This is the long version of what will be a :30-second ad during the Super Bowl for the series Ghosts. It's a very clever idea, done nicely.
0 Comments
The other day for the Holiday Music Fest, I posted a beautiful, haunting recording of "The Little Drummer Boy," sung in German by Marlene Dietrich. I thought this would be an appropriate follow-up on Christmas Day. This comes from Season One of The West Wing, a Christmas episode titled, "In Excelsis Deo." It's the last four-minutes, and one of the best final four minutes, not just of The West Wing, but a TV episode I've seen. Wonderful not only for what it's about, but that combined with the use of music, performance and editing. And it is an absolutely beautiful, moving setting for "The Little Drummer Boy." I wrote about this piece of remarkable TV history back in 2014, and it remains one of my favorites. Though there's some background music in it, it's not about music at all, but it will nonetheless fit in perfectly for Holiday Music Fest, mainly on the Fest part. Back in my initial posting on this site about Kukla, Fran and Ollie, I wrote about how the show's brilliant creator, puppeteer Burr Tillstrom won an additional Emmy Award that was not involved with KF&O, but for his work on his own. It was for one of the "hand ballets" that he performed on occasion for the satirical news series, That Was the Week That Was. That Was the Week That Was was a smart, pointed, very sharp British sketch-comedy show which was brought over to the U.S. in the early 1960s. Among other things, it introduced to American audiences one of the original British cast members, David Frost. It's also the show that introduced Tom Lehrer to most Americans. He wrote periodic songs for the series, and then recorded them for his now-classic hit album, That Was the Year That Was. And it also brought Burr Tillstrom into the national spotlight in a way people hadn't seen or expected. His hand ballets were little vignettes that didn't use any puppets at all, but merely Tillstrom's bare hands, using them alone to evoke some story in the news he wanted to get across. It was done with great artistry, often movingly. And one of them so artistic and moving that it won him an Emmy Award. In 1963, two years after the Berlin Wall had been erected, a very brief concession was made. The Wall would open for the Christmas holiday and allow those in the West to travel into East Berlin and visit family and loved ones, needing to return a few days later. This is what Burr Tillstrom did a hand ballet about shortly after. And -- -- I found the video of it! It is one of the favorite videos I've been able to find. I'm thrilled. The quality of the video is a little rough, especially at the beginning, but it's fine. And ultimately, as you watch -- one brilliant artist using only his hands -- the quality of the video won't matter one whit. And if anyone ever wonders where the humanity of Kukla, Fran and Ollie came from, to bring such life into puppets, now you'll know. When I posted this one year, I got a perturbed note from a reader who found nothing worthwhile about the video, and took me to task for wasting his time. In the spirit of the season, I will again refrain from anything ad hominen in return. I will just say that I feel completely comfortable in recognizing the legend of this piece, and anything else is an understandable matter of personal taste. Wherever that may lie. I say this knowing that it's not just my opinion on this, but also the opinion of the members of the Television Academy who voted Tillstrom the Emmy Award. But to be fair, I guess I should add a disclaimer. If anyone doesn't like old black-and-white video or just looking at hands for three minutes, or politics and history, or quiet, thoughtful, emotional storytelling with the sparsest of action or jokes, centered instead on pure artistry, I get it, and so by all means avoid this. For everyone else, here it is. The video calls it "Burr Tillstrom's 'Berlin Wall.'" For me, I think of it as "The Burr-lin Wall". We take a moment for a bit of Personal Privilege. Back in March, I wrote a piece here about a TV documentary series that airs in Miami called Inside the Heat that provides a look into the Miami Heat NBA team. And they just did an episode that devoted the full program to the 35-year career of my cousin Andy Elisburg who is the General Manager and Senior Vice-President of the basketball team. (No, not a typo, their wing of the family spells it differently) At the end of the article, I quipped that -- "I also believe that the show should be nominated for an Emmy next year as Best Program of the Year. Though I'm admittedly biased." O ye of little faith. It turns out that it wasn't just a quip, but a prescient one. Because