Three woodland animals and a cool little otter
Two names
A fat guy in a jer-sey
Christmas, and by extension Gheorghemas, is my favorite time of the year. Santa stumbles, office parties, house parties, time with friends, time with family, I love it all. I am also a sucker for TV Christmas specials. My original plan for the third day of Gheorghemas was to document three of my favorite holiday shows but in the end I decided to detail one of the lesser known Christmas specials that just happens to be my favorite.
In 1977, Muppet creator Jim Henson was sitting on top of the puppet world. After cutting his teeth on Sesame Street and Saturday Night Live, Henson was enjoying the triumph of season one of The Muppet Show. Building upon the most sensational, inspirational, celebrational, Muppetational show ever, Henson decided to produce a Christmas special based on Russell Hoban's 1971 O'Henry-esque story of an otter family struggling to make ends meet at Christmas. Add the newly famous Kermit the Frog as narrator and the classic Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas (EOJBC) was born.
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| Font fans, note the awesome 70's style text |
Typically, Christmas specials feature standard animation (A Charlie Brown Christmas, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas), stop motion animation (The Year without Santa Claus, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer), or even claymation (The California Raisins Christmas). EOJBC, is different and special. Henson utilized many different styles of puppeteering and set design to bring to life the residents of Frogtown Hollow. The result is an amazing christmas special that is a must watch every year in the Marls household.
Essentially, EOJBC is the story of Ma Otter and her son Emmet's efforts to get the other a special christmas present (a guitar for Emmet & a piano for Ma). Times have been tough for the Otters since Pa Otter passed away and the cash each make from various odd jobs is not enough to cover the desired gifts. Apparently, credit remains tight in Frogtown Hollow. However, the town's Christmas talent show boasts a $50 first prize. Unbeknownst to the other, Ma & Emmet each enter the competition set on winning the prize so they can buy gifts to put under the Christmas branch.
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| Whadda' ya expect, times are tough... |
Ma plans on singing, while Emmet and THREE of his buddies form a jug band. Emmet's buddies are Harvey Beaver, Stanley Weasel, and Wendell Porcupine...three species that I was unaware got along, let alone be able to harmonize together. That said, while Emmet and the boys can't hold a candle to FoG:TB Rootsy's New Roanoke Jug Band, they do have some talent as seen here (note Harvey's solid kazoo work):
Also entered in the talent show is a group of miscreants from the town of Riverbottom, which, like Phildelphia, is clearly a town of ne'er-do-wells. However, just as Philadelphia spawned Hall & Oates, Riverbottom can proudly claim the Riverbottom Nightmare Band as their own.
I won't spoil the ending for those who have not seen it before, but unlike many of today's children's stories that stress that everything is possible if you try hard enough, EOJBC has a bit more realism. Life is not always easy, you can't always win, and you don't always get everything you want, but that's ok. In the end, Emmet, his jug band buddies and Ma Otter learn a very Gheorghie lesson about finding the good things in life and working together, which is as relevant today as it was in 1977, making EOJBC a Gheorghemas must.
An added bonus is that EOJBC features several songs written by Paul Williams.
At just five foot two inches, the bespectacled author of "An Old Fashioned Love Song", "We've Only Just Begun", and most importantly "Rainbow Connection", is no doubt a favorite of our own Tiny Dictator.
It is tough to deny the Gheorgh-ness of Mr. Williams who has never been afraid work with muppety co-stars. However, if you need any further evidence of a man that does not take himself too seriously, at 1:55 of the attached clip you can see Mr. William's seminal work as Little Enos Burdett in Smokey and The Bandit.
Merry Gheorghemas!!
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26 comments:
I'll concur that's top notch kazoo work, but the washboard playing is a little weak. Still, pretty impressive for a beaver.
Rootsy knows jug bands. I stick with jugs.
I saw Paul Williams live ~5 yrs ago at a cabaret joint in NYC. My wife, the all-time biggest 70's easy rock I know, made me go. We had a decent time. Carol King was seated next to us. We had no idea because who knows what Carol King looks like? They are old friends and she joined him on stage for a song.
