Forgotten CHRISTMAS TV PROGRAMS, COMMERICALS, MOVIES and MUSIC

A WALT DISNEY CHRISTMAS with Donald and friends

PERRY COMO sub-hosts for BING on Hollywood Palace Christmas 1969 with SHECKY GREENE, DIAHANN CAROLL plus  (1st portion of show)

 Bing and Kathryn Crosby Host Holywood Palace Christmas with Glen Campbell, Lennon Sisters.John Byner

 REMEMBER MARIE of Donny and Marie fame? She's back looking better than ever. You can too>

 

   Forgotten CHRISTMAS TV PROGRAMS, COMMERICALS, MOVIES and MUSIC

SPECIAL CHRISTMAS

 Ray Charles, Jerry Lee Lewis,  Phll Spector (full Christmas album) ,  Ronnie Spector,  Darlene Love, Sam Cooke,  Vintage Commercials, Your Hit Parade,  Home Movies and even the full length movie, 'A Christmas Carol'

 SANTA'S VILLAGE near Santa Cruz, CA 1959 

Santa's Village no longer exists but, oh, the memories. Many continue talking about reopening it but here, have a look...Santa's village LIVES once again, at least for awhile thanks to the magic of old 'home movies.'

*************Enjoy Paul Harvey (twice) with Christmas messages and 37 other Special Christmasses

including  Live Performances from  Ray Charles, Jerry Lee Lewis,  Phll Spector (full Christmas album) ,  Ronnie Spector,  Darlene Love, Allan Sherman 's 12 Days of Christmas, Dean Martin Christmas, Judy Garland Christmas Show 1963, Perry Como, Bing Crosby and much more! 

CARTOONS

**PICTURE OF THE WEEK**

NOW ON SALE AT WALMART FOR CHANUKAH, REALLY...

COULD ONLY HAPPEN AT WALMART

TV PROGRAMS

Good ol' JACK -   that's me, JACK BENNY - and I'm back for more Christmas shopping memories. You see, for you younger folks, Jack is very frugal and has a tough time when it comes to actually buying gifts for Rochestor, Mary and the gang. Last year he wouldn't even spend $40 for a suit for himself. He paid $39. Enjoy this classic of mine from a few years back! By the way, hope you're enjoying the coupons and deals I oversee on this site. NEVER PAY RETAIL! Now just click my $39 suit  , above, and watch me try to buy a watch , er, wallet for Don!


VISIT JACK SAVES for BEST HOLIDAY DEALS! 

    Forgotten CHRISTMAS TV PROGRAMS, COMMERICALS, MOVIES and MUSIC

Classic Christmas, 1950s, Commericals, Vinaage, Christmas programs, Cartoons, Jack Benny

COMMERCIALS

  

Hear Holiday greetings from Jack Webb, Doris Day, , Jerry Lewis, Jack Lemon, Elizabeth Montgomery 

COKE COMMERCIALS Have been a staple for years and here's from from back in the day... Have a ocke, or Coke-a-Cola as we used to say...

MOVIES

  MUSIC

 

Here's a medley of some of the best and often forgotten Christmas music.Just let it run... and there's more -in complete versions - JUST CLICK HERE

 MORE FORGOTTEN HOLIDAY MUSIC, MOVIES, MEMORIES...

We'll be back with more music, movies, memories and more... Again, join our text or mailing list or facebook pages if you'd like more ...  Now' were off to do some more shopping

 

Forgotten CHRISTMAS TV PROGRAMS, COMMERICALS, MOVIES and MUSIC

Wrecking Crew film - Unsung Background Musicians Get Their Due

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What Musicians Played On All These Artists'  Records?

