We can't think of Christmas
without thinking of Yogi Yorgesson and his
Christmas stories. With a strong Swedish
accent, Yogi has helped to make us laugh as he
'yust goes nuts at Christmas' and his antic
'yingle bells' tale as he rides in a one-horse
open sleigh. This page includes many of
Yogi's Christmas stories, but before you start his
journey, I would like to tell you a little bit
about Yogi.
We all think
of Yogi as being of Swedish descent, but in
reality, Yogi's father was Norwegian. Yogi's
father and brother immigrated to the United
States in the early 1900's and settled in Tacoma, Washington. Yogi's
father, Hans Skarbo married Elise, and Yogi was
born in 1908. His birth name was Harry Edward
Skarbo. Two years later, Elise died while
giving birth to another child who did not
survive. Hans was so overcome with grief,
and knowing he could not raise a two year old
son, Harry Skarbo was put up for adoption with
the Stewart family. Yogi's name was now
Harry Edward Stewart.
Harry grew up in Tacoma, but eventually moved to
Los Angeles, California in 1931. To keep
from starving, Harry created the character of
Yogi Yorgesson, a Swedish-Hindu Spiritualist.
For his routine he used a thick Swedish accent,
and his costume was Swedish boots, a Hindu
loincloth, a lumberjack shirt and a Hindu
turban. In the late 1930's Harry met and
married Gretchen in Chicago, and his career was
moving forward. In the 1950's he dropped
the Hindu part of his act, and became just Yogi Yorgesson, the singer and storyteller. He
wrote as well as performed all his material, and
performed on both radio and television over the
years.
Yogi Yorgesson
and Stan Boreson are often confused. They
shared the same style of Swedish comedy, and
even today, some of Yogi's songs are listed as
performed by Stan Boreson. Yogi and Stan
did become good friends however, and after
Yogi's death, Gretchen gave two of Yogi's
unpublished works to Stan.
Yogi died in 1956 as the result of an
automobile accident. He apparently fell
asleep at the wheel, and after hitting a
culvert, the automobile flip over and crushed
him. Gretchen later married Jim Jordan
(Fibber McGee) in 1962. Jim
Jordan died in 1988 and Gretchen died in 1998.
Yogi and Gretchen are buried side by side in
Glendale, California.
And, now onto the Christmas music and stories
by Yogi Yorgesson. Just
click the Santas below:
