Rocketship Weird Retro Captain's Blog - Weird Retro

Weird Music: I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas.

24/12/2014

Gayla Peevey was a child star from Ponca City, Oklahoma. She is best known for her recording, "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" (1953), which she recorded when she was 10 years old. When this song came out, the Oklahoma City Zoo started a fundraiser to “buy a hippo for Gayla”. It worked, but she later donated it to the zoo, as it was a bit hard to keep a hippo at home in Oklahoma.

The hippopotamus named Matilda spent 45 years at the Oklahoma City Zoo, and then sadly died at age 47 from a heart attack in 1998 while being transferred to the Walt Disney World's Disney's Animal Kingdom, in Orlando, Florida.

If the song isn't odd enough, the accompanying video here just adds to the bizarre nature of this novelty song. I first heard this song back in 2012, and used it as the theme music for the Weird Retro Christmas Countdown, of alternative Christmas movies.

Captain Kangaroo, recorded a version of the song in the 1960s. And has been covered by novelty song radio broadcaster, Dr. Demento.

Wassail The Weird Christmas Grog!

23/12/2014

Wassail refers to both the Norse/Old English salute of "you be healthy" and to the drink concoction made in the winter, dating back as far as the 1400s. The drink was passed around when a bunch of glorified beggars turned up at your door, or in your orchard chanting incantations and singing songs. Their payment, or their punishment was to be given "wassail" an ale or cider based spiced hot drink.

Sounds all lovely and Christmas like doesn't it? As you imagine their jolly rosy cheeked faces, quaffing from a Loving Cup, cheering and singing harmonious carols as the snow gently floats around them. Rather than desperate and starving peasants, turning up at their lord and masters door, squawking out a few random songs and being offered the dregs of the ale barrel maybe mixed with the rotten apple cider pressings, mixed with spices to mask the awfulness of the whole thing. Wassail, traditionally wasn't as you'd imagine, a deep rich sort of mulled wine, with pieces of orange floating on top.

More likely what would be served up was ale (possibly stale), a few roasted crab apples for flavour, some sugar a few spices (mask the sourness of the putrid ale and crab apples). Then often a beaten egg and even milk or cream was chucked in. And all topped off with slices of toasted bread. (Again the bread likely toasted to mask the fact it was stale.) Now that's a true traditional drink of wassail. Sound good? No? Probably not to the starving peasants either, but when you're battling through a winter foraging for whatever food you can find, because the strip of land you farm doesn't belong to you. And the the lord of the manor house takes most of what you produce in rent and taxes, a bowl of wassail would have seemed like a bit of a treat. Yay, for the English feudal system, and all the wonderful Christmas traditions that developed during it. *Does little jig around the house, while flogging a servant or two* Merry Christmas, and a wassail!!! Wassail!!! To you all.

The Worst Christmas Song Ever!!!

21/12/2014

I was digging around, compiling a list for a Christmas song article I'm working on, when I came across this. A song that's been doing the rounds of the Internet for many years apparently, but I'd managed to miss so far. A ear-splittingly painful rendition of the classic hymn "O Holy Night", being utterly murdered. One of those things you listen to, and chuckle, sniggering at the bas singing. But then it builds, and gets worse, and worse, and soon it reaches torture levels of aural pain.

Many people had laid claim to having created this monstrosity. But it wasn't until 2009 that a mad called Steve Mauldin came forward saying that he had arranged “O Holy Night” for a church group in 1989. But the song was recorded at the end of a long session, and he never expected anyone to ever hear it apart from a few close friends. That's some admission, for a song that was voted the worst Christmas song of all time by listeners of a San Francisco radio for 12 years running.

Kids TV: Babes In Toyland (1986)

21/12/2014

Imagine a TV Christmas special, featuring the screaming brat from E.T., Ted from (Bill & Ted) as the handsome prince, Karate Kid's Mr. Miyagi as Santa Claus, and all filmed in a German theme park in summer. That'd be the 1986 TV Christmas special Babes In Toyland then.

Rarely aired since it premiered on NBC, this weird and at times creepy TV special was soon resigned to the discount bin of video stores around the country. A take on The Wizard Of Oz, Drew Barrymore plays Lisa, a kid growing up in Cincinnati, Ohio. She has to take care of her siblings and cooks for her family, has no time for childish things like toys and fun. Until on Christmas Eve during an accident due to a blizzard, she is magically transported to Toyland full of weird and often wooden characters.

