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Season's Greetings
Published in 1942, Lewis was a New York journalist and his love/hate relationship with the city is a major theme of Season's Greetings. We are introduced to five residents of a brownstone in Greenwich Village on Christmas Eve, each of whom have a heavy problem on their shoulders, and none of whom really know each other. This seems very bleak for a Christmas story, but it is strangely compelling, an unusual book about the human condition, friendships and characters that stay with you long after you finish. The closing lines of the novel also stay with me - haunting and memorable even now as I recall them.
- GenresChristmas
408 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1942
50 people want to read
About the author
Herbert Clyde Lewis
5 books13 followersHerbert Clyde Lewis was born in New York City in 1909. After working as a reporter in Shanghai, China, he returned to the US in 1933 and began writing fiction while working as a reporter for the New York Journal.
In 1937, he published his first novel, Gentleman Overboard, a black comedy about a Wall Street banker who falls overboard while travelling on a freighter in the South Pacific and drowns. Time magazine's reviewer wrote of the book, "His hair-raising little tour de force is the more effective for being so quietly, matter-of-factly written."
He published two other novels then moved to Hollywood to work for 20th Century Fox. He earned an Academy Award nomination for his original story for the 1947 film, It Happened on 5th Avenue, but was then blacklisted for his political activities.
He returned to New York in 1949 and was working as a contributing editor of Time magazine when he died of a heart attack in 1950.
In 1937, he published his first novel, Gentleman Overboard, a black comedy about a Wall Street banker who falls overboard while travelling on a freighter in the South Pacific and drowns. Time magazine's reviewer wrote of the book, "His hair-raising little tour de force is the more effective for being so quietly, matter-of-factly written."
He published two other novels then moved to Hollywood to work for 20th Century Fox. He earned an Academy Award nomination for his original story for the 1947 film, It Happened on 5th Avenue, but was then blacklisted for his political activities.
He returned to New York in 1949 and was working as a contributing editor of Time magazine when he died of a heart attack in 1950.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 21, 2023
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I bought Season's Greetings without knowing anything about it. Published in 1942, it was in great shape with a crisp clean dust jacket, and intriguing illustration. On the flyleaf in beautiful script is the inscription To Marie, From Jessie, Xmas 1943.
Author Herbert Clyde Lewis was a reporter in the 30's, wrote three novels, as well as screen stories for Hollywood in the early 40's, the most famous of which is the screenplay for The Fifth Avenue Story which was nominated for an Academy Award (losing out to Miracle on 34th Street.)
That is one of my favourite old Christmas movies, in which a hobo and his dog move into a wealthy mansion each winter when the owners are in Florida. One Christmas, the family discovers him there and play along under assumed identities as well!
Lewis was also a New York journalist and his love/hate relationship with the city is a major theme of Season's Greetings. We are introduced to five residents of a brownstone in Greenwich Village on Christmas Eve, each of whom have a heavy problem on their shoulders, and none of whom really know each other.
Looking at the cover illustration though, it will all turn out alright in the end, no?
Mr. Kittredge is now 50 and can't find anything to live for. You'd think there would be something, but there was really nothing. He works as Santa at a large department store and eats the same lunch and dinner every day - an egg, milk toast and butter. He spends his day inwardly laughing with derision at other people, gloating that after he gets paid tonight, he can afford to have a truly great Prime Rib dinner, before buying a rifle and killing himself.
Betty Carson also works at the department store. She was in love with Joe Henderson but has discovered since he went away to look for work that she is pregnant. They aren't yet married. She turns to Mr. Kitteredge ~ Would he pick her up from the doctor's at nine o'clock that evening. She should not go home alone after the operation.
Hans Metzger is a Polish refugee from Germany. He has no money, schedules his time so he can sleep most of it away, and wanders the streets looking to join a conversation or find a friend. He meets Mary Traber in a bar, an alcoholic and released convict who is lower than he is. He would rather be alone.
