Hello,
everybody! Welcome to Day #8 of A POP CULTURE ADDICT'S ADVENT CALENDAR! And, guess what? It's
also time to take a look back through time in a segment we like to call the Tuesday Timeline!
And
I'll be really honest with you. Today's
subject was extremely easy to write about!
And unlike a lot of other Tuesday Timeline entries that I have done in
the past, I've taken a few screenshots of today's special subject!
(So,
right off the bat, you know that it is either a television special or a holiday
movie!)
But
before we take a look at what I've chosen for today's topic, we should have a
look at what else happened in the world on December 8.
1765 - Cotton gin inventor Eli Whitney (d. 1825) is born
1813 - Beethoven's Seventh Symphony premieres
1907 - King Gustav V accedes to the Swedish throne
1914 - A British Royal Navy squadron defeats an inferior
squadron of the Imperial German High Seas fleet in the Battle of the Falkland
Islands
1922 - Northern Ireland ceases being a part of the Irish
Free State
1925 - Entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. (d. 1990) is born in
Harlem, New York
1933 - Actor Flip Wilson (d. 1998) is born in Jersey
City, New Jersey
1936 - Actor David Carradine (d. 2009) is born in
Hollywood, California
1941 - One day after the bombing at Pearl Harbor,
President Roosevelt declares December 7 a date that will live in infamy,
following America's declaration of war against Japan
1943 - Jim Morrison (d. 1971) - the lead singer of The
Doors - is born in Melbourne, Florida
1950 - Singer Dan Hartman (d. 1994) is born in
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
1953 - President Eisenhower delivers his "Atoms for
Peace" speech
1962 - Workers at four different newspapers in the New
York City area go out on strike; the strike lasts almost four months
1980 - John Lennon is shot outside of The Dakota in New
York City and dies of his injuries at just 40 years old
1982 - Country singer Marty Robbins dies at the age of
57
1987 - A mass shooting takes place at Melbourne's
Australia Post building, leaving eight people dead; the gunman later takes his
own life
1991 - The leaders of Russia, Belarus, and the Ukraine
sign an agreement officially dissolving the Soviet Union and establishing the
Commonwealth of Independent States
1997 - Bob Bell - the original actor who portrayed Bozo
the Clown - dies at the age of 75
2004 - "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott is shot and
killed on stage in Columbus, Ohio at the age of 38
2008 - Actor Robert Prosky passes away at the age of 77
2009 - 127 people are killed and another 448 are injured
following a series of bombings in Baghdad, Iraq
And
for celebrity birthdays, I hope you've gotten comfortable, because we have a
lot of them today! Celebrating a
birthday today are Duke Cunningham, Bobby Elliott, Bertie Higgins, John Rubinstein, Gregg Allman, Ray Shulman, Rick Baker, Kim Basinger, Roy Firestone, Norman Finkelstein, Warren Cuccurullo, Phil Collen, Ann Coulter, Wendell Pierce, Greg Howe, James Blundell, Teri Hatcher, David Harewood, Sinead O'Connor, Steve Van Wormer, Kevin Harvick, Dominic Monaghan, Elsa Benitez, Ian Somerhalder, Ingrid Michaelson, Chrisette Michele, Nicki Minaj, Katie Stephens, AnnaSophia Robb, and Tylen Jacob Williams.
Okay,
I think I've kept all of you in suspense long enough. It's time to see what year we're going back in time to this week.
Ah...December 8, 1976. A day that...I was not around
for. And it's a real shame too because
I missed out on some good old-fashioned Christmas fun.
And
on this date, where was the place to go for Christmas celebrations?
Well,
it was on ABC. That particular night,
two very special television programs aired.
One was the very first television special put on by the singing duo
"The Carpenters"...and while the show was well received by viewers, I
opted not to discuss it here because it was more a celebration of the
Carpenters and less a celebration of Christmas.
But
the program that aired before that...it mixed two of my favourite things
together into one hour long show!
Disney
and Christmas.
