Brian Earl

🎄 For its first Christmas special after the success of “Rudolph,” Rankin/Bass presented us with a Dickens of a story, but not that one.  🎙️ Brian Earl from Christmas Past podcast visits the Advent Calendar House to experience 1967’s “Cricket on the Hearth,” as told by Danny Thomas, featuring a bizarre, burlesque performance of a song about Fish ’n’ Chips, and a clearly implied, off-camera murder.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  The history of legends about crickets on hearths bringing good luck.  The full “Cricket on the Hearth” soundtrack is on YouTube.  Christmas Past on Golden Age Christmas TV Cartoons.  Christmas TV History’s Joanna Wilson on Rankin/Bass Voice Actors.  ****  “Cricket on the Hearth” ©1967 Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.

🎄 It’s time to dust off the cobwebs and get the Advent Calendar House ready for Season 2, featuring a new episode every day from December 1 through Christmas Eve, 2018.  In between commercial teasers for all 24 episodes coming in Season 2 (though not necessarily in order) the members of the all-new Christmas Podcast Network share stories of Christmas music traditions:  ****  🎙 Guests:  Brian Earl (Christmas Past)  Tim Babb (Can’t Wait for Christmas)  Craig Kringle (Weird Christmas)  Duane Bailey (Tinsel Tunes)  Joseph Wade (Christmas Creeps), with Libby Cudmore  Anthony Caruso, Julia Colburn, and Thom Crowe (Tis the Podcast)  ****  Find us at adventcalendar.house.