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 a Brief Overview of New Year’s Celebrations
Although the New Year has been celebrated since prehistoric times, it was originally observed on the vernal equinox rather than on what we now consider the first day of the year. The Romans were the first to recognize New Year’s Day on January 1. Rather than tying the day to a significant astronomical or agricultural event, in 153 BC the Romans selected it for civil reasons: it was the day after elections, when newly elected officials assumed their positions.
Years later, Julius Caesar wanted to change the date to something more logical, but in that year - January 1, 45 BC - fell on a new moon. Changing it would have been considered bad luck. He did, however, reform the calendar itself, creating what became known as the Julian calendar, named in his honor. July, the month of Caesar’s birth, was also named after him to recognize his calendar reform. And look what it got him.
Up until 1582, Christian Europe continued to celebrate New Year’s Day on March 25. Pope Gregory XIII instituted additional calendar reforms, giving us the calendaring system still in use today. The Gregorian calendar was adopted immediately by Catholic countries, while the Reformists, suspicious of any papal policy, adopted it only after some time. Today, most countries around the world use this calendar.
From primitive times to the present, the New Year has been recognized as a day when rites were performed to abolish the past and allow for renewal in the year ahead. Rituals included purgations, purifications, exorcisms, extinguishing and rekindling fires, masked processions (with masks representing the dead), and similar activities. Often, exorcisms and purgations were accompanied by loud noise meant to scare away evil spirits. In China, Yin, the forces of light, battled Yang, the forces of darkness, with cymbals, noisemakers, and firecrackers.
Early European Americans brought New Year’s celebrations with them from their homelands. However, settlers noted that Native Americans already honored New Year’s Day with their own customs. These rituals coincided with those seen around the world, including fires, the expulsion of evil spirits, and communal celebrations. Today, many New Year’s celebrations begin with a countdown on the evening prior. It is customary to kiss your sweetheart when the clock strikes midnight, one of the enduring traditions of New Year’s Eve parties.
Around the world, different cultures have their own ways of welcoming the New Year. In Japan, people hang a rope of straw across the front of their houses to keep out evil spirits and bring happiness and good luck. They also greet the year with laughter to ensure a lucky start. In Argentina, people wear brand-new pink underwear to attract love. In Brazil, people wear none - which usually works better.
In Germany, every year on December 31, television networks broadcast an 18-minute skit in English called Dinner for One.
In 1963, Germany’s Norddeutscher Rundfunk television station recorded the sketch, performed by British comedians Freddie Frinton and May Warden. Since then, it has become a New Year’s Eve staple in Germany. The clip holds the Guinness World Record for Most Frequently Repeated TV Program, although Dinner for One has never been broadcast in the U.S. or Canada.
In Siberia, brave divers plant a New Year’s tree underneath frozen lakes—essentially a polar plunge with decorations. Much like a Christmas tree, the Siberian New Year tree (or yolka) is meant to signify the coming of Father Frost, while also symbolizing a fresh start. Jumping into a frozen lake is simply another addition to the year-end festivities.
In Italy, nothing says “Happy New Year” like red underwear. Red underpants are a staple of the Italian New Year’s tradition, rooted in centuries-old superstition that the color wards off bad luck and attracts good fortune. 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 of windows (watch out!). In Denmark, people break dishes for their friends. They save old plates all year just to hurl them by the dozen onto the doorsteps of family and friends on New Year’s Eve. In theory, the bigger the pile of broken dishes on your doorstep, the larger your circle of friends.
New Year’s resolutions are simply another way to wish away the past in exchange for hope for the future. This is where the phrase “turning over a new leaf” originated. I hope 2026 brings good health and better luck to all.
December 31st - Richard Hoffman
All my undone actions wander
naked across the calendar,
a band of skinny hunter-gatherers,
blown snow scattered here and there,
stumbling toward a future
folded in the New Year I secure
with a pushpin: January’s picture
a painting from the 17th century,
a still life: Skull and mirror,
spilled coin purse and a flower.
As always, 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! After all the shopping and planning. Why join The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour in watching this amazing 2012 supercut film, Final Cut, starring literally almost every actor whom ever appeared in a film. The film contains 451 clips from the most famous films in history. So get comfortable and enjoy the film.
