Dr. Caligari's cabinet is now so crammed that he had to stow stuff in the Cupboard. Time may wound all heels but once in a while you need a cup of tea.
Here’s ACME's look into the world of New Years Celebrations
Although the new year has been celebrated since prehistoric times, it was celebrated on the vernal equinox rather than what we now consider the first of the year. The Romans were the first to recognize New Years Day on January first. Rather than tie the day to some significant astronomical or agricultural event, in 153 BC the Romans selected it for civil reasons. It was the day after elections in which the newly elected assumed their positions.
Years later, Julius Caesar wanted to change the date to a more logical date but that year, January 1, 45 BC was the date of a new moon. To change it would have been bad luck. He did, however, change the calendar system from the Egyptian solar calendar to the "Julian" calendar, named for Caesar. July, the month of Caesar's birth, was also named after him to recognize him for his calendar reform. And look what it got him.
Up unto 1582, Christian Europe continued to celebrate New Years Day on March 25. Pope Gregory XIII instituted additional calendar reforms bringing us the calendaring system of the day. The Gregorian calendar was adopted by Catholic countries immediately while the reformists, suspect of any papal policy, only adapted it after some time. Today most countries around the world have adopted this calendaring system.
From primitive man to today, it has been recognized as a day in which rites were done to abolished the past so there could be a rejuvenation for the new year. Rituals included purgations, purifications, exorcisms, extinguishing and rekindling fires, masked processions (masks representing the dead), and other similar activities. Often exorcisms and purgations were performed with much noise as if to scare away the evil spirits. In China, Ying, the forces of light fought Yang, the forces of darkness with cymbals, noisemakers, and firecrackers.
Early European-Americans adopted the New Year celebrations from their homelands. However, it was noted by early settlers that native Americans already honored News Years Day with their own customs. Their rituals coincided with those around the world including fires, explosions of evil spirits, and celebrations. Today many of the New Year celebrations actually begin with a countdown to the New Year on the evening prior. It is customary to kiss your sweetheart when the clock strikes midnight as one of the customs of these New Years Eve parties.
Around the world, different cultures have their own traditions for welcoming the new year. The Japanese hang a rope of straw across the front of their houses to keep out evil spirits and bring happiness and good luck. They also have a good laugh as the year begins to get things started on a lucky note. In Argentina, people wear brand-new pink underwear to attract love. While in Brazil, people wear none; that usually works better.
In Germany, every year on December 31st, TV networks broadcast an 18-minute-long skit in English called Dinner for One.
In 1963, Germany’s Norddeutscher Rundfunk television station recorded the sketch, performed by the British comics Freddie Frinton and May Warden. Since its initial recording, the clip has become a New Year’s Eve staple in Germany. The clip holds the Guinness World Record forMost Frequently Repeated TV Program, (although Dinner For One has never been broadcast in the U. S. or Canada.)
In Siberia, brave divers plant the New Year's Tree underneath frozen lakes — sort of like a polar plunge. Much like a Christmas tree, the Siberian New Year Tree (or yolka) is supposed to signify the coming of Father Frost, but its planting also symbolizes starting over. The jumping-into-a-frozen-lake challenge is just another addition to the year-end festivities.
In Italy, nothing says “Happy New Year” like red underpants. Red underwear is a staple of the New Year’s tradition in Italy. The color choice invokes centuries-old superstition that the color keeps bad luck and evil at bay, and encourages good luck. Now, even if you find yourself in Rome without a pair of rosy unmentionables, no worries. Shops and street vendors have plenty for sale.
In South Africa, people throw appliances out the window (watch out!!). In Denmark, you break a dish for a friend. They save their old dishes only to throw them by the dozen at the doorsteps of family friends on New Years. In theory, the bigger the pile of broken dishes you find on your door steps, the bigger pile of friends you have.
New Year Resolutions are simply another way to wish away the past in exchange for hopes of the future. It is where the phrase turning over a new leaf originated. I hope 2021 brings good health and better luck to all (especially all our idols.)
A Song For New Year's Eve - William Cullen Bryant
Stay yet, my friends, a moment stay—
Stay till the good old year,
So long companion of our way,
Shakes hands, and leaves us here.
Oh stay, oh stay,
One little hour, and then away.
The year, whose hopes were high and strong,
Has now no hopes to wake;
Yet one hour more of jest and song
For his familiar sake.
Oh stay, oh stay,
One mirthful hour, and then away.
