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.
You add the candles from right to left but light them left to right.
So, let the serious eating commence.
Original Hanukkah Song Adam Sandler -
Era-lution of Taylor Swift - (Chanukah's version) Six13 -
Chanukah Upmix DJ Farbreng -
Mi Y'malel (Who Can Retell?) SATB Choir -
Oy Chanukah, Oy Chanukah! The Klezmer Conservatory Band -
Please pace yourself - Eight days is a long time. And kids, know when a simple game becomes an addiction - please no actual gambling while playing with your dreidels.
Gamblers Anonymous (718) 352-1671
Today's second Christmas special - our favorite holiday frozen friend: Frosty
December 7, 1969 -
Another Rankin/Bass production, Frosty the Snowman, premiered on CBS-TV on this date.
This was Jimmy Durante's final film (not counting documentaries and one short film appearance).
The original recording of Frosty The Snowman by Gene Autry was his seasonal follow-up to his successful recording of Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer in 1949.
This time he peaked at #7 in December 1950.
The Snowman in July (1944)
Frosty The Snowman (1953)
Snowman's Dilemma (1960)
The Snowman (1982)
When this program first aired on PBS stations in the United States, the introduction featured a newly filmed introduction by David Bowie instead of Raymond Briggs on the grounds that the animation needed a star.
Before you go - I couldn't resist this mashup of I Melt With You and Frosty The Snowman by Les Skivvies
I should have known what the costumes for The Skivvies were going to be.
I will not play the songs featuring Olaf from Frozen (the earworms they cause has led to a UN report being issued concerning possible war crime being committed by yours truly.) Really, don't bother to look for them if you can help yourself.
It's the Feast of Saint Nicholas (yes, that St. Nick.)
Amongst other things, he is the patron saint of children and was known for his generosity. He's also known as the patron saint of sailors, fishermen, merchants, the falsely accused, prostitutes (Huh), repentant thieves, pharmacists and broadcasters.
Let's check out some other ways St. Nick has been portrayed:
A history of Santa Claus -
Things that go together: Santa and Coca Cola -
Santa Claus' Workshop (1950)
Dónde Está Santa Claus Los Lobos -
Must Be Santa Bob Dylan -
Today is the 59th anniversary of the original broadcast of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, we have another Christmas video countdown today - Rudolph!
Rudolph was born 84 years ago this Christmas season, at the Montgomery Ward department store headquarters in Chicago. He was the star of a humble coloring book, written by a copywriter, Robert May, who almost named the protagonist “Reginald.” May, who’d been lonely as a child, based the character on himself. Store executives fretted that shoppers might think Rudolph’s nose was red because he was drunk, but something about Rudolph’s story spoke to people. He was an outcast, down on his luck. When Santa gave him a job (it was the Great Depression, after all)—well, something clicked.
That Christmas, the company passed out two and a half million copies of the book
Original Rankin/Bass Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer end credits (in black and white)
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (1944) -
Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer Gene Autry -
MAD TV Rudolph Trilogy
various commercials feature Rudolph and his friends -
As per usual, I have been warned by the CDC that I should avoid posting Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer. It would be considered risky given your mental state.
This late-Seventies novelty song is undoubtedly one of the darkest in the carol canon, featuring gory lyrics detailing the “hoof prints on her forehead” and “incriminatin’ Claus marks on her back.” Duly noted.
Excuse My Christmas Jan Terri –
Please don’t get me wrong – this is bad. Really bad. Spectacularly bad. And yet, 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’s starting to have an Ed Wood, Plan Nine From Outer Space feel to it.
Puppies Are Forever Sia –
If you listen to it as a PSA about the responsibility of pet ownership, it’s barely tolerable. As a song, it’s painful
That’s Christmas To Me Pentatonix –
Imagine all the secondary characters from Glee were suddenly asked to sing a big number at the state finally – this would be the result.
The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot Vera Lynn –
Nobody would remember Vera, if this was a more well known song. So forget it.
Mistletoe Justin Bieber –
I understand that Justin is ill but just say no.
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.
Without any further ado - the true cost of Christmas)
OK kids, PNC bank has reported that there is a 2.7% increase in the price of the items needed for the 12 days of Christmas (compared to the 2022 pandemic prices). It is noticeably lower than last year's hefty 10.5% increase In the 40th year of their survey, PNC has found that the 12 items come out to a grand total of $46,729.86,; a $1,206.69 increase from 2022. The cost of this year's CPI seems to prove that the aggressive Federal Reserve interest rate hiking cycle in history have been working to slow inflation fears. (I did not know this but you do not get any bargains by purchases these item online; buying all 12 items from the comfort of your living room would cost you $52,024.03, ($5,294.17 more than in-store purchases.) an increase of 4.8% from the 2022s on-line total of $49,663.73.
These prices are, of course, just for one verse of the song. If you add up the total cost of all the items from the entire song (what PNC Wealth Management calls “The True Cost of Christmas”) it would surmount $201,972.66, a 2.5% increase from 2022.
