travsd

For St. Nicholas Day: Twas the Night Before Christmas — For Several Weeks

For whatever reason, we are ringing the Christmas bell hard this year. Some years it scarcely seems to exist; this year we have jumped in with both feet, having already posted on Oneofus’ Christmas Panto and Dzieci Theatre’s Fools Mass. Today being St. Nicholas Day (December 6) we lean into it even harder with a very special bulletin: December 23, 2023 marks the bicentennial anniversary of the first publication of Clement C. Moore’s immortal poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” a.k.a. “Twas the Night Before Christmas”. To mark the occasion author/historian Pamela McColl has penned the tome Twas the Night: The Art and History of the Classic Christmas Poem, the definitive explication of the English-speaking world’s most popular poem (yes, exceeding even Shakespeare).

This is a topic near and dear to most peoples’ hearts, though I make bold to claim that I am second to none (or few) in my enthusiasm. The proof may be found in my previous pieces on the history of Santa Claus, and on Clement Clarke Moore. The story has multiple resonances for me: I’m distantly related to Moore, I’m from Rhode Island (Moore spent his last years in Newport), I’m an Episcopalian (Moore’s family was instrumental in establishing that church in America), and I used to be p.r. director at New-York Historical Society, which has many Moore artifacts, including the desk at which some believe Moore wrote the poem.

Last night (Krampusnacht, as it happens), I was delighted to attend an exclusive tour of the General Theological Seminary in Chelsea (which Moore was instrumental in establishing; the land it’s on was the site of his estate) and got to interview Ms. McColl at length about her project. My piece is here on Chelsea Community News. Additionally here is info about the book, and a link to an itinerary of McColl’s densely packed personal appearance tour. Rhode Island friends, she’ll be holding events in Newport from Dec 11 to the 16! New York friends, my CCN piece contains the what-where-when on NYC events.

And you can peruse over 40 Christmas related Travalanche articles here.

Published by travsd

Writer and performer Trav S.D. (www.travsd.com) is best known for his books "No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous" (2005) and "Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube" (2013). He has written for the NY Times, the Village Voice, American Theatre, Time Out NY, Reason, the Villager and numerous other publications. Trav has been in the vanguard of New York’s vaudeville and burlesque scenes since 1995 when he launched his company Mountebanks, presenting hundreds of acts ranging from Todd Robbins to Dirty Martini to Tammy Faye Starlite to the Flying Karamazov Brothers. He has directed his own plays, revues and solo pieces at such venues as Joe’s Pub, La Mama, HERE, Dixon Place, Theater for the New City, the Ohio Theatre, the Brick, and 6 separate shows in the NY International Fringe Festival. In 2014 he produced and directed the smash-hit "I’ll Say She Is", the first ever revival of the Marx Brothers hit 1924 Broadway show in the NY International Fringe Festival.