Silver Bells

This time of year we dust of favorite songs that relate to the holidays, but we seldom give much thought to the origins of those songs.

The classic holiday song, “Silver Bells,” was at first featured in a movie called The Lemon Drop Kid. Most of us have not heard much about the movie, but we have certainly heard of the song "Silver Bells." The movie faded from our collective cultural memory, but the song stuck around and became a classic.

Now the title of the movie, The Lemon Drop Kid, doesn't exactly sound like a a family Christmas classic--and it wasn't. This movie, which starred Bob Hope, is about a guy who has to somehow come up with $10,000 to repay a debt to a rather angry gangster. The Christmas-y element of the movie is that all of this takes place around Christmastime--and as who are looking for help know, Christmas is a good time to try to convince people to give you money for cause.

In fact, it was the ringing of some very real silver bells, those of Salvation Army bellringers that inspired the song in the first place. Seeing and hearing those silver bells that they ring to get the attention of passersby was definitely on of the sounds of the season by the early 1950s when “Silver Bells” was written. One thing that separates “Silver Bells” from other classic holiday songs of the era is that it gives a vision of Christmas in the city. Most holiday songs presented an idealized picture of Christmas in a pastoral country setting.

In the movie, Bob Hope (who plays the title character, the Lemon Drop Kid) and actress Marilyn Maxwell sing "Silver Bells."

The following year, Bing Crosby and Carol Richards sang the first recorded version of "Silver Bells" and their version also became very popular.

Here is another fun fact about the song "Silver Bells" that may surprise you: the song was originally called "Tinkle Bells." The songwriter's wife saved the song from becoming one that only elicited giggles when she told her husband that "tinkle" was a slang term for using the bathroom. The songwriter, who had not even thought of this, changed the song to "Silver Bells" and the rest, as they say, is music history.

If you want to sell silver, be it silver bells, a silver watch, silver earrings or a silver picture frame, contact a silver buyer and they will be happy to give you cash for silver.