THE BEACH BOYS

FRANK SINATRA

ELVIS

NAT 'KING' COLE

SIMON & GARFUNKEL

THE RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS

PHIL SPECTOR GROUPS:

The Crystals

The Ronnettes

Bob B Soxx and Blue Jeans

Darlene Love

THE BYRDS

THE MAMAS & THE PAPAS

DEAN MARTIN

SONNY & CHER

THE MONKEES

GLEN CAMPBELL

 Wrecking Crew film - Unsung Background
Musicians Get Their Due

Sideline crew that created the sound of the ’60s

A number of recent documentaries — including the new “The Wrecking Crew” — have turned over the gilded bricks of the shiny castle of ’60s pop music to reveal what was holding the whole thing up. Many viewers will experience the...

SFCHRONICLE.COM

       It's fortunate that   movie theaters today are again showing 'niche' movies,  
For a long time we had to select from the three or four big commercial
 movies of the day. Only in recent years have theater chains like Landmark/
Cinemark, and the few small, independent theaters taken on independent
 films again. Otherwise, we would never see films like 'The Wrecking Crew'
which we viewed Firday March 28 at San Rafael's Rafael theater. In
attendance was the man behind the movie, Daniel Tedesco, who took questions
afterwards.




      Most probably haven't heard the name Tommy Tedesco. Tedesco, was
the father of Daniel Tedesco and star of the movie.
Though he passed in the early 1990s, his accomplished as a studio
musician are recognized in this movie,along with many musicians.



      As Tedesco noted afterwards, the movie had no 'angel' funding
like '20 feet from Stardom,' a movie about the unsung backup singers
on hit records. It was a 19 year struggle to raise funds to make the
movie happen.

      The 'Wrecking Crew' is the name most credited to drummer Hal Blaine
for   the Los Angeles-based group of musicians, of whom he was one, who
appeared on an ungodly number of hit records between the late 1950s and 1970s.
One would think that people like Blaine would have amassed enormous
amounts of money to help fund the movie, but, as Blaine says in the movie,
circumstances were different back then when studios controled recordings-
not to mention divorces where artists like Blaine lost everything.



      In the movie, the young Tedesco takes a back seat, only talking
sporadically about his Dad. It is the musicians themselves,
like Blaine, bassist Carol Kaye, drummer Earl Palmer and  -
even the senior Tedesco, who was still with us at the time when
Daniel started making the movie nineteen years earlier. Even sidemen
like Glen Campbell are featured in the film.Campbell's personal
success wouldn't come until years after he was a struggling partime
sideman in the Wrecking Crew. The artists the Crew backed is like
a 'Who's Who'of Los Angeles singers and bands, including Frank and
Nancy Sinatra, Nat King Cole,  Sonny and Cher (Cher was also a back up
singer during the Wrecking Crew sessions), Gary Lewis and the Playboys,
John Denver - and of course the legendary Phil Spector and his many
groups, The Ronnettes, Crystals, Bobb B Sox and Blue Jeans,
Righteous Borthers, Ike and Tina, and on and on.


 
      The only thing wrong with the movie is that there isn't enough
time to go in depth. While we get only a little background on the
senior Tedesco - he was a poor musician growing up  in the Niagra
Falls, New York area, before getting serious about music in Los
Angeles - and we learn even less about other sidepeople, though
Kaye is given a fair amount of time as one of the few female
artsits. Even Phil Spector isn't discussed as much as one would
expect; he's in jail today so an interview would have been dificult
and Spector wasn't known to do many interviews, anyway.


   
     But, it was  the genius of Tedesco, that sparked the
success of the Wrecking Crew. Sure, Blaine was a key figure, and responsible for coming up
with many of the photo footage for the film accorinding to Daniel;
Blaine was sure to stop photos and video in the day when video footage
was pretty rare.



      You'll be surprised to see how many familiar artsis and recordings
the roughly 40-person Wrecking crew working on. The movie plays this week
in selected Landmark theaters such as the Rafael in San Rafael and
Landmark in Berkeley.  A DVD, soundtrack and book are currently
 in the works. Catch them!


   


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DISC-overy, Forgotten Forty-Five and Surprise of the Week!

DISC-overy, Forgotten Forty-Five and Surprise of the Week!

