Christmas in July 2018: Andrew Gillman

from 1977's Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas

Christmas in July 2018: Andrew Gillman (www.sparklyprettybriiiight.com)

1) Name your favorite Henson's Muppet Christmas program and why.

This is a close call for me. I absolutely adore The Muppet Christmas Carol which retains the haunting otherworldliness, morality, hopefulness and serious intent of Dicken's original tale with a healthy dose of whimsy, silliness and sheer joyful quirkiness. It warms the spirit and tickles the funny bone. My favourite now though, Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas is a recent discovery and was suggested to me by an American friend on Twitter who made it a mandatory part of her festive viewing. On her say-so, I ordered the DVD and fell instantly in love with this gentle, musically-enriched tale of family, selflessness and togetherness at Christmas. It has all the much-loved hallmarks of a Jim Henson production, reminding me every time I watch it how it's the people around us that really make Christmas special (and the TV programs we watch too, of course!).

2) Which decade produced the bulk of your favorite Christmas entertainment?

I am a child of the '60s and '70s and many of the programs produced then have a very fond place in my heart including the Peanuts special, A Charlie Brown Christmas, the Hanna-Barbera Christmas classics like The Town Santa Forgot and A Christmas Story and the Rankin-Bass specials; but I've kept watching and acquiring programs ever since and I have favourites from every decade including Scrooged, Miranda's "The Perfect Christmas", National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (my dad's favourite which, now he's passed, is even more special to me), The Nightmare Before Christmas, Vicar of Dibley's "The Christmas Lunch Incident" and Arthur Christmas.
 

1996's episode "The Christmas Lunch Incident" from the Vicar of Dibley

 
3) Imagine the entertainment behind your ideal Christmas Eve dinner. Name the appetizer, entré, and dessert.

Appetizer: Merry Christmas Mr Bean - Rowan Atkinson's creation is selfish, venal and childish but if you can't laugh when a giant turkey is stuck on his head, when multiple crackers almost ignite his apartment or he backs a semi and sends a dinosaur into Harrod's Christmas manger scene then you're not fully alive!
Entré: It has to be the Vicar of Dibley's Christmas episode "The Christmas Lunch Incident" - it's all about food, lots of food, but also about duty, friendship, family and the consumption of more brussels sprouts than is really good for anyone! It makes me feel good about life, about belonging and look forward to eating all the advent calendar chocolate at once!
Dessert: Robbie the Reindeer: The Whole Herd - goody, funny stop motion animation reindeer, over the top adventures and lots of meaning and goofiness - what's not to love?


4) What Christmas episode, special or movie doesn't exist--that you wish did? Feel free to get creative.

I want a Fringe Christmas episode, particularly focusing on the alternate versions of each character having to choose presents based on what they think they'd like - only their counterpart is exactly them, parallel universes being what they are! Watching the soulless emotional Observers being confronted, and no doubt rendered non-plussed by the riotous fun chaos of Christmas would als

from 1945's Christmas in Connecticut

 
5) If one Christmas movie, special or episode was to be selected for a time capsule to opened in 1,000 years, which title do you think should be included?

Hmmm tough one. Either Christmas in Connecticut, White Christmas or The Muppet Christmas Carol, all of which have charm, meaning, and emotional resonance to burn.

Christmas in July 2018: Rick Stoneburner

 

from 1992's The Muppet Christmas Carol

Christmas in July 2018: Rick Stoneburner

1) Name your favorite Henson's Muppet Christmas program and why.

My favorite muppets Christmas movie is definitely A Muppets Christmas Carol. I love almost every version of Scrooge’s story. This is a fun version. I’m so happy they’ve made a come back.


2) Which decade produced the bulk of your favorite Christmas entertainment?

This is by far the hardest question for me to answer. I was born in ‘79 so the 90’s were great Home Alone and The Santa Clause. But my two all time favorites A Christmas Story and Christmas Vacation both 80’s. But I really think the 80’s Christmas commercials had a profound influence on me, so 80’s I guess.

1989's National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

3) Imagine the entertainment behind your ideal Christmas Eve dinner. Name the appetizer, entré, and dessert.

