Wednesday, December 28, 2016

R. I. P CARRIE FISHER



"I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried ..."

R. I. P GEORGE MICHAEL


I believe "Careless Whisper" by Wham is one of the greatest and classiest hits of the 80s. Never understood why many of my classmates didn't like this.  Of course, I also like Seether's Vanilla Fudge-ing of the song from a few years back.



Saturday, December 24, 2016

RETRO CHRISTMAS IN-STORE MUSIC IPOD PLAYLIST

I was planing several post for Christmas but time escaped me sadly. However, I wanted to give you an Ipod playlist. Last year I posted a video from YouTube that was a tape of in-store music Kmart was using during the holiday shopping season. I became obsessed with easy listening, instumental versions of Christmas songs, like the ones on that tape.

Also, when I was a kid, radio stations did not beat us to death with Christmas music as they do now. You might hear on or two Christmas songs before December 24th, but not like today. On Christmas day, you might hear "wall-to-wall" Christmas music and usually it was the easy listening instrumental type.

So here are my choices for in-store, wall-to-wall Christmas music. They'll go perfect with one of those videos of a lighted fireplace or sitting on a goofy-looking store Santa's lap (I think that is Ernie Kovacs as Marvin). Enjoy!

"I'll Be Home For Christmas" - Jackie Gleason
"Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let it Snow!/Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer" - Eddie Dunsteder
"I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" -George Melachrino Strings
"It Came upon a Midnight Clear" - The Three Suns
"Toy Parade" - Bert Kaempfert and his Orchestra
"Midnight Sleigh Ride" - Saulter- Finnegan Orchestra
"White Christmas" - Frank Chacksfield Orchestra
"Silver Bells" - Percy Faith Orchestra
"Winter Wonderland" - Bert Kaempfert and his Orchestra
"Sleigh Ride" - Ferrante & Teichner
"Jingle Bells" - Hollyridge Strings
"Get Lost Jack Frost" - John Barry Seven
"Christmas Trumpets" - Ray Anthony (It's "Jingle Bells")
 "O Tannebaum (Oh Christmas Tree)" - The Three Suns
"Joy To The World" - Mannheim Steamroller
"Santa Clause Is Coming To Town" - Bert Kaempfert
"The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting)" - David Rose
"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" - The Living Strings
"It's Begining To Look a Lot Like Christmas" - Andre Kostelanetz and his Orchestra
"Frosty The Snowman" - John Klein
"Jingle Bell Rock" - Pete Fountain
"Santa Medley" - Liberace
"Sleigh Ride" - Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops
"Silent Night" - Lawrence Welk Orchestra




CHRISTMAS MOVIE CONNECTIONS TO HORROR MOVIES


In an earlier post, I listed how many of our favorite Christmas movies were connected. Since I love to watch horror films at Halloween, I decided to show how many of the Christmas films have a connection to some famous horror films watched at Halloween.

Henry Travers, who played Clarence in It's a Wonderful Life and Horace Bogardus in Bells of St. Mary, also played Dr. Cranley in The Invisible Man.

Lionel Barrymore, who played Old Man Potter in It's a Wonderful Life, was in the Mark of the Vampire and The Devil Doll, which takes place at Christmas time.

Una O'Conner, who played Mrs. Breen in Bells of St. Mary and Norah in Christmas In Connecticut, in most famous for her roles in The Invisible Man and Bride of Frankenstein.

Ernest Thesiger, best known at Dr. Pretorius in Bride of Frankenstein, Horace Femm in Old Dark House and Laing in The Ghoul, plays the undertaker in the future sequence in the 1951 movie Scrooge.


Edmund Gwenn, who played Kris Kringle in Miracle of 34th Street, was in the horror films The Walking Dead (1936) with Boris Karloff and Them! (1954), which also starred James Whitmore (above with Gwenn), James Arness, Fess Parker and Leonard Nimoy.

Ramsey Mostoller designed the costumes for Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. He designed the costumers for Dark Shadows, as well as the movies House of Dark Shadows and Night of Dark Shadows.


Jose Elias Moreno, who played Santa Claus in the 1959 Mexican film by the same title, played Dr. Krallman in Night of the Bloody Apes.



Bob Clark, who directed The Christmas Story, also directed Black Christmas and Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things.


And last but not least, Roberts Blossom (that's how he spelled it), who played spooky Old Man Marley in Home Alone, played the Ed Gein-like Ezra Cobb (above) in the 1974 horror classic Deranged. Maybe that is why Kevin was afraid of him.

Thursday, December 22, 2016

DESDINOVA'S CHEESY RETRO CHRISTMAS PODCAST 2016


I made my first Christmas podcast last year and unfortunately had to delete it for technical reasons. This year I had more technical problems, but managed to make one away. I had to make it a good old fashion wav file, but I'm also giving you a photo of a girl in one of those Santa's Little Helper/Rockette outfits that Ozarkers hate, so it is a compromise.

This years Cheesy Retro Christmas Podcast featuring Billy Idol, Steve & Eydie, Al Hirt, Jim Nabors, Roger Moore, Johnny Mathis, Salsoul Orchestra, Ray Conniff Singers, Homer & Jethro, June Carter, Art Carney, Bert Kaempfert, the Happenings and more. ENJOY AND MERRY CHRISTMAS!


Tuesday, December 6, 2016

R. I. P VAN WILLIAMS



The Green Hornet TV series is not on DVD, but can be found on YouTube (for now).  Here is a sample episode as the Green Hornet (Van Williams) and Kato (Bruce Lee) face off against Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane.  EXTRA TRIVIA: Van Williams was the voice of the President (LBJ) in Our Man Flint and Batman The Movie.



Sunday, December 4, 2016

WHAT DID MATTEL'S SOMERSAULTY THE CLOWN DOLL SAY?



This is a Mattel Somersaulty the Clown pull string doll. I had one just like this when I was a child. I had a hard time understanding what he said. He was supposed to say, "Do you want to see me do a somersault?" However, it always sounded more like "Do you want to see me suck soapy water?" True story.

NOTE: I had used this anecdote as part of a post on the original blog. I decided to delete that post, but this anecdote made me laugh so hard, I decided to use it in a post here since it had to do with a retro toy of the 70s. Hope you enjoy it.
 
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