Christmas Specials and Cartoons

As it is slowly winding down to the end of the classic specials, I'm going to move into classic Christmas movies. I would love to hear what you think of each one and what they mean to you.

I have also added a couple of polls just to see what people think of various things so look for them as well. By official count, it's only 97 more days until December.

I uploaded some video to The Little Drummer Boy post, so enjoy!

Every television show has a Christmas episode every year. Probably the most favorite of all is an episode of The Brady Bunch called "The Voice of Christmas".

In the episode, Carol loses her voice and can't sing at Church on Christmas morning. Cindy goes with Mike to see Santa Claus and in a moment of selflessness, asks Santa to bring her mommies voice back. It's a perennial favorite and people watch it over and over again every year.

I have uploaded the entire episode here for you to enjoy.

Now, I know some people out there may not think of this as something that should be put up here. But I grew up watching this show and the Christmas shows were just as much a part of it as Bing Crosby.

The Osmonds were first playing at Disneyland in California when they were discovered by Andy Williams. They then appeared on his show for the duration and on all of his Christmas shows. Donny and Marie Osmond then branched out into their own TV show in the late '70s. Their Christmas specials were reminiscent of the Andy Williams shows Donnie had appeared in for years.

This is the opening to the 1978 special which was filmed entirely in Utah where the Osmond family had built a TV studio to produce the Donny and Marie show during it's final run.

Enjoy!

Touted as the "unofficial" start of the holiday season, The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is watched by millions every year on Thanksgiving Day. The parade itself began in 1924 at Bamberger's in Newark, New Jersey and then transferred to Macy's in Manhattan. The employees, most of whom were new immigrants to the US, wanted to show their love for their new country.

The parade continued to grow through the '30's where the use of balloons first began. The parade was suspended during WWII to use the rubber for the war effort and resumed in 1945.

In 1947, the parade was the backdrop for a Christmas favorite - Miracle on 34th Street. The movie is a perennial favorite and starred Maureen O'Hara, Edmund Gwen and a young Natalie Wood.

The parade first began its' network coverage on CBS in 1948. NBC became the official broadcaster in 1955. At first, the broadcasts were only one hour long. In 1961, it expanded to two hours and, by 1969, all three hours were broadcast. Lorne Greene hosted the show with Betty White from '63-71. Ed McMahon took over with various co-hosts and from '87-'97 Bryant Gumble and the great Willard Scott hosted the parade along with various co hosts that included McMahon and Katie Couric. Al Roker joined in 1995 and since 1998 Matt Lauer took over duties after the depature of Willard Scott.

Since 2006, Matt Lauer, Meredith Viera and Al Roker have been the hosting team for NBC. I have uploaded the opening for the 1981 Macy's Parade and it features Ed McMahon as host.

Enjoy!

Joining my fellow bloggers in mourning the passing of a guitar legend, Les Paul. Les was single-handedly responsible for the modern electric guitar. We would've never had Jingle Bell Rock if it hadn't been for Les.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a stop-motion animation special produced by Rankin/Bass for NBC. It first aired on December 6, 1964 and was based on the song by Johnny Marks and loosley based on the short story by Robert L. May who, incedentily, was the brother-in-law of Marks.
The special began airing on CBS television in 1972 and is currently only one of four original CBS 1960's specials still airing annually.

The show's featured star was folk singer Burl Ives who voiced Sam the talking Snowman. It featured a musical score by Johnny Marks and a list of memorable songs by Burl Ives and chorus:
Jingle, Jingle, Jingle
We're a Couple of Misfits
*Fame and Fortune (which replaced Misfits in later versions)
There's always tomorrow
We are Santa's Elves
We're on the island of misfit Toys
Holly Jolly Christmas
Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer


Holly Jolly Christmas became a hit for Burl Ives while Mark's other standard, Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree was used as a background instrumental piece for the show. Rudolph spun off a few sequels including Rudolph's Shiny New Year and Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July.
Here by request, is the opening 10 minutes of this show. Enjoy!