A classic post. This may be the 4th time I'm running it. What has been heralded as one of the worst hours of television ever - THE PAUL LYNDE HALLOWEEN SPECIAL has got to be seen to be believed. This ABC special originally aired once in 1976, but after years of showing up a bootleg copies, it's finally available on DVD.The show has a loose "storyline", as legendary flamboyant HOLLYWOOD SQUARES celebrity Paul first thinks it's a Christmas special, then an Easter special, and then a Valentines Day special - until his elderly housekeeper (guest star Margaret Hamilton) sets him straight, so to speak. After a barrage of cornball jokes (some written by Bruce Vilanch), Paul breaks out in song: a decidedly Halloween take on "Kids" from "Bye, Bye Birdie". (Which Mr. Lynde introduced in the original Broadway show). Basically the song is a complaint about the younger generation, calling out everything that is wrong with them. My favorite line is "Too much Alice Cooper and not enough Alice Faye!" Like anyone in 1976 knew who Alice Faye was! During this number he gets attacked by trick or treaters dressed as devils - but two of the gang members are revealed to be his ABC pals Donny & Marie in a cheap cameo.After the song, Margaret convinces her bitchy and bitter boss Paul to take a drive with her to visit her sister, who lives at the mysterious Gloomsbury Manor. Sis turns out to be none other than the fabulous Witchie-Poo (Billie Hayes) from H.R. PUFNSTUF! Then, amazingly Margaret transforms herself into her WIZARD OF OZ character - the Wicked Witch of the West! Talk about crossovers! It turns out the witches want to enlist Paul to help them erase their negative media image. 1970s little person superstar Billy Barty shows up as the butler–just in time for some insulting midget jokes, followed by an appearance by a delightfully youthful Betty White as Miss Halloween 1976 - who has won a date with Paul, but she was expecting PAUL NEWMAN! The witches then offer Paul 3 wishes...Wish #1 - Paul wishes to be a "rhinestone trucker", apparently so he can communicate with Tim Conway via CB radio-which was all the rage in '76. Tim arrives at a dinner where PinkyTuscadero (Roz Kelly from HAPPY DAYS) is the waitress. Tim is about to marry Pinky, but Paul crashes through the wall with his big rig in time to stop the wedding and ask Pinky to marry him instead! Pinky challenges the guys to a contest to see who's more macho. Billy Barty plays the "short order cook"-and he's the most macho!!!Whaa-whaa. What does all this have to do with Halloween? Then there's an awful musical number with Paul, Pinky and Tim and some square-dancing disco dancers. After which the witches invite some of their musician friends to perform "chamber music" for Paul - and the quartet turns out to be none other than KISS - who perform "Detroit Rock City," while the camera rotates 360 degrees and viewers get queasy. Then the witches play Monopoly with Paul. Huh?Wish #2 -Paul wishes he was in the Sarah dessert - he's now a dashingly romantic sheik and Florence Henderson is his potentially lusty lover. Mrs. Brady was already used to faking romance with gay leading men-so she plays along just fine. He tells her he first fell for her after he saw her "milking a cobra"! Then he talks about the "ruby portals of her lips" and he gives his rival Tim Conway a cock-a-too "cause a man gets lonely in the foreign legion." Bruce Vilanch was probably giggling backstage and loving that he got away with all this filthy innuendo. How can they top this? Wish #3 - Paul goes to a haunted discotheque - "the only play where a person can hustle without getting arrested". Then just when you think it can't get any worse, Florence appears sporting a Dorothy Hamill hairdo and a glittering black gown and sings a disco version of "That Old Black Magic".Then KISS comes back to sing the monster hit "Beth" and another song called "King of the Nighttime World." (I think it's supposed be about Larry King, but I'm not sure) It all comes to an end when Pinky returns to sing "Disco Lady" with Paul and the rest if the cast in an epic production number, while the guys from KISS look on in disbelief. Roll credits. This has to be the strangest, gayest, bitchiest, most surreal mess ever to air on primetime TV - but of course, I love it. Now if only someone would put out a DVD set of the one-season wonder THE PAUL LYNDE SHOW - then I'd really be happy. Imagine Paul as an upscale, wisecracking Archie Bunker-type dad who gets dumped in the swimming pool each and every week - doesn't that sound truly heavenly?
