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🎄 It’s 1978, and celebrities pretending to be ghosts are gaslighting Oscar the Grouch into participating in Christmas. Also, Michael Jackson shows up. 🎙 Alan Johnson and Donnie Storms join us for another Scrooge Sunday episode to witness the 2nd best “Sesame Street” Christmas special from 1978… out of 2.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Our episode on “Christmas Eve on Sesame Street.”  I thought Tough Pigs made up this special in 2001 to be funny, but nope, it’s real.  Sesame Street lost an Emmy to Sesame Street.  “A Special Sesame Street Christmas” on Muppet Wiki.  “Elmo’s Delicious Christmas.”  “Anne Murray Sings for the Sesame Street Generation,” an American re-release of “There’s a Hippo in My Tub.”  “Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street.”  Michael Jackson inadvertently saved Sesame Street from a lawsuit.  “Just One Person” at Jim Henson’s memorial service. Mike talks about “Snoopy! The Musical” on A Special Presentation, or ALF Will Not Be Seen Tonight.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Sesame Place (1984)  Kringle Talks Kristmas.  ****  “A Special Sesame Street Christmas” © 1978 Bob Banner Associates.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s7 #1970s #scroogesunday #muppets

🎄 It’s 1978, and we’re glued to the TV… whether we like it or not.  🎙 Molly Patton and Adam Pope join us as we catch the next reindeer flight to save Santa’s workshop from being taken over by a palette swapped Wile E. Coyote.  ****  “Raggedy Ann and Andy: A Musical Adventure” and The Greedy.  Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog, in example: “A Sheep in the Deep.”  The Gloopstik Corporation’s address on Google Maps.  Santa’s Reindeer species profile by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.  The Star-On and Star-Off machines from “The Sneetches.”  ****  📼 Commercials:  1978 M&M’s Christmas Commercial.  A Cozy Christmas.  ****  “Raggedy Ann” and “Andy in The Great Santa Claus Caper” © 1978 The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s7 #1970s #chuckjones

🎅 It’s the 100th episode of the Advent Calendar House, and what better day than Christmas Eve to return to the World of Rankin/Bass?  🎙 Erin Evans, Michael DiGiovanni, Michael May, Brandon Medley, and Joey O. join us as we put one foot in front of the other back to 1970 to revisit a Christmas classic that dares to answer children’s questions about Santa Claus while illegally opening his mail.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Both IMDb and Wikipedia had the premiere date wrong because of a typo in an old book. Rich Goldschmidt’s “The Making of Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town and The Daydreamer” gets it right.  Former pro-wrestler Special Delivery Jones (no relation).  Burgermeister Meisterburger is a dead ringer for Mauser from “Police Academy 2.”  Hey, IMDb, I highly doubt the Greg Thomas voicing young Kris Kringle grew up to play the saxophone in Parliament Funkadelic.  For a while, Topper was renamed Waddles.  Kris’s weird face he makes after being caught by the Winter Warlock’s angry trees.  Save the Earth from Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster.  Weddings on Christmas Day used to be popular.  The first known recording of the song “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town” and our favorite versions.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Folgers Coffee: Peter Comes Home for Christmas (1982)  ****  “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town” © 1970 Rankin/Bass Productions.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s7 #1970s #rankinbass

🎄 It’s 1971, and Alastair Sim is delivering an even more animated performance as Scrooge.  🎙️ Michael May and Rob Graham join us as we invade your personal space for salute an animated adaptation of “A Christmas Carol” that bent the rules and became the last TV special to win an Oscar, directed by Richard Williams and executive produced by Chuck Jones.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Michael May’s Christmas Carol Project entries on 1971’s “A Christmas Carol.”  CED Magic’s “Christmas Carol” screen adaptation directory.  John Leech’s original illustrations for the Dickens story.  AfterLUNCH on Christmas Ghosts (And One Carol in Particular).  The rarely seen Phantom Hearse.  Visions of Young Scrooge’s favorite stories dancing in his head.  Alex Williams’s website and blog post about his memory of voicing Tiny Tim at age 4.  One notable businessman from the future and his gross nose.  The Making of Richard Williams’s “A Christmas Carol.”  ****  📼 Commercials:  NyQuil Scrooge Commercial, circa 1968.  Bell Telephone Christmas Commercial (1978)  “The Christmas Book: The Ultimate Guide to Your Favorite Holiday,” by Ed Daly.  ****  “A Christmas Carol” (1971) © Richard Williams Productions.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s9 #1970s #scroogesunday