At one point, Paul asked for requests from the crowd. My wife yelled the first request, which he didn't do b/c it was a cover. She also yelled the second request. Wasn't hard to stand out in a room of sixty-somethings.
He is a tiny, tiny man and it's amazing he's still alive after his substance abuse problems back in the 1970's.
Apparently, Paul Williams' contribution to Daft Punk's Random Access Memories got him inclusion in the Album of The Year Grammy nomination.
Viva Short Guys!!!
Marls - tremendous post. Reminded me of the existense of Emmit Otter (hadn't seen this in years) and how attractive a late-70's-era Sally Field was.
Was she a Juggalette?
Sally Field kept her fastball for a long time.
Marls- ass kickin', finger pickin' good Gmas post.
TR- my wife will contend for the all-time biggest 70's easy rock ("fan," I assume you meant to include). She routinely plays Carole King radio on Pandora in our house, and she knows what Ms. King looks like. Our ladies should hang.
"An Old Fashioned Love Song," as performed by Three Dog Night, was almost selected as the First Dance song in my first wedding.* Three Dog Night's most famous song, "Joy to the World," was written by the late Hoyt Axton, who portrayed Randall Peltzer, the dad/traveling salesman who buys Gizmo in Gremlins -- another puppetry masterpiece from our youth. Coincidence?
*We ended up choosing "Sharing the Night Together" by Dr. Hook. I amuse myself just thinking about that.
And finally, Rootsy, congrats on being the first person to write "pretty impressive for a beaver" on GTB. We've been waiting a long time for it.
Glad I could add a little something to the proceedings today, though I'm a bit surprised that the phrase has never been uttered on these pages.
Everyone keeps their beavers under wraps around here.
Axton also sang the "Head For The Mountains" jungle for Busch beer.
For those keeping score at home, we have now touched on jugs, beavers, and Busch.
Jingle, autocorrect, jingle.
"Jungle" may be more appropriate, depending on the beaver or Busch in question. And for the record, I have touched on no jugs, beavers, or Busches today. Luh ya zwoman!
when i have time, i'll finish this post (i'm cooking dinner! using lots of bacon!) but the opening really annoyed me, because the xmas holidays drive me nuts. people need to relax, and instead they are driven into a froth by the materialist expectations of our consumer society. i do love emmett otter, however, i see a few clips, so maybe they will put me in a better mood.
Eat a dick, Ebenezer.
Marls, wouldn't Eat a Beaver Ebeneezer be a bit more seasonally appropriate?
ok, i've watched the clips and my children and i have reminisced and i feel a bit better, although i forgot how cheesy jerry reed's acting is in smoky and the bandit.
and i love when bands mention their own name, like the riverbottom nightmare band does.
your mom busted in and said what's that noise, mom you're just jealous it's . . .
B-E-A-S-T-I-E.
B-boys and most 80's hip-hoppers were excellent at self-name-checks. Random Idiots should've done that more.
They still do. The guy who introduced Ditka sounds like bobby Brady in his puberty episode.
riverbottom! nightmare!
So when Rob commented yesterday that he and I are going to have a showdown in the 2nd round of fantasy football playoffs next week? We're not. Rob jinxed me and my opponent put up nearly 60 points tonight to come back and beat me. Rob, good luck next week. Dick.
your fantasy team played terrible defense against josh mccown.
wife and i just started watching breaking bad. you guys want me to live blog it?
heading to Detroit today. glad I packed long pants. looks chilly.
Only 3 people in NFL history have averaged over 5 yards per carry on over 1000 carries: Joe Perry, Jim Brown, and ... Jamaal Charles. Even crazier: Jamaal Charles is #7 all time in ypc. How did this happen?
Joe Perry is lucky he didn't make the Top Douches in rock list. Mainly because we forgot about him. Ha ha, Joe Perry!
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