From last year: In 1897 a young girl named Virginia O'Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of The New York Sun asking if Santa Claus really existed. The editor's response became the bookYes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus, which was published in 1972. Two years later in 1974 Peanuts animator Bill Melendez adapted it into a popular half-hour ABC special - complete with a theme song by Jimmy Osmond.
The show aired during the 70s on ABC, then on CBS, USA Network and The Family Channel throughout the 80s and 90s. The story was also adapted into a live-action TV-film in 1991 starring Richard Thomas, Ed Asner and Charles Bronson. A second animated adaptation premiered on CBS in 2009 and will be rebroadcast this season. The real Virginia O'Hanlon grew up to become a schoolteacher and died in 1971.
Originally posted in 2008. Despite his recent nutty attacks on on our "socialist" President, here's my tribute to the late Andy Williams. Pop singer Andy Williams is known as "Mr. Christmas," due to unmistakably smooth renditions of on many much-loved holiday standards, specifically The Most Wonderful Time of The Year. But in my opinion, it was his holiday TV shows and specials that solidified this title. After hosting a short-lived half-hour ABC show in 1958 featuring Dick Van Dyke, this undeniably handsome crooner became the star of his own hour-long weekly CBS show during the summer of 1959. In 1962 NBC awarded him an ongoing series, which ran, more or less until 1971.
While never a Top 20 hit, the show proved very popular no matter what competition it faced. In it's debut season, NBC aired it Thursdays at 10PM, opposite CBS's ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRSENTS. For seasons 2 and 3, the show was moved to Tuesdays at 10PM, alternating with the BELL TELEPHONE HOUR. THE ANDY WILLIAMS SHOW returned to a weekly schedule in 1965, when it was moved to Monday at 9PM-opposite THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW, creating the infamous "Battle of the Andys". The show then became part of NBC's Disney-led Sunday night line-up in 1966.
The show took two seasons off and returned on Saturdays at 7:30PM for a final two years. In total, the show went on to win three Emmy Awards for outstanding variety program (1963, 1966 and 1967). While each week was jam-packed with great songs and fabulous production numbers featuring top knotch guest stars, the absolute highlight of each season, of course, was the annual Christmas show. Even after the series ended, through the early 70s, Andy's Christmas specials were among the most popular of the season, setting the tone and format which many others have copied and parodied ever since.The Osmond Brothers, who Williams "discovered" performing in Disneyland made their TV debut on the 1962 Christmas show, and stayed with Andy for the rest of his run. Andy's wife, the lovely French chanteuse Claudine Longet and their three children, Noelle, Christian, and Robert all appeared on the Christmas shows. For more about Claudine go here. I guess part of what made his holiday shows so special was the appearances by Andy's family, notably his very talented brothers. The visual of these guys singing in harmony wearing matching sweaters has had a profound effect on me over the years. Here's a photo from my annual Christmas shindig:So, when you get the Christmas blues or are sad because you can't afford to buy any gifts for your friends or family this year, just think of Andy's warm, comforting voice and it will bring you back to a time when the TV landscape was littered with so many magical hours of song, dance and cornball comedy. Luckily some of that magic has be captured and is now available on dvd (or on your local PBS station).In addition, Williams has recorded eight Christmas albums over the years and has performed in his own theater in Branson, Missouri since 1992. Here a great little (and totally unauthorized) compilation that I came across on YouTube. You can see more clips over at Marc Harshbarger's DEEP DISH.
Pop singer Andy Williams is known as "Mr. Christmas," due to unmistakably smooth renditions of on many much-loved holiday standards, specifically The Most Wonderful Time of The Year. But in my opinion, it was his holiday TV shows and specials that solidified this title. After hosting a short-lived half-hour ABC show in 1958 featuring Dick Van Dyke, this undeniably handsome crooner became the star of his own hour-long weekly CBS show during the summer of 1959. In 1962 NBC awarded him an ongoing series, which ran, more or less until 1971.
