Aluminum Christmas trees
became popular in the 1960s. Between 1959 and 1969, the bulk of aluminum
Christmas trees were produced in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, by the Aluminum Specialty
Company; in that time, the company produced more than one million aluminum
trees. They retailed for $25.
Each tree took about 15 minutes to assemble. A
central pole had holes drilled at angles so the branches formed a tree shape.
The branches had woven aluminum pine needles.
Due to fire safety concerns, lights were not strung
through the tree's branches for fear of a short circuit. If the tree was lit
up, it commonly had a floor-based rotating color wheel. The color wheel
featured red, blue, yellow, and green segments on a clear plastic wheel; when
the wheel rotated, a light shone through the changing colors.
Aluminum Christmas trees were popular during the
dawning of the space age. Their popularity began to wane after the first airing
of the TV special, A Charlie Brown
Christmas in 1965. Lucy wanted Charlie Brown to get a big aluminum tree,
maybe painted in pink, but Charlie Brown lamented the commercialization of
Christmas. He chose a small, scrawny natural tree instead, and was lambasted by
the Peanuts characters.
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| My sister, brother, cousins, and I pose in front of the aluminum tree with the color wheel on the left. |
My grandparents had an aluminum tree with the
rotating color wheel. I’m sure it was discarded years ago. Do you have an aluminum tree?
Merry Christmas!
NO LOL We always seemed to have real ones growing up and I have fake now (because I needed it to be small enough to fit in a play pen so My kids couldn't get it)
ReplyDeleteLiving in the country during my childhood we always had a real Christmas tree. I rememeber my grandparents having an aluminum tree when they were older. Thank you for sharing the history of the aluminum tree. Have a blessed Christmas filled with God's gifts of hope, peace, joy and love.
ReplyDeleteNorma, thanks for reminding me of these trees. I remember aluminum trees but we never had one. My family always had live trees and my husband and I had them for many years but the convebience of an artificial tree has won out for several years!
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas!
Connie
cps1950(AT)gmail(DOT)com