🎄 It’s 1979, and no one wants to go to Pat Boone’s lame Christmas party, but everyone’s here to dunk on him.  🎙 Guy Hutchinson extends an invitation to discover this bizarre but wholesome special featuring the Hudson Brothers, the stars of “The Ropers” as themselves but also still as the Ropers, and a criminally brief appearance by Yogi Bear and his Hanna-Barbera friends.  📺 You can watch the “Pat Boone and Family Christmas Special” on Tubi.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Pat Boone’s album of heavy metal covers from 1997.  TV Guide’s ad for the special, prominently featuring Yogi Bear and friends.  “The Hudson Brothers Razzle Dazzle Show,” as seen in a “Family Guy” cutaway gag.  “The Seventh Python,” Brett Hudson’s 2008 documentary about frequent Monty Python collaborator Neil Innes.  “Largo al Factotum,” the “Figaro” song from “The Barber of Seville.”  Dinah Shore’s giant belt buckle.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Master Charge Christmas Commercial (1979)  Season’s Eatings.  ****  “Pat Boone and Family Christmas Special” © 1979 Cooga Mooga Productions.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s9 #1970s #hannabarbera

🎄 It’s 1975, and a shepherd boy just lost his sight after staring directly at a lightning bolt.  🎙️ Mike Troxell joins us as we return to enchanted world of Rankin/Bass Christmas specials for an overlooked, underrated, and redundantly titled hidden gem about neither the first Christmas, nor the first Christmas snow.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Vox’s Emily St. James ranks all the Rankin/Bass Christmas specials.  A very brief history of the Christmas card.  Was There Really Any Winter’s Snow at the Time of the Nativity in Bethlehem?  Flash blindness is real.  Arthur Rankin Jr. recalling how Irving Berlin really, REALLY didn’t want “White Christmas” in the special.  This exact sound of a wolf howling (or, actually, a coyote) is heard over and over again.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Toys “R” Us Time of Year Christmas Commercial (1976)  Christmas Creeps.  ****  “The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow” © 1975 Rankin/Bass Productions.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s9 #1970s #rankinbass

🎄 It’s 1973, and a musical cricket is about to save the Christmas spirit during New York City’s quietest power failure.  🎙️ Michael DiGiovanni join us for a one-cat open sleigh ride into Chuck Jones’s beautifully animated sequel to “The Cricket in Times Square.”  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  A very insightful Letterboxd review.  Name That Christmas Special’s screenshot gallery for this special.  Today’s TV Trope: Bully Bulldog.  Mel Blanc’s voice for the Alley Cat sounds his voice for Clarence the Cat in “Birds Anonymous.”  DiGio introduces me to Yorkshire pudding.  “Down by the Old Mill Stream.”  The similar “Joy to the World” segment from “Will Vinton’s Claymation Christmas Celebration.”  The final Classic Film Jerks movie, “Babes in Toyland (March of the Wooden Soldiers).”  ****  📼 Commercials:  Mel Blanc American Express Card Commercial (1971)  Rediscover the 80s podcasts, including The 80s Weekly and Memory Jogger.  ****  “A Very Merry Cricket” © 1973 Chuck Jones Enterprises.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s9 #1970s #chuckjones

🎄 Previously on the Advent Calendar House, we went on an apocryphal adventure with the story of The Little Drummer Boy.  This time, Rankin/Bass drums up an unnecessary sequel from 1976, its busiest year for holiday specials.  🎙️ Brandon Medley joins us on a side quest to retrieve the stolen silver bells from a troop of greedy Roman soldiers in the “Rogue One” of Christmas stories.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Allen Swift (Melchior) as Twinkie the Kid.  Simeon the bellmaker is very loosely based on the Biblical Simeon, but his Song of Simeon is left out.  Ray Owens (Simeon) as the voice of Superbook, and Jesus in “The Flying House.”  Zero Mostel (Brutus) on “The Muppet Show.”  “Money Money Money” (not the song from “Mamma Mia!”)  How bad is Brutus compared to the other Rankin/Bass Christmas villains?  “Do You Hear What I Hear?” was written during the Cuban Missile Crisis.  Our favorite recordings of “Do You Hear What I Hear?” by Copeland, the Mike Sammes Singers for Disneyland Records, and one by Spiraling that invokes The Who’s “Baba O’Riley.”  ****  📼 Commercials:  Kodak XL Movie Camera: “One Christmas” (1976)  Holly Jolly X’masu, your podcast destination for Japanese Christmas music. ****  “The Little Drummer Boy, Book II” © 1976 Rankin/Bass Productions.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s10 #1970s #rankinbass #nativity

