Searching for Memories of L.A.’s Legendary 1930’S Christmas House
MAUI, HAWAII – Writer/producer Georja Skinner is looking for southland residents that remember visiting the modest L.A. bungalow known across the country as “The Christmas House” in Boyle Heights during its heyday in the late 1930’s. Skinner’s father, George G. Skinner and his father Albert created the legendary Christmas fairyland at 919 Matthews Street during his rehabilitation from polio. It was open to the public each December from 1936-1938. The attraction made front page news in the L.A. Times and Herald Examiner, drawing over 100,000 visitors a year for two weeks preceding Christmas. Skinner is seeking anyone who remembers or visited the winter wonderland to be interviewed for her upcoming book to be released next year, as well as a documentary film. “It’s such an inspirational story that I felt compelled to share it and honor the amazing determination of one man against the odds,” says Georja Skinner, an award-winning television producer. “He wanted to bring joy to those who helped him in his struggles and he did more than that.” she adds. Doctors didn’t give Skinner much of a chance of total recovery. After succumbing to polio in the epidemic of 1934 and spending the better part of 2 years in and our of L.A. County General Hospital, Skinner decided to create the winter fairyland that defied the imagination and brought hope back to many in a troubled time. In this neighborhood, many homes didn’t even have electricity. His letter to Eleanor Roosevelt helped this 22-year old man get hydrotherapy he needed to help him walk again. He had a dream to share his joy of surviving this horrendous disease with an act of grace and thanksgiving. Skinner promptly set out to create a total fantasy experience on a shoestring with no funds. He received donations of goods from studios and businesses, including the L.A. Department of Water and Power, who donated free electricity for the month to help his fantastic idea become a reality. The American Legion Sunrise Post 357 sponsored the project and worked evenings to help him rig and light and noted photographer Dick Whittington was on hand to record the events. Visitors wandered through a forest of trees inside the humble abode, listening to the melodies of piped in holiday music from Skinner’s 78 rpm record-player, then meander to the wonderland in back, complete with Snow White’s wishing well. The only thing missing were the 7 dwarfs. In the distance, a life-size castle in the clouds served as a dramatic backdrop to the full size waterwheel that fed the stream that crossed the paths of upturned trees painted snowy white. A fire caused by a careless visitor destroyed the most of the house and a large portion of the decorations. On December 22, 1938, for what would be the last year for the “Christmas House”, the doors opened to the grandest display of all, with cleverly placed studio snow to cover the charred windows and roof on the Skinner home. George Skinner attended Euclid Avenue School and Roosevelt High School, where he was active in the ROTC. He attended Sawyer School of Business and was a member of the Christian Endeavor Youth Group, and Lorena Baptist Church. Southland residents who have any information, newsreels or photographs on George Skinner or The Christmas House are asked to contact writer/producer Georja Skinner at 808-669-5256 or 808-268-4341, or via email at skincom@aol.com.
