Still More Christmas Cheer

Here's a 1949 recording of "I Yust Go Nuts At Christmas" by Yogi Yorgesson, which was a nom de plume of the song's composer, dialect comedian Harry Stewart (who also recorded as Harry Kari).





Here's the flip side, "Yingle Bells" another Yogi Yorgesson opus (with lyrics adapted by Mr. Stewart)

Yogi was accompanied on both recordings by the Johnny Duffy Trio.



Merry Christmas, by Jiminy!

More Christmas Cheer?!

What could be more in tune with the spirit of the season









than an old commercial with Dale Robertson hawking Pall Mall Cigarettes?

Hey, you can even light up from EITHER end!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

From Bob's House!

Time For A Visit From Suzy!

Suzy Snowflake, that is. This 1951 made-for-TV short, "Suzy Snowflake," was produced by Centaur Productions (for Alamo Music) using stop-motion animation.







The Norman Luboff Choir provided the vocal, with Suzy's voice provided by future Lawrence Welk Champagne Lady Norma Zimmer.

Here Are Three Friends You Might Run Across Tomorrow Night (Beside Santa)

Here is a 1951 presentation of "Hardrock, Coco, and Joe," based upon the song "The Three Little Dwarfs" by Stuart Hamblen.





This made-for-television stop-motion animated short was produced for Hill and Range Songs by Centaur Productions

Time For Frosty

Here's a made-for-TV cartoon of "Frosty The Snowman," produced around 1950 for Hill & Range Songs in Hollywood by United Productions of America (UPA) and directed by Robert (Bobe) Cannon, who directed the 1950 Oscar-winning cartoon "Gerald McBoing Boing.)









This short used to be shown on television stations all over the country.

Time To Spread Some Christmas Cheer

Here's "The Christmas Song" as performed by David Seville and those Chipmunks, Alvin, Simon, and Theodore on a 1961 episode of The Alvin Show.







Dave and the boys were the creation of songwriter Ross Bagdasarian, who did all the voices. The Alvin Show aired on CBS in prime time in the 1961-62 season, before reruns of these episodes moved to that network's Saturday morning lineup, where they would remain until 1965.

I WANT MY MAYPO!

Now for something somewhat different:



This was the first commercial for Maypo cereal featuring Marky Maypo. This commercial, produced in 1956, was the work of the late former UPA producer/director John Hubley.

Another Confronatation With The Bullies

Here's another early commercial for Kellogg's Apple Jacks.







I wonder how many gullible and/or impressionable kids got their clocks cleaned after eating a bowl of this cereal before confronting the local bully or bullies.

Those Were The Good Old Days

Here, from probably the mid-1960s, was the first commercial for Kellogg's Apple Jacks.



The late Paul Frees did the voice of Mr. Apple Jack.

From The WTF Department: Two Favorites Let Go

With the current round of big budget cuts at The Weather Channel, anywhere from three to four on-air meteorologists, including 22-year TWC veteran Cheryl Lemke, were let go. NBC Universal headed the consortium that completed the purchase of the Atlanta-based network back in September.

Cheryl's departure marks the end of an era. I used to enjoy watching her in action.

On the Fox News Channel front, in a story broken on the TVNewser website, longtime anchorwoman E.D. Hill, who from 1998 until 2006 was one of the hosts of Fox & Friends, is leaving that network, with her contract not being renewed.

E.D. WAS Fox & Friends and will sorely be missed by many a viewer.

Hey, Kids...

Would ya like to have your own machine gun?







Here is a 1959 commercial for the Tommy Burst Detective Set by Mattel.

Jack Narz, R.I.P.

Former game show host Jack Narz, who hosted numerous game and quiz shows in the 1950s and 1960s, including Dotto, the show which touched off the Quiz Show Scandal, passed away on Wednesday morning at Cedars-Sinai Hospital at Beverly Hills, California at age 85.

I have a sister (who has a couple of web blogs) who remembers watching Dotto when she was three years old.

Mr. Narz was the brother of fellow former game show host Tom Kennedy (You Don't Say, the original version of Split Second, one of the various revivals of Name That Tune, amongst others).

Before he became a game show host, Jack was a regular on the old Space Patrol show, in which he hawked the sponsor's products, Ralston cereals such as Wheat Chex and Rice Chex, as well as special offers associated with the products, as seen here in this clip from 1953.




