Holiday Tales, pt. 4: Billie the Brownie

Photos courtesy of the Milwaukee County Historical Society.

When David Begel was a little boy, each Christmas the former Schuster’s Department Store aired a special daily radio program with WTMJ hosted by Santa’s favorite elf, Billie the Brownie.

Each day Billie would read letters to Santa, sent in by little boys and girls in Milwaukee, and each day, David and his brother would gather around the radio and wait to hear if their letters made the cut.

And then, one unassuming afternoon, it happened: the radio crackled as Billie the Brownie read “today’s letter comes from little David Begel from Whitefish Bay.”

It was a Christmas miracle.

Little did he know, the greatest holiday surprise was yet to come.

Listen now:

(Windows Media Player)

(Quicktime)

Learn more about Billie the Brownie at the Milwaukee County Historical Society. “Away in a Manger” performed by Stas Venglevski as part of TCD/WMSE’s 12 Songs Holiday project. Download it here. Oh yeah – did you know you can subscribe to Backstage with Mark Metcalf through iTunes? It’s a Christmas miracle!