Enter Into His Gates With Thanksgiving

I've posted during several other Thanksgiving seasons on The Mouse and the Mayflower. The finest legacy of this classic Rankin-Bass TV special (first broadcast in 1968) is the wonderful songs by Maury Laws and Jules Bass. You can read a report on the only recording of these beautiful songs ever released —and it was a promotional recording, at that, never released to the public—by Greg Ehrbar as part of his not-to-be-missed weekly Animation Spin column at Cartoon Research. (The record was only released to employees of the Gas company, which as you can see below, was the sponsor of the premiere broadcast of the "delightful new musical tale" on NBC.) Two of the most The Mouse and the Mayflower beautiful songs are mashed up for the big climax, for in telling of that first Thanksgiving feast, the animated special showcases the lovely "November," leading into a reprise of the majestic "Mayflower," all richly sung by the always excellent Tennessee Ernie Ford. You can see and hear that part of the special here. The special also incorporates Psalm 100, proclaimed by Tennessee Ernie Ford in his rich, expressive voice. Much has been made of the inclusion of a scripture reading in A Charlie Brown Christmas, and rightly so, but The Mouse and the Mayflower does it too. Here is what Ernie proclaims, a perfect "joyful noise unto the Lord" for Thanksgiving Day: Make ye a joyful noise unto the Lord. Come before his presence with singing. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise. Be thankful unto him and bless his name, for the Lord is good. His mercy is everlasting, and his truth endureth to all generations.  Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. 

An Eyvind Earle Christmas

Here is the album cover the original soundtrack recording (in stereo, no less) from the television holiday "spectacular" The Story of Christmas, originally broadcast (or colorcast, I should say) over NBC on December 22, 1963, this was one of the few (in fact, it was reportedly the first) network specials ever broadcast without commercial interruptions. The very special TV special was sponsored by General Mills, which opted to dispense with commercials entirely so as to avoid interrupting the content—especially the magnificent eighteen minute animation segment retelling the Gospel Nativity accounts (the Christmas story, in other words) conceived and produced by Eyvind Earle, the artistic mastermind behind the styling of Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty (1959). Eyvind's distinctive art adorns this album cover, making a fine reminder of what the season is all about. The recording itself boasts the stirring vocal arrangements written and conducted by choral master Roger Wagner, and the vocal stylings of "Tennessee" Ernie Ford, whose lifelong dream this reportedly was. The Story of Christmas is as regarded one of the highest rated, critically acclaimed Christmas specials ever broadcast, and although all but forgotten today, we can glimpse a bit of the Eyvind Earle magic here...and long for the days when great showmanship even extended to take-home treasures such as this soundtrack LP.

A Pooh "Speshal" For Christmas

Tulgey Wood's Christmas celebration gets off to a merry start with this rarely-seen ad from 1970. Once upon a time, Sears was the sole purveyor of just about everything related to Winnie the Pooh—and it was their desire to promote their Pooh line of merchandise and (especially) clothes that led Pooh to become a television star. as you can see from the newspaper ad reproduced here, Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day made its television debut on Monday November 30, 1970. "Pooh-ites" everywhere rejoiced as this Oscar-winning featurette brought Pooh's "frolics, songs, and fun, fun, fun, fun" (that last bit of the list undoubtedly a nod to Tigger's line from the Sherman Brothers' "The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers") came to TV, just in time for Sears (the sole sponsor of this Disney special) to display all their wares for the Christmas season. Disney animation on TV in 1970 was rare indeed (especially when broadcast outside the regular Disney Sunday night showcase), as was the elaborate newspaper announcement. (Click on the image for a larger view. This unique advertisement, with its charmingly somewhat-off-model drawing of Pooh was, I would guess, not prepared by Disney but by Sears, which was the Pooh powerhouse behind this holiday treat.

Kermit The Frog Flies Again

Since it's Muppets Month all November long here at Tulgey Wood, it seemed like a good time to point out that the lovable leader of the Muppets will be once again seen as a giant balloon in Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Kermit first flew in America's favorite Thanksgiving spectacular in 1977. If you want to know more about the Macy's parade as it celebrates its 85th performance this year be sure and check out this great story on the D23 website written by Sarah Smith. And on Thanksgiving evening, there's a special all about the parade on NBC. It's a veritable feast of facts about Macy's annual Turkey Day parade, this year featuring once again everyone's favorite frog.

More Colorful

Both last season and this, NBC has returned to its "living color" roots from the 1950s and 1960s (the phrase was first used for NBC's then-few color broadcasts in 1953) with a campaign promoting its shows and their characters as "More Colorful." This naturally makes me think of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color, which at the start of the 1966-1967 TV season (when NBC finally became the "The All Color Network," as 100% of NBC's programming—from Today in early morning through Tonight at late night— were colorcasts) was promoted with this artwork, along with the rest of the Sunday prime time lineup. Featured are Bryan Russell and Roger Mobley starring in not "Gallegher" but instead the 1964 theatrical release Emil and the Detectives, which was the World of Color season premiere. (By the way, thsi art comes to us from Rankin-Bass historian Rick Goldschmidt's must-see blog, a fun visit anytime but especially during the holidays.)