A Marshmallow World

There is nobody on the planet today even half as cool as these two guys.  Watch Dean Martin and his pal Frank Sinatra breeze through a performance of A MARSHMALLOW WORLD on a December 21, 1967 episode of THE DEAN MARTIN SHOW.

Legend has it that NBC wanted Dean Martin for a show so badly, that they only made him work one afternoon a week. He would come in a record the show without any rehearsal and it ended up working quite well for the show. The laid back feeling rolled over to the guests too! Watch Frank just go ahead and pull up his socks while singing on national television:



Compare that to this next clip, which I assume is from a few years later...I'm not sure ol' Dean even knows where he is:

A Christmas To Remember

In 1984, Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton were both huge mega stars at the top of their game. When they got together, people just couldn't get enough of it. One of the many specials they did together was the peculiar KENNY & DOLLY: A CHRISTMAS TOGETHER.  The entire special is on YouTube, I've watched it - and I'm not sure why. But here's Kenny, dressed as Handy Smurf, and Dolly, dressed as a 5 year old's Christmas arts and crafts project, singing their huge hit A Christmas To Remember along with a cast of 20 some store window mannequins...

Silver Bells

This week we're featuring some YouTube clips of various Christmas songs from various sources. Join us all week for festive holiday fun, won't ya!? First up is the odd pairing of Bob Hope and Olivia Newton-John lip synching SILVER BELLS.

Silver Bells is one of those Christmas standards that you assume has just been around forever, but it's origins are actually directly connected to Bob Hope. The song was written for the 1951 comedy musical THE LEMON DROP KID staring Hope along with Marilyn Maxwell and William "Fred Mertz" Frawley. The movie debuted in March of '51, but in Christmas 1950 a recording of Silver Bells was released sung by Bing Crosby. When the record became such a huge hit, the movie studio quickly brought the stars back in to film a more elaborate musical number to do the song justice.

The song, of course, became a classic and Bob Hope used it as his signature Christmas song and performed it almost every year on his annual Christmas special. He asked Olivia Newton-John to join him in a performance in his 1977 descriptively titled special THE BOB HOPE ALL STAR CHRISTMAS COMEDY SPECIAL. Along for the ride in the special was Christmas staple Perry Como, Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker and The Muppets!

Sadly, nobody has uploaded the entire special (at least I couldn't find it) but here's Bob and a much younger Olivia (uncomfortably) flirting through a snow covered Burbank soundstage singing the holiday classic:

Christmas In July

Today check out my guest post over at  Christmas TV History where I answer some questions about one of my favorite subjects - Christmas Specials! And if you're joining via hopping over from Christmas TV Party, then Welcome! Here's a few Christmas related links from years past you may enjoy...

My Top 50 Christmas Viewing List

8 Christmas Songs I Never Need To Hear Again

Crabs For Christmas

Greatest Christmas Movie Ever!

He-Man + She-Ra + Christmas = Awesome

More Posts tagged Christmas Specials

Two Awesome New Holiday DVDs

I love holiday episodes of TV series which makes me particularly excited for two upcoming DVD releases from the fine folks at Mill Creek Entertainment. First off, let me say how much I adore Mill Creek Entertainment. Besides Disney, they have got to be my favorite company putting out home video material today. They constantly have imaginative and unique titles on their slate, always at a very low beyond-reasonable price.

Holiday episode collections have become quite popular in the last couple of years, mostly with Christmas episodes but Mill Creek is getting ahead of the game with a fantastic looking collection of Halloween themed episodes of 13 different sit-coms. TV's Spookiest Halloween Episodes collects trick-or-treat fun filled episodes of a wide variety of sit-coms and offers them up in one neat package. What I'm really digging about this collection is the wide range of years this collection represents from early 60's (Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie) to late 90's (Mad About You, NewsRadio.) What's also impressive is the range of popularity of the series represented. Some obscure goodies like Square Pegs and Ned and Stacey are tucked in there along with The Cosby Show and Roseanne. To me, this collection is just about perfect. I'm not sure I ever need to watch an episode of That 70's Show, but all the others I can't wait to dig into, especially The Jeffersons, Square Pegs and The Facts of Life. This is just a solid collection I can't wait to add to my library.

