For the Chicagoans in the house.
Each person has his or her own unique and deeply incised holiday memories. So does each city. And whether you’re a Chicagoan by birth or by choice, you know there’s this thing we have.
The fictional Leo McGarry tries to explain Our Thing to the fictional Jeb Bartlet here.
LEO
You're scared of Babish.
BARTLET
Oh, like you're not.
LEO
No, because we are both men of Chicago.
BARTLET
What is it with people from Chicago that they're so happy to have been born there?
I meet so many people who can't wait to tell me they're from Chicago, and when I meet them, they're living anywhere but Chicago.
LEO
You wouldn't understand.
...
Leo should have told him that it’s really very simple.
Come late December, you either feel the primal calling of Chelveston the Duck and are suddenly overcome by a craving to once again hear the ancient tales of
Hardrock, Coco and Joe
Suzy Snowflake
and, of course,
Frosty...
...deep in your bones, or you have no idea what in the Hell I’m talking about.
And that’s the difference.
Merry Christmas to one and all.
22 comments:
Oh. My. God.
Rest easy, Ray. We miss you so. (And your old Popeye's from the 30's. And the blackboard.)
Cuddly Dudley and Garfield too.
(Gigglesnort Hotel and BJ too, but that's so new school.....)
And don't forget Ray's turkey carving/mutilation tutorial every year.
Now that's old school, Drifty. We used to watch old Ray every Sunday when he was still on WGN.
Thanks for the memories.
Merry Christmas to you, Drifty.
And now, Frank Luntz's It's a Blunderful Life, starring President George Failey, Vice President Potter, Ann Coulter, Tom DeLay, Scooter Libby and the whole Bush clan. The .jpegs were photoshopped by Alcicia Morgan from Last Left Turn B4 Hooterville and the whole post is based on an idea by none other than Driftglass himself.
Merry Christmas and happy holidays to one and all.
Sap:
That's not old school. Old school is when Ray Rayner was doing every weekday morning without fail.
Oh, Man. Great present Drifty! I've been looking for any Clutch Cargo animations, can't find any anywhere.
I used to love how RR would do the craft projects and they'd all come out horrible.
Merry Christmas!!
Love love love it!
Thanks, Drifty.
I was starting high school when I got to Chicago in 1965; I was more attuned to the Cleveland TV icons. I was turned on to Ray Rayner, Garfield Goose, and all the WGN stuff by my friends. But I still remember them fondly.
And Alyssa, try this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEzVnQUQngc
I could only watch a minute of Suzy Snowflake before stopping it because it scared the living hell outta me the way it first did when I saw it during a trip to Chi-Town in 1967 or '68. We were there with my dad--my brother and I, when my dad ventured there for a convention or something for the food service industry. We stayed at his friend Bernard's house in Harvey, illinois and Bernard's wife Sarah watched us boys while Dad and Bernard went to the function. It was a winter morning--early as hell, and as Miss Sarah whipped up breakfast, I saw this cartoon on that black and white TV...and it scared the hell outta me. It was eerie. The whiffenpoofy vocals haunted me as they sounded recorded deep in a well. A guy in a ratty pump-boy's jumpsuit intro-ed and outro-ed it, said goodbye to the kiddies and then an even scarier show, something called "The Friendly Giant" came on next.
I was petrified to change the channel as this was Miss Sarah's TV and not our own--so I suffered in frightened silence. It may have been a Chicago phenomenon, but for a wee visitor like me, it was a fear touchstone.
I haven't seen it since then, maybe thinking a little, that I dreamt it or something. I evidently didn't. Brrrrrr!
One day, I'll tell ya 'bout how the long version of the Doors' "Light My Fire" and Hendrix's "All Along The Watchtower" were equal spine-chilling touchstones for me as a child of the sixties.
Brrrrrrrrr, again!
Best,
A fairly freaked-out LowerManhattanite
By the by, if you want to see a twisted, modern-day homage to scary B&W kids shorts like these, watch this'un:
The snowflake animations and stark "sets' are eerily dead-on. :)
Best again,
LowerManhattanite
fuyura... Kisses!
Merry Christmas Drifty.
I really really enjoy your writing but please keep in mind that, when it comes to You Tube, one picture does not a thousand word make. Especially your words.
Thanks, LM. I think the coolest thing about the "Xmastime for the Jews" 'toon was the genuine Darlene Love vocals. That really made it sound like the old Phil Spector Xmas album. (Damn shame Phil turned out to be dangerously crazy)
I have seen the three dwarves and Suzy before. Our local cable company offers WGN, and I saw them on it years ago. I found the old-style animation interesting, at least from a historical standpoint.
Anyone remember the New Zoo Revue?
My oldest sister loved New Zoo Revue. Three animal characters and three humans, right?
NZR had 3 major animal characters and 2 major human characters, with others appearing from time to time. It's been so long I couldn't remember; I had to consult Wikipedia.
Anyone remember the New Zoo Revue?
Only that is was "comin' right at you."
By the time 'New Zoo Revue' came out I was hopelessly in love with 'The Monkees'. Plus that hippo thing (as I remember it) was teh creepy.
Alyssa -
If you're from Chicago, Laurie's Planet of Sound on Lincoln Ave has Clutch Cargo episodes on DVD, as well as Space Ghost.
Ray and Chelveston the Duck (who was, as you'll all remember, from the Anti-cruelty Society) - that takes me back. Ray would feed Chelveston lettuce and Cheerios, and read the sports and traffic reports, which for some reason had to be done with a duck present. Then Ray would race turtles.
There was a rumor that Ray Rayner at one time was the largest shareholder at WGN. That he kept getting options in lieu of raises, and eventually he had, if not a majority share, a fair chunk....
I can't see Ray Rayner have that much stock in WGN. Frazier Thomas, on the other hand. . . He must have had naked pictures of WGN executives (or at least Harry Volkman). It was probably, Pay up or face the wrath of Mike Royko and Len O'Connor.
"And-I am-Len O-Connor."
Royko and O'Connor, over their final days, were like disintegrating Mayan temples to me - mystifying, crumbling disasters waiting to happen. Sad, really.
Frazier Thomas - yeah, I was always a little surprised that he had both a weekend evening ("Family Classics") and Garfield Goose on weekday mornings. The photos theory has merit... ;-)
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