Author Archives: dcaligari

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”

December 23, 1823 –The famous poem A Visit From St. Nicholas was first published on this date. It begins, Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house / Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse …. Fourteen years after its first publication, an editor attributed the poem to a wealthy professorContinue reading “You probably know it as ‘Twas the night before Christmas’”

December 23, 1972 –Franco Harris of the Pittsburgh Steelers grabbed a deflected pass from quarterback Terry Bradshaw to score a touchdown, winning the game for the Steelers 13-7 over the Oakland Raiders, on this date. The NFL’s Immaculate Reception, as it has become to be known, is one of the most famous plays in theContinue reading “Sports fans, do you remember the Immaculate Reception?”

December 23, 1954 –Walt Disney’s live-action film, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, premiered on this date. In 1969, Captain Nemo’s pipe organ, which had been on display in Disneyland, was redressed and now resides in the ballroom of Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion. A duplicate was constructed for the ballroom of Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom HauntedContinue reading “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea first debuted”