Then we've got Mill Creek's Christmas edition of Holiday themed episodes with TV's Merriest Episodes. I already have an enormous collection of Christmas TV episodes on tape and DVD and I'm really looking forward to making this disc part of the yearly viewing traditions.  Again, there is a great variety as far as ages of the shows although this one is a little more heavy on the mid 80's to mid 90's. The collections two vintage episodes: Bewitched and The Flying Nun are the same episodes that appeared in Shout Factory's (also excellent) 1989 collection Merry Sitcom! But it does feature The Ellen Show, which was a great one season CBS sitcom that aired between Ellen's popular ABC sitcom and her huge hit talk show.

TV's Spookiest Halloween Episodes is released Sept. 16, 2014 and TV's Merriest Episodes is available October 14, 2004. Both have an MSRP of $9.98.

If Holiday episodes are you thing, there are also two new collections of The Dick Van Dyke Show out from Image Entertainment. Halloween Episodes Collection is available now and contains 4 episodes while Classic Christmas comes out October 7 with two episodes.

Toy Tinkers (1949)

Do you remember a few years ago I told you about Sweden's Christmas Eve tradition with Donald Duck? No!? Well, you should click here and read it! Anywho, here's a Donald Duck Christmas Cartoon to make your spirits bright...

He-Man + She-Ra + Christmas = Awesome

One of the crown jewels of my VHS collection has always been He-Man & She-Ra: A Christmas Special, which I taped one random Saturday afternoon off Baltimore's WBFF 45 long after He-Man & She-Ra were a thing on any kid's radar. I was more than stoked to find this great Christmas special released to DVD and sitting on the shelf for me at Wal-Mart for a mere $7.50! Of course I picked it up and now it will be a treasured keepsake of Christmas memories for our family to share for generations to come!

If you've never witnessed the pure holiday magic of He-Man & She-Ra: A Christmas Special...it's about 40 minutes of the muscle-bound duo fighting creatively named creatures like The Snow Beast, The Beast Monster, and the Manchines. He-Man tosses off his one liners which aren't really puns, he just kind of says things with the delivery of a joke, even though there is no joke to be had. I'm not sure how She-Ra managed to fight so many bad guys in her show and this special seeing as how her outfit is skimpier than stripper. I spent hours watching the She-Ra show when I was a kid and perhaps that is why later in life I developed an affinity for strippers....but anyhow...Orko ends up getting beamed to Earth and then he brings back two kids who share the traditions of Christmas with everyone on Eternia. Nasty ol' Horde Prime doesn't like Christmas so he sends Skelator and Hordack to find the kids. When the kids end up with Skeletor..what happens is possibly the greatest couple of minutes in all of filmed Christmas entertainment history...You gotta click here to see it!

Good iGrief

This is one of those things where I would seriously consider buying an iPad just so I can experience this...

Finally, A Post About Hallmark Keepsake Ornaments

Folks, in case you didn't know... I loves me some Christmas tree decorations! Every year there are a few Hallmark Keepsake Ornaments that catch my eye, and I always intend to share them here and always forget. So this year I'm doing it, even if it's a little early for Christmas posts.

My favorite ornament this year is easily this really cool Caddyshack one. Mr. Gopher taking control of a subtley Christmas colored golf cart would make a fine addition to the South Family Christmas tree. This one is called "Pro Gopher" and it pretty darn cool. I don't think they've done a Caddyshack ornament before so that just makes this one all the neater. As every guy, I love that movie. When I was little, I used to keep my eyes peeled for it to come on regular TV so I could watch it because it was R rated and I just wanted to see that Gopher puppet so darn bad!



Last year, Hallmark did a National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation ornament of the Griswold's Home decorated with thousands of twinkling lights. When you push the button on it, the house lights up and it plays the Hallelujah Chorus. I was thrilled to score one as a gift last season and it's a fine centerpiece of our tree. This year, Hallmark captures the opening scene in the movie when Clark and family trek out into the wood and take home the biggest tree they can find. This keepsake also plays the theme song from the Christmas movie. In the end, you just can't go wrong with the Family Truckster immortalized in ornament form!