DISC-oveory of the Week! 
HOME OF THE BRAVE - Bonny and the Treasures AND Jody Miller
 Well, it's a new year but we're still Stuck in the '50s and 60s - and with a new Feature - DISC-overy of the Week along with Forgotten Forty-five and Surprise of the week ( we'll come as close as we can to that weekly schedule). The song above, is, yes, another PHIL SPECTOR production (written by Mann-Weil)  featuring Bonnie (Charlotte O'hara) and the Treasures - and it's a treature of a song, the only Top 100 record for her from 1965. Spector was still recording at his Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles but his star was fading a bit... Interestingly, country singer Jody Miller (Queen of the House) had a higher scharting version (#25) the same year, with a pretty convincing version. Charted at #77 on Billboard Hot 100 in August 1965. The lead singer is Charlotte O'Hara (pictured). There was a competing version by Jody Miller which charted higher (#25), pretty convincing Phil Spector impression. Tell us WHICH IS YOUR FAVORITE VERSION?  Note, also , the 'protest' lyrics, below)  as we were coming into that mid-60s era   Here's Jody.... Lyrics (thanks to ScriptWorker)and Tom Smith for recording: Home of the Brave The school board says he cant come to school no more. Unless he wears his hair like he wore it before. The PTA and all of the mothers, say he ought-a look like the others. Home of the Brave, Land of the Free. Oh, why wont the let him be what he wants to be? The kids all laugh at his hair and his funny clothes. And more than once hes gone home with a bloody nose. Hes not like them and they cant ignore it. So they all hate him for it. Home of the Brave, Land of the Free. Oh, why wont they let him be what he wants to be? (Why?) He never hurt no-body. (Why) Doesnt he belong? (Why?) Cause hes a little bit different. Tell my why is that so wrong? Everybody says I shouldnt take his part. But when they put him down how it breaks my heart. Instead of all the trouble they hand him, why dont the try to understand him? Home of the Brave, Land of the Free. Oh, why wont they let him be what he wants to be? Home of the Brave, Land of the Free. Oh, why wont they let him be what he wants to be? />


FORGOTTEN FORTY-FIVE of the Week

REVEREND MR.BLACK, The Kingston Trio, 1963 -  This was, surprising to us,  only the second Top 10 Record for the Kingstons (#8) and
the last Top 30 effort. Sounds  a bit like something Johnny Cash would have recorded - and, in fact, Cash did do a version of this song.  We almost went with 'One More Town,'which only charted #77 yet  you would hear it fairly often during the era.Perhpas the Kingston Trio
was just a little bit out of mainstream pop music and did better under other categories like 'folk.'



SURPRISE of the Week
VIDEO - We were pretty SURPRISED to come across this one - the Osmond parents guesting with Bobby Darin, Andy williams and Vic Damone..maybe not quite the voices of their famous offspring but definitely a presence in their own right, from 1965... Well you see for yourself!


NEXT TIME - Stay tune for something special  - again with one  from Phil Spector and  the Wrecking Crew

DISC-overy, Forgotten Forty-Five and Surprise of the Week! 

' PHIL SPECTOR Birthday-Biorgraphy- ' Movie, Review - Trailer Sums Up Controversial Trial - Spector Movie Review

VISIT THE OLDIES COUNTRY MARKETPLACE FOR MORE GREAT MUSIC,VIDEOS and MORE

' PHIL SPECTOR Birthday-Biorgraphy- ' Movie, Review - Trailer Sums Up Controversial Trial - Spector Movie Review



'I have devils inside of me I'm my own worst enemy.'Phil Spector


It Must Be Something for PHIL SPECTOR to have his Birthday celebration one day after his famous Christmas album gets played all over the place at Chrstimas. Of course, these days Spector languishes in jail, probably not able to really appreciate much of anything . You can hear that album in its entirty by scrolling further down this site. It's just sad that a man of his talent  had to have   mental  issues get in the way of  a fully successful  and happy life.  See the 'Agony and Ecstacy of Phil Spector,'the only real  in depth interview with the man, filmed just  shortly before the trial, pershps five years ago. You get a glimpse of a realitvely 'normal;' involved and engaging personality.  These rare interviews were done, no doubt in  Spector's attempt to exohnerate himelf before the trial .
Here's a trailer for 'Agony and Exstatcy'followed by a 2005 interview film, apparently produced by the wife of the great Wrecking Crew (Spector's )  drummer form the Wall of Sound days, Michelle Blaine  In the second film, we hear Rachelle Spector, Phil;'s wife chiming in from time to time.