The kindly year, his liberal hands
Have lavished all his store.
And shall we turn from where he stands,
Because he gives no more?
Oh stay, oh stay,
One grateful hour, and then away.
Days brightly came and calmly went,
While yet he was our guest;
How cheerfully the week was spent!
How sweet the seventh day's rest!
Oh stay, oh stay,
One golden hour, and then away.
Dear friends were with us, some who sleep
Beneath the coffin-lid:
What pleasant memories we keep
Of all they said and did!
Oh stay, oh stay,
One tender hour, and then away.
Even while we sing, he smiles his last,
And leaves our sphere behind.
The good old year is with the past;
Oh be the new as kind!
Oh stay, oh stay,
One parting strain, and then away.
Listen to what is arguably the saddest piece of music ever written.
This extraordinary rendition of Dido's Lament, the 17th-century aria, from Henry Purcell’s Baroque-era opera, Dido and Aeneas, was covered by Annie Lennox and the London City Voices.
Not to leave you in the dumps, here is one of the most famous songs from the late 20th Century, performed by a group of mostly middle aged people playing ukuleles:
Get your mind out of the gutter - a small quantity of anything left over, whether a few beans on a dinner plate or the dregs at the bottom of a cup. Specifically food and drink.
Here's another year-end 2020 Movie Mash-up, (this time from a site known as Wagner Studios) -
I was unfamiliar with the site but I've really like what I've seen. I will put it on my must check out scene in 2021
Before I forget, here's the years Multifandom Mashup for 2020 from Pteryx Videos -
I've been really enjoying reading it for the past day or so.
Since it's the end of the year there are lots of year end review videos. I usually find the time to post a few: this one, United State of Pop 2020 (Something to Believe In), is one of the more famous
At least this year , I know who some of the artists are.
Here's the next mash-up of year end review videos: this one, the best movie trailer mashup of 2020 by Sleepy Skunk, is a yearly favorite of mine.
Once again we ask, "How many of them have you seen?"
Before our feature presentation, ACME would like to start the evening with another Merrie Melodies Bugs Bunny cartoon (featuring Yosemite Sam,) the 1954 Captain Hareblower, directed by Friz Freleng.
This is the only Yosemite Sam and Bugs Bunny cartoon in the classic Looney Tunes era where Sam and Bugs both lose in the end. (Unless Ballot Box Bunny counts)
Before the start of our feature presentation, ACME Eagle Hand Soap wants to suggest a late Christmas gift.
This album should be in everyone's home.
We hope you are doing well with your self quarantines - the programming department of The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour have been vigorously scrubbing themselves with ACME Eagle Hand Soap - If your eagle's hands are dirty, we'll wash them clean! and sanitizing themselves for your protection. We are also engaged in social distancing - we are communicating with each other via hollowed out pumpkins and Ikea product names.
We've picked another entry from the excellent reference book, 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die by Steven Jay Schneider for today's feature. Today's choice is another Ealing Studios production of a marvelous chocolate confection with a poisonous creamy center, the 1949 Kind Hearts and Coronets, showcasing the brilliant talents of Alec Guiness. So we would like you to relax (quick, find the most comfortable seat on the sofa,) get a snack (perhaps, some watercress sandwiches and crumpets,) and a beverage (a pot or two of tea,) and join The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour in watching this classic film, Kind Hearts and Coronets.
Agatha's death in the movie caused some consternation for Alec Guinness. The scene in question, a hot air ballooning accident filmed in a field next door to Pinewood Studios, prompted him to ask the producers if he was well insured. They told him that he was, to the tune of ten thousand pounds sterling, but Guinness didn't think that was enough. He then declared that the balloon could not be raised any more than fifteen feet unless they raised the insurance to fifty thousand pounds sterling. Ealing Studios was renowned for being very penny-pinching, and it naturally refused Guinness' demand, pointing out that he would be accompanied in the balloon by a well-qualified Belgian balloonist hidden in the basket with him. Guinness was undeterred in his refusal to perform the stunt, so the scene in the finished movie is not him, but the Belgian balloonist wearing Agatha's dress and wig. Guinness had the last laugh, however, when a high wind pulled the balloon off course. The Belgian balloonist was found fifty miles away, having had to jump into a river.
The staff of Acme Corp are home with their families enjoying the day. (I'm actually still asleep and repeating most of last years post.) So let's all relax and enjoy a little Ella this Christmas.