While never a Top 20 hit, the show proved very popular no matter what competition it faced. In it's debut season, NBC aired it Thursdays at 10PM, opposite CBS's ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRSENTS. For seasons 2 and 3, the show was moved to Tuesdays at 10PM, alternating with the BELL TELEPHONE HOUR. THE ANDY WILLIAMS SHOW returned to a weekly schedule in 1965, when it was moved to Monday at 9PM-opposite THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW, creating the infamous "Battle of the Andys". The show then became part of NBC's Disney-led Sunday night line-up in 1966.
The show took two seasons off and returned on Saturdays at 7:30PM for a final two years. In total, the show went on to win three Emmy Awards for outstanding variety program (1963, 1966 and 1967). While each week was jam-packed with great songs and fabulous production numbers featuring top knotch guest stars, the absolute highlight of each season, of course, was the annual Christmas show. Even after the series ended, through the early 70s, Andy's Christmas specials were among the most popular of the season, setting the tone and format which many others have copied and parodied ever since.The Osmond Brothers, who Williams "discovered" performing in Disneyland made their TV debut on the 1962 Christmas show, and stayed with Andy for the rest of his run. Andy's wife, the lovely French chanteuse Claudine Longet and their three children, Noelle, Christian, and Robert all appeared on the Christmas shows. For more about Claudine go here. I guess part of what made his holiday shows so special was the appearances by Andy's family, notably his very talented brothers. The visual of these guys singing in harmony wearing matching sweaters has had a profound effect on me over the years. Here's a photo from my annual Christmas shindig:So, when you get the Christmas blues or are sad because you can't afford to buy any gifts for your friends or family this year, just think of Andy's warm, comforting voice and it will bring you back to a time when the TV landscape was littered with so many magical hours of song, dance and cornball comedy. Luckily some of that magic has be captured and is now available on dvd (or on your local PBS station).In addition, Williams has recorded eight Christmas albums over the years and has performed in his own theater in Branson, Missouri since 1992. Here a great little (and totally unauthorized) compilation that I came across on YouTube.
What has been heralded as one of the worst hours of television ever - THE PAUL LYNDE HALLOWEEN SPECIAL has got to be seen to be believed. This ABC special originally aired once in 1976, but after years of showing up a bootleg copies, it's finally available on DVD.The show has a loose "storyline", as legendary flamboyant HOLLYWOOD SQUARES celebrity Paul first thinks it's a Christmas special, then an Easter special, and then a Valentines Day special - until his elderly housekeeper (guest star Margaret Hamilton) sets him straight, so to speak. After a barrage of cornball jokes (some written by Bruce Vilanch), Paul breaks out in song: a decidedly Halloween take on "Kids" from "Bye, Bye Birdie". (Which Mr. Lynde introduced in the original Broadway show). Basically the song is a complaint about the younger generation, calling out everything that is wrong with them. My favorite line is "Too much Alice Cooper and not enough Alice Faye!" Like anyone in 1976 knew who Alice Faye was! During this number he gets attacked by trick or treaters dressed as devils - but two of the gang members are revealed to be his ABC pals Donny & Marie in a cheap cameo.After the song, Margaret convinces her bitchy and bitter boss Paul to take a drive with her to visit her sister, who lives at the mysterious Gloomsbury Manor. Sis turns out to be none other than the fabulous Witchie-Poo (Billie Hayes) from H.R. PUFNSTUF! Then, amazingly Margaret transforms herself into her WIZARD OF OZ character - the Wicked Witch of the West! Talk about crossovers! It turns out the witches want to enlist Paul to help them erase their negetive media image. 