This is actually a thing for me. Appetizer-Christmas Vacation. Dinner- It’s A Wonderful Life. Dessert- A Christmas Story for 24 hours. Thank you TNT and TBS.


4) What Christmas episode, special or movie doesn't exist--that you wish did? Feel free to get creative.
 
I have been a fan of the music search shows since American Idol started. I would love to see Idol or the Voice do some specials. Past winners, new contestants and music superstars.

from 1965's A Charlie Brown Christmas

5) If one Christmas movie, special or episode was to be selected for a time capsule to opened in 1,000 years, which title do you think should be included?

Charlie Brown will always stand the test of time. I love the true meaning of Christmas breakdown. Something lost too much these days. I’d also have to include Christmas Vacation. It is absolutely hilarious and should be seen by everyone, even in 1000 years.

Christmas in July 2018: Jakki Hanna

from 1987's Muppet Family Christmas

Christmas in July 2018: Jakki Hanna--Christmas Movies &Music
Links: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/ChristmasMoviesAndMusic/info
https://www.facebook.com/christmasmoviesandmusic/

1) Name your favorite Henson's Muppet Christmas program and why.

My favorite Jim Henson Christmas special would be Muppet Family Christmas. I love how it incorporates all the major characters of that time from The Muppet Show, Sesame Street and even Fraggle Rock. It allowed for some fun exchanges with characters whose worlds would otherwise never cross...such as the touching moment between Big Bird and the Swedish Chef singing "The Christmas Song" and Kermit and Robin's venture into Fraggle Rock.

from 1989's National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

 
2) Which decade produced the bulk of your favorite Christmas entertainment?

The 60s is definitely the golden age of Christmas specials with A Charlie Brown Christmas, Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, How The Grinch Stole Christmas etc. but the 80s had some incredibly memorable contributions as well, especially where film is concerned. Favorites like A Christmas Story, Christmas Vacation, Scrooged, & George C. Scott's A Christmas Carol.

3) Imagine the entertainment behind your ideal Christmas Eve dinner. Name the appetizer, entré, and dessert.

Appetizer would be a caesar salad, entree would be stuffed shells and dessert would be cheesecake. This is what we've had the past few years and it's really worked for our family to differentiate it from Thanksgiving dinner.

4) What Christmas episode, special or movie doesn't exist--that you wish did? Feel free to get creative.

I wish there had been more Christmas movies made in the 40s & 50s. Yes, it produced some great classics, but I would have loved to seen more big budget musicals made at that time with popular stars of the era such as Gene Kelly, Doris Day, Shirley Temple, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland etc. I think an opportunity was missed there.

"Lights, please."

 
5) If one Christmas movie, special or episode was to be selected for a time capsule to opened in 1,000 years, which title do you think should be included?

I have to go with A Charlie Brown Christmas because while the animation is quite primitive, it has proven that the message and soundtrack can stand the test of time. I have watched it every year since I was a child and it never gets old for me. It's the first album I put on at the beginning of the season and I never grow tired of it. The message still resonates in the hearts of both children and adults and tells of the Christ child as Linus reminds Charlie Brown "what Christmas is all about."

Christmas in July 2018: Mitchell Hadley

from 1978's Christmas Eve on Sesame Street.

Christmas in July 2018: Mitchell Hadley, It's About TV! (www.itsabouttv.com)

1) Name your favorite Henson's Muppet Christmas program and why. 

When Christmas Eve on Sesame Street was first broadcast (at least here), it was shown on Christmas Eve itself. It made it somehow even more special, and since the "Sesame Street" muppets are my favorites, it makes for some fun memories. (I have to admit, though, it's hard to pass up Muppet Christmas Carol and "Mr. Fozziewig"!)

2) Which decade produced the bulk of your favorite Christmas entertainment? 

Well, for me I think it has to be the 1960s. I really enjoy the variety specials from the era, such as The Bell Telephone Hour - their live Christmas specials were wonderful. The many great animated specials, from Charlie Brown to The Grinch to Rudolph and Frosty, and you could still see The Nutcracker and NBC's Project 20 special "The Coming of Christ" (narrated by Alexander Scourby!) on network television. The medium hadn't yet started to limit itself, and it was really starting to show what it was capable of.

 

from the 1957 episode "Happy Holidays with Frank and Bing" from The Frank Sinatra Show.

3) Imagine the entertainment behind your ideal Christmas Eve dinner. Name the appetizer, entré, and dessert. 

Ooh, good one! Well, the appetizer is "Happy Holidays with Frank and Bing" (Sinatra and Crosby) - it's the first Christmas show we watch every year, so it has to be first. For the entree, why not one of Andy Williams' Christmas shows? Nobody, not even Bing, could do them quite like Andy. There's a warmth and humanity that's hard to find today. For dessert? I've mentioned Amahl and the Night Visitors before, but I'll have to go with that because it's often the last program we watch before heading for Midnight Mass.

4) What Christmas episode, special or movie doesn't exist--that you wish did? Feel free to get creative.

This may sound strange, but I dearly wish Ingmar Bergman had taken a crack at A Christmas Carol. Can you imagine the Ghosts being performed in the same manner as Death in The Seventh Seal? We forget sometimes that at heart, Carol is a ghost story, and while so many productions labor to get the atmosphere of Victorian London right, it's easy to overlook how dark this story is at its center. Bergman could cut past the sentimentality and get to the existential heart of the matter: the meaning of life. It's not only Scrooge's story, it's the essence of mankind.

Tennessee Ernie Ford

5) If one Christmas movie, special or episode was to be selected for a time capsule to opened in 1,000 years, which title do you think should be included? 

An interesting question, because we're not necessarily talking about the same thing as one's favorite Christmas special. In this case, though, it happens to be one of my favorite shows: Tennessee Ernie Ford's "The Story of Christmas," first telecast by NBC in 1963 without commercial interruption. Some wonderful music from Ernie and the Roger Wagner Chorale, and a magnificent eighteen-and-a-half minute animated telling of The Nativity, by Eyvind Earle. If someone was to open this time capsule in a thousand years and ask what Christmas was all about (and that may well be the case by then), this special tells them, from the festive to the sacred. As the title says, anyone who sees it would find out what the story of Christmas really is.

Christmas in July 2018: Angela McQuiston

from 1983's Mickey's Christmas Carol.

Christmas in July 2018: Angela McQuiston

1) Name your favorite Henson's Muppet Christmas program and why.

Well, I didn’t care for the muppet Christmas shows or puppets. However Mikey’s Christmas Carol, Charlie Brown’s Christmas, and Frosty the Snowman are my favorites.

2) Which decade produced the bulk of your favorite Christmas entertainment?

I can’t say, I love so many from all eras. From White Christmas to Elf and all in between. I love the not familiar movies.

from 1983's The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.

3) Imagine the entertainment behind your ideal Christmas Eve dinner. Name the appetizer, entré, and dessert.

Appetizer: Christmas Oranges
Entré: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever or Seasons of the Heart
Dessert: Borrowed Hearts or a Season for Miracles.
(I’m pretty sure not many know those movies)


4) What Christmas episode, special or movie doesn't exist--that you wish did? Feel free to get creative.

I love the TV show Once Upon A Time and was so hoping for a Christmas episode during season 4 (the Frozen storyline).

from 1983's A Christmas Story

5) If one Christmas movie, special or episode was to be selected for a time capsule to opened in 1,000 years, which title do you think should be included?

A Christmas Story. It’s a classic.

Christmas in July 2018: Jonathan Sowers

Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop

 
Christmas in July 2018: Jonathan Sowers

1) Name your favorite Henson's Muppet Christmas program and why.

The Muppets were after my time. I was a Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop fan as a kid and I had my own Lamb Chop and Charlie Horse hand puppets. I don't remember ever seeing their Christmas show, but one from the 1960s would be my choice. I've looked briefly at Shari and Lamb Chop Christmas specials on YouTube from the 1970s and they're not my bag, so to speak.

 2) Which decade produced the bulk of your favorite Christmas entertainment?

