It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year
I must include Andy Williams in a holiday blog post as I grew up watching Andy Williams on TV during the holidays with this song selection being my favorite. A song that makes the holidays complete when I hear it being played somewhere. I feel the same way when hearing Karen Carpenter sing Merry Christmas, Darling.
Andy was born Howard Andrew Williams in Wall Lake, Iowa on December 3, 1927. In his memoir, Williams remembered himself as a shy boy who concealed his insecurity "behind the veneer of cheek and self-confidence". Of Wall Lake, Williams joked that it was so small and had so little to do that crowds would gather just to watch someone get a haircut. We lost the voice of Andy Williams on September 25, 2012 though his voice will be forever heard in his numerous recordings through the years.
Williams began performing with his older brothers Dick, Bob and Don in the local Presybyterian church choir. Their father, postal worker and insurance man Jay Emerson Williams, was the choirmaster and the force behind his children's career. When Andy was 8, William's father brought the kids for an audition on Des Moines radio station WHO's Iowa Barn Dance. They were initially turned down, but Jay Emerson Williams and the young quartet kept returning and they were finally accepted, their show bringing them attention from Chicago, Cincinnati and Hollywood. Another star at WHO was a young sportcaster named Ronald Reagan, who would later praise Williams as a "national treasure".
In Andy's later years he settled in Branson Missouri though had a home in Palm Springs when the theatres in Branson went dark after Christmas. When he arrived in 1992, the town was dominated by country music performers, but Williams changed that, building the classy $13 million dollar Andy Williams Moon River Theater in the heart of the city's entertainment district and performing two shows a night, six days a week, nine months of the year. Only in recent years did he begin to cut back to one show a night. Not surprisingly, his most popular time of the year was .. Christmas.
I tend to agree with Andy .. it is the most wonderful time of the year!
Be Safe.
Pat Locke
Maestro Muse
