Bill OBoyle: Rita, Mel and 'The Christmas Song'
Dec. 25—It was in December of 2015 when I sat down with the late James "Spot" O'Donnell and his daughter Maureen Lynch to talk about a Christmas song.
Wait, no, not a Christmas song — "The Christmas Song."
You know it, the one about "chestnuts roasting on an open fire and Jack Frost nipping at your nose."
Yes, that song. A classic for sure.
Spot, Maureen and I sat down and talked about the incredible story about Spot's sister, Rita O'Donnell and her friend Mel "The Velvet Fog" Torme, who wrote "The Christmas Song."
So here is the story about Rita and Mel and that classic song as told to me by Maureen Lynch and her dad, the late Spot O'Donnell.
Rita O'Donnell was just 15 years old and a sophomore at Coughlin High School in 1940 when she got a call from her older sister, Aileen, who was dancing as a member of the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall.
Aileen urged Rita to quit school — she was a 15-year-old sophomore at Coughlin — and encouraged Rita to come to New York City to join her with the Rockettes.
That's where Rita met a young stage hand — 17-year-old Mel Torme.
Rita's brother, "Spot" O'Donnell, 93, and his daughter, Maureen Lynch, told the story of Mel and Rita. Maureen had talked to Rita's son, Kevin White, then the vice president and athletic director at Duke University (he retired in 2021), and Rita's daughter, Katie White Brochu, who offered more insight into the story.
Kevin White told them that his mother had "a significant relationship" with Torme in the early 40s. They began dating when Rita was 16 and Mel was 17, he said. The family said Rita would tell them Mel always thought he would make it big and, to prove he could write songs, he penned one for Rita.
"That was 'The Christmas Song,'" Maureen said. "We know there are different stories out there about how the song was put together, but Rita always said Mel wrote the song in 1941 for her."
Now, Internet accounts tell a different story about the origin of "The Christmas Song." Basically, the other story goes that Torme was at the home of Robert Wells in 1945 and found a piece of paper with the first four lines of the song written on it. Torme sat down at a piano and he and Wells completed the song in less than an hour.
The song was first released in 1946.
Maureen Lynch, Kevin White and Katie Brochu had heard a different story. They said Rita saw the words to the song in 1941 and Torme wanted to prove to her he could write songs.
Torme gave Rita the lyrics to the song that were written in pencil on some scratch paper. The family says Rita had that paper in 1941 — long before the song was published.
The relationship between Rita, a Catholic, and Torme, who was Jewish, eventually dissolved. Rita's family said the two were engaged, but they never married. Rita and Mel each had climbing careers that required them to travel apart from one another.
Rita would go on to perform with big bands that featured Danny Kaye, Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Tommy Tucker and Jimmy Dorsey. She also did USO shows with Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, who called Rita "coal cracker." She also performed many times at the famed Sardi's Restaurant in Manhattan.
Then there was that time in the late 1980s when Kevin White, then the athletic director at the University of Maine, went to see Torme's show at the Maine Center for the Arts. Kevin got backstage and introduced himself to Torme as "Rita's son."
The story goes that Torme was overwhelmed to meet Kevin and he yelled for a chair so he could sit down. Kevin said Torme fondly recalled Rita, telling her son that "she was so beautiful" and he often wondered what had happened to her.
Kevin didn't tell his mother he was going to Torme's show and she was upset when she found out.
Rita married Emerson White in 1949. Growing up in a six-floor walk-up apartment building in Brooklyn, Emerson's best friend was Jackie Gleason, who created "The Honeymooners" based on characters from that building.
Spot O'Donnell said he never met Torme, but he remembered a lot of stories Rita used to tell. He always said there's no doubt his sister's version of " The Christmas Song" is accurate.
"We were always told that he wrote that song for Rita," Spot said in 2015.
That's the story of Rita and Mel — two kids who met while trying to make their marks on the world. Both had good careers, entertaining people all over the world.
Even though the best-known version of the song was done by Nat King Cole, it's still Mel's song that Rita said he wrote for her.
On this Christmas Day, for Rita and Mel, gather your family and friends and sing:
—Chestnuts roasting on an open fire
Jack Frost nipping at your nose
Yuletide carols being sung by a choir
And folks dressed up like Eskimos
—Everybody knows a turkey and some mistletoe
Help to make the season bright
Tiny little tots with their eyes all aglow
Will find it hard to sleep tonight
—They know that Santa's on his way
He's loaded lots of toys and goodies on his sleigh
And ev'ry mother's child is gonna spy
To see if reindeer really know how to fly
—And so I'm offering this simple phrase
To kids from one to ninety-two
Although' it's been said many times, many ways
"Merry Christmas to you."
Reach Bill O'Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.