Yes,
on December 8, 1976, ABC aired "Christmas In Disneyland", and it
truly was an all-star extravaganza of talent and magic.
Of
course, all of your favourite Disney characters made an appearance on the
show. You had Mickey and Minnie Mouse,
Donald Duck, Pluto, Goofy, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, The Three Little
Pigs, the Big Bad Wolf, and so many more Disney favourites.
But
you also had former Honeymooners star Art Carney who played the dual role of
Dr. Wunderbar and a crusty old grandfather who is stuck with looking after his
two grandchildren (Brad Savage and Terri Lynn Wood) at Disneyland for the
Christmas holiday. You had country
singer Glen Campbell who lent his voice to several singing numbers in the
show. And playing the dual role of Snow
White and Disneyland tour guide was Ms. Wheat Thins herself, Sandy Duncan, who
I swear was like the happiest person on earth.
I
suppose it's a good thing this show was filmed in one of the happiest places on
earth, huh?
So,
here's the gist of the special. And
yes, I've watched it on my iPad and capped some screenshots of the special to
help tell the story. You see, Gramps
absolutely hates Christmas. He hates
Christmas to the point that he completely eschews the belief that Christmas
magic is real. His grandchildren do
everything in their power to get him to believe in Christmas, and even tour
guide Sandy Duncan does whatever it takes to get him to believe, but Gramps is
almost as curmudgeonly as Scrooge McDuck (who doesn't make an appearance until
"Mickey's Christmas Carol" is released seven years later.
But
Sandy Duncan has a plan. She apparently
knows of a contest in which the person who hates Christmas the most has the
chance to win a very special prize. And
naturally, our materialistic grandpa is quick to jump at the chance to get
anything that is marked free.
So
the adventure begins with Gramps, Sandy, and the kids meeting Dr. Wunderbar who
goes over the rules of the contest. Of
course, the rules of the contest show that if he can make it through the day
without checking off any of the items on a secret list (that list is a list of
things one should NOT do on Christmas), and he'll be watching how well Gramps
does through a special video monitor (which back in '76 was cutting edge). If he can resist changing from a
non-believer to a believer before the clock strikes midnight, he'll walk away a
very rich man.
But
what's really funny is that despite the fact that Gramps insists on not having
any Christmas spirit in him, he sure finds himself in a lot of situations that
make him show it in spades.
For
instance, Sandy the tour guide attempts to make Gramps warm towards Christmas
by shrinking down to the size of the Small World exhibit where she breaks into
song.
When
the bears in the Country Band Jamboree need assistance (as told by Glen Campbell),
Gramps reluctantly gives them a hand.
The
same deal with Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. When the productivity slows down with the elves for making toys
for Christmas, the kids suggest using Bashful, Doc, Dopey, and all the other
dwarves to help with the toy building.
But
it's not until we get to the middle of the show that we learn the real reason
why Gramps is so anti-Christmas. He
apparently has gone through his whole life not receiving any kind of Christmas
present whatsoever, which of course the children feel terrible about. And it sort of leads to a musical
performance in which Gramps sort of compares himself to the Big Bad Wolf, as
nobody ever gave him anything for Christmas either.
So,
what happens when Mickey Mouse overhears Gramps telling his story? And when Gramps makes a ridiculous wish
(hint: it has something to do with the
fact that Disneyland is in California, and he wants a particular kind of weather
to take place there), will it come true?
And will all of the good karma that he built up along his journey come
back to reward him more than all the money in the world?
Well,
I have a special treat for you. If you
click HERE and HERE, the whole special is available to watch online - at least for
now. Seriously, I know it was recorded
back in 1976, and the video quality is not the greatest...but if you watch
this, I bet you'll like it. I know I
did.
Seriously,
even though this special is almost forty years old, it looks spectacular and
wonderful and really gives us a look at what Disneyland looked like in the
1970s. The amount of detail shown in
each scene is worth its weight in gold, and the final few scenes are just like
something out of a holiday card.
Truly
recommend this wonderful Christmas tale.
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