bizarrely -- and happily -- I wasn't far off. Really. The other week, at the 47th Annual Suncoast Regional Emmy Awards -- the episode actually, really won an Emmy Award! Hey, like I always say here, I tries nots to steers ya wrong. And I'm not fibbing. Here's the proof -- And just to show that, no, this isn't just a photo of a random Emmy statuette, here's a close-up of the text on the base for those who choose not to the use "zoom" feature on your computer -- And as Andy ways -- "Working my way slowly to an EGOT..." Last week, I embedded a Christmas special from Julie Andrews' weekly TV series, The Julie Andrews Hour. Here's another one, from 1973. And like the other, they again went all out to make it a rich special, not just another episode. The guests aren't as extensive -- but they're prime. My fave Peter Ustinov (who's wonderful as her guide through the episode and history as Santa Claus, played unlike you've seen him), and also Peggy Lee, playing an ethereal Sugar Plum Fairy. It's a low-key, stylish sort-of journey through some years past of Christmas. One of the highlights is a wonderful, 8-minute medley that Julie Andrews and Peggy Lee sing together. (Note that when Peggy Lee sings "He's a Tramp" from Lady and the Tramp, she co-wrote the all the songs to that film.) And even Peter Ustinov gets a very little singing, notably when he explains the symphony he suggested to Mozart as a gift. For several years now as part of the Holiday Music Fest, including this year, I’ve played some song from a 1956 TV musical production of A Christmas Carol, that was called The Stingiest Man in Town, which was done for The Alcoa Hour. I had the cast album, and as far as I knew that was all that existed. But as another of those major treats, I just found a video of the entire 80-minute TV production! And if anything qualifies as “little-known” for the Holiday Music Fest, this is it. Normally, I’d post it on Christmas Eve as befits the story, but that spot is reserved for my favorite adaptation of the story, a BBC radio version with Sir Ralph Richardson and Paul Scofield, so we’ll post this ahead of time. It's very early television, so the production and video quality is a bit creaky. But it comes through fine enough and is a respectably done version of the story – and is fun, as well, seeing something from early days of TV…and done live. when maneuvering around a soundstage wasn’t as simple as today. The cast is part of the treat here. Though many of the names are not well-known today, they were for the time. It’s all led by Basil Rathbone as Scrooge, easily the most famous name in the cast today for his years playing Sherlock Holmes in the movies. Marley's Ghost is played by Robert Weede, a major Metropolitan Opera star who later moved into more popular culture productions, most notably as the star in Frank Loesser’s Broadway musical, The Most Happy Fella. And Bob Cratchit is played by Martyn Green, one of the leading stars of the renowned D’Oyly Carte Opera Company, a group famous for being considered the home of Gilbert & Sullivan productions. There’s another Metropolitan Opera star here, as well – Patrice Munsel, who made a few movies and TV shows, and plays Belle in this production. The show also features two popular singers of the era – Johnny Desmond as Scrooge’s nephew Fred, and Vic Damone as Young Scrooge. And the popular singing group The Four Lads perform as a sort of travelling Greek Chorus, filling in some narration. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention one of my favorite character actors, John McGiver, even in just a very small role. Here, he plays the first of two gentlemen who come to Scrooge’s office asking for a Christmas donation. The score is serviceable, as the expression goes, though there are a few solid numbers, like “Mankind is My Business” and "Birthday Party for the King." The music is by Fred Spielman, with lyrics by Janice Torre, who wrote the teleplay. And definitely worth noting is that it’s directed by Daniel Petrie, who had a long career directing movies and TV. His most famous movie was A Raisin in the Sun, and for TV he did the film Sybil for which Sally Field won an Emmy as Best Actress and established her as a serious actress. (SIDE NOTE: If you stick around to the end credits, they announce next week's show -- which sounds tremendous! It's Agatha Christie's A Murder is Announced ...which has a seriously impressive cast: Jessica Tandy, Roger Moore, and the legendary Gracie Fields, as 'Miss Marple'. And no, alas, I can't find a video of it online.) Which brings us to Christmas Eve, the very night that Jacob Marley died seven years ago… |
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
Categories
All
|
© Copyright Robert J. Elisberg 2024
|