The third of three years in a row Charles Barr filmed Christmas Eve and Day at the family home on Race Street in Springfield, Ohio. It begins on Friday, December 24, 1954 with Claudia, Frank, and an unnamed date opening gifts by the tree.
We jump to the rousting of the kids on Christmas Morning. Both Claudia and Frank get the wake up treatment. Then it is time to open gifts. It’s fun watching the excitement of the moment play out on film.
It seems rare to have pictures with Myrt, Frank, and Claudia all In the same frame. This film has great footage of the three siblings laughing and joking as they go about their unwrapping. I remember seeing that bowling bag of Dad’s many years later.
Next up is the grand feast. This has footage of the passing around of the Christmas Goose for each to take a bite.
The film then moves to Peerless and the Nease Homestead where another fine family Christmas dinner is served. The “kids table” is first. Frank Barr and his date, the Hubble kid’s, Leland, Neale, Burle, and Kieth and the Nease (Henry) girls, Jane, Diane, and Judy all at that table. In on the main table we find matriarch Carrie Nease, along with Ray and Elsie (Nease) Hubble, Henry and Phylis (Stout) Nease, Charles and Sally Nease, Charles and Rachael (Nease) Barr. Sitting between Ray Hubble and Sally Nease is Ray’s father, Hugh Daniel Hubble, known as, “Hoo-Dannel”.
The next segment follows Claudia and her unnamed friend picking beans with Arthur Barr in the garden at the Barr Farm, which is across the road and down a bit from the Nease Homestead. The girls climb in and on the old family ’32 Ford Coupe, and we also see Maud Barr standing outside the Barr farm house on a windy Spring day.
From there we go to the Springfield, Ohio Memorial Day Parade from May 30, 1955. We see several floats and then we see the Springfield High School Marching Band including both Frank and Claudia. Claudia was quite the baton twirler and won state-level awards in school for it. She was the shortest girl on the team and is seen in the middle of the five-girl line of majorettes. Frank is seen a few seconds later marching and playing his sousaphone, he is the second from the right as they approach and you can briefly see his face around the 10:33 mark.
The film ends with Claudia performing her majorette baton routine in the front room of their Springfield home. Quite talented to twirl that much in a small living room and not break something.