This is the other new ornament this year that I really like. I love when stuff is based off specific old Mickey Mouse cartoons. "Clock Cleaners" captures the iconic scene from the 1937 cartoon of the same name. This is one of the best vintage Mickey toons and this ornament is a real doozy. When you turn the little crank in the front, Mickey and Donald sway back and forth working on the clock while they whistle the same song used in the film. Goofy is on the back side, also animated. Really cool piece, but at $34.99 I don't see it being added to our tree this year.

Finally, this Smurfette ornament isn't necessarily all that exciting, but it's pretty cool that the Smurfs have been included in the line-up this year, and it's a real smurf not a 3D movie Smurf. Smurfette will only set you back $9.95 so she's a little easier to hang on your tree than the clock tower. Hopefully somebody else will put out a more gender neutral Smurf ornament. We ain't got a Smurf on our tree!

Old School Frosty

Here's a nifty little video featuring a 1953 animated short of Frosty The Snowman. This was made 12 years before the popular TV special that we all enjoy today. The cartoon was produced by the UPA studios. After the short, this video has some retro images of Frosty from books and merchandise from the early days up through his appearance on television.

Crabs For Christmas

I think a neat little project for some company to put together would be a CD of regional Christmas songs from all over the country. I'm sure there's some Christmas song about the Bears in Chicago, and I bet New York has got a least a half dozen obnoxious Christmas carols of their own. There's probably even a song about a Christmas Lobster in Maine. But in good ol' Maryland (pronounced Mary Land) it just wouldn't be the holidays without a couple of rounds of "Crabs For Christmas," an enjoyable little ditty by native David DeBoy which pays homage to the most sacred of all Maryland traditions: steamed crabs! (Good eats!)

Even though I now only live an hour outside of Baltimore (pronounced Bawl-more) I realized a few years ago that we didn't get to hear "Crabs For Christmas" on our PA Christmas radio stations. Anytime drivetime spent in Maryland over the holidays would be dedicated to hearing "Crabs" on good ol' Lite 102. I believe it was last year that my wife surprised me Christmas morning with a copy of the "Crabs For Christmas" CD. Now I can have Crabs for Christmas whenever I wants, hon!

Somebody on Facebook posted this clip the other day. It's David DeBoy performing his hit song on local TV show "Crabs". "Crabs" was a Maryland style Saturday Night Live that ran for quite a few seasons starting in the mid-80's. It gently poked fun at the Maryland way of life through a half hour of skits and songs, all televised live. Pretty ambitious for local television back then, and completely unheard of now. This clip is from the tail-end of the show, it also features the closing credits of the program.

Red-Nosed Rip-Off

Usually it's hard for me to write a review of a video game because there is just so much in a game and I don't know what to include in a review and what to leave out. However, reviewing Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer (just out on Wii and also DS) should be a piece of cake as the title contains maybe 15 minutes of content. You would think that a video game which has licenced one of the most iconic films in this country's holiday psyche would be rich in detail and pay tribute to that original 1964 television special. You would be wrong. Even though this game advertises itself as having something for the kids and also the parents who grew up on the special, the makers of this game have made very little effort to include much of the show in their game version.


Let's get this out of the way first; this is a mini-game collection consisting of only four games! Which, I believe, makes it a "mini mini-game collection." The games can be played individually or in a story mode. Story Mode simply takes the four games and links them together with footage of Sam The Snowman (the TV special's narrator) waddling towards the screen trying desperately to link the four games together in some sort of narrative way. The animation of Sam is recycled four times. The biggest crime of all here, is that there was absolutely no attempt to duplicate Burl Ives' voice as the Snowman. Again, Burl Ives' voice in the original special is perhaps one of the voices most associated with Christmas. Even my four year old son, who hasn't seen the show since last Christmas, beat me to the punch pointing out the new voice was a fraud.


Upon hearing the "new" Sam the Snowman I was worried to hear how the voices of the other characters would be butchered, however not a single other character in this game ever utters a word. The only dialogue in the game comes from a generic elf and Santa Claus...and anyone can pull off a convincing Santa impression.

The games in this holiday collection are decidedly simple to appeal to the youngest of players, but some of the games are so simple and lack any sort of competition or challenge that anyone old enough to pick up a Wiimote will find it hard to stay engaged.