Mrs. Cadgersmith, at 70, is very much alone. Her three grandchildren live in the city, but are apathetic and self centred, they never visit or call. She feels sure she is going to die, somehow soon, and pays one last visit to each that night. She would knit you a sweater at the drop of a hat, if you asked. Trouble was, nobody ever did.
And the owner of the building Flora Fanjoy, who has saved up a pretty bundle in the bank by watching every penny closely. She made it all on her own, and remains on her own.
Things are about to change at the brownstone, as Flora has fallen down the stairs and lays paralyzed. Joe Henderson returns and urges Betty to not have the operation, but she rebuffs him, and Mr. Kittredge (as well as Hans) wander the streets without finding a proper dinner.
This all seems very bleak for a Christmas story, but it is strangely compelling. I was thinking it would be more like It's A Wonderful Life, and was surprised at the dark themes, but then I guess Wonderful Life also showed the darker side when he hadn't been born. I mean, his girlfriend Mary was forced to end up a Librarian!
In between the characters, there are chapters about the city, the people, the hustle, the crowds, the joys, the triumphs, the sad, the lonely. He paints a picture of the city as a whole and the loneliness that comes from living so closely together. Much of this novel paints it as pathetic and crushing. At the halfway mark I was wondering when things were going to turn for the better - even when Joe returns things continue downhill, so determined is Betty.
However, such sadness is only made more satisfying at the three-quarter mark by a turn in fortunes. Resolutions appear and connections are made. It seems a simple story of characters but is surprising moving. I've told you much about the novel, as it seems to be disappearing. I haven't seen other copies online for sale, and the one or two mentions I did see agree it is a great read, however bleak in the beginning.
It's the kind of book where the characters stay with you long after you finish. By the end, I was really affected by Mr. Kittredge. The closing lines of the novel also stay with me - haunting and memorable even now as I recall them.
A very unusual book, and more so considering it was written in 1942. If you find it, and are interested in books about the Human condition, I recommend it. Well written and certainly memorable.
I bought Season's Greetings without knowing anything about it. Published in 1942, it was in great shape with a crisp clean dust jacket, and intriguing illustration. On the flyleaf in beautiful script is the inscription To Marie, From Jessie, Xmas 1943.
Author Herbert Clyde Lewis was a reporter in the 30's, wrote three novels, as well as screen stories for Hollywood in the early 40's, the most famous of which is the screenplay for The Fifth Avenue Story which was nominated for an Academy Award (losing out to Miracle on 34th Street.)
That is one of my favourite old Christmas movies, in which a hobo and his dog move into a wealthy mansion each winter when the owners are in Florida. One Christmas, the family discovers him there and play along under assumed identities as well!
Lewis was also a New York journalist and his love/hate relationship with the city is a major theme of Season's Greetings. We are introduced to five residents of a brownstone in Greenwich Village on Christmas Eve, each of whom have a heavy problem on their shoulders, and none of whom really know each other.
Looking at the cover illustration though, it will all turn out alright in the end, no?
Mr. Kittredge is now 50 and can't find anything to live for. You'd think there would be something, but there was really nothing. He works as Santa at a large department store and eats the same lunch and dinner every day - an egg, milk toast and butter. He spends his day inwardly laughing with derision at other people, gloating that after he gets paid tonight, he can afford to have a truly great Prime Rib dinner, before buying a rifle and killing himself.
Betty Carson also works at the department store. She was in love with Joe Henderson but has discovered since he went away to look for work that she is pregnant. They aren't yet married. She turns to Mr. Kitteredge ~ Would he pick her up from the doctor's at nine o'clock that evening. She should not go home alone after the operation.
Hans Metzger is a Polish refugee from Germany. He has no money, schedules his time so he can sleep most of it away, and wanders the streets looking to join a conversation or find a friend. He meets Mary Traber in a bar, an alcoholic and released convict who is lower than he is. He would rather be alone.
Mrs. Cadgersmith, at 70, is very much alone. Her three grandchildren live in the city, but are apathetic and self centred, they never visit or call. She feels sure she is going to die, somehow soon, and pays one last visit to each that night. She would knit you a sweater at the drop of a hat, if you asked. Trouble was, nobody ever did.