🎄 It’s 1977, and Happy Gilmore’s grandma is surrounded by dancing chickens.  It’s a beautiful day for a podcast, and this season of the Advent Calendar House begins with a visit to Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood in a Christmas special that hadn’t been available for more than 40 years until it resurfaced in 2022. It’s surprisingly less festive than some might expect, but it makes up for that with some extremely bizarre adventures.  🎙 Guy Hutchinson from Pointless Nostalgia and Tim Lybarger from The Neighborhood Archive join us for the wacky adventures of a mysterious Music Man and A Very Young Dancer.  📺 You can watch “Christmastime with Mister Rogers” at MisterRogers.org.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  “Christmastime with Mister Rogers” on The Neighborhood Archive.  “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood: A Visual History,” co-written by Tim.  Frances Bay (Mrs. Hamilton) in “The Karate Kid.”  Today’s TV Trope: Hollywood Giftwrap.  Mr. Rogers and François Clemmons sharing a wading pool.  Lesser-known Christmas hymns “The Friendly Beasts,” “Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow,” and “My Sheep Were Grazing.”  Was Music Man Stan from “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood” inspired by the Music Man from this special?  “The Littlest Angel” (1969)  Chuck Ozeas (Andrew) is now a director of photography.  “A Very Young Dancer” and The Life That Followed (2011)  Stephanie Selby’s obituary (2022)  ****  📼 Commercials:  Hershey’s Kisses Christmas Bells Commercial (1989)  Dirt Cheap Liquors Chicken Commercial.  Closer to Christmas.  ****  “Christmastime with Mister Rogers” © 1977 Family Communications, Inc.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s11 #1970s

🎄 It’s 1979, by way of 1933 — or the other way around — and the human from Fraggle Rock has broken into my garage with a haunted choir of singing children.  🎙️ Scott Leopold from Holly Jolly X’masu and Tommy Coombs join us as we turn the dial on our haunted time-traveling radio to find Henry Winkler at the height of his fame as the Fonz hiding under multiple layers of makeup as a Scrooge figure in Depression-era New England.  📺 You can watch “An American Christmas Carol” for free on YouTube.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Henry Winkler interview on being asked to play a Scrooge figure.  The Ford Model TT truck.  Dorian Harewood (Matt Reeves/Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come) filling in for James Avery as Shredder.  Today’s TV Trope: Recursive Fiction — and “The Identical.”  Robin Williams on “Sesame Street” showing Elmo different ways to play with a stick.  “Sister Kenny,” based on the true story of an Australian nurse.  ****  📼 Commercials:  McDonald’s Gift Certificates Christmas Commercial (1979)  Holly Jolly X’masu, your podcast destination for Japanese Christmas music.  ****  “An American Christmas Carol” © 1979 Scrooge Productions, Inc.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s11 #1970s #scroogesunday

🎄It’s 1970, and Santa’s been locked up in an underground cave with 2 giant Muppet monsters.  🎙️ Tori Schmidt and Tony Whitaker join us as we venture through the tunnels under Santa’s workshop to uncover Jim Henson’s first ever TV holiday special, presented by The Ed Sullivan Show and featuring the first Muppet performances by Richard Hunt, Fran Brill, Marilyn Sokol, and John Lovelady, as well as the first appearances of Thog and a familiar-looking Frackle who’d later be reworked into the Great Gonzo.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  “The Great Santa Claus Switch” on Muppet Wiki.  ToughPigs.com’s transcript of the special (2004)    Jim Henson, Thog, and Lothar on “The Dick Cavett Show” (1971)  Taminella Grinderfall in “Tales of the Tinkerdee.”  Jim Henson’s Red Book entries on the special’s casting and debut.  Tony’s art of the Two-Headed Monster as the Miser Brothers.  So Many Muppets Are Named Fred.  Daniel Seagren as Spider-Man on “The Electric Company.”  Richard Hunt as Elmo.  Snarl, the Frackle who would become Gonzo.  My Emmet Otter’s Teenage Mutant Jug-Band Christmas T-shirt.  We have dubbed the green Frackle who looks like Thig with a beak and horns “Theg.”  “This Is Halloween” in a Sesame Place parade.  “8 Balls of Fur.”  Stop calling them “Muppeteers.”  ****  📼 Commercial Break:  FritoLay Holiday Party Display Commercial (1970)  “Noëlco” Razor Santa Commercial (1970)  Merry Britsmas.  ****  “The Great Santa Claus Switch” © 1970 Sullivan Productions, Inc.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Full show notes and social links at adventcalendar.house.  #s11 #1970s #muppets

