Valley Summer Yields Song of Winter Cheer

Christmas, we all know, got its start in Bethlehem, with the creative credits going to God and the Virgin Mary. The Bible tells us so.

Christmas carols did not appear until the 13th century in Italy. “St. Francis of Assisi, who led songs of praise to the Christ Child, is thought to be the father of this custom.” The Encyclopedia Americana tells us so.

Most of the Christmas songs sung today were written in the 1700s and 1800s, with far-flung origins. “Silent Night,” for example, was written in Austria on Christmas Eve in 1818--lyrics by priest Joseph Mohr, music composed the same night by church organist Franz Gruber. Talk about a quick turnaround: The carol was sung at midnight Mass.

And then there’s the San Fernando Valley’s greatest contribution to the music of Christmas. Inspiration struck, oddly enough, on one of those brutal Valley summer days, the temperature up around 100 degrees.

You might say that Robert Wells was so damn hot and sweaty and miserable that day in 1945 he found himself dreaming of a white Christmas.

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No, not that song. Irving Berlin wrote “White Christmas.”

But the story goes that Bob Wells was so uncomfortable he couldn’t cool off. This was before air conditioning was common, so Wells took a cold shower and jumped in the swimming pool. The relief was only temporary.

Fortunately for us, Wells happened to be part of a young songwriting duo working under a Hollywood contract with Oscar-winning tunesmiths Johnny Burke and Jimmy Van Heusen that paid each $75 a week against future royalties. Their credits included title songs for such largely forgotten films as “Magic Town” and “Abie’s Irish Rose.”

So it occurred to Wells that thinking wintry thoughts might help him cool down. He jotted down four lines of rhyme in a spiral notebook.

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire

Jack Frost nipping at your nose

Yuletide carols being sung by a choir

And folks dressed up like Eskimos

That’s what Wells’ 20-year-old partner, Mel Torme, saw displayed on the piano music board that day after he walked into the handsome Toluca Lake home owned by Wells’ parents.

In his autobiography “It Wasn’t All Velvet,” Torme describes how Wells, dressed in tennis shorts and white T-shirt, explained why he was thinking about Christmas in July.

“You know,” Torme recalls telling Wells, “this just might make a song.”

Torme and Wells then sat down at the piano and, about 45 minutes later, “The Christmas Song” was written.

Torme’s autobiography and another memoir, “My Singing Teachers,” offer details about what happened next.

Almost simultaneously, Torme says, he and Wells agreed the tune was perfect for their friend, Nat King Cole. But first they took the song to their mentors, Burke and Van Heusen.

“No, fellas. No good,” Burke told them. “The minute you say, ‘They know that Santa’s on his way,’ you make it a one-day song: Christmas Eve. No one’s going to buy a tune that’s only good one day of the year.”

Somewhat discouraged, Wells and Torme took the song to Nat Cole, who listened to it twice and declared: “That song is mine. Nobody gets that song except me.”

Cole’s recording of “The Christmas Song” would be a huge hit in 1946--his biggest-selling record ever and one of Capitol’s all-time bestsellers. Torme wasn’t so tacky as to boast about royalties in his autobiography. “The rest,” he coyly noted, “could be called our financial pleasure.”

Indeed, more than 50 years later, “The Christmas Song” remains remarkably fresh and popular. More than 500 artists are said to have recorded versions of it.

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And if by chance you have some old vinyl in which Nat Cole makes the mistake of singing “reindeers” instead of “reindeer,” you have a collectors’ item on your hands. After the first pressing was released, and the song became a hit, Torme and Wells pointed out the grammatical error. Cole, a perfectionist, re-recorded the song later--virtually identical but with the correct plural form of reindeer.

Torme of course would go on to great fame as a singer, recording and performing often until he suffered a stroke more than a year ago. Publicist Rob Wilcox says Torme, who resides in Beverly Hills, is improving but not available for interviews. Wells, I’m told, still resides in the Los Angeles area, but I was unable to reach him before my Christmas Eve deadline.

I didn’t just want to ask them a few questions, but to thank them for songs I know by heart, and for a mellow melody that captures the gentle spirit so well.

And I would have liked to have offered them this simple phrase, for kids from 1 to 92 . . .

Altho’ it’s been said many times, many ways

“Merry Christmas to you.”

Scott Harris’ column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Readers may write to him at The Times’ Valley Edition, 20000 Prairie St. , Chatsworth, CA 91311, or via e-mail at [email protected] Please include a phone number.t