And the owner of the building Flora Fanjoy, who has saved up a pretty bundle in the bank by watching every penny closely. She made it all on her own, and remains on her own.
Things are about to change at the brownstone, as Flora has fallen down the stairs and lays paralyzed. Joe Henderson returns and urges Betty to not have the operation, but she rebuffs him, and Mr. Kittredge (as well as Hans) wander the streets without finding a proper dinner.
This all seems very bleak for a Christmas story, but it is strangely compelling. I was thinking it would be more like It's A Wonderful Life, and was surprised at the dark themes, but then I guess Wonderful Life also showed the darker side when he hadn't been born. I mean, his girlfriend Mary was forced to end up a Librarian!
In between the characters, there are chapters about the city, the people, the hustle, the crowds, the joys, the triumphs, the sad, the lonely. He paints a picture of the city as a whole and the loneliness that comes from living so closely together. Much of this novel paints it as pathetic and crushing. At the halfway mark I was wondering when things were going to turn for the better - even when Joe returns things continue downhill, so determined is Betty.
However, such sadness is only made more satisfying at the three-quarter mark by a turn in fortunes. Resolutions appear and connections are made. It seems a simple story of characters but is surprising moving. I've told you much about the novel, as it seems to be disappearing. I haven't seen other copies online for sale, and the one or two mentions I did see agree it is a great read, however bleak in the beginning.
It's the kind of book where the characters stay with you long after you finish. By the end, I was really affected by Mr. Kittredge. The closing lines of the novel also stay with me - haunting and memorable even now as I recall them.
A very unusual book, and more so considering it was written in 1942. If you find it, and are interested in books about the Human condition, I recommend it. Well written and certainly memorable.
March 10, 2025
I was worried I would have buyer's remorse.
You see, I wanted this book and there were no copies available anywhere. None to be had. I set an alert on Google and AbeBooks and a few months later I was notified, there was a copy, but it was $200 USD. The Canadian dollar was especially bad at the time, meaning almost $300 Canadian. Yikes!
Well I hemmed and hawed for a couple of hours. If I passed this up, it could be years before I got another chance, if ever. And so I finally bought it.
A charming book, set it one day, Christmas Eve, around 1940.
One of my favourite parts was the people remembering things from their childhood in the 1800's, the horse drawn carriages, the trees lining Broadway. These details that have been lost forever.
The book is mostly a character study but things do happen. You'll be going along for a while, fully immersed in a character's thoughts, and then bang, something huge happens. So it was nice to have a plot as well.
For me the magic was the woman working the toy section of the department store on Christmas Eve, the man playing Santa Claus, the setting, the time, loved, loved, loved.
Finally I must say I also appreciated the melancholy. Everything wasn't tied into a perfect bow.
I have two of the author's other books, I can't find his last one right now.
You see, I wanted this book and there were no copies available anywhere. None to be had. I set an alert on Google and AbeBooks and a few months later I was notified, there was a copy, but it was $200 USD. The Canadian dollar was especially bad at the time, meaning almost $300 Canadian. Yikes!
Well I hemmed and hawed for a couple of hours. If I passed this up, it could be years before I got another chance, if ever. And so I finally bought it.
A charming book, set it one day, Christmas Eve, around 1940.
One of my favourite parts was the people remembering things from their childhood in the 1800's, the horse drawn carriages, the trees lining Broadway. These details that have been lost forever.
The book is mostly a character study but things do happen. You'll be going along for a while, fully immersed in a character's thoughts, and then bang, something huge happens. So it was nice to have a plot as well.
For me the magic was the woman working the toy section of the department store on Christmas Eve, the man playing Santa Claus, the setting, the time, loved, loved, loved.
Finally I must say I also appreciated the melancholy. Everything wasn't tied into a perfect bow.
I have two of the author's other books, I can't find his last one right now.
Want to Read
December 20, 2023Why this book? Same author as Gentleman Overboard and one of my favorite movies, "It Happened on 5th Avenue".
April 28, 2025
Thoughts to come.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews