After a couple weeks' break for the holidays, I'm back, at least for this post. Things may be slow this month as I continue to get back into the swing of things, but I will be back full time soon.
Today I offer a brief clip of two of my favorite performers: Dick Van Dyke, and the Peanuts gang. This momentous occasion occurred on the five-night special CBS On The Air, which aired during 1978 for CBS' 50th anniversary. Here, Van Dyke dances with the Peanuts characters similarly to the way he did with the animated characters in Mary Poppins. A cute treat I was happy to find by accident without knowing it existed.
Yikes, I've fallen behind on articles! I'm making it up with a great one. Today I offer this month's Underappreciated Music, and this month, it's some of my favorite Christmas recordings from Peter Pan Records!
Peter Pan was the king of children's music releases in the 70s and 80s, and I have a special fondness for their Christmas recordings. The following songs are all YouTube renderings of Peter Pan 45 RPM records that I still have in my collection!
Enjoy, and have a great last weekend before Christmas! Be safe, don't drink and drive!
OK folks, one full week left before the big day. Put your sleigh into high gear, Christmas is a' comin'!
Today I present the fourth and maybe the last of the TV variety specials I'll be featuring this season, The Carpenters' Christmas Portrait from 1977. This special coincides with their album of the same name, which is a true Christmas music classic that every Christmas fan should have in their collection. Karen and Richard Carpenter perform classics such as "Sleigh Ride" and "Adeste Fideles," plus their famous original tune "Merry Christmas Darling."
Wrapping up the week is this sweet Christmas-themed episode of the classic Muppet series Fraggle Rock.
In "The Bells of Fraggle Rock," the Fraggles are busy preparing to celebrate their Christmas-like holiday, the Festival of the Bells, but Gobo is skeptical of the celebration. He goes off on his own to see if there is any credence to the event, and learns a valuable lesson along the way. Meanwhile, in the human world, Doc and Sprocket explore winter holidays from many cultures.
Today I present, later than I usually do in a season, a round of classic Christmas commercials. Some may not understand my fascination with TV commercials, as they are usually something people complain about, but there's something about an old commercial, especially with a Christmas theme, that takes you back to good memories and celebrations just like a TV program can.
Here's hoping this year's showcase does the same for you!
First up, this sweet spot for Burger King from 1976.
Next, a series of promos for various CBS Christmas specials such as Charlie Brown, Rudolph, and 'Twas The Night Before Christmas, among others.
I never thought to sing "Deck The Halls" with the name of M&Ms inserted, but now that's all I can do!
This may be the "hardest sell" Christmas commercial I've ever seen, and I just discovered it days ago. The first Tim Burton Batman film was the hottest selling VHS tape of 1989, and this commercial pulls no punches in emphasizing how urgent a gift this was!
Everyone is still lamenting the loss of Toys R Us this year, and their classic Christmas commercial is one of the all-time greats, but this commercial for the even longer expired toy chain Kiddie City isn't shabby either!
Finally, this last commercial is the most recent of the bunch, being from 2014, but it deserves to be noted as being as wonderful as ringing Hershey's Kisses or Santa sliding on snow on an electric razor. In this Apple Computers commercial, an infamous and lonely figure tries to make peace with the townsfolk by embracing the holidays with them. Things nearly go awry, but the magic of the holidays sets in. What a great commercial!