' PHIL SPECTOR Birthday-Biorgraphy- ' Movie, Review - Trailer Sums Up Controversial Trial - Spector Movie Review

MORE  PHIL SPECTOR - 

Meet His Wife and Why She Believes Spector is Innocent plus 

Note Spector's offer of $100,000  to take a polygraph test to any of the women in testimony who claim Spector threatened their lives.






...and an HBO documentary film about Phll Spector, another apparentl attempt to exhonerate Spector, which came under controversy from both sides , for and against Spector's verdict

This trailer from 'PHIL SPECTOR' sums up the film pretty well... listen closely to the words. Now you don't need to watch it, unless your'e a big Phil Spector fan, as I am. All I can say is it's too bad he ever met Laura Clarkson  

http://oldiescountry.com

Re PHIL SPECTOR movie last nite, Interesting and sad how Spector's life is now in prison and while others, perhaps more guilty , like Robert Blake and Robert Wagner, are free - probably because they are more agreeable people..So much for US jury system and innocent until proven guilty....the public may have bee ready to finally put away a celebrity, especially one like Spector, after letting so many go free , eg OJ, Blake...


Movie could have been a lot better, perhaps with planned Bette Midler as attorney. Knowing Spector's genius music producing I wanted to like him and did to some extent. Would have liked to see more background footage of his difficult yet positive past. Http://oldiescountry.com
http://youtu.be/hJK4i_K_38E

 ' PHIL SPECTOR Birthday-Biorgraphy- ' Movie, Review - Trailer Sums Up Controversial Trial - Spector Movie Review

CHRISTMAS '50s' - Fifty Favorites & Forgotten Forty-Fives

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CHRISTMAS '50s' - Fifty Favorites & Forgotten Forty-Fives 

 Hear rare Frankie Lymon,   Five Keys, Phil Spectpr, Elvis, Brook Benton, Charles Brown, Gene Autry.Coke, Elvis, John Daly, rare, 78 and much more  Christmas music, Christmas oldies, Christmas, Forgotten Christmas.CLICK ON ABOVE 45 to hear all

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEFAYKk4Pcdadpl0oDfsdDhcM-D1xVvWX

and more...

Phil Spector Case Reexamined in TV Movie - did Spector's eccentric past hurt him?

Phil Spector goes before the masses in a tv special tonite, the first time we can all get a better glimpse into the famous trial that would finally end in a 19 year 2nd degree sentence for the music genius producer ..Hear Spector's wife's take. PICTURED  Al Pacino as Phil Spector.  ://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/21/rachelle-spector-phil-spector-hbo-movie-proves-innocence_n_2924416.html 

http://ow.ly/i/. 



 Al Pacino as Phil Spector. It may have been a case of the biggest mismatch with Spector trying to play psychiatrist for a possibly suicidal Lana Clarkson when Spector was a longtime patient himself - perhaps a case of two people being in the wrong place ,ie together. Perhaps a case for a lesser,say manslaughter verdict. You be the judge tonite SHO 9 pm. More @ http://oldiescountry.com http://ow.ly/i/1KttT http://ow.ly/i/1KtvB.    


ote similarity in the Robert Blake trial and even Natalie Wood case; some say Blake and Robert Wagner may have been more guilty but got off,  Perhaps Spector's off  eccentric past cost him  in the eyes of MOST of the jury.  In light of this, we think that Tv / movies can sometimes serve a positive thing by bringing forth. Such controversaries before the biblical (even if there is some 'optic fiction ' in this movie.