Christmas is
likely my favorite holiday. The opportunity to share our blessings with our
friends and family, and the needy, is a life-affirming experience — especially
for those of us living in the Northern latitudes with the accompanying short
days and long, dark, cold nights. Being a child of the 1960s and 70s, many of
my Christmas memories are intertwined with the annual holiday TV specials and
films from that era. Over the years, I have posted a number of articles and
uploaded various film and video clips of the holiday season. As with Halloween
(see An Aeolus 13 Umbra Halloween), all related
articles and films have been compiled in one post.
All videos
hosted by the Aeolus 13 Umbra YouTube channels.
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1966 CBS Seasons Greetings: Animation by R.O. Blechman:
These classic CBS commercials by artist R.O. Blechman remind the viewers of the
simple and charitable meaning of the Yuletide season.
A Contemplative Christmas Soundbook:
Full album recordings of George Winston’s December (1982) and
Anonymous 4’s On Yoolis Night: Medieval Carols & Motets (1993).
A Family Circus Christmas (1979): Premiered on December 18, 1979. Sarah
Vaughn sings the theme song, “The Dreamer.”
CBS
Seasons Greetings Commercial: Directed & Produced for CBS by Karl
Fischer. Animated by Ed Smith. Art Directors Award 1982.
Charlie Brown Down: The tragic passing of
Peter Robbins, who voiced Charlie Brown for the classic A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965), reminds us that Christmas is not
always happy times and good memories.
Folger's Coffee Commercial — Peter Comes Home for Christmas: A classic 1980s holiday commercial.
J.T.: An Urban Christmas Carol (1969): This little-seen
1969 CBS holiday special takes a gritty look at the hard-scrabble life in New
York City ghettos, and a street cat stands in as the Christ-child.
Scrooge: A Christmas Carol (1951): The classic film
version with Alastair Sim.
The Ghosts of Christmas Past: A personal
reflective essay on growing older and celebrating a family tradition when the
family is no longer there.
The Night Before Christmas (1968): An early
animated TV version of the classic Christmas poem.
The Night the Animals Talked (1970): A rarely
shown, but fondly remembered, musical version of a Norwegian folk tale.
Santa
Claus Conquers the Martians (1964): Starring a young Pia Zadora,
this wonderfully bad Christmas film also features the first film appearance of
Mrs. Claus, Ralph the Doorman from The
Jeffersons, and in a bit of sly political commentary, Santa suggests one of his
reindeer’s names may be Nixon.
The
Snow Queen (1957): This Soviet film is familiar to a lot of Baby
Boomers who first saw it in the 1960s and 1970s. The American release starred the
voices of Sandra Dee as Gerda and Tommy Kirk as Kay. Not a Christmas special
per se, but its winter theme and lesson of selfless love fits in perfectly
with the season.
The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978): Many
have heard about it, few have seen it, and probably with good reason, but
definitely worth a look for hard-core Star
Wars and 1970s fans.
Two Christmas Carols: The 1970 musical version
with Albert Finney (my favorite) and the Academy Award winning 1971 animated
film short with Alastair Sim revisiting his classic 1951 film performance.
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Thank you for posting. You made my holiday.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
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