The daytime Dotto episode which touched off the quiz show firestorm was the episode in which one of the contestants (Marie Winn, who later became an author) had been given the answers in advance. A standby contestant spotted an open notebook in the contestants' dressing room, found the answers, ripped out that page from the notebook, and showed the page to the contestant's opponent. After receiving $1,500, this standby contestant was ready to forget the whole thing until the losing contestant received $4,000, the same amount as the winning contestant. Having felt double-crossed, the backup contestant, a part-time actor and butler by the name of Edward Hilgemeier, lodged a complaint with the Colgate-Parmolive Company, the show's sponsor. Shortly afterward, both the daytime (CBS) and nighttime (NBC) versions were cancelled by the respective networks.

Jack Narz did not know of the nafarious practice used on that show.

Nice Going, Pacman

The National Football League on Tuesday suspended indefinitely without pay (at least four games) Dallas Cowboys defensive back Adam Jones because of an alcohol-related fight with his team-appointed bodyguard last week.

It appears that NFL commissioner Roger Godell was not going to screw around with the man who dropped his nickname "Pacman."

Yep, it looks like Cowboys owner Jerry Jones took a roll of the dice and crapped out. Another defensive back, Terrance Newman, is out with an injury, quarterback Tony Romo is expected to be out four weeks because of a broken pinky suffered in the Sunday loss at Arizona, their punter, Mat McBriar, is lost for the season after suffering a broken foot while getting a punt blocked that was returned for the Cardinals' game winning touchdown in overtime, and running back Felix Jones (no relation) is also injured.

UPDATE: The Dallas Cowboys, at the trade deadline, picked up wide receiver Roy Williams (and a 2009 7th round draft pick) from the Detroit Lions in exchange for three draft picks for 2009: A first, third, and sixth rounder.

VooDoo To Call It Quits

It was announced on Monday that the New Orleans VooDoo of the Arena Football League will cease operations.

It's TV Promo Time, Boys and Girls

Here is a collection of promos for ABC Television Network programs that aired during the 1960-61 season.


For some of you, these might bring back some memories.

Let's Meet The Champagne Music Makers

Here's a clip from a 1955 telecast of The Lawrence Welk Show, with this particular broadcast originating live from Chicago.







No, this is NOT an early version of rap "music."

Filthy, Disgusting

Here is a 1959 cartoon from Paramount Cartoon Studios in New York City entitled "La Petite Parade" produced and directed by Seymour Kneitel (Max Fleischer's son-in-law).







The cartoon, originally released theatrically by Paramount Pictures, was subsequently released to television by the Harvey Company, which refilmed the titles, replacing the Paramount eblem with the Harveytoons logo, this being the case of the 1950-62 Famous-Paramount product, save for Popeye, which was sold separately to television in 1957.

As for Seymour Kneitel, he was a longtime animator with his father-in-law's studio and also worked on stories. Paramount, which beginning in 1927, started distributing the Fleischer brothers' cartoons, took over the studio in 1942. Seymour Kneitel became a director at the studio at that time, remaining with the outfit until his death in 1964.

Personnel:

Direction: Seymour Kneitel

Story: Irv Spector

Animation: Tom Johnson
Nick Tafuri

Scenics: Robert Gentle

Music: Winston Sharples

Voice Characterizations (uncredited):
Alan Swift

Cinematography (uncredited):
Leonard McCormick

Production Manager (uncredited):
Abe Goodman

Technicolor

RCA Sound System

6 Minutes

Released on March 6, 1959 by Paramount Pictures Corporation and produced by Paramount Cartoon Studios

It's About Time

Here is something that may make you want to smoke three packs of Chesterfields a day......



We have for you the opening and closing from an episode of It's About Time, which flopped as a prime time sitcom on CBS (1966-67). The series was created by Sherwood Schwartz, who created Gilligan's Island and The Brady Bunch.

Here Comes The Duke

Here is a 1942 Soundie with Duke Ellington and His Orchestra playing "Flamingo," featuring Herb Jeffries on the vocal, with dancing by Janet Collins (who looked smokin' hot) and Talley Beatty.






Mr. Jeffries, who is still with us today, will be 97 years old next Wednesday. He was also a singing cowboy, having sang and starred in a number of grade-B Westerns. He may well be the last of that breed, having outlasted the Gene Autrys, Roy Rogerses, Rex Allens, and Tex Ritters. In this short, he does a great job singing.