Without a doubt, the 1960s, starting with Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and A Charlie Brown Christmas. I saw all three as a child and they carry fond memories of times when you had to be there to watch them when they came on. Also Peter Pan with Mary Martin, which was repeated a lot at Christmas, and The Bell Telephone Hour, which had annual Christmas shows.

from 1962's Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol.

3) Imagine the entertainment behind your ideal Christmas Eve dinner. Name the appetizer, entré, and dessert.

When I was growing up, we always spent Christmas Eve dinner next door at my grandmother's. In later years I would help Granny get the house ready and put up her tree and wrap her presents. Christmas was always my thing, from an early age. As an appetizer, to get us ready for the festivities to come, I would pick A Charlie Brown Christmas, which is short and sweet and very entertaining. We could drink some of my hot spiced tea to get in the mood. Then for the entrée, we always had barbecue at Granny's house. So I would pick Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol. That little bit of undigested beef that made him see Marley in the door knocker could easily be southern barbecued pork. As a child of six when I saw that show, I can testify that was one of the spookiest moments ever, seeing the skeleton in the door knocker. Also the Christmas meal the Cratchits serve near the end would make us all hungry for more. The dessert would be almost all fluff with one serious moment, namely Christmas With the King Family from 1967. The part where Alyce King is singing "I'll Be Home for Christmas" gets me every time. I won't spoil it if you've never seen it, but that show can tug at your heartstrings. It's also a lot like Granny's perennial favorite gift, a Whitman's Sampler. There's something in it for everyone.

4) What Christmas episode, special or movie doesn't exist--that you wish did? Feel free to get creative.

It existed at one time, but all the tapes have been destroyed, or so they say. Captain Kangaroo decorated for Christmas every year about two weeks before and I will never forget the GE outdoor twinkle lights on the fence of the Treasure House. You saw them everytime they went outside. I always thought that was a great idea, to put twinkle lights in a row all along the top of a rather tall
fence. It certainly commanded my attention as a child. I would love to see it again. We had outdoor lights we used on an outdoor tree a few times and we always mixed in a few twinkle lights. They fascinated me.


 

The boys gazing into the store window, in 1983's A Christmas Story.

5) If one Christmas movie, special or episode was to be selected for a time capsule to opened in 1,000 years, which title do you think should be included?

If you're talking 1000 years, I think the movie A Christmas Story tells a lot about life in America that would be informative to someone. I know it was the 1940s they were trying to imitate, but some of the scenes in that movie are timeless and still represent an American family Christmas like no other TV show or movie I've seen. It also shows humor and clever writing and some very good child actors.

Christmas in July 2018: Patrick Labelle

Jim Henson in A Muppet Family Christmas.

Christmas in July 2018: Patrick Labelle, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

1) Name your favorite Henson's Muppet Christmas program and why.

I have to say that I really enjoy most of the Muppet-related holiday programming put out throughout the years, but my favourite, by far, is A Muppet Family Christmas. There's just something remarkable about this particular special that sets it apart of the others. I don't know if it's the combination of Muppets, Sesame Street and Fraggle Rock that come together, if it's the awesome selection of songs, the incredibly humorous bits, the setting of Christmas in the country, the touching moments or even Jim Henson's cameo at the end. I'm simply amazed by it all and this special works on so many levels. I can watch this one every year and, for the most part, I do. It helps that this is one of my wife's favourites as well. I have a copy on VHS and, each year, I'm always hoping that my VCR will keep on working!

2) Which decade produced the bulk of your favorite Christmas entertainment?

I was born in the late 1970s, but remember seeing many classic reruns each year from the 1960s (Grinch, Peanuts, Rudolph, Frosty, etc.) and I was pretty sure that I was going to choose that decade as my answer, but then I started thinking about the shows I watched and enjoyed when I was 9-10 years old that I still love today. Christmas is closely tied to nostalgia, among other things, and many of the specials that impressed me as a young boy were produced in the 1980s: A Garfield Christmas, Mickey's Christmas Carol, A Claymation Christmas Celebration, A Muppet Family Christmas (see above!), For Better or for Worse: The Bestest Present, Bluetoes, The Christmas Elf, The Christmas Raccoons and so many more. The last few titles might be more obscure for some of you, but being from Canada, these were regularly broadcast each year. Then, looking online for other 1980s programs or movies, I discovered that so many of the classics I enjoy today were made during that decade. I could list many, but here are just a few that stand out: National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, A Christmas Story, Scrooged, A Christmas Carol (with George C. Scott), One Magic Christmas.

from 1974's 'Twas the Night Before Christmas.

 
3) Imagine the entertainment behind your ideal Christmas Eve dinner. Name the appetizer, entré, and dessert.

Can I cheat here as well and suggest two Christmas Eve dinners? I would have a Christmas specials dinner and a Christmas movies dinner.

For my Christmas specials dinner, I would start with How the Grinch Stole Christmas, which is a special that I have always watched early in the viewing season. It's also one that involves quite the feast, so I think that it's appropriate for a dinner. My entrée would be the tried and tested Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. I know that this is like serving rubber chicken (or turkey), but it's a staple. Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without seeing Rudolph at least once. And for dessert, I suggest 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, the 1974 Rankin-Bass special that is quite entertaining. My brother and I started collecting VHS tapes of various Rankin-Bass specials and have watched this one together for a number of years on Christmas Eve as the last special in our Christmas programming marathons that we used to do. I still enjoy this quirky story filled with great songs.

For my Christmas movies dinner, I would serve up Elf as an appetizer. What better way to kick off the season with a laugh-a-minute movie that has become an instant classic. Then, as the main course, I would suggest Miracle on 34th Street with Natalie Wood and Edmund Gwenn, which I believe is such a simple, yet well made movie and Gwenn is remarkable as Santa Claus. Finally, for dessert, I'm suggesting The Gathering, the 1977 TV movie starring Ed Asner. I only discovered this movie in 2011, but have watched it almost every year since then. I love so many aspects of this movie including the simple, yet recurrent score, the setting with real snow!, the acting by the entire cast, the arrival of the estranged son on Christmas morning (this is a touching moment), the magic of getting your family together and putting aside your differences for the greater good, the traditional elements of Christmas such as decorating the tree, opening gifts, caroling and so on. Overall, there is something about this TV movie that resonates with me and I like to close off my pre-Christmas television viewing with this one (that's right, pre-Christmas viewing because I continue to watch specials and movies until early January!).


4) What Christmas episode, special or movie doesn't exist--that you wish did? Feel free to get creative.

I thought long and hard about this question. I even debated not sending a response at all to your questions, because I couldn't think of an answer for this question. Then, I started thinking about where to put Andy Williams in my responses. I love Andy Williams' Christmas albums and his television specials. For many years, I would watch his compilation special on PBS during my local station's annual pledge drive. My wife recently bought me a DVD of a recorded show from the Moon River Theatre he did in the 1990s. I love all of these and wondered what it would have been like if Andy Williams had starred in a Christmas movie musical during the 1960s when his annual specials were at the height of their popularity. I can just imagine how great it would be to have song and dance numbers that looked like those in the specials. I would definitely think that this would have become an instant classic.

from 1965's A Charlie Brown Christmas.

5) If one Christmas movie, special or episode was to be selected for a time capsule to opened in 1,000 years, which title do you think should be included?

As I'm sure everyone will say, this is a hard question to answer. Just in my responses above, I could easily select half a dozen to include in a time capsule. I'm going to choose A Charlie Brown Christmas. I don't know why I'm choosing this one because, as a child, this one always aired before Garfield and I always looked forward to the latter and, as an adult, A Charlie Brown Christmas still isn't my favourite, but I appreciate it for all that it represents: a simple story, a commentary on the commercialization of Christmas, Linus' memorable scene quoting the gospel, the iconic soundtrack, its place in Christmas programming history, the use of children as actors, the funny elements and more. I was trying to think of a movie or special that addresses the core values of Christmas and the reason that we celebrate. I immediately thought of Linus' scene and that sealed the deal for me in choosing this special for the time capsule.