So that it could be screened despite the copyright issues, the film has been declared to be educational material at the Hungarian University of Film and Theatre as well as at EöTVös Loránd University.
And finally what would Christmas be without our favorite 7 foot tall clown singing Christmas songs -
The staff and management of The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour would like to wish you and yours the happiest and warmest of holiday seasons.
Remember, the best holidays are those spend with the ones we love.
Before our feature presentation, The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour would like to start the evening with the 1941 Snowtime for Comedy, directed by Chuck Jones.
The lobby cards refer to this short under the name Snow Time for Comedy. As this short was reissued and the original titles remain lost, it is unknown if this was the actual title.
Before the start of our feature presentation, we thought that we'd watch another mash-up of year end review videos: this one, by Steven Gordon, is trailer mashup of 2025.films -
Once again we ask, "How many of them have you seen?"
Most of the staff of ACME have taken the rest of the year off. But we already paid for the hall and didn't want to leave an empty space. The year is nearly over. It's been a busy one. Why join The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour in watching another forgotten classic holiday film, the 1940 comedy, The Shop Around The Corner, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, and starring Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Frank Morgan, and Joseph Schildkraut. The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour would like you to join us in watching this fun movie, so push away the mess still in your living room, if you can, get comfortable and enjoy the film.
Even though Margaret Sullavan was infamous for her quick temper and disdainful attitude towards Hollywood, James Stewart counted working with her as one of the great joys of his professional career. And because he knew her personally, he was more equipped than most of the cast and crew members to deal with her frequent and volatile emotional outbursts.
I'm sure we've played this earlier this your but on this Boxing Day, let's join this convivial group of merrymakers on their holiday journey.
"Mystery tours", overnight bus rides to unknown destinations, were popular in England as low-budget weekend getaways. Most of this movie was shot in a rented bus filled with friends, acquaintances, Beatles office staff, a camera crew, and a handful of experienced actors, rambling around the English countryside one holiday weekend. Everyone was encouraged to invent his or her own character, let whatever was going to happen happen, and the results would be magical. Unfortunately, most of the passengers "acted" like anyone else travelling on a bus tour. John Lennon and George Harrison spent most of the trip sleeping or avoiding the cameras. The bus, with a hand-lettered "Magical Mystery Tour" sign, attracted curious on-lookers who began following in droves. Suggestions to film the chaos mounting outside were shot down. Lennon ultimately ordered the bus to stop, got out, and tore the lettering off the sides. He later derided the whole program as "The most expensive home movie ever made."
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 2025 (Talk To Me), is one of the more famous
I no longer pretent that I do not have to ask the kids to tell me what some of the songs were.
The staff of Acme Corp are home with their families enjoying the day. (I'm actually still asleep and posted this yesterday afternoon.) 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) -
Your Christmas gifts are starting to arrive (we'll be keeping a count.)
(Remember, we are going to count this as a unit and not as two individual gifts.)
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 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, drink, and fornicate. They believed that every spark their log gave 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 that had finally finished fermenting. 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. This 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, 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 of 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 the widespread existence of sailors and children.
In the fourth century, church leaders decided to begin celebrating the birth of Jesus, since it seemed morbid to focus exclusively on his death. No one is really sure when Jesus was born, although most scholars are pretty sure it wasn’t late December, and most astrologers 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 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 canceled 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 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, Sinter Klaas.
The Puritan bastards who settled America avoided Christmas as part and parcel of their longstanding commitment to No Fun. The Massachusetts Colony actually penalized anyone caught celebrating Christmas with a five-shilling fine. Since it was considered an English holiday, it was ostentatiously ignored during and after the Revolution, and it 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 13 (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 sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, global temperatures were significantly lower than normal in what was known as the “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 helped establish a lasting 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.
As is the tradition at ACME, most of the staff and their family have joined the Caligaris 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 )
Well, maybe you were already in the holiday way (especially if you've been playing the home version.) Check out these clips from the late night shows while we recount if we've actually eaten seven fish dishes -
Why not watch these cartoons for your family while we try to sober up -
Olive the Other Reindeer -
The Little Drummer Boy -
Bedtime for Sniffles -
Midnight In A Toy Shop -
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.
Sometimes TV is your only friend, so why not have another marathon of Christmas themed episodes.