So it stands to reason that today's holiday theme is - The Twelve Days Of Cristmas
The 12 Days Of Christmas & Bing Crosby -
12 Drinks of Christmas Fay McKay -
Yet Another Partridge in a Pear Tree Brian Sibley -
The 12 Days of Christmas A Tale of Avian Misery -
The 12 Gifts of Christmas Allan Sherman -
The Twelve Days of Yaksmas -
Maybe we've played this song too much
And finally, complaints about the number of gifts-
Before our feature presentation, ACME would like to start the evening with the 1953 Sylvester and TweetyLooney Tunes cartoon, Snow Business, directed by Friz Freleng
This short provides an anomaly in the Sylvester & Tweety pairings: In this one, Tweety and Sylvester start off as friends. It is also also a rare short in these Tweety/Sylvester pairings where Sylvester is in the role of a victim instead of being the aggressor; in this case, Sylvester attempts to eat Tweety because he would starve, and is also the prey of a crazed mouse whom is desperate for food.
Before the start of our feature presentation, in case you are already overwhelmed by the holidays, ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour would like to share with you this treat during this holiday season from the BBC: QI December Christmas Special from 2006 -:
It should be mandatory that we watch Stephen Fry every holiday season!
The holiday season is once again upon us, we here at Acme are proud to continue sharing with you the Sixteenth Annual Holiday Video Festival. This weekend, perhaps you are starting to send out your holiday cards (most of the staff of ACME sent out their holidays before Thanksgiving; they wanted to start all of their friends holiday seasons by being the first card they receive.) Why not put The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour on in the background and watch this Christmas classic, the 1942 musical film, Holiday Inn, directed by Mark Sandrich and starring Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby, Marjorie Reynolds, and Virginia Dale. (Not surprisingly, the name of the Holiday Inn hotel chain was inspired by the film. The title of the film also inspired the 1946 renaming of a small 19th century inn in Intervale, New Hampshire. By right of precedence its owners were able to bar any other use of the name in that area of New Hampshire until they chose to relinquish it.)
When Irving Berlin won an Oscar for his song White Christmas from this movie, he became the first artist to present himself with an Academy Award. The Connecticut inn set for this film was reused by Paramount 12 years later as a Vermont inn for the musical White Christmas, also starring Bing Crosby, and again with songs composed by Irving Berlin.
Our second holiday theme today is one of our favorite holiday games, "Guess the theme?"
Holly Jolly Christmas-
This was written by songwriter Johnny Marks, who had already written the Christmas classic Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, a song that proved so popular the stop-motion animators at Rankin-Bass created a half-hour TV special to expand on the song.
It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year -
This tune is a collaboration by composer George Wyle (known for writing the Gilligan's Island theme) and his regular partner Eddie Pola. It was written specifically for The Andy Williams Christmas Album and the crooner performed it on his popular variety show, The Andy Williams Show.
Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree
This Christmas classic was also written by Johnny Marks. The song was recorded by Brenda Lee in 1958 when she was just 13 years old, but didn’t become popular until 1960 after some of Lee’s other work became popular.
Santa Baby
This song was written by Joan Javits and Philip Springer who began working on the song together in 1953. Along with I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, this was one of the first Christmas novelty songs. Christmas songs written at the time tended to be nostalgic looks at the holiday or kid's songs, but this one took a different approach, with Kitt singing about how she's been good all year and expects some very expensive gifts to appear, including a fur coat, a new coat and even a yacht.
(There's No Place Like) Home for the Holidays -
This popular Christmas tune was written by Perry Como's frequent accompanist Robert Allen and lyricist Al Stillman, who teamed up to write several hits of the era for Como, The Four Lads (Moments To Remember) and Johnny Mathis (Chances Are).
According to a Gallup Poll from last year, the percentage of Americans who celebrate Christmas has stabilized to approximately 85%. This means there are approximately 109,182,500 households in the United States that celebrate the holiday. While not every home in the U.S. that celebrates Christmas decorates with extravagant lighting, many of them do.
Electricity use in the United States in 2021 was still more than 13 times greater than electricity use in 1950. The amount of electricity used by holiday lights is determined by the type of light used. The most common include 100-light mini lights. These lights use 0.039 kWh of electricity per hour, which is around 0.95 kWh per day. Ceramic C7 lights are also widely used. A 100-light strand uses 130 watts, which is around 0.13 kWh per hour, resulting in a daily use of around 3.15 kWh..
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the average cost for electricity in the United States is about 14 cents per kWh, as of August 2021. Based on that cost and the known wattage for typical bulbs, you can do the math to determine how much it costs to power a standard 100-bulb strand. The bigger the bulb, the more juice it takes to make it sparkle. For those big old-school C9 bulbs that are used most often for outdoor displays (and popularized by Clark Griswold), you can plan on paying for 175 watts of power for a single 25-bulb strand. Run that strand 12 hours a day for a 45-day period, and you’ll pay around $15.12 per strand over the holiday season. Prefer mini lights instead? A 100-light strand of incandescent minis runs around $3.53 per season. Some extreme household decorators can spend an extra $2,000 to light their displays!
It’s nice to see that the public is helping support the public utilities. You know that they are barely eking out a living.
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.
I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus -
When this song was released in 1953, some people thought it was a little too risqué, the thought of a married woman, possibly having an affair. A closer listen implies that Santa Claus is actually the child's father, but this didn't stop radio stations in some cities, including Boston, from banning it when it came out. Columbia Records appealed to the Council of Churches to clear the song where it was banned, sending young Jimmy Boyd to plea with them personally. The tactic worked, and it became a Christmas favorite.
Someday At Christmas -
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.
