REMEMBERING:  Christmas in Chicago in 1940 plus merry music and miscellaneous memories of some celebrity Christmastime birth dates. Also: Seeing the Christmas windows at Marshall Fields in Chicago’s Loop and visiting Wieboldt’s ToyTeria downtown for a Cinnamon Bear coloring book and a Silver Star. Plus: Christmas in Grammar School; shopping in the neighborhoods; trimming a tree at home; and a favorite gift from Santa.  62 minutes.

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E-X-P-A-N-D your Memory Lane podcast experience by visiting these easy links for your added enjoyment:

Spike Jones and his City Slickers with Jim Backus on TV’s All-Star Review with a medley of their hits, including “All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth” sung by George Rock. June 7, 1952.

Kate Smith sings “Christmas Eve in My Home Town” telecast on  “Hollywood Palace,” December 24, 1966.

Allan Sherman’s “Twelve Days of Christmas,” illustrated..

Lester Lanin and his Orchestra present “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies,” illustrated.

Chuck Schaden’s Nostalgia – an hour-long cable TV program from December, 1986, featuring a visit to a pop-up Christmas store; a Walt Disney collector; the Cinnamon Bear TV show; and a Maybe Land Village.

Order “CHICAGO CHRISTMAS – One Hundred Years of Christmas Memories”(with a foreword by Chuck Schaden) or the second edition, “SEASON OF JOY – Chicago Celebrates the Holidays” — books by Jim Benes, WBBM news writer and editor for 48 years.