Throughout the years, Burr
created personal Christmas gifts for friends and family. The
graphic below
appears on the cover of a private recording Burr made with Jack and a
small
combo as a Christmas present for Fran in the early 50s. He later
gave
copies of this 12" one-sided 78 rpm record to family, friends and crew,
and
it was eventually included on the commercially released KFO Christmas
album. Surprisingly, it was pressed by Columbia Records, not
Burr's longtime sponsor, RCA Victor.
One of the earliest examples
of multi-tracking (pioneered by Les Paul only a few years earlier), it
offers the rare treat of hearing all the Kuklapolitans sing together -
something they never seemed to do on their show! Click on the
record label to hear them.
This
same recording was
used almost 30 years later on the Carpenters
Christmas TV special.
A few years later,
Burr gave engraved Zippo lighters to friends. The one on the
right was presented to the show's cameraman, Bruce Berquist, as was the
record above.
Thanks, Bruce!
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This Christmas greeting, from 1947, was one of a series of portraits by
an unknown artist.
Both the record cover
above and the cards below utilized the services of KFO's
artist-in-residence,
Ted Drake. I'm not sure of the years, but
1950 - 53 is a good guess.
The card below is from
1956, and is signed "M. Hoff"
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