A true story about the power of perseverance and the magic of the season… THE CHRISTMAS HOUSE: How One Man’s Dream Changed the Way We Celebrate Christmas Georgia Skinner P.R. Contact: Monique Muhlenkamp
In 1934, twenty-two-year-old George Skinner (the author’s namesake
and father) was stricken with polio and confined to an iron lung in the
polio ward of Los Angeles County General Hospital. Regular visits from
his father, Albert, and the outpouring of support from his neighbors and
community kept him going as he struggled to heal. Determined to walk again
and recover from the horrible disease, he vowed that when he left the
hospital he would create something to thank his community and to repay
their kindness; he would create something called the Christmas House.
In the midst of the Great Depression those dreams came true. After spending
nearly two years in a polio ward, he enlisted the assistance of President
Franklin Delano Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to find treatments
that might help him, and others, walk again. Mrs. Roosevelt made arrangements
for George to receive hydrotherapy similar to the therapy FDR received
in Warm Springs, GA. In 1936, George left the hospital and began building
an elaborate outdoor display — a gift to the community — with
his father. Newspapers sent photographers; the local American Legion Post
donated time and supplies; churches provided choirs and contributed food;
but most of all, children and adults came to experience the first house
ever decorated with elaborate outdoor holiday displays and to bask in
the true spirit of Christmas.
Nearly 80,000 people came each Christmas from 1936-1938 to walk through
the Skinner house and backyard wonderland. Years later, George’s
daughter rediscovered an old scrapbook stuffed with clippings, letters,
and photographs commemorating the Christmas House put together by a therapist
from the hospital, who had witnessed George’s determination to recover
from polio and the miraculous transformation of the community. With more
than 100 photographs from that scrapbook to help tell the story, The Christmas
House is an enchanting testimony of how one man’s dream, and the
power of forgiveness, changed his life and his community.
Writer/film producer Georja Skinner is George Skinner’s daughter.
She was the first female sound mixer to work in network television, on
shows such as All in the Family and The Jeffersons. She has served as
film commissioner of Maui and founded a media firm since moving to Hawaii
in 1983. She launched her management and production firm Skinner Entertainment
in 2002 and divides her time between Los Angeles and Maui. Her website is www.christmashouseonline.com.
THE CHRISTMAS HOUSE by Georja Skinner
November 2005 • Gift/ Inspiration • Cloth • 100 b/w Photos
Price: $19.95 • ISBN 1-57731-474-3 • 128 Pages
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