1970s little person superstar Billy Barty shows up as the butler–just in time for some insulting midget jokes, followed by an appearance by a delightfully youthful Betty White as Miss Halloween 1976 - who has won a date with Paul, but she was expecting PAUL NEWMAN! The witches then offer Paul 3 wishes...Wish #1 - Paul wishes to be a "rhinestone trucker", apparently so he can communicate with Tim Conway via CB radio-which was all the rage in '76. Tim arrives at a dinner where Pinky Tuscadero (Roz Kelly from HAPPY DAYS) is the waitress. Tim is about to marry Pinky, but Paul crashes through the wall with his big rig in time to stop the wedding and ask Pinky to marry him instead! Pinky challenges the guys to a contest to see who's more macho. Billy Barty plays the "short order cook"-and he's the most macho!!!Whaa-whaa. What does all this have to do with Halloween? Then there's an awful musical number with Paul, Pinky and Tim and some square-dancing disco dancers. After which the witches invite some of their musician friends to perform "chamber music" for Paul - and the quartet turns out to be none other than KISS - who perform "Detroit Rock City," while the camera rotates 360 degrees and viewers get queasy. Then the witches play Monopoly with Paul. Huh?Wish #2 -Paul wishes he was in the Sarah dessert - he's now a dashingly romantic sheik and Florence Henderson is his potentially lusty lover. Mrs. Brady was already used to faking romance with gay leading men-so she plays along just fine. He tells her he first fell for her after he saw her "milking a cobra"! Then he talks about the "ruby portrals of her lips" and he gives his rival Tim Conway a cock-a-too "cause a man gets lonely in the foreign legion." Bruce Vilanch was probably giggling backstage and loving that he got away with all this filthy innuendo. How can they top this? Wish #3 - Paul goes to a haunted discothèque - "the only play where a person can hustle without getting arrested". Then just when you think it can't get any worse, Florence appears sporting a Dorothy Hamill hairdo and a glittering black gown and sings a disco version of "That Old Black Magic".Then KISS comes back to sing the monster hit "Beth" and another song called "King of the Nighttime World." (I think it's supposed be about Larry King, but I'm not sure) It all comes to an end when Pinky returns to sing "Disco Lady" with Paul and the rest if the cast in an epic production number, while the guys from KISS look on in disbelief. Roll credits. This has to be the strangest, gayest, bitchiest, most surreal mess ever to air on primetime TV - but of course, I love it. Now if only someone would put out a DVD set of the one-season wonder THE PAUL LYNDE SHOW - then I'd really be happy. Imagine Paul as an upscale, wisecracking Archie Bunker-type dad who gets dumped in the swimming pool each and every week - doesn't that sound truly heavenly?
To complete the unholy Osmond trinity, here were have the frightening duo of Donny and Jimmy Osmond...Donny (pictured above) also looks a bit like Kaye Ballard...or perhaps even JoAnne Worley! There is something extremely unsettling about this mask - especially grouped with Marie and little Jimmy (pictured below).Jimmy, in the non-Halloween world, was always the creepiest and least talented of the Osmonds - and his Halloween mask has a certain sadness about it. The mask looks like it's saying "I know I'm not as pretty as Marie or as non-threateningly cute as Donny, but please try to look into your heart and try not to hate me - my parents forced me into this. I wish I wasn't born an Osmond, there's just too much pressure. Help."
For an totally outrageous and angry review of Donny & Marie's 1978 Christmas special by my friend Danny (aka Frieda Laye), go here. Be forwarded that Danny (not DOUG...or Donny) refers to Marie by the word Jane Fonda let slip out on the TODAY SHOW. Also, Jimmy sings a song titled (no lie) "What if Jesus Came". You've been warned.
Ben Cooper costumes were always the highlight of the season for me. Even as a kid I knew that some of the costumes were pretty lame. For example, take a gander at this Kaye Ballard costume. Kaye, co-star of TV's lost treasure THE MOTHERS-IN-LAW has never looked better with her reverse flip hairdo and big bright smile...Oh wait a minute, why is Kaye Ballard wearing a plastic smock that says "Marie Osmond" and holding a box that pictures Donny, Marie and the dreaded Jimmy Osmond? Oh - because it's NOT a Kaye Ballard costume - it's Marie Osmond!!!
It appears that "Sonseed" - the band behind the soon-to-be web phenom "Jesus is My Friend" (see post below) - had a whole album called "First Fruit" and a website called Vinyl Rehab is selling it! While I wait for my album to arrive, I've gotten some requests for larger images of the incredibly captivating "Sonseed" members.Let's start with the Lead Singer - the host calls him "Sal" - I call him the Christian Donny Osmond. You just know he's a sinner. He's pretty dreamy, and as Ann Magnuson once declared about him, "his skin is flawless." ZAP!I like to call this woman "Inez," because she reminds me of the lovely woman named Inez who works for my vet. One day I will get up the nerve to ask Inez if she was ever in a Christian ska band.This is the "Groovy Guy". Kinda like Kenny Loggins meets Jim Henson, without Jimmy Messina or Kermit to drag him down.This is "Sleepy." Shhh...be quiet or you'll wake him. More to come.
