Short Stuff: Christmas Lights | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

[Music]. hey and welcome to the short stuff I'm. Josh there's Chuck Jerry's here too. we're feeling all jingly and belly. because this is the pre- Christmas short. stuff maybe the best short stuff of the. year that's right and we want to thank. Daniel Montgomery listener for sending. this idea in indeed uh as well as our. various sources on this and this could. have been a thousand sources because. this story is everywhere yeah but.

Saturday evening post LC uh Fizz org. Smithsonian. 1000bulbs.com yeah I love that one. that's a good one yeah and we're talking. about the Advent of Christmas lights. which are um they came surprisingly. quickly after the invention of the light. bulb itself after Edison invented the. light bulb and uh it was actually an. Edison aile a guy named Edward h Johnson. who was in Edison Circle uh who came up.

with the idea of using these new. electrical bulbs to decorate his. Christmas tree that's right uh Edward. Johnson was a inventor and businessman. and he actually hired Edison when Edison. was but 24 years old because he was like. this kid is going places and they ended. up working together you know kind of for. the rest of their lives in different. ways he uh Johnson ended up as the VP of. Edison electric light company which. preceded Khan Ed and just three years.

after that light bulb came around he. said you know what would look great on a. Christmas tree and not burn it down like. the live candles that they've been using. in Germany m is uh is like an electric. Christmas light yes so let's touch on. those live candles we've mentioned it. before in some past Christmas. Extravaganza oh yeah but Martin Luther. um the Protestant dude uh who is often. um given credit for coming up with the.

idea of putting candles on Christmas. trees Christmas trees are very very old. in the tonic um area and um they were. introduced to the victorians in England. by Prince Albert Queen Victoria's. husband who is from Germany that's right. and um so the Christmas tree itself. wasn't all that old as a tradition by. the time Edward Johnson put lights on. the Christmas tree um but people had. been putting open candles on their. Christmas tree.

crazy to think about the fire hazard is. just through the roof right so his his. idea as as sketchy as electricity was. back then was an actual Improvement as. far as safety was concerned yeah I can't. there aren't many things that are more. flammable than a a two week old. Christmas tree I know it's it's I mean. you can just look at it and hear the. sound you know yeah we we collect them. our friends all donate them to the camp. and uh we throw those things on the Fire. at the end of a big night M and it's.

scary and amazing how you know like. we're talking 15t Flames up in the air I. know it's it's really thrilling it's. also scary it is scary uh in fact we did. that when uh Hodgman went camping with. us at the camp on this last trip through. Atlanta when he did a show here and when. I brought that tree out at the end of. the night and threw it on everyone else. KN knows the deal I think Hodgman was a. little bit like what what's going on. down here in Georgia oh really like what. are you people doing here right I mean.

were you looking at him and pointing and. saying you no he loved it actually okay. uh so long story short Edward Johnson uh. lives at 136 East 36 Street in New York. and he handwives a Christmas tree with. 80 red white and blue lights uh. apparently they were like egg-shaped and. the tree itself revolved and as it. revolved the colors alternated so they.

would light up red then light up white. or not all of them but you know that. section would light up red than white. than blue as it spun that's so cool I. mean this guy like knocked it out of the. park first try heck yeah we got out. pretty quickly in part because he. started calling reporters but the. Detroit Post Tribune sent a reporter a. veteran even not even a cub reporter to. go check this out because people were. starting to like line up on the street. to peek through the window to see this.

Christmas tree in Edward Johnson's. parlor and the veteran reporter W. Crawford wrote this is great quote I'm. just going to say the whole thing okay. yeah it was brilliantly lighted with 80. lights and all encased in these dainty. glass eggs his his um words and about. equally divided between white red and. blue one can hardly imagine anything. prettier I love that quote I I'm amazed. that he was able to get these things to.

turn off and on as they rotated that's. uh I mean in the early days of hand. wirring something like that that's. that's the most impressive thing to me. yeah I'm not sure how to do that it's. hard enough as it is today yeah so. should we take a break I think we should. take a break chuck all right we'll come. right back and tell you where things. went from there right after. [Music]. this.

[Music]. all right so Johnson has lit up that. first Christmas tree um everyone is. astounded he immediately starts one. uping himself uh Year bye and I think in.

