Christmas at TFTP (Monochrome Monday Edition): "Your Hit Parade" from NBC (Dec. 24, 1955)

Posted to YouTube by user 'Mister Stereo'
Length (total of 3 parts) - 26:05

TFTP's Monochrome Monday brings you a classic black & white TV program or clip every Monday morning to kick off the week....

"Your Hit Parade" was a mainstay on NBC radio and TV for over twenty years, providing a review of the "hit parade" of top charting songs for each week. After fifteen years on radio, the TV version premiered in 1950 (the radio edition would continue for five additional years until 1955). On both radio and TV, a revolving cast of musicians and singers recounted the week's top songs for audiences in an era before music video and on-demand music streaming.

The episode of "Your Hit Parade" featured here was aired on Christmas Eve of 1955. As every week, the episode includes renditions of the top seven songs from the previous week ("Sixteen Tons" tops the list here), but Christmas Eve warranted the addition of a few holiday tunes. "Deck the Halls" with the entire Your Hit Parade ensemble opens the episode, with a "Christmas medley" in the mix, and a full-cast performance of "O Holy Night"--on the Rockefeller Center ice skating rink--closing out the show.