Spiegel Stuff: From the Archive: Vanity Fair on Star Wars

Saturday, December 21, 2019

From the Archive: Vanity Fair on Star Wars

Santa Claus, That Little Red Man

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Seasons greetings from Vanity Fair. Today our festive fare includes Christmas favorites from our archive: ruminations on the evolution of Santa's beard, the enduring appeal of a low-budget Christmas film, Christopher Hitchens's pensive holiday in Iraq, and more. As our gift to you, we've unlocked these stories for your reading pleasure. But if you're not already a member, won't you consider subscribing today?

Santa Gets His Claws

The cinematic holiday once ruled by Irving Berlin, Charles Dickens, and It's a Wonderful Life now belongs to a little 1983 sleeper, A Christmas Story. Looking back at the movie's ingredients—the comic genius of radio star Jean Shepherd, the low-budget magic of director Bob Clark, a cast that seemed like any American family—Sam Kashner describes how a fluke project punctured the cozy sentimentality of Hollywood tradition.

Santa Claus's Beard Through the Ages

In order to celebrate Christmas in 1931, the editors of Vanity Fair decided to clear up once and for all the age-old mystery of the origin of Santa Claus's beard, as illustrated by Dr. Seuss.

Holiday in Iraq

Over Christmas break, Christopher Hitchens took his son to northern Iraq, which the U.S. had made a no-fly zone in 1991, ending Saddam's chemical genocide. Now reborn, Iraqi Kurdistan is a heartrending glimpse of what might have been.

Santa Claus for President

Balanchine's Christmas Miracle

Fifty-five years ago, George Balanchine finally staged the Nutcracker of his dreams, a triumph for the New York City Ballet in its then new Lincoln Center home. Laura Jacobs tells how Balanchine's childhood Christmases, his youth in St. Petersburg (dancing multiple roles in The Nutcracker himself), and his 41-foot tree sparked an American holiday tradition.

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