Each of the games can be played as single or double players and that's nice to keep the fighting down with the little ones. First up, Rudolph and Co. have to bounce packages into Santa's bag or get the decorations to the tree. There's a game just like this on last year's far superior We Wish You A Merry Christmas game. Next, is a game which sort of plays like a mini-version of Just Dance where you have to mimic the movements illustrated on the screen to help kneed dough to make Christmas cookies. As with most Wii games based solely on movement, the register of movements is questionable.

The third game has you helping to paint toys. This game seems to not require any skill as the points seem to magically appear regardless of how you play. Finally, you hop on Santa's sleigh and toss presents onto the rooftops. Here is the disc's only challenge as it did take a bit of precision timing to drop the gifts into the small chimneys.

There are a few references to the original TV special sprinkled throughout the title. Some of the toys from the Island of Misfit Toys pop up, and the Abominable Snowman makes several appearances. But overall, this game belongs on the naughty list for not really living up to the franchise which it represents. I imagine most people will be disappointed with this quick cash grab. You'd be better off not being invited to play in these reindeer games.

In Sweden They Do Christmas Right

My friend Andy pointed me to this very interesting article about Donald Duck and his major role in Sweden's Christmas traditions. The article is called Nordic Quack: Sweden's Bizarre Tradition of Watching Donald Duck Cartoons on Christmas Eve. Apparently, every year on Christmas Eve the country comes to a stand still so that everybody can watch a telecast of a 1959 Christmas themed episode of Wonderful World of Disney. If you ask me, that's the way to celebrate any holiday! Read the article for all the details of this neat custom that is a sacred tradition with families in Sweden.

As a die-hard Disney fan, I was surprised that I had never heard of this ritual. I was so intrigued by it that I actually went searching on line and found a few photos related to the tradition...

Here's an authentic Swedish family sitting down at 3:00pm to watch the annual airing of Sverige, Kalle Anka och hans vänner önskar God Jul.

Every year a different actor plays the role of Walt Disney and introduces the show. It's nice that even though Sweden has only had television since the late 50's they too have upgraded their broadcast system to HD.

12 Muppets Singing

In my opinion, the best Christmas album of all time has got to be John Denver & The Muppets: A Christmas Together from 1979. The album was accompanied by a television special the same year. The TV show has never been released on VHS or DVD. Here's a clip from the rare program featuring John Denver and The Muppets singing The Twelve Days Of Christmas. Even if you're not a Muppets fan, you've heard this song dozens of times on the radio. This TV performance features the Muppets assigned to different lines of the song than the version that appeared on the original LP. No need to worry...Miss Piggy still does Five Golden Rings:

Rudolph's First Flight

Here's a print ad for the original airing of the classic Christmas special Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer. It was first broadcast on NBC December 6, 1964 as the General Electric Fantasy Hour and has been shown on television every year since! (click to enlarge)

My Top 50 Christmas Viewing List

Did you see that lame special on NBC the other night where they counted down the top 25 Holiday moments in TV and Film. First of all, they gave away the ending to several films. They also counted "When Harry Met Sally" as a holiday film...whatever!? Oh, and you can't have "Home Alone" on the list twice! Anywho, I love watching the Christmas specials at this time of year. I've gathered quite a collection of DVD's and videos over the past 20 or so years. Here's my list of the best Christmas specials, films, videos, shows and anything else that I like to watch every holiday season. And no, there's no mistake. I didn't forget "A Christmas Story" or "Rudolph"....sorry, not a big fan of either!



A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)
Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983)
Ernest Saves Christmas (1988)
Christmas Eve on Seasame Street (1978)
Raggedy Ann & Andy: The Great Santa Claus Caper (1978)
Rich Little's Christmas Carol (1978)
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)
Pluto's Christmas Tree (1952)
Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas (1977)
Mickey's Once Upon A Christmas (1999)
A Pink Christmas (1978)
The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
How The Flintstones Saved Christmas (Christmas Flintstone) (1964)
A Chipmunk Christmas (1981)
A Muppet Family Christmas (1987)
ALF's Special Christmas (1987)
Casper's First Christmas (1979)
A Very Brady Christmas (1988)
Yogi's First Christmas (1980)
Smurfs Christmas Special (1982)
Christmas Comes to Pacland (1982)
He-Man & She-Ra: A Christmas Special (1985)
A Claymation Christmas Celebration (1987)
The Little Rascals Christmas Special (1979)
Yogi's All-Star Comedy Christmas Caper (1982)
The Simpsons Christmas Special (1989)
Ziggy's Gift (1982)
It's A Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie (2002)
Prancer (1989)
The Bernstain Bears' Christmas Tree (1979)
The Santa Clause (1994)
B.C. A Special Christmas (1981)
How The Grinch Stone Christmas (1966)
Have Yourself A Goofy Little Christmas (1993)
It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown (1992)
Holiday Inn (1942)
Donny & Marie Christmas Show (1978)
Frosty The Snowman (1969)
Mickey's Twice Upon A Christmas (2004)
Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
Santa's Workshop (1932)
The Night Before Christmas (1933)
A Flintstones Christmas (1977)
The Night Before Christmas (1974)
It's A Wonderful Life (1946)
Bugs Bunny's Looney Christmas Tales (1979)
A Wish For Wings That Work (1991)
A Family Circus Christmas (1979)
Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas (1997)
The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)

