“Winter Wonderland” (1934) was written by two people. Felix Bernard composed the music and Richard Bernhard Smith wrote the lyrics. Smith also went by Dick Smith. Richard Himber and his Hotel Ritz-Carlton Orchestra made the first recording, released on RCA Bluebird in 1934. Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians had the first hit with it that same year.
The two men had very different lives. Smith was a small-town Pennsylvania newspaperman with tuberculosis. Bernard was a Brooklyn-born pianist who worked in vaudeville. Neither lived to see the song become one of the most-played holiday standards in America.
Winter Wonderland at a Glance
| Song | Written by | Year | First recorded by | First hit / most-played version |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter Wonderland | Felix Bernard (music), Richard B. “Dick” Smith (lyrics) | 1934 | Richard Himber and his Hotel Ritz-Carlton Orchestra (1934) | Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians (first hit, 1934); Eurythmics (1987, the version ASCAP named as most played) |
Who wrote the Winter Wonderland lyrics?
Richard Bernhard Smith wrote the lyrics. He was from Honesdale, Pennsylvania. He was born in Honesdale on September 29, 1901, and grew up in a house that looked straight out on Honesdale’s Central Park and the Wayne County Courthouse. He worked as a newspaper editor before he turned to music.
Smith wrote the words while he was sick. He wrote them during a stay at the West Mountain Sanitarium, where he was being treated for tuberculosis. The sanitarium was near Scranton. The song was inspired by the sight of the Central Park in his hometown covered in snow. It’s a bittersweet origin. A man shut indoors wrote one of the best-loved songs about walking around outside in the snow.
The song’s success came too late for him. Less than a year after “Winter Wonderland” came out, his tuberculosis came back. Smith died in a New York hospital on September 28, 1935, the day before his 34th birthday. “Winter Wonderland” is the song he is remembered for today.
Who wrote the music for Winter Wonderland?
Felix Bernard wrote the melody. Bernard was born in Brooklyn, New York. He played piano with popular orchestras and wrote musical comedies for vaudeville. Once Smith was well enough to leave the sanitarium, he went back to New York and worked with his friend Bernard, who set the lyrics to music.
The finished song was published in 1934 by Bregman, Vocco and Conn. Bernard’s tune fits the words well. It moves at an easy walking pace, and the middle section has a playful bounce. That middle section is where the snowman shows up.
Who recorded Winter Wonderland first, and who made it a hit?
Richard Himber recorded “Winter Wonderland” first, but Guy Lombardo turned it into a hit. Himber’s orchestra cut the song at the end of a recording session. They had time left over, and someone suggested trying the new tune.
- 1934, the first recording. Richard Himber and his Hotel Ritz-Carlton Orchestra released the original version on RCA Bluebird.
- 1934, the first hit. Guy Lombardo’s orchestra had the biggest chart hit when the song was new, and it reached the top ten.
- 1946, the revival. Lombardo brought the song back with a boogie-woogie arrangement featuring the Andrews Sisters.
- 2007, the modern favorite. In November 2007, ASCAP named “Winter Wonderland” the most-played holiday song by ASCAP-member writers over the previous five years, and the Eurythmics’ 1987 version was the one played most often.
Lots of artists have covered it since. More than 200 artists have recorded the song since Himber’s original. They include Tony Bennett, Elvis Presley, Johnny Mathis, Selena Gomez & the Scene and Laufey, who recorded it for Spotify Singles in 2023. Holiday radio still plays many of them. A November 2025 survey found 18 versions of “Winter Wonderland” on Christmas music stations, the second-most of any song.
Is Winter Wonderland a Christmas song?
“Winter Wonderland” is a winter love song that people treat as a Christmas song. The words never mention Christmas, Santa, or any holiday. The original lyrics are about a couple falling in love in wintertime. The singer hears sleigh bells, sees snow sparkling in a lane, and notices that the summer bluebird has given way to a new bird singing a love song. The couple go walking together, and later they sit by the fire and talk about their plans for the future.
The song has no holiday in it, but it came out in the season of radio Christmas shows, holiday records, and December playlists. That’s how it became a Christmas standard. You’ll also hear it all winter long, well into January.
What is the snowman called in Winter Wonderland?
The snowman in “Winter Wonderland” is called Parson Brown in the original lyrics. A parson is a minister. In the bridge, the couple build a snowman and pretend he is a preacher who could marry them. When the “parson” asks if they’re married, they say no, but they’d be happy to have him perform the wedding. The couple seem to be unmarried, and they accept his offer.
The lyrics changed later on. A version printed in 1947 added a “new children’s lyric.” In it the snowman became a circus clown, and the couple’s promises in the last verse were replaced with lines about playing in the snow. Many later recordings mix both versions, so you hear about Parson Brown and about the circus clown. That’s why two singers can disagree about what the snowman is called. Both are right. It depends on which version they learned.
Who wrote Winter Wonderland for Elvis, Laufey and other singers?
Felix Bernard and Dick Smith wrote every version, including the ones by Elvis Presley, Bing Crosby, and newer singers like Laufey. People often mix up who wrote a song with who sang it. Big stars recorded “Winter Wonderland” decades after 1934, but the songwriting credit never changed. Whatever the label or streaming credits list as the performer, the writers are the same two names.
To check for yourself, look at the songwriter credits on any streaming service, or search the ASCAP repertory database for the title. Credits for this song will show Bernard and Smith (sometimes as “Dick Smith” or “Richard B. Smith”).
FAQ
– What does the phrase “a winter wonderland” mean?
A winter wonderland is a snowy landscape that looks magical, often with frosted trees, fresh snow, and a sense of quiet. The 1934 song made the phrase popular. Today people use it for anything from a snowy backyard to a decorated holiday display.
– Is Honesdale, Pennsylvania, the real “winter wonderland”?
Yes, Honesdale is where the song’s inspiration came from. Smith wrote the lyrics after picturing his hometown’s Central Park covered in snow. He grew up in a house facing that park and the Wayne County Courthouse.
– Did Dick Smith and Felix Bernard live to see the song become a classic?
No. Smith died of tuberculosis in 1935, about a year after the song came out. Both writers had died by 1946, when the postwar recordings helped make it the holiday classic it is today.
– Was Winter Wonderland written by Bing Crosby or Guy Lombardo?
No, neither Bing Crosby nor Guy Lombardo wrote “Winter Wonderland.” Felix Bernard wrote the music and Richard B. Smith wrote the lyrics. Lombardo had the first hit with it in 1934, and Crosby was one of the many singers who recorded it later.