Now, in this post, I have something else about Christmas that I want to share.
Yesterday would have been my dad's 83rd birthday. So with him on my mind and most of our Christmas decorations adorning our living room, I leaned back on my recliner with my cast up in the air and started streaming the colorized version of "It's a Wonderful Life"
I thought a lot about how my family used to watch television during the holidays when I was a growing up.
Now there are a lot of TV specials that I watched as a kid, that you can still see today. There's the Rankin Bass specials, "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town", "Frosty The Snowman" and "A Charlie Brown Christmas." Two generations after their TV debut, they continue to be perennial holiday favorites.
Movies like "White Christmas" and "Miracle On 34th Street" and "Its A Wonderful Life" and several different versions of "A Christmas Carol" were about the only Christmas movies I can remember being shown on TV when I was a kid. Now they are playing on the air every December along with a select group of favorites from the 70s, 80s & 90s.
But what are not around any more are the musical variety specials that our parents and grandparents used to gather in front of the set to watch.
My mom & dad used to enjoy watching Bing Crosby's Christmas show but not so when it came to Bob Hope's. Mom didn't him at all. She always used to say he got on her nerves because he laughed at his own jokes.
I'm sure there are others I'm forgetting. But there are 3 Christmas Specials that will always bring back to me such a strong memory of my parents that it's more like a palpable presence. A feeling that they are right there watching with me.
I am going to be sharing some videos that are each glimpses into how Christmas was celebrated on TV back in the 60s. They are not anomalies. They are examples of what variety shows were like at their peak of popularity.
It's very different from what you may see on TV today. The genre of the variety show came to an end in the late 70s. But believe me, for the first three decades of television in America, they were all over the networks. Yes, there was a time when there was only 3 to choose from but still variety was king.
Here are the trio of Christmas shows that I'm talking about. The first one many of you probably have never heard of.
The King Family
This musical family started out on TV in the early 50s as just a sister act. But in the 60s, they added their all the members of their very large and talented family and became very popular; especially their holiday specials. Their Christmas shows were a must see for my parents. Here's the link to a You Tube clip of their 1967 edition.
The one moment I remember the most from any King Family Christmas happened during the 1967 special. The US was deep into the Vietnam War and it touched everyone in the country including the Kings. As a tribute to her son one of the King sisters, Alice, sang "I'll Be Home For Christmas". He was serving in the army at the time. Please watch this clip all the way through. Its as touching as any you've seen on social media. And it happened when TV was the only in-home accessible social platform there was.
The next entertainer I think of when it comes to holiday shows, that my parents enjoyed each year starred my dad's favorite singer.
Andy Williams
Out of the 3 I'm going to mention, this is the one special I would have been most likely to voluntarily sit and watch with my parents.
I really liked Andy Williams. One of my best memories from our trip to Branson this past June was getting to see Williams' legacy, the Moon River Theater.
Of course Andy Williams is known by many as the singer of the original version of "It's A Most Wonderful Time Of The Year." A song that is heard over and over throughout December on radio stations and PA systems of retail outlets everywhere.
His Christmas shows were an annual tradition on NBC throughout the late 60s.
I have 2 Andy Williams links to share with you. The first is Mr. Williams singing that holiday standard on one of his specials. Kind of like a music video before there was MTV.
Like the Kings, Andy Williams' holiday shows always included his family. His brothers joined him in a reunion of their original act, along with his wife, his kids and his mother.
Another family group, who made their debut on Williams weekly variety show, the Osmond brothers are also part of this show.
This 2nd link will allow you to watch another version of "Most Wonderful Time" as well as the entire special.
1966 Andy Williams Christmas Special
If you want more or want to get a wider variety of clips, you can go to Amazon Prime and stream the video "Best of Andy Williams Christmas Specials". Its only an hour and has highlights that are introduced by Andy himself.
The influence of this third entry into my retrospective of my parents' favorite holiday specials goes beyond the TV screen and into my family's Christmas culture. Within my family, it's appeal was also multi-generational.
Lawrence Welk
The annual Lawrence Welk Christmas show was something that my mom and my sister, Peggy, always made sure they watched as well.
The Lawrence Welk orchestra (aka the Champagne Music Makers) and singers, which included the Lennon Sisters and an all grown up, original Mouseketeer, Bobby Burgess, would perform all kinds of choreographed holiday classics presented on winter or Christmas themed sets. It was pretty much the same format as their weekly show but it was a little special because it was Christmas.
What made this show special was that the show's finale included the spouses and kids of all the Welk show performers. They gathered around the Christmas tree as a family. They took turns introducing themselves and giving out holiday greetings.
As with everything else that has to do with Christmas, add children to the mix and there's an added elements of excitement, uniqueness, and spontaneity. And you can't have kids on a Christmas show without Santa making an appearance to give out gifts.
This first video link shows the last segment of the 1980 special. Santa shows up at the 11:24 mark.
1980 Lawrence Welk Christmas Special Finale
The 2nd link is a video of the entire 1966 show. It is really a glimpse into the past history of both Christmas and TV in this country.
1966 Lawrence Welk Christmas Special
Lawrence Welk's holiday music transcended our home beyond the Zenith. I'm not exactly sure what year it was but one December in the late 60s or early 70s, my parents bought a special set of albums from Reader's Digest. It was a 5 record collection of Lawrence Welk Christmas songs entitled "Merry Christmas From Our House To Your House"
Christmas Comes But Once A Year
Christmas Dreaming
I Wanna Do More Than Whistle
Ring Those Christmas Bells
Ho Ho Ho
Christmas In Kilarney
There was also a really cool ragtime arrangement of "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town", "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" played on a harpsichord, and the entire orchestra does a great job covering Leroy Anderson's "Sleigh Ride".
As a teenager, I would actively pursue my dream of one day being on the radio by using "Sleigh Ride" as background music for Christmas commercials I wrote and recorded on my cassette tape player one year.
My parents and my sister, Peggy, loved this collection. They enjoyed them all throughout the holiday season. They started the day after Thanksgiving and played them frequently all they way to the holiday. It was the soundtrack to our night of decorating the house every December.
To this day, for me there's still an emotional connect to these songs and memories of Christmas time with my family.
Over the years, I have included some of these in my Rewind Christmas recordings. I think next year I'm going to make them my countdown feature. They really bring back the spirit of Christmas Past.
So there you have the 3 entertainers whose TV Christmas specials were "must sees" for my parents and their friends when I was growing up.
If you are a "boomer" like I am, I hope you enjoyed this look back at an age of television long gone.
I started out this post by mentioning that December 19 was my dad's birthday. In my next post I will share something about my dad and the music he liked, that I didn't discover until yesterday.
Be sure to come back next time for that story. Until then, thanks for taking the time to read my post and
Merry Christmas from our house to yours.
No comments:
Post a Comment