If this doesn't strike your fancy, then here -
for those of you not in a particularly holiday mood at all.
Here is a brief Puddles Christmas Concert (if I linked the videos together correctly) -
As today is the first night of Christmas, here are some more unusual gifts to consider giving -
You might have to find an old copy of the Savoy Cocktail Book, copyright 1930 (of which I have a copy,) in order to figure out what some of these drinks are.
Also, did you buy anyone a gift as inappropriate as a weasel in a bikini this holiday season?
Put your feet up and read a little bit about the History of Christmas
Christmas is one of the most widely celebrated holidays in the world, although the form of its observation varies widely from nation to nation. In America, our cultural kleptomania has allowed us to assimilate the most enjoyable of those traditions while discarding any stupid superstitions associated with them.
But it's worth reviewing those superstitions along with our traditions, if only to amuse ourselves yet again at the expense of our ancestors.
The winter solstice had long been celebrated by ignorant barbarians throughout the northern hemisphere as the time of the year when the sun stopped getting smaller and smaller and finally started getting bigger and bigger. The sun was important to these poor primitive bastards, in much the same way that we poor modern bastards find it so important. It was, after all, the Sun.
To avoid having to go out much during the darkest and coldest days of the year, the poor shivering Nordic bastards of Scandinavia would bundle up and sally forth into the woods to bring home great big logs which would often burn for as long as twelve days. As long as the log burned they would stay in and eat and drink and fornicate. They believed that every spark their log set off foretold the birth of a calf or pig in the new year, which only underscores the irony of the Nobel prize being awarded in Sweden.
They believed the sun was a big wheel (hwoel) that rolled away from the earth until the winter solstice, at which point it began rolling back toward us. This quaint ignorance charmed the weak and flabby peoples over whom the Vikings later swept like an apocalyptic affliction. However, these peoples could not pronounce hwoel and therefore called it "yule." This irritated the Vikings and eventually forced their retreat.
While the Norse were hauling those logs into their houses, others throughout Europe were enjoying some of the finest dining of the year. Since it was too expensive to feed and shelter animals through the cold weather, those in northern climes killed their livestock at the onset of each winter. This provided their only steady supply of fresh meat all year, and went nicely with the wines and ales which had finally become fermented. The inevitable gastrointestinal distress that followed these binges is probably responsible for the primitive Germans' fear that the god Odin was flying around the sky above them during the solstice, deciding who was naughty and who was nice. It was not entirely academic: Odin's invariable sentence for the naughty was death.
Peasants everywhere also liked to bring sprigs and boughs of evergreens into their homes around the time of the solstice to remind themselves that sooner or later all that awful cold and snow would end and it would get warm enough to eat, drink, and fornicate outdoors. The Druids of the British Isles brought evergreen boughs into their temples every winter as a sign of everlasting life, and the Vikings thought that evergreens were the particular plant of their own sun-god, Balder (so-named because they mistook the sun for his shiny, hairless cranium). Even the Egyptians worshiped their sun-god Ra's "recovery" by bringing palm rushes into their homes. It's not clear how this was intended to help poor Ra, but he always pulled through.
In ancient Rome, the festival of Saturnalia began the week before the solstice and lasted a full month. Romans ate and drank and fornicated during this festival in honor of Saturn, the god of Agriculture. They filled their homes with evergreen boughs to remind themselves that everything would be green again eventually. They also let slaves become masters for the duration of the festival, and the plebeians were put in charge of the city. It was a crazy, topsy-turvy time, with all sorts of nutty mix-ups. Overlapping with Saturnalia around the time of the solstice was Juvenalia, a feast to honor the children of the city.
The winter solstice fell on December 25 in the year 274, and the pagan Roman Emperor Aurelian declared that day a holiday: the festival of the birth of the Invincible Sun. The Invincible Sun was also known as Mithra. Mithra was an infant god who had been born from a rock (presumably virgin rock). The Roman upper classes, with their special fondness for rocks, honored this holiday as one of the most sacred in the year.
Meanwhile, the noisy little sect of Christianity had started to gather some steam.
St. Nicholas was born around this time in what is today Turkey, but was then just another primitive desert backwater full of bickering barbarians. One popular story about St. Nicholas was that he had saved three sisters from being sold into slavery or prostitution, or both, by sneaking money for dowries into their shoes and socks. He died on December 6, and this was subsequently celebrated as his feast day. It came to be considered a lucky day on which to buy things or get married. He was honored as a protector of children and sailors. By the Renaissance he had topped all the European charts to become the most popular saint ever, probably on account of widespread sailors and children.
In the fourth century, church leaders decided to begin celebrating the birth of Jesus, since it seemed morbid just celebrating his death. No one is really sure when Jesus was born, although most scholars are pretty sure it wasn't late December and most astrologists are quick to point out that Jesus doesn't seem like a Capricorn.
Pope Julius I chose to declare December 25 as Jesus' birthday, since people were already used to celebrating at that time of year. The holiday was called the Feast of the Nativity, and by the end of the eighth century it had spread across all of Europe, even to those remote and primitive corners where people still thought the Sun was a big yellow wheel.
By the middle ages Christianity had penetrated almost all of Europe, but Christmas was still a blend of ignorant barbarian superstitions and unbearable religious seriousness. Christians would attend a Christmas mass on December 25, then eat, drink, and fornicate like they did in the old days. They would crown some wretched beggar the "lord of misrule," and the drunken revelers would happily and laughingly obey his every command. The poor would show up at the doors of the rich and demand food and drink, and if they were denied they would often laughingly burn down the house, beat its inhabitants, and rape the womenfolk and livestock before moving on to the next house. It was a very jolly holiday.
Devout Christians of sixteenth century Germany began trying to outdo the rest of Europe with their usual humorless Teutonic ambition. Instead of hanging a few little evergreen boughs about the hearth at Christmastime, they began hauling whole trees into their homes. According to legend, Martin Luther himself was walking home from a sermon one night when he was struck by the beauty of the glittering stars among the pines. When he got home he promptly decorated his own tree with candles. Despite the obvious fire hazard, this quickly became a popular tradition.
After the Reformation, puritans decided there was too much eating, drinking, and fornication associated with Christmas and that it was therefore bad. Many rulers outlawed it altogether. This was not usually popular: in England, for example, Oliver Cromwell cancelled Christmas, resulting in the restoration of Charles II and the retaliatory cancellation of Mr. Cromwell's head.
All of this was bad for Christmas, but such was St. Nicholas' popularity that it did little to deter from his reputation. He remained on top of the charts. Nowhere was he more popular than in Holland, where he was venerated as Sint Nikolaas, or more familiarly as Sinter Klaas.
The puritan bastards who settled America avoided Christmas as part and parcel of their longstanding commitment to No Fun.Massachusetts Colony actually penalized anyone caught celebrating Christmas with a five-shilling fine. Since it was considered an English holiday, it was ostentatiously ignored in the years during and after the Revolution, and wasn't made a federal holiday until after the Civil War (on June 26, 1870.)
Washington Irving had done his part in sorting through barbarian superstitions for things that were wholesome, pleasant, and commercial enough to be made officially American, and in 1809 he referred to St. Nicholas as the Patron Saint of New York. In 1822 an Episcopalian minister named Clement Clarke Moore wrote a frivolous poem for his daughters entitled A Visit from St. Nicholas. Mr. Moore cleverly ignored all elements of the good saint's biography involving slavery, prostitution, dowries, and sailors. He focused instead on sleighs, reindeer, and presents for good little American boys and girls. It was so silly and frivolous that it became one of the most popular American poems ever—second only to the one about the guy from Nantucket.
By 1820, American stores had begun to advertise Christmas shopping, and by 1870 children were flocking to Macy's to see Santa Claus. And so it was that America began applying its curious collective genius for assimilation to the vast storehouse of silly and primitive traditions from throughout the world.
Thus we need not concern ourselves with St. Lucia, the patron saint of the blind, whom Scandinavians honor each December 23 (Little Yule) with elaborate pagan rituals involving candles, torches, and bonfires.
We need not worry about the witch Babouschka, who visits Russian children with gifts each Christmas to compensate for a nasty little joke she once played on the wise men,
or the Italian witch La Befana.
We need not trouble ourselves with the construction of piñatas each holiday season, as Mexican parents must.
We don't have to sit around our tables as they do in Ukraine, waiting for the evening star to appear before we begin our meal. We need not fear the kallikantzeri of Greece, nasty little goblins that cause mischief for the twelve days of Christmas.
And let's not even talk about Krampus
Between the 16th and 19th centuries global temperatures were significantly lower than normal in what was known as a “little ice age”. Charles Dickens grew up during this period and experienced snow for his first eight Christmases. This “White Christmas” experience influenced his writing and began a tradition of expectation for the holidays. Let's all take a moment during these troubled times to express our gratitude and admiration for our American traditions, which are so much better than the traditions of every other country.
I wish for all you gentle readers, a happy, healthy and joyous holiday.
Most of the staff and their family have joined us for the Christmas Eve dinner of the seven fishes; we keep losing track of how many fishes we've consumed, (it might have something to do with the number of bottles of white wine that we've consumed. But please join us - there's always room at the table )
Here's a fun Christmas mashup from Eclectic Method to get you in the Christmas Spirit.
Well, maybe you were already in holiday way (especially if you've been playing the home version.)
Why not watch these cartoons for your family while we try to sober up -
Alias St. Nick -
Mr Magoo's Christmas Carol -
Toy Tinkers -
Bedtime for Sniffles -
Christmas Night-
One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day. Don’t clean it up too quickly.
Now that you're in the proper mood for the holidays - I'll leave you with these thoughts from Ogden Nash and his poem: The Boy Who Laughed At Santa Claus.
I've told my kids and maybe you'll tell yours - Dammit kids, get to bed! The sooner you go to sleep, the quicker Christmas will be here.
(Sorry once again for the delay - I'm very behind in my holiday shopping this year.)
Sometimes TV is your only friend, so why not have another marathon of Christmas themed episodes.
Have Yourself a Very Little Christmas The Golden Girls - . -
This is the last time Stan's third wife, Katherine, is mentioned on the show. We never find out when they divorce before Stan and Dorothy date, again, and almost re-marry in the sixth season.
Christmas and the Hard Luck Kid That Girl-
Christopher Shea, the child-actor playing Tommy, is best known as the voice of Linus in A Charlie Brown Christmas, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, and several other Peanuts specials. At the time this episode was broadcast, Shea was also a regular cast member in the short-lived Western series Shane.
Christmas and the Hard Luck Kid II The Mary Tyler Moore Show -
James L. Brooks, the writer of the That Girl episode,Christmas and the Hard-Luck Kid wrote a sequel (of sorts) for this The Mary Tyler Moore Showepisode, the sitcom's first Christmas special.
Birds Gotta Fly, Fish Gotta Talk Gilligan's Island -
This episode used footage from the original unaired pilot episode. The scene where the skipper awakens to find the ship beached shows several actors sleeping on deck that were not retained from the pilot.
Bob Has to Have His Tonsils Out, So He Spends Christmas ... The Bob Newhart Show -
When Bob returns to his room immediately following his surgery, you can see a gold chain around his neck under his hospital gown. This is an error in authenticity as patients are required to remove all jewelry before surgery.
Hope you finish you holiday shopping sooner than I apparently am going to
Demand Euphoria!
Through the mid-'60s, Phil Spector was focused on singles, with his definition of an album being "two hits and ten pieces of junk." He took a different approach, however, when he put together a Christmas album in 1963, where he put a great deal of effort into every track. So please join us at ACME while we listen to The Phil Spector Christmas Album.
The only original song on the album was Darlene Love'sChristmas (Baby Please Come Home), which he wrote with Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich. Spector issued the song as a single when the album came out, but unfortunately this was the same day US president John F. Kennedy was shot and killed. This seriously dampened the holiday mood and the single, as well as the album, were withdrawn.
I know it's not Christmas in our home unless we hear Darlene Love sing, so please enjoy Darlene Love's very first Christmas appearance on the David Letterman Show
And here's her 2014 (and final) appearance on the David Letterman Show:
But fear not -
And she actually sings other holiday songs:
All Alone on Christmas -
Christmas Must Be Tonight
Christmastime for the Jews -
Our second holiday feature is Rockin' Christmas songs (female edition):
2000 MilesThe Pretenders -
First released in 1983 ahead of the album Learning To Crawl, ‘2000 Miles’ was written by Chrissie Hynde. The lyrics were written after the band’s original guitarist James Honeyman-Scott passed away in 1982. Although James Honeyman-Scott died when he was just 25, he made his mark on those early Pretenders records. Guitarist with The Smiths, Johnny Marr, counted Honeyman-Scott as a huge influence on his jangly playing style, and Chrissie Hynde [above] claimed that it was legacy that kept the Pretenders together: “We'd worked too hard to get it where it was… I had to finish what we'd started.”
Silent Night Stevie Nicks -
It is believed that the carol has been translated into over 300 languages around the world, and it is one of the most popular carols of all time.
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen Annie Lennox -
This is a traditional English carol dating back to the 16th or 17th century. It was first published in England in 1833, when it appeared in Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern, a collection of seasonal carols gathered by William B. Sandys.
Joy Tracey Thorn -
This should be on your Christmas play list
Christmas Wrapping The Waitresses -
When Chris Butler wrote this song, he was not feeling very festive. The Waitresses were signed to ZE Records, whose boss, Michael Zilkha, asked the bands on his roster to each come up with a Christmas song that would go on a holiday compilation issued by the label. The Waitresses were in the middle of a grueling tour, and weren't happy about the task, especially since it was July and they weren't exactly in the Christmas spirit. He banged out the song very quickly, writing the last of the lyrics in a taxi from his apartment in New York to Electric Lady Studios, where they recorded it. The end result was a very uplifting Christmas song with a happy ending.
The Frank Capra film It's A Wonderful Life had a preview showing for charity at New York City's Globe Theatre, (a day before its official premiere) on this date.
The film is regarded as a classic and is a staple of Christmas television around the world, although, due to its high production costs and stiff competition at the box office, financially, it was considered a flop.
There have been countless parody of this classic film -
(Another, more adult alternate ending of the film) -
This is truly a strange little film.
Our second holiday feature is Rockin' Christmas songs (male edition): Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town Bruce Springsteen -
Written by J. Frederick Coots (music) and Haven Gillespie (lyrics) in 1934. Coots brought it to his publisher, who didn’t think much of the song but thought it might sell to kids.
Run Rudolph Run Chuck Berry -
Chuck Berry based this tale on Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, giving Rudolph a bit of an attitude as he delivers the toys. Unlike Santa, however, Rudolph is copyrighted, and Berry had to give the publishing rights to Johnny Marks, who wrote the original Rudolph. Perhaps if Berry had used "Randolph" (another reindeer he mentions), he could have kept the publishing.
We Three Kings The Ventures -
This carol was written in 1857 by the Reverend John Henry Hopkins. He wrote both words and music as part of a Christmas pageant for the General Theological Seminary in New York City. As it proved popular within his circle of family and friends, Hopkins decided to publish the carol in 1862.
O Holy Night Brian Setzer Orchestra -
Written by French composer Adolphe Adam in 1847. Based on the work of French poet Placide Cappeau’s Minuit Chretiens. In 1855 Unitarian minister John Sullivan Dwight wrote English lyrics. Holds the distinction of being literally the second piece of music to play on the radio.
Christmas Eve / Sarajevo 12/24 Trans-Siberian Orchestra -
This song originated on Savatage'sDead Winter Dead album in 1995 but became an important hit for the band's side project, Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Because Savatage had the well-earned reputation of being an '80s Heavy Metal band, many radio stations were reluctant to play the Christmas offering.
Father Christmas The Kinks -
Ray Davies frequently stole shows by performing the song live wearing a Santa costume. "When the record came out we were on tour with a very successful band at the time supporting them," he recalled during an interview with Southern California radio station KSWD. "I went on dressed as Santa at the end of the show to do 'Father Christmas.' And the other band found it hard to follow us. The following night with the same band I went to run on but there was a bunch of heavies preventing me from running on stage. And I was protesting. But the people said, 'The Kinks didn't do an encore but Santa Claus was there and they were stopping him from going on stage.'"
(Sorry for the unfortunate delay in posting this morning)
Before our feature presentation, ACME would like to start the evening with a 1947 Noveltoons cartoon, Santa's Surprise (featuring featuring the first appearance of Little Audrey), released by Paramount.
I don't know how this go past the censors but look for it: The little Hawaiian girl is topless throughout the cartoon!
Before the start of our feature presentation, ACME Eagle Hand Soap would like to finish out Dave Grohl's Hanukkah offering with his final song of his set
It should be mandatory that we listen to Uncle Lou during the Hanukkah season.
We hope you are doing well with your self quarantines - the programming department of The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour have been vigorously scrubbing themselves with ACME Eagle Hand Soap - If your eagle's hands are dirty, we'll wash them clean! and sanitizing themselves for your protection. We are also engaged in social distancing - we are communicating with each other via 11th Century Viking Secret Message and EasyJet Flight Attendant Signals.