For our next Holiday-themed review - our very angry friend Danny brings us back to 1978 - when DONNY & MARIE were all the rage. Donny was all over magazine covers and Marie was on TV constantly. 29 years later - and some things haven't changed. WARNING: The opinions expressed in the following review are all DANNY'S...not DOUG'S, so any nasty emails I get will be forwarded directly to DANNY. It was really scary watching this crappy old TV special. (Editor's note: Actually it was really just an episode of their weekly ABC series). First of all, my friends and I got into the holiday spirit by trying to figure out which Osmond boy was deaf or possibly retarded. It was REALLY hard to tell. Most of us settled on Tom Osmond because his tongue did look a little over-sized, but I thought, "Maybe he's just a bad lip syncher..." (Editor's note: No, actually the bad lip-syncher was Marie.) Another scary thing was Jimmy Osmond. We couldn't decide which lesbian he looked like most, I thought he was quite Rosie O'Donnell-ish, while some others said he looked more like Chastity Bono, but someone else nominated him "the retarded one"... I might tend to agree after seeing this pic...yeah -he's retarded alright.
Jimmy had a memorable solo moment when he sang "What If Jesus Came" ..."on __ ____" was added by some anonymous member of our viewing party... okay it was me! (Editor's note: DANNY not DOUG). Jimmy just walked in the snow singing. Boring!! Until, at the end, Jesus actually came!... on __ ____! (For those of you saying I'm gonna burn in hell... I'll grab you a cappaccino on the way down!)
Then there was the usual Osmond crap, like the "men" trashing the kitchen singing a horrible medley about knowin' how to cook grub. The worst of it came when they announced, "...the Osmond wives will sing!" Someone needed to explain to them there's a difference between "WILL" and "CAN". My favorite part was at the end of the wives' song, they throw pillows at their husbands. Well, some of the husbands have their small children in their lap and one of them wives beans the kids pretty good, possibly causing more brain damage in the Osmond clan. I'm pretty sure we saw tears. By the end of the show we all agreed, Marie was a total c*nt. (Editor's note: Not sure what provoked this, but remember I told you that Danny was very angry!)
Well, Merry Christmas from Provo, Utah - home of retarded Osmonds, boy-child lesbians, kitchen-trashing menfolk and marginally talented wives. If I've offended anyone, I've done my job.
Editor's final note: Donny and Marie as Luke and Leia - awesome!
The show has a loose "storyline", as legendary flamboyant HOLLYWOOD SQUARES celebrity Paul first thinks it's a Christmas special, then an Easter special, and then a Valentines Day special - until his elderly housekeeper (guest star Margaret Hamilton) sets him straight, so to speak. After a barrage of cornball jokes (some written by Bruce Vilanch), Paul breaks out in song: a decidedly Halloween take on "Kids" from "Bye, Bye Birdie". (Which Mr. Lynde introduced in the original Broadway show). Basically the song is a complaint about the younger generation, calling out everything that is wrong with them. My favorite line is "Too much Alice Cooper and not enough Alice Faye!" Like anyone in 1976 knew who Alice Faye was! During this number he gets attacked by trick or treaters dressed as devils - but two of the gang members are revealed to be his ABC pals Donny & Marie in a cheap cameo.
After the song, Margaret convinces her bitchy and bitter boss Paul to take a drive with her to visit her sister, who lives at the mysterious Gloomsbury Manor. Sis turns out to be none other than the fabulous Witchie-Poo (Billie Hayes) from H.R. PUFNSTUF! Then, amazingly Margaret transforms herself into her WIZARD OF OZ character - the Wicked Witch of the West! Talk about crossovers! It turns out the witches want to enlist Paul to help them erase their negative media image. 1970s little person superstar Billy Barty shows up as the butler–just in time for some insulting midget jokes, followed by an appearance by a delightfully youthful Betty White as Miss Halloween 1976 - who has won a date with Paul, but she was expecting PAUL NEWMAN! The witches then offer Paul 3 wishes...
