Author Archives: dcaligari

December 26, 1975 –Eric Idle’s TV series, Rutland Weekend Television aired their Christmas Special with guest star George Harrison, on the BBC2 on this date. George Harrison begins to sing his hit My Sweet Lord before breaking into The Pirate Song on the special.

If you’re keeping score, you currently have two turtledoves and a pair of partridges in their respective pear trees (four gifts – remember we’re counting the partridge and a pear tree as a unit. Begin taking extra copies of free daily newspapers – you’ll need it in a major way. (The gift, the two turtleContinue reading “The gifts still seem charming”

Tonight’s the first night of Kwanzaa. Although it may seem like it, Kwanzaa is not a religious holiday; it is a celebration of heritage and culture. Kwanzaa means “first fruit” in Swahili.

December 25, 1973 –Slade, Suzi Quatro and 10cc are among the performers on the BBC Top Of The Pops Christmas special, which first premiered on this date. The show’s dancers do a routine with dogs to Gilbert O’Sullivan’s Get Down, leading to rumors that the “bad dog baby” in the song was Sullivan’s misbehaving poochContinue reading “A blast from the past”

December 25, 1968 –CBS gave their viewers a two-fer treat when A Beverly Hillbilly’s Christmas at Hooterville first aired on this date The episode includes the entire Clampett clan along with Mr. Drucker and Miss Hathaway, but also features multiple characters from the Beverly Hillbillies spin-off shows Green Acres and Petitcoat Junction.

December 25, 1967 – The Monkees gave their fans a treat with their episode The Christmas Show when it first aired on this date. Butch Patrick, who plays Melvin, is better known to audiences as Eddie Munster from The Munsters, a show, which had finished its run in 1966, the year The Monkees started.

it’s who gathered around it. It’s the first day of Christmas As always, we here at ACME want to help spread hope, peace, joy, and other marketing buzzwords Hopefully you haven’t overeaten this Christmas, but if you have, perhaps you’ll get a visit from (Remember, it isn’t really Christmas until you hear his Hidey Ho.)Continue reading “It’s not what’s under the tree that matters,”

Do you hear what I hear? Christmas is but a day away. Although the ACME phone banks are closed, believe me, ACME factories are hard at work. So, were you naughty or nice? Oh Jimmy, what have you done indeed. Don’t worry bunkies, at this point, Santa knows the score.

December 24, 1951 –Gian Carlo Menotti’s one act opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors premiered on this date. It has become a Christmas classic. The one surviving kinescope of this first production was thought to have been lost forever, accidentally destroyed by someone at NBC after it had been screened for an executive, but anotherContinue reading “Amahl and the Night Visitors first aired”

December 24, 1940 – George Cukor’s classic film-comedy The Philadelphia Story, starring Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn, and Jimmy Stewart premiered on this date. The film was shot in eight weeks, and required no retakes. During the scene where James Stewart hiccups when drunk, you can see Cary Grant looking down and grinning. Since the hiccupContinue reading “You haven’t switched from liquor to dope”