Owl Be Home For Christmas Trivia Quiz

Answer: Santa

Gene Autry composed "Here Comes Santa Claus" along with Oakley Halderman after Gene found himself upstaged by Santa Claus at a Hollywood Christmas Parade in 1946. The title comes from Gene overhearing a young boy at the parade say to his mother, "Here comes Santa Claus".

Answer: Merry

The only reason "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" was written was for an MGM musical. MGM studios asked songwriters Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane to compose music for the musical. When Vincente Minnelli and Judy Garland were given the first draft of the Christmas song, neither director nor actress liked one line in the song because of its reference to death.

The line was rewritten and Judy Garland performed the song for the first time in "Meet Me In St. Louis".

Answer: Song

"The Christmas Song" came about one summer day in 1946 while Mel Tormé and Robert Wells were trying to keep cool. Robert wrote lyrics about winter hoping it would cool him. Forgetting the songs they had been paid to write, Mel and Robert used Robert's lyrics to write "The Christmas Song" in forty minutes. Once the song was written, Mel Tormé took it straight to Nat King Cole who performed it under Capitol Records. "The Christmas Song" was the first holiday record to be put out by a black person and bought by white people.

Answer: White

Initially, Irving Berlin's first attempt at writing "White Christmas" was a failure due to the song's depressing lyrics. Five years later, Berlin dragged the lyrics out and started over again. Once it was rewritten, Berlin sent it to Bing Crosby. Crosby performed it in Irving Berlin's 1942 "Holiday Inn".

At the Academy Awards in 1942, "White Christmas" became the first Christmas song to win an Oscar for Best Song.

Answer: Jingle

"Jingle Bells" was written by James Pierpont after inspiration came to him from watching a group of sleigh riders. James trudged through the snow to borrow a piano from a neighbor to compose the tune. The song was supposed to be written as a Thanksgiving song, but has been considered a Christmas song because of the lyrics. Never once in "Jingle Bells" is the word 'Christmas' used.

Answer: Coming

James "Haven" Gillespie wrote the lyrics to the song shortly after his brother's death. Using an envelope to write the lyrics on, James incorporated things his mother used to tell them about Santa Claus into the lyrics. James took the words to composer John Coots. Using the idea of the click-clack pattern of the subway train James was on when he wrote the song, Coots put music to the words.

The song debuted at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.

Answer: Carol

Living in Ukraine, Mykola Dmytrovich Leontoych wrote "Carol of Bells" and initially called it "Shchedryk". He meant for the song to be performed a capella. While looking for new music for an NBC radio Christmas special Peter Wilhousky came across "Carol of the Bells".

He added handbells to the music and played it on NBC. After playing it on the NBC radio Christmas special, "Carol of the Bells" became a hit in the United States.

Answer: All

"O Come All Ye Faithful" was possibly written by a Catholic priest named John Francis Wade. His name was deleted when the lyrics were translated from French to English by Frederick Oakley in 1841. Only after Bing Crosby's rendition made it famous was Wade's name revealed.

Answer: Wonderland

While living with tuberculosis in West Mountain Sanitorium in Pennsylvania, songwriter Dick Smith wrote the poem "Winter Wonderland" while listening to people outside enjoying the snow. Composer and friend Felix Bernard put Dick Smith's lyrics to music. A second version of "Winter Wonderland" was written in 1950.

Answer: I'll

"I'll Be Home For Christmas" was written by a man named Buck Ram for his mother. After Buck showed them what he'd written for his mother, Ram's friends wrote a similar song and changed part of the title. Buck's friends sent their version of the song to Bing Crosby who recorded it.

When Buck saw his song was being performed by Bing Crosby and his friends were getting the royalties, Buck took them to court and won his court case. With the exception of the first recording, Buck's name would appear with Kim Gannon and Walter Kent as the writers of "I'll Be Home For Christmas".

The royalties for the song would be split three ways.