YuleTube: Ghosts of Christmas TV Past
People used to gather around the “electric fireplace” at this time of year for Christmas variety shows. These boasted sing-along medleys, unlikely collaborations, corny jokes and often over-the-top clothes and décor. The format didn’t really survive through the 1980s, but in that decade a few Christmas music videos appeared and “Pee Wee’s Playhouse” did a [...]
Nativity Scenes Should Be Colorful, Life-Sized, and Plastic
Merry Christmas! The holiday hoopla is drawing to a close and decorations will soon be coming down. This means I will soon drive down Gaston Avenue to discover that my favorite annual assault on visual culture will disappear for another eleven months. This, my friends, is the life-sized, plastic nativity on the front lawn of [...]
OCCUPY POTTERSVILLE
It’s easy to remember only the sweet, cheery and teary moments of Director Frank Capra’s 1946 film, It’s A Wonderful Life, and forget that it takes us through the depths of despair to get us there. Since the early 1970s (when the film’s copyright lapsed and television stations could air it repeatedly around Christmastime without [...]