Return to story

MELCHERS MAGIC SEE HOW THE HOLIDAYS WERE CELEBRATED IN A BYGONE AGE--ARTFULLY DISPLAYED AT BELMONT

December 18, 2008 12:36 am

BY CARDEN HEDELT

The holiday classic "A Christmas Story" provides a snapshot of a Christmas for a suburban family in the early 1940s: the all-important selection of the Christmas tree, an elaborate Christmas dinner (foiled by a pack of hungry bloodhounds)--and young Ralphie Parker's relentless quest for an official Red Ryder carbine-action 200-shot range-model air rifle with a compass in the stock.

It's intriguing, or funny, to see how Christmas traditions have changed from--or in some cases stayed the same as--those of decades past.

At Gari Melchers Home and Studio at Belmont, visitors can get remarkable insight into what Christmas was like in the 1910s and 1920s during the "Sights, Smells, Sounds and Stories: Holidays With the Melchers" tours.

It's fascinating to see how the world-renowned artist and his wife, Corinne, celebrated the holiday.

For these holiday tours, Michelle Crow-Dolby, education coordinator at Belmont, and the staff have decorated the Georgian-style home as the Melchers would have, to get visitors into the Christmas spirit.

During the tour, guides take visitors around the home to show how the couple celebrated Christmas.

"They just had their own traditions," said Crow-Dolby. "It was a different time, and their traditions reflect that but the best part about the holiday tours is that visitors get a completely different experience than they would if they had visited any other time of the year."

One Christmas tradition that has proved timeless is the exchanging of gifts.

Although the Melchers had no children of their own to dote on, gifts were still an important part of the Christmas holiday for Gari and Corinne.

Whether it was a $1 bill wrapped in red ribbon for a newspaper delivery boy, a basket of treats for a local family or one of Corinne's hand-drawn Christmas cards, the Melchers made sure that everyone in their lives knew of their appreciation when Christmas rolled around.

"The Melchers were very giving, especially during Christmas," Crow-Dolby said. "There were very needy people in the area, and the Melchers would put together holiday baskets for the neighbors who needed food, or they would give them something to help them when they needed it."

O CHRISTMAS TREE

Even before they made their home on the bank of the Rappahannock, the Melchers' Christ-mas generosity was recognized.

In their first Christmas as a married couple, the two lived in Holland, where Gari was starting to gain recognition painting Dutch peasant life.

Neither Gari nor Corinne had planned much by Christmas Eve, when the two went into town. There, Corinne decided to start their own Christmas tradition with a tree.

While having a Christmas tree might seem like an ordinary tradition today, it was a first for many of the local children.

"Many of these Dutch children were poor and had almost certainly never seen a Christmas tree," Crow-Dolby said. "By that afternoon, there was a long line of children outside the Melchers' home to see the Christmas tree and to have hot cocoa. This was the start of one of the Melchers' Christmas traditions."

The lovely tree at Belmont in 2008 is in the couple's bedroom--decorated similarly to the way trees would have been trimmed for the holiday at the turn of the century there.

There's even a pair of Dutch clogs beside the tree--a carrot in one, an orange in the other--to show how Dutch families celebrated in that bygone age.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Another tradition that comes with Christmas, of course, is a feast on Christmas Day.

For the Melchers, this meant a big Christmas turkey and plum pudding.

"One year, they had a 22-pound turkey that they raised at Belmont," Crow-Dolby said. "Corinne wrote in her diary that it took 10 days to finish it off, and that was with the help of dinner guests."

All visitors to the home this holiday season will literally get a taste of that history.

During the Christmas season, Corinne baked fruitcakes by the dozen for friends.

These were not like fruitcakes of today, often thought of as more a curse than a gift, packed with neon candied fruit in a brick-like loaf.

"Corinne had two recipes for fruitcakes, one white and one black," Crow-Dolby said. "We have had people make them before, and say that they are actually very good."

During the tour, visitors can take home copies of Corinne's handwritten recipes, so they can try their hands at making the same fruitcakes Corinne made for friends.

"People always come back and say that they made it themselves," Crow-Dolby said. "I think it's a part of these tours that is special--because it gives people more of an insight into the Melchers' Christmas."

CHRISTMAS SPIRIT

Most of the records that remain at Belmont, and on which historians rely, are Corinne's writings in her diary, her cards and her correspondence.

While there are a few records of checks Gari wrote to local charities and to employees, he left no diary, and remains something of a mystery.

One clipping from the Daily Star shows Gari as a sociable man who enjoyed entertaining during the holidays--but there is little insight about his personal convictions.

Perhaps the best way to determine how an artist such as Gari Melchers felt about the holidays is to take a look not only at the home--so festively re-created for the holidays--but also at some of his paintings.

"The Nativity," for instance, shows a weary Mary and Joseph after the birth of Jesus, who is in a manger at Joseph's feet.

"People love that picture," said Joanna Catron, curator at Belmont. "Mary just looks like a regular Jane that just gave birth. People really like the realism in that. He painted several religious subjects, but we don't know why. They weren't commissioned.

" I would say he did not practice religion, but you can see in the pictures that he was a religious man. And I think that celebrating Christmas was important to him."

Carden Hedelt: 540/374-5000
Email: chedelt@freelancestar.com