Bob Has to Have His Tonsils Out, So He Spends Christmas Eve in the Hospital The Bob Newhart Show -
This episode is sometimes excluded from syndication packages because it is set on Christmas Eve and is therefore "seasonal".
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 Mary Tyler Moore -
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 Show episode, the sitcom's first Christmas special.
And a rarely seen holiday special from Rod Serling, Carol for Another Christmas --
Everyone involved in this production - all the cast, including the Director Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Writer Rod Serling, and Composer Henry Mancini - worked for union scale as an expression of their support for its anti-war themes and perceived importance of the program. Sellers, who at the time was reported to charge $750,000 or more, appeared for only $350, the Screen Actors Guild weekly minimum.
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.
Bunkies, what would the holidays be without Pee Wee Herman's Christmas Special (now filled with original commercial goodness!). Remember to scream 'really loud' when the secret word 'YEAR' is said:
The lighting apparatus used in Miss Yvonne's hair actually shorted and smoked during production and the crew had to intervene to remove the power pack from under her wardrobe and remove the wig which housed the lighting.
If you need more time to wrap your gifts or just relax, our second holiday theme today - sometimes TV is your only friend, so why not have a marathon of Christmas themed episodes.
Merry Christmas, Mr Bean Mr Bean -
The turkey in the chaotic scene was not a real one, but a prop, and was much heavier than what an actual turkey of similar size would have weighed.
Christmas and the Hard Luck Kid II The Mary Tyler MooreShow-
James Brooks, who wrote this episode, also wrote Christmas and the Hard Luck Kid, an episode of That Girl. There is no apparent connection between the two, other than Brooks.
A Very Pink Christmas The Pink Panther
Surprisingly, for an animated special, all the characters are silent
The Big Little Jesus Dragnet
This is the only Dragnet episode based on a case from outside Los Angeles. The incident took place in San Fransisco.
Jack Does Christmas ShoppingThe Jack Benny Show
The overwrought salesman Jack torments in this episode is played by Mel Blanc, who played the same role in a series of radio episodes that aired every Christmas. Over the years, Jack gave the same clerk a hard time buying shoelaces, golf tees, dates, a gopher trap, cuff links and a set of paints for Don Wilson.
Not 1 but 2 David Letterman Christmas specials
Remember Bunkies, the holidays can be a little rough. If you find yourself alone, you always have your friends at ACME.
Through out 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 (psst - I found the entire episode - Merry Christmas):
But fear not -
She sang it the other night on Jimmy Fallon's show
A final reason Hanukkah feels better than Christmas -
You do not have to pretend happiness with your family - Cheer is optional.
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 videos celebrating Hanukkah -
Hanukkah With Veronica Monica -
Chanukah in Santa Monica GMCLA -
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.
In The Market For A Miracle A Christmas Story -
Kids, this is the essential 11 o'clock number.
Can I Interest You In Hannukah?Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert -
Can you believe they were ever that young?
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.
ACME Eagle Hand Soap would like to share with you another of their annual salute to the holidays via Rock and Roll (well, some Rock and Roll).
Run Rudolph Run Chuck Berry –
The song holds the record for the longest amount of time between a song hitting the charts and then breaking into the Top 10. When it was released in December 1958, it went to #69 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2019, it re-entered the chart at #45, and in January 2021 - 62 years and two weeks after its chart debut - it reached its peak at #10.
Merry Christmas, Please Don't Call Bleachers –
I only just heard this song yesterday. And no I'm not crying, that's just dust in my eyes
Sock It to Me Santa Bob Seger –
I defy you not to get up and dance around the house.
Getting Ready For Christmas Day Paul Simon –
The song is built around a sample recorded in 1941 of the last sermon by pre-war American Christian preacher and gospel singer, Reverend J.M. Gates.
Pretty Paper Roy Orbison –
This song was written by Willie Nelson, who at the time was a successful songwriter but relatively unknown performer. It's a Christmas song where the singer goes about preparing for the holiday, but notices an unfortunate homeless person who can't afford the luxuries of the season. Unsure how to handle this, the singer decides he is just too busy and carries on with his preparations. The "Pretty Paper" serves as a metaphor for how we often cover up our problems or choose not to notice them
Here's a holiday song I'm guessing you haven't heard - Carol of the Bells, featuring Stephen Colbert and Henry Rollins:
The internet meme Ding! Fries Are Done is the anthem of a Burger King worker named Billy set to the tune of Carol of the Bells. It originated in 1993 on the mysterious singer's cassette album A Very Spastic Christmas and gained attention the following year on the Dr. Demento radio show. In 2006, Peter Griffin covered the song on the Family Guy episode Deep Throats. Despite the cartoon's popularity, interest in the song waned not long after the episode aired.