Wish #1 - Paul wishes to be a "rhinestone trucker", apparently so he can communicate with Tim Conway via CB radio-which was all the rage in '76. Tim arrives at a dinner where Pinky Tuscadero (Roz Kelly from HAPPY DAYS) is the waitress. Tim is about to marry Pinky, but Paul crashes through the wall with his big rig in time to stop the wedding and ask Pinky to marry him instead! Pinky challenges the guys to a contest to see who's more macho. Billy Barty plays the "short order cook"-and he's the most macho!!!Whaa-whaa. What does all this have to do with Halloween? Then there's an awful musical number with Paul, Pinky and Tim and some square-dancing disco dancers. After which the witches invite some of their musician friends to perform "chamber music" for Paul - and the quartet turns out to be none other than KISS - who perform "Detroit Rock City," while the camera rotates 360 degrees and viewers get queasy. Then the witches play Monopoly with Paul. Huh?
Wish #2 -Paul wishes he was in the Sarah dessert - he's now a dashingly romantic sheik and Florence Henderson is his potentially lusty lover. Mrs. Brady was already used to faking romance with gay leading men-so she plays along just fine. He tells her he first fell for her after he saw her "milking a cobra"! Then he talks about the "ruby portals of her lips" and he gives his rival Tim Conway a cock-a-too "cause a man gets lonely in the foreign legion." Bruce Vilanch was probably giggling backstage and loving that he got away with all this filthy innuendo. How can they top this? Wish #3 - Paul goes to a haunted discotheque - "the only play where a person can hustle without getting arrested". Then just when you think it can't get any worse, Florence appears sporting a Dorothy Hamill hairdo and a glittering black gown and sings a disco version of "That Old Black Magic".
Then KISS comes back to sing the monster hit "Beth" and another song called "King of the Nighttime World." (I think it's supposed be about Larry King, but I'm not sure) It all comes to an end when Pinky returns to sing "Disco Lady" with Paul and the rest if the cast in an epic production number, while the guys from KISS look on in disbelief. Roll credits.
This has to be the strangest, gayest, bitchiest, most surreal mess ever to air on primetime TV - but of course, I love it. Now if only someone would put out a DVD set of the one-season wonder THE PAUL LYNDE SHOW - then I'd really be happy. Imagine Paul as an upscale, wisecracking Archie Bunker-type dad who gets dumped in the swimming pool each and every week - doesn't that sound truly heavenly?
After hosting a short-lived half-hour ABC show in 1958 featuring Dick Van Dyke, this undeniably handsome crooner became the star of his own hour-long weekly CBS show during the summer of 1959. In 1962 NBC awarded him an ongoing series, which ran, more or less until 1971.
The show took two seasons off and returned on Saturdays at 7:30PM for a final two years. In total, the show went on to win three Emmy Awards for outstanding variety program (1963, 1966 and 1967). While each week was jam-packed with great songs and fabulous production numbers featuring top knotch guest stars, the absolute highlight of each season, of course, was the annual Christmas show. Even after the series ended, through the early 70s, Andy's Christmas specials were among the most popular of the season, setting the tone and format which many others have copied and parodied ever since.
In addition, Williams has recorded eight Christmas albums over the years and has performed in his own theater in Branson, Missouri since 1992. Here a great little (and totally unauthorized) compilation that I came across on YouTube. You can see more clips over at 
After hosting a short-lived half-hour ABC show in 1958 featuring Dick Van Dyke, this undeniably handsome crooner became the star of his own hour-long weekly CBS show during the summer of 1959. In 1962 NBC awarded him an ongoing series, which ran, more or less until 1971.
The show took two seasons off and returned on Saturdays at 7:30PM for a final two years. In total, the show went on to win three Emmy Awards for outstanding variety program (1963, 1966 and 1967). While each week was jam-packed with great songs and fabulous production numbers featuring top knotch guest stars, the absolute highlight of each season, of course, was the annual Christmas show. Even after the series ended, through the early 70s, Andy's Christmas specials were among the most popular of the season, setting the tone and format which many others have copied and parodied ever since.
In addition, Williams has recorded eight Christmas albums over the years and has performed in his own theater in Branson, Missouri since 1992. Here a great little (and totally unauthorized) compilation that I came across on YouTube.
