Show The Herald JournalAfferhours Thursday Occmtvr ?J 1934 -- 1 1 In Hollywood even the gifts are bigger By Dick Kleiner HOLLYWOOD (NEA) -H- ollywood is a town bounded the east by television on the north by movies on the west by film and on the smith on by cameras so even Christmas is all wrapped up in the entertainment business The big thing about Christmas in Hollywood is that it means some time off The CBS show “Dallas" for example shut down on Dec 13 and won't resume shooting until Jan 4 This gives the cast and crew a chance to cel- ebrate and everybody celebrates differently As an example consider a couple of the stars of NBC's “Hill Street Blues" Betty Thomas will spend most of her Christmas holiday she says flying a helicopter She got her helicopter pilot's license within the past month and so naturally she is still intrigued She says she plans to take her family on a series of short flights Then there is Barbara Bosson who is married to the show's executive producer Steven Bochco The Bochcos will have an ordinary Christmas at home with their family then leave the next day for Park City Utah and a week of skiing Hollywood is a party town Hollywood parties have a Mex- allglass ehurch founded by Dr ican flavor because of Los Robert Schuller in Garden Angeles' solid Mexican histo- Grove not far from Disry neyland The pageant is so big that (A favorite Hollywood before Christmas are real camels and real there pastime just is to go down to Olvera Street sheep and when the star is where the original Los Angeles spotted it’s a great big klieg settlement was established light in the sky The angels and have a Mexican meal and actually fly and there is a cast n of 400 join some of the Gregory Peck is the narrator and this year Cary Grant will be involved Carol festivities) Sometimes O'Meara says Lawrence plays Mary and Hollywood people like to give Russell Arms who was part of their parties an Eastern flavor “Your Hit Parade” years ago by importing snow or using is a leading shepherd The stars are connected with machinery He did a “Winter Wonderland many of the area’s Christmas Party” for CBS last year with activities That began artificial snow and flocked Hollywood historians say trees The food was served when Bing Crosby started under a tent and there was an singing every year for hospiinch or so of artificial snow on talized children the ground and white balloons Now there are dozens of Christmas parades and the big kept falling for a snowy motif The whole question of ones have the big stars and the Southern California’s general- smaller ones have the smaller ly balmy December weather stars It goes from Peck and often disturbs newcomers at Grant down to the Christmas Christmastime Parade for the city of Covina “I gave up Christmas" one The grand marshal of that one Hollywood publicist said “the is Patricia McPherson one of first time I saw Christmas the secondary characters on the “Knight Rider” show lights on a palm tree” And yet Southern CaliforThis year Michael Landon nians insist that the local was the grand marshal of the weather on Christmas is prob- Christmas parade in ably pretty much like what the Hollywood There is a special weather was in Bethlehem the parade through the streets of east Los Angeles where most day Christ was born “You never hear about snow of the area's huge in Bethlehem or the Three population Wise Men on skis” says a lives and a Hispanic star is Hollywood producer always picked to be grand The traditional religious marshaL This year it was aspect of Christmas is ob- actress Carmen Zapata served here just as everyThe “Knight Rider” star where else Except there is a David Hasselhoff together with some others including slightly Hollywood tinge to one of Vincent the Currently biggest Mr T Mexican-America- Christmas snow-maki- ng Gregory Peck David Hasselhoff an another Beverly Hills department store Robinson’s By and large Hollywood’s and get your loved one the Christmas is like Dubuque's or chance to be executive proMilwaukee’s only bigger ducer of a movie Pegasus week Even the gifts are bigger Group II pictures will let your Tony O’Meara is one of In the Neiman-Marcu- s store giftee produce “Flint” based Hollywood's busiest for the in Beverly Hills you can buy a on a novel by Louis L’Amour Christmas season He says it Hollywood parties are “more replica of the “Airwolf” The price is $6 million “Subject to prior sale” says contemporary more casual Christmas attractions is “The and Ricky Schroder will helicopter and have it and delivered for S2 the catalog so you’d better more outdoorsy” than parties Glory of Christmas” the spend much of their holidays h in other sections of the Christmas pageant at the working with a million (plus tax) hurry ( Ncmpapar Enterprise Assn) Or if you prefer hop over to country And frequently the Crystal Cathedral the huge group which tries to make the there are many parties during the holiday season — before Christmas and during the Christmas-NeYear’s so w Jan-Micha- wishes of dying children come true el gift-wrapp- ed Make-A-Wis- Legends of Christmas abound everywhere By George R Plagenz Dear Abby says the first Christmas after a couple gets married is often the most difficult The wife has her sacred set of Christmas customs while the groom remembers with affection the celebrations at his own house Unleu they incorporate some of the traditions from each of their backgrounds it may not seem like Christmas to them While Christmas customs are often more important to the spirit of the day than Christmas gifts many yuletide customs grew up around the practice of gift-givi- ng In this country Santa Claus is the legendary bringer of gifts In many households he is the leading character in the Christmas story Some families wanting a more religious interpretation of Christmas but not wanting to jettison the better parts of the Santa Claus legend have fried 'substituting St Nicholas for Santa Claus St Nicholas is said to have been a bishop hi Asia Minor in the fourth century Evidently an immensely wealthy churchman he was credited with helping those in need — always in secret however But once he was caught with a pack of gifts on his back the secret was out So after his death whenever gifts came to people from unknown sources they would say “It’s probably from St Nicholas” It was natural then that parents who wanted to add mystery to the charms of Christmas gave St Nicholas credit for the gifts that were delivered unseen on Christmas Eve The custom of hanging stockings by the fireplace on Christmas Eve has also been traced to St Nicholas According to legend St Nicholas knew an old nobleman who was very poor but did not want anybody to know of his poverty: Wishing to give him money St Nicholas crept to a window of the house and saw the rid gentleman asleep by the fire As the good bishop did not wish to be seen he climbed to the roof and dropped his gift down the chimney thinking it would fan at the nobleman’s feet It happened however that the nobleman's daughter had hung stockings by the fire to ary and the money fell into one of them When the daughter went to take her stockings down she found the money And so from that kindly deed of St Nicholas has grown the custom of hanging stockings by the fire on Christmas Eve After the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century there was a movement in Germany to give the Christ child credit for the bestowal of all gifts The character Kris Kringle may have gotten his name from the German “Christkindlein” meaning little Christ child Francis X Weiser a priest in “The Christmas Book” says in most European countries the ehild Jesus is the gift-bring- er “The children believe he comes with the angels during the night trimming the tree and putting presents under it The general practice is to the children to stay in their rooms while their parents help the Christ child arrange the gifts “When everything is ready the children enter the room where the presents are spread out before them Where is the child Jesus? He has gone with his angels for some other home” This custom says Weiser still survives in some parts of Germany Austria and central Europe as well as in Central and South America In Spain the child Jesus — el nino Jesus — brings the gifts on Christmas Eve Nampapw Entarprist Aun i A |