Christmas will be shortly here. ACME wants you to join them in celebrating the holidays with your friends at The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour - the official soap of our nation's bald eagles. Remember if your bald eagle's talons are filthy, do we have a soap for you! We're sure you're busy with all of your holiday plans. Take a break - why not put The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour on in the background and watch this double feature of holiday classics: the 1945 Barbara Stanwyck comedy Christmas In Connecticut and the 1954 Bing Crosby musical film, White Christmas. So let's watch our first feature, Christmas in Connecticut -
This was one of the first films to benefit from the "post-war euphoria" that gripped America in 1945. Despite being released in August (rather than a more logical holiday-time release) this grossed a then impressive $3 million, making it one of the year's most successful movies.
I'm guess we could all use a break, right about now. As you run into the kitchen and get a beverage refill or run into the bathroom and replenish the eco-system, we here at The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour want to watch the forgotten 1959 Joy Batchelor, John Halas holiday cartoon, The Christmas Visitor -
I'm guessing because this is a European cartoon that they seem to have left Santa a donut, a hard boiled egg, a cigar and a bottle of wine.
Welcome back my friends. Our second feature tonight is the 1954 Vistavision musical fantasy by Michael Curtiz, starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, and Vera-Ellen, White Christmas. So please join us here at The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour and sit back, get comfortable and enjoy watching our second holiday feature this evening, White Christmas.
Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye's Sisters performance was not originally in the script. They were clowning around on the set, and director Michael Curtiz thought it was so funny that he decided to film it. In the scene, Crosby's laughs are genuine and unscripted, as he was unable to hold a straight face due to Kaye's comedic dancing. Apparently, the producers had a better take where Crosby didn't laugh, but when they ran them both, people liked the laughing version better.
The family you come from isn't as important as the family you're going to have.
No family is perfect - Even kids abused by their domineering father
Today's Christmas countdown - A Beach Boys Christmas
Toy Drive Public Service Announcement
The Man With All The Toys -
As a single in 1964, the song had limited success (No. 6 on the Billboard Christmas chart), but built sales over successive Christmases and is listed by Billboard in the Top 100 selling Christmas songs in history.
Blue Christmas -
Originally recorded by Western actor Doye O'Dell in 1948, the song found popularity two years later with a cover by Ernest Tubb. Elvis Presley recorded it in 1957 for his Elvis' Christmas Album.
Santa Claus Is Coming To Town -
One of the most successful Christmas carols of all time, this was outsold only by Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer and White Christmas.
I'll be home for Christmas -
This was written by Walter Kent (music) and James Kimball "Kim" Gannon (words). Though Kent and Gannon collaborated on other songs, none reached the same level of popularity as this song.
Another Christmas song they got around to sing in between the verbal abuse from their father
Santa's Beard -
The album, The Beach Boys' Christmas Album, from which the song is from, was devised as a response to Phil Spector's A Christmas Gift for You, an album Brian had attended recording sessions for. He played piano on the song Santa Claus Is Coming to Town but was dismissed by Spector due to his substandard piano playing.
There is no place like home for the holiday.
Genes, do not a family make (part 2)
Don't fear the enemy that attacks you, bad the bad family that hugs you.
Some of the most poisonous people come disguised as friends and family - (the Motown edition)
Our second Christmas countdown - A Jackson Five Christmas
Up on the Housetop -
Up on the Housetop is a Christmas song written by Benjamin Hanby in 1864. This song is the second-oldest secular Christmas song, outdone only by Jingle Bells, which was written in 1857.
Give Love on Christmas -
Give Love on Christmas Day was written by Berry Gordy, Deke Richards, Fonce Mizell, and Freddie Perren for the Jackson 5 in 1970.
This is one of the first Christmas songs with a social and political message. This was written by Motown songwriters Ron Miller and Bryan Wells, the team that also wrote Stevie Wonder's songs A Place in the Sun and Yester-me, Yester-you, Yesterday.
Little Drummer Boy -
We here at ACME are wishing you time to enjoy the simple pleasures of this holiday season.
And if don't enjoy yourself, Joe will be coming by to give you the beating of your life.
Before you go - Kurstin X Grohl: The Hanukkah Sessions: Night Seven
A final reason Hanukkah feels better than Christmas -
Naked spin-the-dreidel games!
You've probably run out of gifts at this point, wrap your family's fresh laundry as the gift that shows you've done the laundry. At this point, look up a local oil recycler - it will do better for everyone as a biofuel.
