We posted the following a year ago, but we figure it’s worth making a perennial of it.
We wish we could embed the jingle discussed below, rather than linking to it, but take our word for it—it’s a link worth fallowing (take a tip from us and click on the “Original Jingle” first. It includes a line that was excised from later versions of the song).
Anyone who grew (or is currently growing) up in the Oklahoma City area knows that it’s just not the Christmas season until you’ve heard the B.C. Clark Christmas jingle on television or the radio at least once.
B.C. Clark, for the non-Okies among you, is a jewelry store that’s been in operation in the Sooner State since 1892, and since 1956 (just one year outside Cladrite Radio’s purview, but we’re stretching a point for the holidays), they’ve been running the aforementioned jingle advertising their annual sale, which takes place not after Christmas, like most stores (or so the lyrics to the jingle insist), but just before.
So for 54 years, denizens of central Oklahoma have been humming along to this catchy ditty, and it’s now our pleasure to share this holiday highlight with folks from other parts of the country (and around the world).
Ms. Cladrite, who grew up in New Jersey, has the darned thing memorized after just two or three Christmas seasons’ exposure to this seasonal delight and can sing along whenever it’s played.
It’s just that catchy a tune.
If we’ve managed to pique your interest, just follow this link. You can hear the original version from the ’50s, compare that to a more recent recording of the song, and even watch an animated television commercial that features the jingle.
But be forewarned — watch or listen more than two or three times, and you’ll be hooked, no matter how far away you live from the nearest B.C. Clark location. And soon, as with the millions of Okies who have come to associate the Christmas season with this venerable jingle, you’ll come to feel that it just isn’t the holidays each year until you’ve heard the jingle once or twice (or a dozen times).
