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.
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.
A Christmas Carol (1938) -
MGM released a record-breaking 375 prints of the film so that as many people as possible could see it during the Christmas season.
The Christmas Carol (1949 TV special) -
The cast is led by Taylor Holmes as Scrooge and includes an early appearance by Jill St. John, then age 9 and billed as Jill Oppenheim, who plays one of the Cratchit daughters
Scrooge (1951) -
Child actor Glyn Dearman (who played Tiny Tim) became a radio drama producer and, in 1990, produced A Christmas Carol for the BBC. (It isn't really Christmas in our home unless we are watching this at about 2 am Christmas morning 'assisting Santa' with the gifts.)
Scrooge (1970) -
It took more than three hours each day to apply the old-age Scrooge make-up to Albert Finney, who was only thirty-three years old at the time. Finney was actually younger than his nephew Fred, played by the then forty-six year old Michael Medwin.
A Christmas Carol (1971) -
The animation is based on John Leech's illustrations for the original edition of the novel A Christmas Carol. It's the only film version of A Christmas Carol to win an Oscar.
Blackadders Christmas Carol (1988) -
It has been noticed by some that Robbie Coltrane's costume and character in this Christmas special, has a nearly identical portrayal to his much later role as Hagrid, in the film versions of J.K.Rowling's series of Harry Potter books. Also, its been claimed that JK Rowling herself had said Robbie Coltrane was always intended to have been cast as Hagrid in the films, suggesting that this Blackadder episode may in part have inspired the creation of Hagrid.
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.
Here's our final guest programmer with her favorite Christmas jingles (this is absolutely true this year that - I had to chase her around the house to get her to give me this list.)
Remember, it's the holidays (there are no bad choices, especially if the guest programmer lives in my house.)
Santa Tell Me Ariana Grande -
This video surpassed 100 million views on November 26, 2016. Who knew?
Mistletoe Justin Bieber -
Part of the sales from Under the Mistletoe were being donated to various charities, including Pencils of Promise and the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Underneath the Tree Kelly Clarkson -
This Phil Spector-sounding song is an optimistic tune that was written by Clarkson with her frequent collaborator, Greg Kurstin.
Carol of the Bells Robert Shaw - Collegiate Chorale -
Most people automatically associate Carol of the Bells with Christmas, but its origins tell a different story. It's actually based on a traditional Ukrainian folk chant that celebrated the season of rebirth and anticipated a prosperous New Year.
Dominick The Italian Christmas Donkey Lou Monte -
Once again, I got nothing.
Once again, here a perennial favorite bonus track (in our house, anyway) - the inspired mash-up of Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas Is Youand My Chemical Romance's Welcome To The Black Parade -
This is so perfectly matched that it seems it was written this way.
Before our feature presentation, ACME would like to start the evening with a couple for Christmas carols, one from an old friend of ours, Porky Pig, singing the Elvis classic, Blue Christmas:
The next is someone who should become a new friend of ours, Jimmy, the lump of Coal:
This weekend is smack dab in the middle of the ramp up to the holiday season: there are 10 more days until the big day (most of the staff of ACME have been working around the clock this holiday season for awhile - they have lost the concept of time.) While there are tons of list of the best this or that of the holiday, why not check out the worse. The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour came up with an evening's entertainment of many of the worse items this Christmas: many of them so bad, they're good. Let's first check out what could be the worst Christmas movie even (and no, it's not little Pia Zadora in Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.) So if you have the time, grab a bowl of popcorn, get comfortable on the couch and join The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour in watching, the 1964 film (if I can use that word,) The Magic Christmas Tree:
The father is so obtuse that he does not see The Magic Christmas Tree even though it is right in front of him and hits it with his lawn mower. Unless he is blind he should have seen the tree long before he hit it even if it was new to him.
Let's keep today's theme going by checking out ACME's annual Bad Holiday songs. The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour encourages you to keep listening, (if you dare.)
First up again is Rock and Roll Santaby Jan Terri -
This is an amazingly bad performance. But Ms. Terri is very well known as an 'Outsider Rock and Roll' performer and there are people posting on the web that this is one of their favorite holiday songs. It is not one of mine.
Oh Come All Ye Faithful Twisted Sister -
There's nothing really to say here - It's just bad, really bad.
Have a Cheeky Christmas The Cheeky Girls -
We may never see Trump's Russian hotel tapes but we can watch this video and only imagine what it must be like
I'm Gonna Put Some Glue 'Round the Christmas Tree (So Santa Claus Will Stick Around All Year) Joel Grey -
You read that correctly, Joel Grey made this novelty record in 1954. It's bad enough to hear Joel pretend to be a young kid while he's in his early 20's when the song was released; think about him singing the song while dressed as the emcee from Caberet, (you're welcome for that image in your head.)
Santa Stole My Girlfriend The Maine -
All I can say is that if a fat, married, middle-aged man, who spends most of his time hanging around elves, can steal you girlfriend, you have problems kid.
