No need to purchase Hanukkah Seals

Tonight is the first night of Hanukkah -

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 -




Kurstin x Grohl: The Hanukkah Sessions 2022: Night One -



The 2022 installment of The Hanukkah Sessions was the first time they were performed in front of a live audience. The show took place at Largo in Los Angeles, which has a capacity of about 250 people. Due to the pandemic, the previous two years were all virtual performances


Hanukkah - Dreidel Blue - a David Ross from  Shir Soul-




Folsom Dreidel   Isaac Zones -




Candlelight 2020    The Maccabeats -




Arianukah   Six13 -




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


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 smack dab in the middle of the holiday season, given Christmas is a week away! Why join The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour in celebrating that How the Grinch Stole Christmas! written by Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel was published as a book by Random House in December of 1957. The book criticizes the commercialization of Christmas and the holiday season.

Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! the CBS animated special based on the book of the same title by Theodor Geisel (better known as Dr. Seuss), directed by legendary cartoon director Chuck Jones, premiered on this date. The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour would like you to join us in watching this fun holiday special, so push away from pile of gifts you are wrapping, if you can, get comfortable and enjoy the show.



The special is notably the first prime-time animated television special based on a Dr. Seuss book, it features narration by Boris Karloff (who also voiced the title character) and music written by Albert Hague. Here's a brief interview with Chuck Jones involvement with the special -



Boris Karloff was picked to voice the Grinch after Chuck Jones heard a recording of him reading Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book stories (which Jones was a fan of).

Here's a 'making of' documentary of the special, hosted by the late Phil Hartman -



and finally some very rare original commercials from the original broadcast -



Much like the Coca Cola sponsor plugs from A Charlie Brown Christmas, the original broadcast of How The Grinch Stole Christmas was sponsored by the Foundation for Full Service Banks and featured plugs for them at the beginning and end of the special. These have since been edited out of subsequent airings and are quite difficult to find, however they recently resurfaced in 2021.



So, welcome, Christmas, bring your cheer. Cheer to all Whos far and near. Christmas Day is in our grasp, so long as we have hands to clasp. Christmas Day will always be just as long as we have we. Welcome Christmas while we stand, heart to heart, and hand in hand.

XSmas 7


Demand Euphoria!

ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour Today (307)

Thank you for joining us today - It's a special Holiday edition, a Christmas Carol Cornucopia

Before our feature presentation, ACME would like to start the evening with the 1971 animated version of the Christmas classic A Christmas Carol, directed by Richard Williams.



This was the only film version of A Christmas Carol to win an Oscar. After this television short won the Oscar, the Academy changed its rules so that a made-for-television cartoon could never again win this honor, even if it was shown theatrically.


Before the start of our feature presentation, ACME Eagle Hand Soap would like to share with some other versions of A Christmas Carol:

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 (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.


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 the actual start of the holiday season; given Hanukkah is tomorrow and Christmas is a little more than a week away! Why join The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour in celebrating the season by watching our favorite version of the film, the 1951 Alister Sim adaptation of Scrooge produced and directed by Brian Desmond Hurst. Scrooge was likely based on a real person named John Meggot (born John Elwes), who was a local celebrity, a member of Parliament, and a famous miser from Charles Dickens' part of England. Meggot was dead by the time Dickens was born, but he heard quite a bit about Scrooge from locals where he grew up. Alastair Sim plays Scrooge so magnificently his performance, to our way of thinking, has become the standard by which all other Scrooges are compared. So please, push away from all the things you are work on this evening and join us in watching a holiday tradition.



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 and 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.


Before you go - Please join us in watching what could be the greatest mash-up ever, or at least the most labor intensive. Heath Waterman spent 18 months putting together this labor of love, retelling the story of Ebenezer Scrooge in his video A Christmas Carol Encyclopedia, Stave 1 (which is an update of his original Twelve Hundred Ghosts - A Christmas Carol in Supercut.)
 


Mr. Waterman originally uses clips from over over 400 versions of the holiday classic for his first version. In his updated revision, you has used over 850 clips. (Make it your business to watch this!)

Demand Euphoria!

Let's be naughty and save Santa the trip

Here's another guest programmer with her favorite Christmas jingles (this year, I got her choices immediately.)

Remember, it's the holidays (there are no bad choices, especially if the guest programmer lives in my house. There also seems to be some duplications between some of the guest programmers)


You're a Mean One, Mr Grinch -



This was written and recorded for the classic 1966 Dr. Seuss TV Holiday Special How The Grinch Stole Christmas. Seuss wrote the lyrics and Albert Hague wrote the music. The song appears three times in the special, starting when The Grinch begins crafting his impostor Santa suit. Each time it plays, we hear more about the despicable green guy, who eventually grows a heart. The version played on radio is a combination of the three show uses.


Last Christmas   Wham -



Numerous artists have covered this song, including Ashley Tisdale, Coldplay, Kim Wilde, Jimmy Eat World, The xx, Kylie Minogue, Carly Rae Jepsen, and Taylor Swift, who reached #28 on the US Country chart with her version. In 2009 a version by the cast of Fox-TV's Glee finally took the song into the Hot 100 when their rendition debuted at #63.


Drummer Boy   Justin Bieber -



This Christmas classic was originally a Czech song that Katherine Kennicott Davis translated to English in 1941. Under the title Carol Of The Drum, it was covered by the Austrian Trapp Family Singers (of The Sound Of Music fame) a decade later, but a new arrangement titled The Little Drummer Boy was popularized by the Harry Simeone Chorale in 1958.


My Only Wish (This Year)    Britney Spears -



My Only Wish (This Year) was written and produced by Brian Kierulf and Josh Schwartz.


Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree   Brenda Lee -



Thanks to streaming, the song entered the Hot 100 Top 10 for the first time on the chart dated January 5, 2019. It was Brenda Lee's first release to reach the upper regions of the tally since Losing You peaked at #6 in 1963. This meant that Lee set a new record for the longest period between top 10 hits for any female artist.
 

Once again, I'm going to play a perennial favorite bonus track (in our house, anyway) - the inspired mash-up of Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas Is You and My Chemical Romance's Welcome To The Black Parade.



This is so perfectly matched that it seems it was written this way. I didn't think this one would work but give it a listen



We'll end this session with the Radiohead/ Mariah Carey mashup. 

Happy Holiday Bunkies!

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Hooray for taking up the ukulele!

There’s something about guitars, they’re just so big, you know what I mean? You’re just like, ‘Ugh!’ It just seems so overwhelming. And the ukulele is, like, the opposite of overwhelming - Zooey Deschanel

Let's make everyone a little happier - tonight's theme is a Uke Xmas


I'll Be Home For Christmas   Julia Nunes -




Mele Kalikimaka   Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters -




The Christmas Song Medley    Reneé Dominique -




Good King Wenceslas    The Ukulele Orchestra Of Great Britain -




Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas   She & Him -




All I Want for Christmas is You!   Jake Shimabukuro & Friends -




ACME is proud to sponsor the annual U900 Christmas Special featuring Usagi-no U (Rabbit U) and Kuma-no Kulele (Bear 900)



- Nothing says Happy Holidays more that a pair of ukulele playing knitted puppets.




There's something about the ukulele that just makes you smile.

For those of you in the know, it's 30 days until someone's birthday.
I don't know if he needs a ukelele?



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Legislating morality doesn't work

The gentlemen from Bensonhurst were once again so moved by our themes concerning Frank and Dino that after much grappa and threatened ‘kisses of death’, I have be persuaded (strong armed) by those gentlemen to have another Mobbed Up Christmas this year. (I should probably move and leave no forwarding address.)

(ACME's Legal Dept. would like to emphasize at this point - the appearance of any of these singers in this Holiday Spectacular should in any way denote their association, actual or implied, with organized crime. Enjoy)

It's just that Frankie Lupini, Molluschi Vincenzo, Joey Carrozza, etc, 'requested' these songs.


Oh, You're All I Want For Christmas  Al Martino -




Merry Christmas  Baby Dion -




I’m Gonna Be Warm This Winter   Connie Francis -




Do You Hear What I Hear?  Bobby Vinton -




Christmas Candle   Tony Martin -




Deck The Halls  Vic Damone -




Give Me Your Heart For Christmas  The McGuire Sisters -




After many shots and plates of scungilli, baccalà alla vicentina and fried calamari, the boys want to wish everyone Buon Natale and an early Happy Hanukkah.





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Motivation is a lotta crap

I once shook hands with Pat Boone and my whole right side sobered up.

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'll be home for Christmas -



The song 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 I'll Be Home for Christmas.


Silver Bells -



This song was originally sung by Bob Hope and Marilyn Maxwell in The Lemon Drop Kid. The following year Bing Crosby, together with Carol Richards recorded the first recorded version.


I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm -



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 -



If people want to think I get drunk and stay out all night, let 'em. That's how I got here, you know

Demand Euphoria.

Hey quiet down, it's the Chairman of the Board

Alcohol may be man's worst enemy, but the bible says love your enemy. –

Welcome to our 12th Annual tribute to Ole Blue Eyes - Acme's tip of the hat to The Chairman of the Board.


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 besides Sinatra: Billie Holiday, Dean Martin, Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, Rosemary Clooney, Judy Garland, and Rod Stewart..


Whatever Happened to Christmas -



The song was written by Jimmy Webb and first appeared on the album, The Sinatra Family Wish You A Merry Christmas. Jimmy Webb related 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 the senior Webb got caught up in comparing memories from their younger days, so the discussion about the album, and indeed the album itself, never happened.


It Came Upon The Midnight Clear -



One could claim that this was the first Christmas song to be composed in the United States, and today it is considered a standard. In the mid 1850s the Americans were only beginning to celebrate the Christmas traditions of their English forebearers. The influence of works such as A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens were beginning to enthuse the American nation.


I'll Be Home For Christmas -



The tune was originally composed by Felix Mendelssohn in 1840 for the second chorus "Gott ist Licht" ("God is Light"), of the cantata Festgesang ("Festival Song"). Festgesang was written by the German composer to commemorate Johann Gutenberg and the invention of printing. Mendelssohn died in 1847 and in 1855 Dr. William Cummings, who was an enthusiast of the German composer, put the words and music together in spite of the fact that Mendelssohn had made it clear that his music was not be used for sacred purposes. Additionally, Wesley had envisaged his words being sung to the same tune as his Easter hymn, "Christ the Lord is Risen Today." However it is Mendelssohn's tune that is generally used today.


The Christmas Waltz -



This song was written by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne for Frank Sinatra, who recorded it in 1954 as the B-side of a new recording of White Christmas.


Acme would like to have brought you their annual presentation of the 1957 Christmas episode of The Frank Sinatra Show - Happy Holidays with Bing and Frank but it has been taken down from the intraweb (you can find it if you have a passport membership through your local PBS station, but I digress ....) So we will leave you with a little yuletide cheer from the Rat Pack -



More from those fellows in the next few days

Sleigh bells ring, are you listening? In the lane, snow is glistening. A beautiful sight, we’re happy tonight, walking in a winter wonderland.

Demand Euphoria!