And here, I promise, is the last set of songs celebrating Hanukkah -
Hanukkah With Veronica Monica -
Chanukah in Santa Monica GMCLA -
Kurstin X Grohl: The Hanukkah Sessions: Night Six -
I bet you haven't thought about Elastica in years. Even though Hanukkah is over, I'll post the final two nights once they're posted.)
In The Market For A Miracle A Christmas Story -
Kids, this is the essential 11 o'clock number.
Gal Gadot makes Jimmy Fallon eat holiday foods -
Jimmy would have eaten crap on a shingle for her.
SNL Celebrates Hanukkah -
Hey, somebody has to clean up all of that wax on the break front. And somebody's got to call the guys who pick up used cooking oil for bio-fuel.
Our next holiday celebration - My time with you is at an end, Ebenezer Scrooge. Will you profit from what I've shown you of the good in most men's hearts?
I don't know, how can I promise!
There are literally dozens of adaptations of A Christmas Carol. Let's take a look at a few of them:
A Christmas Carol (1910) -
This is one of the earliest film adaptations of the story. It featured Marc McDermott as Ebenezer Scrooge and Charles S. Ogle as Bob Cratchit.
Scrooge (1935) -
Seymour Hicks first played Scrooge onstage in 1901 and it became his most popular role. Throughout his career he played it over a thousand times, often at fund-raising benefits.
The Christmas Carol (1949 TV special) -
This is a very rare example of a 1940s television broadcast still surviving in entirety. In the infancy of television, programs were always broadcast live because videotape recording technology did not yet exist.Although crude (a film camera was pointed at a television monitor filming the broadcast,) it was the only available method to record a live broadcast during the earliest days of television.
Scrooge (1951) -
Changes to the screenplay from the Charles Dickens book were made, mostly in the Christmas Past sequence. Among these changes are: Reversing the birth order of Scrooge and his sister, so as to add that Scrooge's mother died giving birth to him. Creating a character named Mr. Jorkin, who does not appear in the book. Flashbacks of several incidents in Scrooge's past (his sister's death, meeting Jacob Marley, taking over Fezziwig's warehouse, and Marley's death) which do not appear in the book.
Scrooge (1970) -
Alec Guinness did not enjoy doing this movie. It required much more time than he expected, with the need of wires, and a harness for his floating character. He suffered a double-hernia that required surgery to repair.
Blackadders Christmas Carol (1988) -
Ebenezer Blackadder is the only incarnation of Blackadder who is not named Edmund.
A Christmas Carol (1999) -
This is one of the very few movies to include a certain short scene when Scrooge is with the Spirit of Christmas Yet to Come: Bob Cratchit visiting Tiny Tim's body lying in repose in an upper bedroom. In the book, this takes up only one paragraph.
This could be the greatest mash-up ever, or at least the most labor intensive. Heath Waterman has spent 18 months putting together this labor of love, retelling the story of Ebenezer Scrooge in his video Twelve Hundred Ghosts - A Christmas Carol in Supercut.
Mr. Waterman uses clips from over over 400 versions of the holiday classic. (Make it your business to watch this!)
And there is no better way to get into the holiday spirit than drinking spirits -
Eggnog is usually thought of as a Christmas beverage and to tell the truth I am not a huge fan of Eggnog. So I find it amusing that the recipe that I'm posting is for Eggnog (Above is a copy of my family recipe - my father sent it to his sister in 1962.)
Coquito, a Puerto Rican twist on the classic, is a family favorite and I thought I'd share it with you and perhaps you can try it out on your family.
Please note: these drinks go down quite smoothly and are very potent - they could be administered as a calmative for frayed nerves during the holiday season.
Ingredients:
* 4 large egg yolks * 1/4 cup of sugar * 1/2 can of (14-ounces) condensed milk * 1 14-ounce cans evaporated milk * 1 1/2 cans of 15-ounce cans cream of coconut * 1/2 of a Fifth of white rum (or more) * 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon * 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg * 1 teaspoon coconut (or vanilla) extract
Tools:
* Drink Blender * Can opener * Glass
Directions:
Add the egg yolks, sugar, spices and vanilla into the blender. Mix until well blended.
Add the evaporated & condensed milk to the blender and briefly mix. (Condensed milk is very thick - you may want to open the can up all the way and scrap out all of the milk with a spatula.)
Vigorously shack the can of cream of coconut (it tends to separate.) Pour the cream of coconut into the blender and mix well. Scrap out any remaining coconut stuff from the can.
Add the rum and mix. Taste. If you think you need more rum, add it.
Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving. Serve cold.
