WPIX Yule Log Remains New York Christmas Tradition

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — Need a break from the frenzy of Christmas preparations? Want to spend a peaceful hour reflecting on the season with a holiday tradition?

Then watch PIX11's "Yule Log" on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning and relax to a flickering fireplace and classic holiday music.

The treasured footage debuted 52 Christmas Eves ago and was long thought to have disappeared.

It was filmed at Gracie Mansion in New York City, back when John V. Lindsay was mayor. The Yule Log was a soothing break from the Christmas rush. People wrapped presents to it, drank cocoa or simply sat on the couch and watched it.

The footage is from the original November 1966 version filmed on 16 mm film at Gracie Mansion. Up until 2016, the restored film had not been seen on the air since on the air since 1969. The tape degraded after that and a a new Yule Log was filmed in Palo Alto, California in 1970 on 35 mm film, according to PIX.com.

No one knew where the original 1966 footage was, until it was located in the WPIX archives.

PIX11's digital director and archivist, Rolando Pujol, was sifting through the vast WPIX film collection that was donated by the estate of former WPIX executive Bill Cooper and his wife Kay Arnold, who died in 2014. Cooper produced the 1966 and 1970 versions of the holiday classic.

After Kay Arnold died, WPIX was invited to examine dozens of tapes and film reels from their New Jersey home. Pujol was exploring the film cans from the Cooper/Arnold collection, when he came across a 16mm film labeled "Original WPIX Fireplace."

"Stunned and hopeful this might be a Christmas miracle, PIX immediately had the film digitally transferred at Technicolor-Postworks in Manhattan," according to a PIX11 release. "A few days later, the station had confirmation; it was indeed the lost 1966 Yule Log."

The master film contains two minutes of color footage, and the fireplace itself loops every seven seconds.

By Patricia A. Miller, Patch staff. Photo and video: PIX11 and youtube