Rotund and bearded, Ives looked to be a jolly sort of fellow, yet on stage he rarely cracked a smile. Although known primarily as a folk singer, he won an Academy Award in 1959 for his performance in the film "The Big Country," one of 32 movies in which he appeared. He won wide praise for his stage performance as Big Daddy in Tennessee Williams's "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," one of his 13 Broadway roles. He had his own TV series, "The Wayfarin' Stranger," on CBS, and he released over 100 record albums.

In the midst of this acclaimed career as an actor and balladeer, Ives was hired as the narrator for NBC's 1964 animated special, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." Music for the special was composed by Johnny Marks, who 15 years earlier had written the classic Christmas tune of the same name, an enduring hit for singing cowboy Gene Autry. Marks, a Jew who made a fortune writing Christmas songs, would compose "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" for Brenda Lee, "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" for Bing Crosby, and "Run Rudolph Run," recorded by Chuck Berry.

For the NBC program, Marks picked a schmaltzy and forgotten tune he had written a few years earlier for a group known as The Quinto Sisters. Ives, cast as narrator Sam the Snowman, was not supposed to sing in the show, but the network decided he should be given Marks' little ditty, running all of two minutes and 15 seconds.

No Christmas songs made Billboard's Hot 100 list for 1964, dominated as it was by nine hits featuring The Beatles. In fact, the Marks-Ives record did not officially make the chart until digital downloads were tabulated, after which it placed #46 in 2016, #38 in 2017, and #10 in 2019.

Inexplicably, the song has grown in popularity. It's message, certainly appropriate in these tense times: "Say hello to friends you know and everyone you meet."

And, of course, "Have a holly, jolly Christmas."

(c) Peter Funt. Distributed by Cable syndicate.