"Christmas in Times Square - 1929" by Paul McGehee. New York City's Municipal Christmas Tree on a snowy evening in the winter of 1929. A year of promise turned sour when "Wall Street laid an egg", as the October 30th edition of Variety famously put it...the big stock market crash that heralded the beginning of the Great Depression. It was especially meaningful two months later that the holiday season be celebrated nonetheless with the placing and decorating of the Municipal Christmas Tree in Times Square at the intersection of Broadway and Seventh Avenue near the Astor Hotel and Criterion Theatre. The December 18, 1929 edition of the New York Times covered the lighting ceremony: "The ceremony today at the Astor Hotel at which New York's municipal Christmas tree in Times Square will be turned over officially to the city is to be broadcast beginning at 12:30 P. M. over WOR. The speakers to be heard from the luncheon meeting of the New York Electrical Association follow: Earle Whitehorne, president of the association, speaking in presentation of the tree to the city; W. R. Herrick, Commissioner of Parks, who will receive the tree, and Representative Charles A. Eaton of New Jersey. The tree was recently received from the Yorktown American Legion." The brightly lit tree, roughly 35' in height, with spotlights and loudspeakers for piped-in music placed in the boughs, brought joy to the hearts of the denizens of Manhattan that holiday season. And, just before Christmas Eve, on December the 23rd, it snowed...as depicted in this scene, looking north from Times Square on the Great White Way. "Christmas in Times Square - 1929" is faithfully reproduced as an archival-quality print from McGehee's original color pencil and acrylic, each hand-signed by the artist. Print image size: 10 3/4" x 14 3/4".