The King of Christmas and the King of Horror formed an unholy alliance on Halloween in 1947 to shake America to its post-war core.

Bing Crosby, at the time the most popular entertainer in America, and Boris Karloff, at the time the most feared actor in Hollywood, appeared on the Philco Radio Time show, which at the time was hosted by Crosby. The shows were taped live to aluminum discs (CDs?) and then edited (as much as possible) and shipped out to radio stations across the land. In the third season, they ditched the live audience and used a new thing called “canned laughter”, which became a staple of almost every television show up until {insert current year}. A fun fact is that many laugh tracks used up until today are the same ones from the 1940s and 50s, meaning that audience is dead, and you are literally hearing ghosts laugh! The show was also notable for airing the first commercials for something called “television”.
Karloff, of course, is known best as Frankenstein. He is in a ton of other great horror/gothic movies, I encourage you to check them out (especially The Old Dark House, good lord that movie is great). Also check out The Black Cat, The Mummy, and Mad Monster Party.

So on October 29, 1947, America tuned in to hear Boris, Bing, and Victor Moore as ghosts, singing about the ills of society and how that’s more scary than Halloween! They’d rather stay home than go out! My favorite part is that they hate jukeboxes, which is the best old-timey thing ever. Jukeboxes make those teens want to smooch! And smooch on the forehead! And do America’s forbidden dance THE CHARLESTON!!!! The crowd gets a good laugh out of their moaning, and we all go home after 90 seconds.

The song is a fun little ditty, and a quick insight into the early days of Halloween-themed songs. It works well on a quiet Halloween playlist, but not so much for a party since there’s really no music and you really have to listen closely.
Bing and Boris are dead. Victor Moore (and his filthy forehead) is also dead. Radio is also dead.
The Charleston lives forever.