We'll end with our perennial favorite -
What list of cheesy holiday songs would be complete without this wretched dreck concerning a filthy child's odd foot fetish (especially since it centers around his dying mother) - always an uplifting tune.
But I will give Patton Oswald the final word on the subject.
The gentlemen from Bensonhurst were so moved by our themes concerning Frank and Dino that
after much stregga and threatened 'kisses of death', I have be persuaded (forced at
gunpoint) to have another Mobbed Up Christmas this year.
(This is not to say that any of these singers are in anyway associated with organized
crime.) It's just that Frankie Lupini, Molluschi Vincenzo, Joey Carrozza, etc, 'requested'
these songs.
Shake Hands With Santa Claus Louis Prima -
Merry Christmas Baby Dion -
The Christmas Song Tony Martin -
Silent Night, Holy Night Jerry Vale -
Do You Hear What I Hear? Bobby Vinton -
Christmas Tears Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons -
Christmas in Washington Square Wayne Newton -
It’s Christmas Everywhere Paul Anka -
After many shots (of rye) and plates of scungilli, baccalà alla vicentina and fried
calamari, the boys want to wish everyone Buon Natale, as well as a belated Happy
Hanukkah.
Today's Holiday Theme is A Dean Martin's Christmas (Dean died on Christmas day in 1995.)
As we mentioned yesterday, Frank wasn't the only member of the Rat Pack to sing carols -
Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer -
Because Gene Autry's reputation was that of a Western star, he didn't feel suited to sing a Christmas song. The songs writer Johnny Marks, however, was determined to change Autry's mind (even though he'd never met him). He enlisted an unknown singer named Al Cernik to record a demo in the style of Autry and shipped it to the star in California. After a long wait - and some prodding from his wife - Autry agreed to record the tune.
Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow! -
This was written by the lyricist Sammy Cahn and the Broadway songwriter Jule Styne in 1945. It was first recorded by Vaughn Monroe, and has since become a standard.
I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm -
This is yet another widely recorded standard from the pen of Irving Berlin. One of the numbers from the 1937 film musical On The Avenue, to which Berlin contributed the lion's share of the music. It was performed by both Dick Powell and Alice Faye in the film, individually and together.
Winter Wonderland -
This was written in 1934 by Richard B. Smith and Felix Bernard. The lyricist Richard Smith served as an editor of a newspaper before taking up a career in music. The composer Felix Bernard, who was born in Brooklyn, New York, played the piano with popular orchestras and was also a tap dancer and writer of musical comedies for Vaudeville. He later became a composer and though this proved his greatest success, he also earned a steady income writing songs for Al Jolson and Eddie Cantor on radio shows.
What the hell I'm starting to feel the bourbon, let's watch an entire episode of The Dean Martin Christmas Show -
(sorry for the video distortion in the beginning of the tape.)
When your opponent's sittin' there holdin' all the aces, there's only one thing to do: kick over the table.
Demand Euphoria!
Before you go, remember to get your Christmas cards out soon. You've got to hurry to avoid the rush - The week of Dec. 17-23 is predicted to be the busiest mailing, shipping and delivery week, when nearly 3 billion pieces of First-Class Mail, including greeting cards, will be processed and delivered.
The more cards you send, the more solvent the USPS remains.
There are things about organized religion which I resent. Christ is revered as the Prince of Peace, but more blood has been shed in His name than any other figure in history. You show me one step forward in the name of religion, and I'll show you a hundred retrogressions.
Whatever Happened to Christmas -
Whatever Happened to Christmas was written by Jimmy Webb. Jimmy Webb has told the story of having dinner with Frank Sinatra to discuss the recording of an entire album of Webb songs. But Webb's father was also there, and Sinatra and Webb's father got caught up in comparing memories from their younger days, so the discussion about the album, and for that matter, the album itself, never happened.
I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day -
I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day is a Christmas song, composed by Johnny Marks to the words of a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. His poem, Christmas Bells, is about hope in dark places and was written in 1864 during the Civil War. It was written as Longfellow dealt with the grief from the wounding of his oldest son at the Battle of New Hope Church in Virginia and the loss of his wife in a tragic fire a few years earlier.
I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm -
It's not really about Christmas, but there's plenty of winter imagery in this frosty tune, what with the snow snowing and the wind blowing, making it a holiday classic with covers from Billie Holiday, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, Rosemary Clooney, Judy Garland, and Rod Stewart.
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing -
The words to Hark! The Herald Angels Sing were written by Charles Wesley, the brother of the founder of Methodism, John Wesley. He was inspired by the sounds of London church bells while walking to church on Christmas Day.
I’m not unmindful of a man’s seeming need for faith; I’m for anything that gets you through the night, be it prayer, tranquilizers, or a bottle of Jack Daniels. But to me religion is a deeply personal thing in which man and God go it alone together, without the witch doctor in the middle.
Mistletoe And Holly -
The song was co-written by Frank Sinatra, Dok Stanford and Hank Sanicola.
Frank and Dean wishes you a Merry Christmas from TV Heaven (actually from the Christmas edition of Dean Martin TV show.)-
