30 Fun Facts About Christmas in July

In Rankin/Bass's 1979 Christmas in July film, which star teams up with Rudolph to save a circus?

Frosty the Snowman: besides saving the circus, the pair must defeat the evil wizard King Winterbolt.

Which opera based on a Goethe work has children rehearsing a Christmas carol in July?

Werther: a character teases that singing Christmas in July rushes the season, a line often cited as the origin of the phrase.

Which writer-director made the 1940 comedy Christmas in July?

Preston Sturges: after moving to Paramount, he talked the studio into buying his script for just $6,000.

In the 1940 comedy Christmas in July, how do co-workers trick clerk Jimmy MacDonald into thinking he has won?

Telegram: the phony one saying he'd won the $25,000 prize got Jimmy promoted to the advertising department on the spot.

Which two actors star in the 1940 comedy Christmas in July?

Dick Powell and Ellen Drew: his clerk refuses to marry her character, Betty, until he strikes it rich, so he enters every contest going.

Which coffee company's slogan contest drives the plot of the 1940 comedy Christmas in July?

Maxford House: its winner was due to be named on the radio, but a deadlocked jury left the prize unannounced.

The 1940 comedy Christmas in July was adapted from which of its writer's unproduced 1931 plays?

A Cup of Coffee: Universal hired its author to film it in 1934, but that version never happened, and the play wasn't staged until 1988.

Which gift shop in North Pole, Alaska, grew out of a general store opened in 1952?

Santa Claus House: Con Miller's old store is also known for mailing personalized letters from Santa to children all over the world.

Which city is the finish line of the ocean yacht race that leaves Sydney every Boxing Day?

Hobart: the first race in 1945 was meant to be a Christmas cruise until British naval officer John Illingworth suggested making it a race.

Which TV channel times its July block of Christmas movies to the release of its Keepsake Ornaments?

Critics call it a literal 'Hallmark holiday'; the card company officially denies the charge.

Which June holiday do Antarctic research stations celebrate with a feast and handmade gifts?

Midwinter Day: British bases even receive a special BBC World Service broadcast of music requests and messages for the crews.

Which Christmas classic did Mel Tormé and Bob Wells write on a sweltering summer day?

The Christmas Song: Wells had jotted a few wintry lines to feel cooler in the heat, and he and Tormé finished the song in under an hour.

Which US national park's Christmas in August celebration is often traced to 1950s employee parties?

Yellowstone: a popular legend credits a freak August blizzard that stranded visitors at Old Faithful Inn, but no record shows one.

Which country's Christmas season, the world's longest, runs through all the '-ber' months?

The Philippines: the season even builds to nine straight days of dawn Masses, from December 16 to Christmas Eve.

Australia's Carols by Candlelight began in which city?

Melbourne: radio announcer Norman Banks is said to have started it after seeing an old woman listening to carols alone by candlelight.

Which Sydney beach draws big crowds of international tourists over the Christmas holidays?

Bondi: travellers from Britain and beyond spend Christmas Day on its sand, where lifeguards have even put up Christmas trees.

Which Australian state officially observes Proclamation Day, rather than Boxing Day, on 26 December?

South Australia: it marks the colony's 1836 proclamation, but since 1993 the holiday falls the day after Christmas to line up with Boxing Day elsewhere.

Which dessert is a Christmas staple in both Australia and New Zealand?

Pavlova: named after ballerina Anna Pavlova, probably after her 1920s tours, it is still claimed as their own invention by both countries.

Which crimson-flowering tree is known as the New Zealand Christmas tree because it blooms in December?

Pōhutukawa: in Māori tradition, the spirits of the dead pass an 800-year-old pōhutukawa at Cape Reinga on their way to the afterlife.

Auckland's popular Santa Parade runs along which thoroughfare?

Queen Street: a giant 'creepy' Santa with a winking eye towered over it for years, until restoration and storage costs forced its retirement.

In Uruguay, Christmas Day is officially designated as what within the public administration?

Family Day: early in the 20th century Uruguay's secular state stripped religion from its calendar and renamed the holiday.

In Japan, Christmas is popularly celebrated by eating what?

Fried chicken: a 1974 'Kentucky for Christmas!' ad campaign made KFC so popular that families order their buckets weeks ahead.

In one Indiana town, volunteers reply to thousands of children's Christmas letters each year. What are they called?

The replies have been going out since at least 1914, and the Post Office Department later ruled there would never be another Santa Claus post office in the country.

Santa Claus, Indiana is home to which Christmas-themed amusement park?

Holiday World: Louis J. Koch opened it in 1946 as Santa Claus Land, troubled that children visiting the town found no Santa there.

Captain William Mynors named Christmas Island while sailing for which trading company?

East India: Mynors only sailed past, and the island's first recorded landing came in 1688, when William Dampier sent a crew ashore.

Christmas Island is famous for the annual migration of which animals?

Red crabs: millions march from the forest to the ocean to breed, and roads are closed so they can cross.

Which Milanese sweet bread is traditionally eaten at Christmas and New Year?

Panettone: carried abroad by European immigrants, it now turns up on Christmas Eve tables as far away as Uruguay.

Which annual November procession through South Australia's capital is a famous festive tradition?

Perth has run its own Christmas Pageant through the CBD since 1972, and Launceston lights its tree in Brisbane Street mall in late November.

What did Uruguay's Catholic Church introduce in 2016 to remind a highly secular country of the holiday's meaning?

'Christmas with Jesus' banners: the balcony campaign spread so widely that Montevideo's archbishop hailed its success at Christmas Mass.

Which crooner recorded the Hawaiian Christmas tune 'Mele Kalikimaka' in 1950?

Bing Crosby: songwriter Alex Anderson wrote it after a stenographer at his office told him Hawaii had no original Christmas melody.