On this day in 1951, two songs at the top of the charts are now traditional seasonal favorites.

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, by Gene Autry was heard on radios all over America. The song was based on a story written by Robert L. May in 1939 for Montgomery Ward stores, as a Christmas book for their store Santas to hand out to kids. He nearly wasn’t named Rudolph; May initially christened him Rollo but store executives nixed that name and asked for another, and so, Rudolph was born and is now part of American Christmas tradition.

Bing Crosby scored what may be his most enduring hit with White Christmas. Originally introduced in the 1942 film Holiday Inn, it became the title of the 1954 holiday film White Christmas, featuring Bing, Danny Kaye and Rosemary Clooney. White Christmas is a holiday tradition as well, and can usually be viewed on a local television channel in most areas at this time of year.

Click the link below to see the original film clip of Bing crooning White Christmas for the first time.

Bing Crosby - White Christmas - Holiday Inn

Did you know there are websites where you can watch or download free movies legally?

Once a film has gone into the public domain, that is, all US copyrights have expired, they are legal to stream over the Internet or download to any computer in the world.

Admittedly, most of these movies belong in the “Nostalgia” category, but that is what makes them such a find and so fun to watch. At one site I visited, a lot of the older movies are available in their original black and white and in a colorized version.

Some of my favorite finds:

My Man Godfrey (1936) - William Powell, Carole Lombard - one of the classic screwball comedies she was famous for. Carole Lombard is enchantingly zany in this story of the spoiled, rich girl who falls for the butler (William Powell). One of my all-time favorite movies.

His Girl Friday (1940) - Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell - this adaptation of the stage play “The Front Page” is a wonderful vehicle for the comedic timing and talents of both its stars. It’s been remade a couple of times over the years, but this film stands out as the best version by far.

My Favorite Brunette (1947) - Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour - Bob Hope is hilarious as a baby photographer mistaken for a private detective by a beautiful woman in trouble and gets involved in… well the sorts of scrapes you’d expect him to.

The Inspector General (1949) - Danny Kaye as an illiterate shill to a traveling Medicine Show (Walter Slezak is wonderful as the phony miracle peddler). Danny is mistaken for an important goverment inspector and goes from starving itinerant to feted guest in a corrupt town. Great songs and Kaye gives his all to both the comedy and in creating a sympathetic character, who wins out in the end.

All that is required to play the movies is usually Windows Media Player or Quicktime. If you don’t have the right program, instructions are available for downloading and installing it to your computer.

I found the key to playing the movies is to choose the right speed for your internet connection. Although I have a DSL modem, the movie played best when I chose one of the MPEG settings. The other important thing to remember is to be patient. The movies stopped and started a bit in the beginning but once I got them going they played without a hitch.

Another option is to download the movie. Once on your hard drive it plays seamlessly. But be prepared to wait a couple of hours for each download to complete.

I have also found several of these movies on $1 DVDs at Wal-Mart and the dollar store. Some others are available on Amazon dot com for slightly more.

Free Movies