🎄It’s 1979, and an evil king is having abandonment issues after his entire kingdom left, so he made an army of robots instead of going to therapy.  The Advent Calendar House has once again emerged from hibernation after declaring 4 more months of winter to pretend it’s still winter.  🎙 Gerry Davila from Totally Rad Christmas, Matt Spaulding from North Pole Radio, and Jeff Loftin from the Lost Christmas Podcast join us as we encounter what might be the least Christmassy Rankin/Bass Christmas special, featuring a friendlier version of Jack Frost, a groundhog dressed like a pro wrestling manager, and the wintry weather neighbors of those angels your grandmother told you were bowling whenever there was a thunderstorm.  📺 You can watch “Jack Frost” on Tubi.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Toei Animation’s “The Little Mermaid” (1975)  Gilbert Gottfried on his favorite death scene: Buddy Hackett as Lou Costello in “Bud and Lou.”  Today’s TV Trope: Inevitable Waterfall.  The Christmas tradition of “dream presents” is like the dinner scene from “Hook.”  February 2 is Candlemas, the 40th day of Christmas.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Pennsylvania Lottery: Like Holiday Morning, starring Gus, the 2nd most famous groundhog in Pennsylvania (2018)  Sonic the Hedgehog 3: Hedgehog Day (1992)  ****  “Jack Frost” © 1979 Rankin/Bass Productions.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s12 #1970s #rankinbass

🎄 It’s 1977, and the cast of Broadway’s hottest new musical is taking drastic measures to convince 4 different unions keep the theater open for a Christmas party because they forgot to book a venue.  🎙️ Guy Hutchinson joins us to watch the original Broadway cast of “Annie” play somethings in between themselves and their characters in a unique TV Christmas special that may very well have been many TV viewers’ first exposure to the musical.  📺 You can watch “The Annie Christmas Show” on the Internet Archive.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  The original Broadway version of “Annie” ends on Christmas; the 1982 movie ends on the 4th of July.  Andrea McArdle in “Christmas at Walt Disney World.” (Full Episode)  Danielle Brisbois (Molly) in “All in the Family,” and she was a founding member of the band New Radicals.  “It’s Christmas” on the Annie 30th Anniversary Production Cast Recording, featuring multiple Annies and Miss Hannigans.  “I Don’t Care” in “In the Good Old Summertime” and “Back to the Future: The Game.”  “There’s a Broken Heart for Every Light on Broadway” in “Bullets Over Broadway.”  Today’s TV Trope: I Have a Family.  Ethel Merman sings “Tomorrow” in “A Special Sesame Street Christmas.” (Full Episode)  How The Twelve Days of Christmas’ days 9 through 12 got reordered.  Members of the cast reunited in 2019 to perform this Christmas special.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Kinney Shoes (1977)  Fotomat (1977)  Festive Foreign Film Fans.  ****  “The Annie Christmas Show” © 1977 Martin Charmin Productions / NBC Universal Network.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s12 #1970s

🎄 It’s 1970, and a couple of bear cubs have jumped through my window and are eating all my marshmallows.  🎙️ Gerry Davila and Ethan “The Hungry Reader” join us on a deeper than expected dive into a Christmas special by former Hanna-Barbera animator Tony Benedict that almost wasn’t released till the owner of a now-defunct Florida theme park swooped in and saved it.  🚨 No animals were harmed in the making of this podcast. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same about one of the 4 versions of this special.  📺 You can watch 4 different versions of “Santa and the Three Bears”:  “A Yellowstone Christmas” (Tony’s Version), the original cut.  The theatrical version with Hal Smith in the intro and added songs and sequences.  The Pirates World version with scenes from Ocean World Marine Park. This version was screened for Rifftrax.  The Modern Sound Pictures version with the songs but no live-action segments.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  The Unusual History of Santa and the Three Bears. (The Delbert Cartoon Report, 2021)  The soundtrack and some background info.  Hal Smith in “The Incredible, Indelible, Magical, Physical Mystery Trip.”  Bobby Riha (Chinook) in Hanna-Barbera’s “Jack and the Beanstalk.”  Yellowstone National Park’s Zone of Death.  Today’s TV Trope: Human Snowball.  CBS Storybreak’s “Grinny.”  Homer Simpson tries to catch a rabbit.  Iceman in X-Men #1.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Hardee’s Gift Checks (1970s)  Totally Rad Christmas  ****  “Santa and the Three Bears” © 1970 Tony Benedict Productions.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s13 #1970s