1884 the New York Times says they're now. 120 bulbs so the tradition of kind of. you know one-upping yourself uh or even. your neighbor that started with the very. first lit Christmas tree and all of a. sudden in 1890 you can finally buy. Christmas lights if you have a lot of. money I mean a lot of money so a string. of 16 Christmas lights that were. available for sale in 189.

would have run you. $375 in today's money $12 back then the. average person made about $9 a week back. then at least according to. 1000bulbs.com so it was cost prohibitive. like you had to be extraordinarily. wealthy plus you had some other. obstacles to overcome your house might. not be wired for electricity so you. needed a generator to run your Christmas. lights that cost again. $375 for one6 bulb string um you needed.

a professional Wireman uh an electrician. to come out and wire this stuff up for. you because you should not be doing it. yourself and I think there is an. estimate um from the Library of Congress. that said lighting your Christmas tree. around this time would have cost you. about. $2,000 yeah that that was in 1903 and. that's the year that GE started uh. selling these pre-assembled kits but. like you said a full tree two grand and. and also you know Not only was it.

expensive but electricity was still new. and people at the time you know early on. in electricity were still a little. freaked out by it right and weren't sure. it was super safe so it's not like it. spread like Gang Busters right away uh I. think it was 1914 is when the light. price really came down uh it was still. like 50 bucks in today's dollars which. ain't cheap but more affordable than. 375 so you know more and more people. started buying them and by the 1930s is.

when they became cheap enough to where. they were kind of went really mainstream. yeah and by then um you know city. councils um local communities government. buildings like they they had enough. money to Adorn like the Town Square by. then yeah but it wasn't until the 30s. that people started adding like they. were affordable enough for the average. home to deck out their own place or. their own Christmas tree but they caught. on really quick in part because in the. 20s I think General Electric started.

sponsoring Christmas light. competitions yeah yeah and then between. the 30s and the 50s people started um. buying more and more and more and by the. 50s was when you started to like you. could go down a street and like almost. every house was lit with Christmas. lights yeah in the 70s is when the mini. white lights came out and a lot of. people went to those uh we still use the. white lights on our tree it's I do half. twinkle half uh plain so tasteful and I.

like it it's a nice looking tree uh I do. have a soft spot for colored light trees. especially the. blues uh but we don't use those. ourselves but I I really like those as. well Chuck we do our whole house in blue. lights the outside I know it's so pretty. I'm so so beloved of it you know who. else did that who Elvis oh yeah that's. right yeah graceand was blue for sure I. forgot about yeah blue light is nice at. Christmas I like it yeah my favorite. though and probably said this 100 times.

by now are the big fat colored bulbs. yeah those are hands down the best they. can bring me to my knees and make me. weep with Nostalgia every time I see. them is that what you use on your tree. yes the big daddies yeah I mean what. else you GNA use what else are you gonna. use I know I'm just teaching I used the. Min white ones no those are good too um. we did get a uh I can't remember where. we got it from but it's like a. artificial tree that kind with like. flocking that's pre-lit and that has the.

white lights in like installed and I'm. quite sure Yumi would would be perfectly. happy if we just left it with that but. I'm like no I need some fat bulbs so I. add those. on uh you you were not alone because. apparently 16% of Americans according to. a today's homeowner survey from 2023. prefer the colored lights uh 22% use the. white which I think is down I think. those were much more in fashion probably. you know 15 10 15 years ago oh yeah I. they seem like I feel like the white.

lights used to be more popular think. they were kind of a '90s thing yeah. maybe huh I didn't notice I'm a 90s kind. of guy though sure you. are uh and it's um you know Christmas. tree lights don't use the most energy. but they definitely use extra energy you. know there's no getting around it uh I. think. 7.8 billion dollar per year is what. people spend on them and then uh they. light them to the tune of 6.6 3 billion.

kilowatt hours extra kilowatt hours so. granted that's a 2011 statistic it um. it's probably gone way down since the. Advent of LED Christmas lights which use. way less power yeah I tried to find. stats and I I did find some that were. really low but. like the one I found that was low was. not a trustworthy thing and it was only. for the month of December and that. discounts like you know usually there's. like a week on either side of December. that people are like things up too yeah.

but suffice to say that back then before. the LED lights we we in the United. States alone used more electricity than. countries like Tanzania and El Salvador. used the entire year just to light our. Christmas lights and even that was just. a small middling portion of the total. electricity the United States uses that. same year in 2011 that 6.63 billion. kilowatt hours to light Christmas lights. represented just 2% of America's total. electricity usage yeah there you go so.

light up your Christmas tree have a. little fun for a month there you go. especially if they're LED right yeah and. you know what I want to shout out uh. friend of stuff you should know uh. comedian and actor and author Casey. Wilson because Casey Wilson has six. Christmas trees in her house wowe she's. Christmas nuts and they're beautiful and. wonderful she has one in her bedroom she. loves Christmas and Christmas trees and. Casey's awesome uh you should read her.

book the wreckage of my presence nice. thanks a lot for that that was a good. good way to point people yeah uh and. also thanks again to Daniel Montgomery. for sending this in and uh everybody. Merry Christmas we'll see you at the. Christmas special Extravaganza coming up. tomorrow I think should be and uh short. stuff is. out stuff you should know is a. production of iHeart radio for more. podcasts my heart radio visit the iHeart.

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