Christmas Specials and Cartoons

The now famous commercial featuring singers on a hillside. This is the Christmas version that they played every year when I was a kid. I wish Coca Cola would play this one instead of the overly commercial one with the trucks.

Enjoy an ice cold Coca Cola while watching this one!

Here is a holiday commercial from Kmart. I really remember this jingle very well. I am trying to find other commercials from companies such as Coke, Sprite, and McDonalds that had their own holiday jingles.

Enjoy!

How the Grinch Stole Christmas originally aired on CBS television on December 18, 1966. It was an MGM animated feature created by Chuck Jones. The special was narrated by Boris Karloff and featured a musical soundtrack that included the voice of Thurl Ravenscroft who was famous for creating the voice of Tony the Tiger for Kellog's frosted flakes commercials.

The music for the special was composed by Albert Hague who many may remember as the demanding music professor from the movie and television show Fame

The cartoon was based on the book by Theodore "Ted" Geisel aka Dr. Suess. Here is the opening for that special as it appeared on CBS television. Included is a short bumper from a local CBS affiliate.

Enjoy, this one gave me goose bumps!

This is a holiday ad from the Miller Brewing Company. It seems to be a clone to the famous Budweiser Clydesdale commercials but it's still a nice spot.

Enjoy!

This is an ad for two upcoming specials on CBS. It follows a bumper for the movie White Lightning with Burt Reynolds. I tried to edit that part out but it reduced the quality.

Any of us who are fans of Rudolph, Charlie Brown, or Frosty the Snowman will remember little things about watching those specials. For instance we remember that during the 70's and 80's Dolly Madison snack cakes sponsored the Charlie Brown specials. One little thing that is gone now is the lead in that proceeded all of our favorite holiday specials on CBS.

Here for your enjoyment is that lead in.

As I said in the earlier post, I have a few bumpers (lead-ins) that give a peak into our culture during Christmases past. This is an NBC bumper that, judging from the content, was probably from 1979.

I hope you enjoy these.

In the future I will be posting some bumpers that appeared on various networks during the holiday season. They help give a peek into Christmas past and give you an idea how things have changed over the years.

I also plan to try and post the opening to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade from 1981 featuring none other than Ed McMahon.

I don't have any of these available for download. I am leary of doing so because of trademark infringement issues. But I wanted to put them here as a sort of vault for everyone to enjoy.

Bing's Christmas shows first began on the radio with his hosting of the Kraft Music Hall and the Philco Radio Time amongst all of the radio shows he hosted over the years.

From 1962 through to his death in October of 1977, Bing hosted his annual Christmas show on CBS. The first featured Andre' Previn and Mary Martin, the star of the broadway production of Peter Pan (and who was also the mother of Larry Hagman who would go on to star with Bing's daughter Mary Francis in Dallas). Later, the specials featured his second wife, Kathryn and their three children Harry, Mary Francis, and Nathaniel. The shows were a big hit every year and always showcased a cross-section of show business talent.

In October of 1977, Bing filmed what would be his final Christmas show entitled Bing's Merrie Olde Christmas. It featured the talents of Twiggy and, to show Bing's appreciation for all musical talents, David Bowie. Shortly after filming ended, Bing flew to Spain to hunt and do a little golfing. Bing suffered a heart attack on the course just after he and his partner defeated another duo at 18 holes. He died on October 14, 1977 at the age of 74. Here is what has now become a perennial favorite perfomance featuring Der Bingle and David Bowie singing The Little Drummer Boy (Peace on Earth).

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