🎄 We’re snowed in a bit earlier than expected, so we’ve hunkered down to have a Christmas feast from around the world with the WJM TV family in a 1974 non-Christmas Christmas episode of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”  🎙️ Joining the party is film critic and author Alonso Duralde, who recommended this episode. A newly Revised and Updated edition of Alonso’s book, “Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas,” is being released in September, but you can pre-order it now.  You can also find Alonso at The Film Verdict; check out his other book, Hollywood Pride; and listen to Linoleum Knife, Maximum Film, Breakfast All Day, and Deck the Hallmark.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Pre-order the Revised and Updated Edition of “Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas.”  IMDb’s photo gallery for this episode has 20 screenshots of Mary in a towel.  Betty White’s amazing Christmas dress.  Harrison Ford recalls what he told George Lucas while shooting the first “Star Wars” movie.  I couldn’t find a recipe for “soufflé tour légende,” but here’s one for “Mr. Grant You Took Half Veal Prince Orloff!”  Today’s TV Trope: Social Semi-Circle.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Burger King Gift Certificates Christmas Commercial (1974)  Season’s Eatings.  ****  “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and “Not a Christmas Story” © 1974 MTM Enterprises, Inc. Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s14 #1970s

🐰 It’s Easter in July, and those two things together are the least confusing thing about today’s episode.  🎙️ It’s a race across the calendar with Michael May and Sammy Hain as we follow Peter Cottontail through time on his quest to reclaim the title of Chief Easter Bunny from the evil January Q. Irontail, voiced by Vincent Price, in Rankin/Bass’s first non-Christmas holiday special from 1971.  📺 You can find “Here Comes Peter Cottontail” on Tubi, or this restored version on the YouTube channel “The Rankin Bass Archive.”  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  “The Easter Bunny That Overslept,” the book, and a read-along video.  This special has the same opening as Disney’s “Aladdin.”  Vincent Price hosting “Read, Write, and Draw” on The Disney Channel.  Jim and Dwight are the worst party planning committee on “The Office.”  Patton Oswalt on Easter eggs.  Seymour S. Sassafras is probably a Time Lord.  Today’s TV Trope: Loophole Abuse.  The Halloween segment reuses music from “Mad Monster Party?”  Is the title of Chief Easter Bunny always on the line like a 24/7 wrestling championship?  Johnnie Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet.  Yosemite Sam attempts to cook hasenpfeffer.  The Easter Bunny in Hell in “Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey.”  This special got a sequel in 2005.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Cadbury Easter Creme Eggs (1978)  FOLCs Forever: A Lois & Clark Rewatch Podcast.  ****  “Here Comes Peter Cottontail” © 1971 Videocraft International Limited.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  #s14 #1970s #easter #rankinbass

🎄 It’s the 200th episode of the Advent Calendar House, but more importantly, it’s Christmas Eve! So we’re celebrating with a salute to the last remaining special we have left to talk about in the Rankin/Bass Christmas canon: 1974’s “The Year Without a Santa Claus.”  🎙️ It’s a packed party with Tim Babb, Michael DiGiovanni, Joey O., and Matt Spaulding as we spread Christmas cheer over Southtown and everywhere else — something we could’ve seen Mrs. Claus search for if she hadn’t immediately dropped the idea, but then we wouldn’t have met the true stars of the special: The Miser Bros.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  The original story by Phyllis McGinley.  A read-along record narrated by Boris Karloff.  The DVD menu and only the DVD menu, if that interests you.  Snow Miser’s song in “Batman and Robin.”  Shirley Booth (Mrs. Claus) as “Hazel.”  Today’s TV Tropes: Dressed to Heal, Spinning Paper.  Bob McFadden (Elf Doctor) as “Cool McCool.”  “Panic In New York: Menagerie Breaks Loose,” and other prop newspaper headlines.  Are Santa’s Reindeer Female? (Old Farmer’s Almanac)  Survivor Series 1994: Clowns Are Us vs. the Royal Family.  Ron Marshall (Iggy’s dad) marks the first time I ended up on Muppet Wiki by surprise.  Charlie Chaplin’s hanging out in Southtown.  Heatmiser: the band.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Coca-Cola: “Candles (Buy the World a Coke)” (1977)  Coca-Cola: The World Needs More Santas (2023)  Matt’s book: “Santa in His Own Words.”  “A Bomb for Christmas 2: Past, Present, and Future” on the Can’t Wait for Christmas Podcast.  ****  “The Year Without a Santa Claus” © 1974 Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.  Hosted by The Retro Network.  #s15 #1970s #rankinbass