While there are a bunch of songs that people sing at Thanksgiving -- okay, pretty much one: "We Gather Together" -- there aren't many about Thanksgiving. There's an awful one from the musical Promises, Promises, called "Turkey Lurkey Time," but this is actually a fairly pleasant one from a British musical, written by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse, The Good Old, Bad Old Days. It's quite appropriately titled, "Thanksgiving Day."
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Trundling along with our Thanksgiving gala, The West Wing always seem to go out of its way to have wonderful episodes for Thanksgiving. This is one of the funniest and most memorable scenes from them. President Bartlett and the Butterball Hotline. Continuing with our Thanksgiving celebration, this is the classic it's near-impossible to get through the day without including. It's Stan Freberg's glorious song, "Take an Indian to Lunch This Week" from his fabled album Stan Freberg Presents the United States of America. Volume 1: The Early Years." And as a bonus, we have Freberg's explanation of how the turkey took its place on the table. Today, we'll have a festival of sorts of Thanksgiving related pieces -- from songs to videos to old radio shows. And this is a good place to start. I'm a big fan of Jack Benny, and have been since a kid. Perhaps I got it from my Grandma Rose who loved Benny, and I remember watching his TV show with her when little. Later, when I was at a senior at Northwestern I finally had built up enough contacts to figure out how to get access to their great radio archive -- it was like entering a wonderful, wall-to-wall recordings of old radio programs, and I was able to tape record a bunch of old Benny shows for my collection, which I still have. They're gems. It turns out that my friend and reader of these pages, Eric Boardman -- an all-around talented fellow and Second City alum -- is quite the fan, as well. He sent me the following several months back, about the Jack Benny Show's Thanksgiving special on November 30, 1952 -- "It's no secret, I am obsessed with the Jack Benny radio show. Each night I listen to an episode on my phone as I fall asleep. (Do you conk out with a smile on your kisser?) "Yes, I know Thanksgiving is long over, but this particular program will bring joy to any season. Today's sitcom staffers should study the construction. And everybody else should howl with laughter---and marvel at the gags radio encourages. Benny's writers are constantly surprising us with 'visual" images' And Mr. Benny generously shares the jokes with his crackerjack cast. (Thanks always to the Sportsman Quartet for making cigarette commercials satisfying.) 'The Lucky Strike Program with Jack Benny' is high art, maybe the highest of the genre. "Happy listening!" Okay, let's head back to The West Wing. As long as I mentioned the one song that people sing on Thanksgiving, I thought I might as well include a scene where the show uses the song, as well. It's also perhaps the quintessential scene that explains why Aaron Sorkin and the writers loved writing shows about the holiday. The image is fuzzy at beginning, but it only lasts a few seconds and the words are crisp and lovely. Not long ago, Stephen Colbert finally followed up on his invitation from the New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to visit the country. Given his adoration of All Things Hobbits, where the two trilogies were filmed, it was only a matter of time before he went. And last week, his show broadcast highlights each night from his trip. One of those segments concerned his idea to interest writer-director Peter Jackson to make a spinoff series, based on a tiny cameo extra part that Colbert played in one of The Hobbit movies -- The Desolation of Smaug. This is the result. |
AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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