Christmas Lights, Brighter Than Ever Before

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Christmas Lights,
Brighter Than Ever Before

By: Robert Reed

As seen in The Antique Shoppe Newspaper, November 2006

Electric lights have been going up on Christmas trees for more than a century, but now many collectors consider them brighter than ever.

One of the latest indications came in the form of the absorbing book, Antiques Across America, by Nancy McCarthy.  The author notes that people generally knew glass ornaments were valuable, but until recently they often tossed old Christmas tree lights when cleaning.

Old lights, screw-in bulbs, bubble lights, and all the brightly colored boxes they were once marketed in are no longer being discarded.  Instead they are prized.

Collectors have a long tradition to choose from.  In the early 1880s Edward Johnson, an associate off Thomas Edison, used a homemade string of lights to decorate his own Christmas tree.  In the early 1890s General Electric purchased the rights to Edison's light bulb as well as the factory in which they were made.  By 1995 President Grover Cleveland had decorated the official White House Christmas tree with electric lights.

Shortly after the turn of the century the Ever-Ready Company in the United States began offering strings of electric lights to the public, but they were expensive.  A package of 28 bulbs and sockets sold in the retail stores for $12, about two dollars more than the average week's pay at that time.

By 1909 fancy figural Christmas light bulbs were being produced in Austria to market in Europe and America.  The finely crafted hand-painted bulbs, from the Kremenetsky Electric Company and other factories, were made to represent animals, birds, flowers, fruits and even vegetables.

Back in the United States, General Electric began production of 'round ball' bulbs in 191 0. The newly designed bulbs were said to last longer, burn brighter, and be somewhat more durable.  Fancier electric bulbs however were still produced in Austria until the onset of World War I in191 7.

At the end of World War 1, Christmas light bulbs were being manufactured in Japan that resembled previous work done both in Austria and the United States.  General Electric, at near the same time, began production of some varied bulb shapes including stars and Santa's.  By the early 1920s machine-made bulbs were being widely produced both in America and Japan.  They sold at a much lower cost than earlier electric bulbs, and consequently their holiday usage became widespread in this country.

In 1925 as the Japanese industry became more competitive, a group of American based Christmas light manufacturers united to form the National Outfit Manufacturers' Association, or NOMA.  NOMA then appeared on nearly every box of holiday lights produced in the U.S., and of  course became a household word.  In 1928 NOMA ran a magazine advertisement in striking color to promote their lovely "strings of color" lights:

"How little eyes will open wide as they see their glorious tree--the gift supreme--radiantly, safely, trimmed with Norma Strings of' Color Lights." 'They even offered a booklet by mail on decorating with color-light.

By the 1930s simple strings of lights were generally being replaced with parallel lights and many colorfully boxed choices were available for holiday customers to consider.  NOMA continued to be a major influence, but Westinghouse found room in the market as veteran General Electric's Mazda Lamps and others.

Figural bulbs produced in Germany and Japan continued to be popular in America.  Japanese makers ultimately expanded production to include such comic characters as Betty Boop, Dick Tracy, and Humpty Dumpty.  Meanwhile by 1935, Noma was selling lights complete with plastic shades decorated with decals of comic-cartoon all-stars Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, and Snow White.

Still another idea for Christmas lights was at least 'cooking' during the same decade, bubble lights.  An accountant for Montgomery Ward, Carl Otis was given much of the credit for the idea through his work in the late 1930s.  The lights themselves were not fully marketed until after World War 11 in the later 1940s.  Noma lead a wave of bubble light sales and distribution in 1945 and was soon joined by a number of' others offering various shapes and sizes under the same principle.

When the wondrous 'bubble' lights finally arrived they came with a basic metal screw-in base.  Above the base was a candle-shaped tube of glass containing a methaline chloride liquid, as the base was heated by the electric current the liquid above bubbled endlessly.  By the 1950s bubble lights were quite the rage in America, along with some of General Electric's unique 'twinkle bulb' lights.  At the height of their popularity there were numerous bubble light makers in the U.S. including Reliance and Sterling.

Despite and their charm and motion, bubble lights remained best-sellers for only a relatively short number of years.  By the early 1960s string lights and basic evergreens were being replaced with rotating colored discs, spotlights, and artificial silver or aluminum trees.

To a certain extent there was a comeback of sorts of natural trees and strings of lights, including bubble lights during the 1970s.  However the great interest in old Christmas lights today is the fact that they are collectible and a big part of the craze for holiday memorabilia of the past.  Even the empty boxes of Christmas lights themselves are decorative and desirable.

Some collectors go to great lengths to install older Christmas lights (inspected for safety of course) on existing trees to provide a holiday look of nostalgia.  Sometimes they are combined with older, period ornaments.  In other cases the boxed lights are grouped into attractive collections apart from the tree.

The glowing fact remains however that 20th century Christmas lights of the past will be a very much a part of the classic holiday's future.