Insert Your Own "Pink" Pun Here

Here's another great animation DVD that goes beyond the call of duty. It would have been easy for MGM to release the cozy 1978 television special A PINK CHRISTMAS on a DVD of it's own, much as they had done with the VHS release. But instead not only are we treated to the Pink One's Christmas outing, we also get 1981's PINK AT FIRST SIGHT (a romance themed half hour that aired near Valentine's Day) and the very obscure PINK-LYMPICS, which was produced in conjunction with the 1980 Winter Olympics. This last film is a real treat as it only aired once and never received home video treatment. It's so obscure that I myself only learned about it's existence last year.

But of course the centerpiece of this collection is A PINK CHRISTMAS, which besides for a choir of children singing, is a completely wordless half hour story adapted from O'Henry's "The Cop and the Anthem". (I was in a high school play of "The Cop and the Anthem" so I feel a little more connected to The Pink Panther. Isn't that lame!?) In this longer than usual adventure for the Pink Panther, Pink has trouble finding a meal on Christmas eve, so he decides to get himself arrested so that he can spend the night in jail with a hot meal. The film is a great little holiday special packed with heart and warm songs of the season.

Ziggy's Shinning Moment

We've talked about Ziggy here at WWoB before. What's the deal with him!? Is he supposed to be funny? Is it supposed to be religious!? He doesn't talk, or have a job, or really do anything at all. He does have more pets than that old lady down the street though! Anyhow, Ziggy has been appearing in newspaper comic strips since 1971 and has also appeared in various Halmark-esque endeavors like greeting cards and good ol' coffee mugs. In 1982 they took Ziggy to the small screen in what is probably the best effort brought about by the Ziggy people. ZIGGY'S GIFT is a delightful half-hour animated Christmas special that is filled with good holiday cheer. In addition to being cute and charming, ZIGGY'S GIFT also boasts some beautiful animation. Whereas most television cartoons are done in "limited animation", this Ziggy Christmas Special is fully animated. It was directed by acclaimed animator Richard Williams who also did the animation for WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT and the ol' 70's Raggedy Ann and Andy movie.

It was kind of hard to find on video but they released it to DVD a couple of Christmas ago, so you shouldn't have too much trouble finding a copy if you wanted to add this great little holiday flick to your collection. It won't answer any questions about what the heck Ziggy's deal is, but it will certainly put you in a holiday mood. And, unlike the newspaper, Ziggy wears pants on TV.

Garfield Holiday Celebrations

I've never been a huge fan of Garfield, but I've always enjoyed his animated outings. And of course I love Holiday Specials which makes this disc all the more attractive. GARFIELD HOLIDAY CELEBRATIONS came out a few years ago, but is still a staple in any stores holiday DVD offerings. This disc collects all three of Garfield's end-of-year holiday specials and offers them on one disc for a small price.

When it comes to Halloween, GARFIELD'S HALLOWEEN ADVENTURE is second only to IT'S THE GREAT PUMPKIN, CHARLIE BROWN. It's become pretty much required viewing each October as a double feature with Charlie Brown! GARFIELD'S THANKSGIVING is my favorite of the bunch. It's a very funny tale of Garfield calling in John's Grandmother to fix the Thanksgiving dinner. A GARFIELD CHRISTMAS rounds out the trio with a sentimental yarn about getting together with family at the holidays.

All in all, it's a nice collection of some great holiday entertainment from the 1980's.