And, of course, Santa Claus Is Comin To Town Bruce Springsteen –
Bruce Springsteen released the song as the B-Side to My Hometown in 1985 ( he had been playing it in concert for years,) and it quickly became a holiday staple. Strangely, many people consider it one of the worst Christmas songs.
Before you go - a rather rude song from a rather elderly British gentleman:
It's the Seventh night of Hanukkah. Open a window someone please, that oil has gone a bit rancid..
Before our feature presentation, If you can stand it, The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour would like to start the evening with more Hanukkah Videos
Charlie Brown Hanukkah -
Kurstin X Grohl: The Hanukkah Sessions: Night Seven -
Jack Black makes any night special
Chad Gadya Jack Black -
(When Is) Hanukkah This Year? Mêlée -
Chanukah is Here Zucha -
Oy Chanukah Pacific Pops Orchestra -
As always, 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 are very close to tend of Hanukkah and Christmas is a less than a week away! Why join The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour in celebrating the season by watching our tribute to It's A Wonderful Life -
December 20, 1946 -
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 no longer available online – please enjoy the 1947 Lux Radio Theatre broadcast.
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) -
It's the Sixth Day of Hanukkah, there are just a few more days to go
At this point you may want to skip the unnecessary calories and just drink the oil - but not too much. Mussolini used to use this as a torture for his political enemies.
Another reason Hanukkah feels better than Christmas - Christmas isn’t the only holiday who has ugly sweaters! Hanukkah has some pretty tacky sweaters to compete with
The Hanukkah Sessions: Night Six Kurstin X Grohl: -
Dave keeps giving out those gifts
Oh Hanukkah Jack Black -
A Hanukkah Pap Smear CBS Cares-
Nothing says I Love You more than the gift of a kosher prostate
Hanukkah Oh Hanukkah Erran Baron Cohen -
8 Days (Of Hanukkah) Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings -
I wish Sharon was still around to continue to sing for us
Ocho Kandelikas Pink Martini -
Who doesn't want to cha cha during the hoidays?
Hanukkah Night The Living Sisters -
Just the right amount of mid-century holiday kitsch
In our second holiday feature is Acme's annual salute to the holidays via Rock and Roll. First up - Do you hear what I hear?: Female Performers:
River Tracey Thorn –
The song is about the recent split of a romantic relationship, with the singer needing to escape her immediate surroundings and emotional connections as they are too painful. It is said to be inspired by Joni Mitchell's 1968 to 1970 relationship with fellow artist Graham Nash.
Run Rudolph Run Sheryl Crow –
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.
Mrs Claus Taylor Swift -
I don't believe Mrs. Claus never looked as good
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas Norah Jones & Laufey –
This was used in the film Meet Me In St. Louis. Judy Garland starred in the film and added some of the lyrics. At first, the words were very dark and she didn't feel comfortable singing them in the scene, so she helped change them to lighten the mood of the song. It was still a very melancholy song, and included the line, Until then we'll have to muddle through somehow.
2000 Miles The Pretenders -
While many people believe the song's title and lyrics refer to two long-distance lovers who miss each other over the holidays, it was actually written for James Honeyman-Scott, the group's original guitarist, who died the year before the song was released.
The Holly & The Ivy Annie Lennox -
The song is an ancient English folk carol blending pagan winter traditions with Christian symbolism, representing Christ's Passion (thorns, blood-red berries for the crown/crucifixion) using the evergreen plants of holly (masculine, Christ) and ivy (feminine, Mary).
Let It Snow Lucious Jackson –
This was written by the lyricist Sammy Cahn and the Broadway songwriter Jule Styne in 1945. Although this song is associated with Christmas, there is no mention of the holiday in the lyrics. It's about making the most of a snowy day by spending it with a loved one by the fire.
And of course the holiday favorite -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.