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Book Review
By David Rose, March of Dimes Archivist
The Christmas House
by Georja Skinner In the literature that celebrates the tradition of Christmas, Clement C. Moore’s “A Visit from St. Nicholas” and Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” stand out as enduring classics. Dylan Thomas’ A Child’s Christmas in Wales, while perhaps not as popular, continues the literary tradition of reflecting on the cultural meaning of Christmas through the eyes of the individuals who celebrate the season. Georja Skinner’s The Christmas House is a worthy successor to these perennial classics, not because it is fictional (it is not), but because it plausibly explains the origin of a very common American tradition – house decoration during the Christmas season. However, this remarkable story is far from a dry exercise in social history, for in its unobtrusive lesson about the meaning of Christmas we find both the recovery of the origin of a tradition and the reconstruction of a family’s history through the historical marginalia of a personal archive. The Christmas House is at once a search for roots, an inducement to preserve history and memory, and the fascinating re-telling of one man’s struggle with a devastating disease – poliomyelitis. The story is a simple one, simply and directly told, and that is its great strength. The author’s father, George Skinner, separated from his family in Canada and resettling in California with his father Albert, contracted polio at age 22 in the epidemic that struck Los Angeles in 1934. George was hospitalized, confined at times to an iron lung that enabled him to breathe, and, greatly weakened and disabled, released to re-join his father at their Boyle Heights home in 1936. He had spent over one year recovering in the Los Angeles General Hospital. Disheartened but yet undaunted by this traumatic experience, he hit on the holiday expedient of decorating the façade and chimney of their home with Christmas decorations in such profusion that the resulting spectacle would serve as a grand “thank you” to their neighbors for their many kindnesses and tokens of support during his convalescence. It was the Great Depression, and neighbors banded together for mutual support. The young George Skinner had no material riches to give back in return, but the delight he generated with his “Christmas house” idea sparked the imagination of his neighbors and energized the people of Los Angeles as the news media focused on the unusual spectacle of Santa Claus, snowflakes, and icicles at 919 Mathews Street. In 1938, over 100,000 visitors witnessed an even grander display at their home, though a house fire proved to be an unfortunate setback. George Skinner’s determination and artistry propelled him into a successful career in broadcasting, and the author traces the Christmas house’s subtle influence through her father’s subsequent career, marriage, family reconciliations, and many holiday seasons. The uniqueness of this story turns on George Skinner’s experience with polio and his exceptional resolve to overcome its aftereffects. In that, it is reminiscent of the experience of Franklin Roosevelt, whom George and many others with polio upheld as a role model of colossal importance. George’s experience nearly killed him, and his convalescence was long and arduous. Not much was known about polio in 1934, and the Los Angeles epidemic was unusual in many ways, primarily for the extraordinary outbreak of what first appeared to be polio among the nurses and attendants at Los Angeles General Hospital, but now believed to have been chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Among 2,500 confirmed cases of polio, of which George’s was one, nearly 300 nurses were also affected by CFS. In later years – the 1940s and 1950s – the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (now the March of Dimes) dispatched specialized medical teams to communities throughout the nation for epidemic relief and paid for the hospitalization and aftercare treatment of those affected by polio. In 1934, however, George Skinner had only his father Albert, a tool and die maker, to rely on after his hospitalization, and these were very hard times. Albert and George together built and rigged up many devices of their own making – an outdoor gym and stationary bicycle – to provide an opportunity for physical therapy. Before their residence became “the Christmas house,” their modest home was in actuality a makeshift polio rehabilitation center. First, the regime of physical therapy; then, the therapeutic and artistic breakthrough of the Christmas house; these were George Skinner’s personal triumphs and re-inventions of himself, and what makes this story all the more captivating are the many photographs and documents that illustrate every episode. One of the prerequisites of writing history is the keeping of archives. Most of us pay scant attention to the repositories of records, i.e., archives, that form a common and critically important part of higher education, government, and community life. At the same time, most of us do keep personal records of many sorts: photographs, scrapbooks, correspondence, and family memorabilia are typical. In The Christmas House, the profusion of illustrations enriches the story tremendously, and this is an integral part of the story itself. George Skinner’s childhood, hospitalization, post-polio experience, and adult life are all captured in photographs; and the inclusion of telegrams, clippings, press releases, Christmas cards, and souvenirs also serves to impart a photo verite quality to this story proving, as author Georja Skinner phrases it, that her father and grandfather were “consummate pack rats.” In other words, they were incipient archivists. She describes the experience of discovering a personal scrapbook of clippings and photos that her father had kept as “going through a time warp.” This is a common experience. What is uncommon is the author’s transformation of family history into a luminous biographical memoir. The Christmas House is a testament to love of family, personal fortitude against adversity, and recapturing the past. Without an overbearing religious message, it is a book about the Christmas tradition, a perfect antidote to the hyper-commercialization of Christmas that Americans commonly witness. If anything, its message is “preserve your memories,” and it will serve to raise our historical awareness about polio and disability and about a unique moment in American history when a young man in Los Angeles transformed his personal misfortune into a popular holiday tradition. August 17, 2005 / David Rose / March of Dimes Archives |
