it never occurred to me, and besides it was only at Christmastime that I wanted to hear it. And it was a revelation to me, and it changed how I saw things, because I could feel the hurt in the original lyrics that went:

The sun is shining, the grass is green
The orange and palm trees sway
There's never been such a day
In Beverly Hills, L.A
But it's December the twenty-fourth
And I am longing to be up north

If you've never heard those lyrics, it's not surprising. When Bing Crosby made the song into a hit, he didn't include any reference to Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, or palm trees. It would have been difficult, if not impossible for most people to understand, but I did.

No, I never lived in Beverly Hills, and I was glad to be away from the snow and cold of Minnesota, where I grew up, but it still hit me. I'll see if I can explain.

The writer of those lyrics, Irving Berlin, was doing fine financially. He was sitting at a piano at the Beverly Hills Hotel, and I know that it can be difficult for most people to generate much sympathy for someone who could call room service and get as much champagne and caviar as he wants. And speaking for myself, I was able to pay the rent on my apartment in Hollywood, and the repairs on my sports car, so my outward appearance was just fine. But it seems to me that just about every Christmas special emphasized how wonderful it was to be home, with family, and that money couldn't buy you happiness. It's true.

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