With the help of Mr. Miyagi, sorry the ToyMaster (and it turns out Santa Claus), Lisa must save Toyland from evil Barnaby Barnacle (played by Richard Mulligan), who lives in a giant bowling ball. And in among all that you have Keanu Reeves singing, including the infamous deleted scene of him and Jill Schoelen singing a duet in prison. But we do have to suffer him singing Cin-cin-nati at the beginning of the film. Which probably caused the car crash that sent poor Drew to Toyland.

Babes in Toyland is based on an operetta composed by Victor Herbert, from 1903. There have been a number of adaptations of the operetta over the years, most well known are the 1934 Laurel and Hardy version and the 1961 Disney version starring Annette Funicello (of the Beach Party movies).

Weird Xmas Tradition: The Yule Goat

20/12/2014

The Yule goat is a Scandinavian tradition, whose origins are believed to go back pre-Christian pagan beliefs of the Norse god Thor, who is said to have rode through the sky in a chariot drawn by two goats. In Sweden, the Yule goat is considered as an invisible spirit that would appear some time before Christmas. The goat would be created out of straw and left secretly at a neighbour's house as a prank. The neighbour's would then have to secretly pass the goat onto another neighbour.

The Gävle Goat is a giant version of a traditional Swedish Yule Goat figure made of straw. In 1966, an advertising consultant, Stig Gavlén, came up with the idea of making the giant goat and placing it in the Castle Square of Gävle. Usually erected over two days, to celebrate the first day of Advent.

Over the years the Gävle Goat has been subject to vandalism, and arson. As well as in being hit by a car in 1976, it has been even kicked to pieces on a couple of occasions. The fate of the Goat, has become something that people even started gambling on in 1988, via British bookmakers. On 27 November 2004 the Gävle Goat's homepage was hacked into and one of the two official webcams changed to display Brinn Bockjävel (translation: "Burn, fucking goat") in the left corner of its live feed.

Weird Retro Fact: Read about other strange and dark European Christmas traditions, in the article The Dark Side Of European Christmas Traditions.

Cult Film Friday: Bah Humbug!

19/12/2014

A inspirational bottle of ale often helps.

I was sat here contemplating what to post as the last Cult Film Friday blog before Christmas. I decided to crack open a bottle of ale, to see if it would help inspire me. And BOOM!!! There it was, staring me in the face all the time. So today's Cult Film Friday post, is a look at some of my favourite adaptations of A Christmas Carol.

There have dozens of adaptations over the years of the story, but there are some that stand-out for me personally. Either because they are childhood memories associated with the festive season, or just because they are good versions. Here they are in chronological order.

Scrooge (1951): Retitled A Christmas Carol in the USA. Of the black and white versions of the story, this is the stand-out one by a mile. And to be fair one of the best overall. Starring Alastair Sim as Ebenezer Scrooge, it's a wonderfully dark and atmospheric piece, perfectly capturing the Dicken's story on celluloid. Not only the best adaptation of A Christmas Carol, also one of the best Christmas movies of all time too.

Scrooge (1970): The Oscar nominated musical adaptation of the story, starring Albert Finney (who was only 34 years old at the time). It's a typically lavish 70s British musical movie, the only song I remember though it the catchy and up-tempo Thank You Very Much, which is sang at a funeral procession with people dancing on the coffin. Not the best version, but a totally guilty secret!

A Christmas Carol (1971): An animated short film version of the story, which features the voice of Alastair Sim as Scrooge. Originally made for TV, it was later given a cinema release and subsequently won an Oscar for Best Animation Short Film in 1972.

The animation has a unique visual style, as it was based on the original illustrations of the story, it also used a number of clever animation techniques. There are a number of attempts at faithful animation adaptations, for me this is by far my favourite. The whole things can be seen on YouTube.

Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983): Now I'm not a fan of Disney, in fact I pretty much hate most of the over-hyped dross Disney have churned out over the years. But I must admit to loving their fun adaptation of this story. Another short, and Mickey's first appearance in around 30 years, it also won an Oscar in 1983.

Scrooged (1988): Everyone loves Bill Murray's version of Scrooge. Never met anyone that doesn't watch it when it appears of TV every single year. Murray was perfectly cast as the acerbic TV executive who gets his comeuppance from a series of ingeniously adapted modern ghosts.

The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992): And finally... A kids favourite. Michael Caine gives a memorable performance as Scrooge, and manages to stand-out among all the Muppets comic antics. The movie has a some great musical moments too. In many ways this version captures all the best elements of the all the others on my list, to create a genuine funny and heart-warming Christmas feast of a movie.

Retro Gaming: A Popples Christmas (1986)

18/12/2014

How the hell did I miss this one, when I did my list of Xmas Games: Festive Freebies & Christmas Cassettes? A give-away licensed game for the Commodore 64 from 1986, would have easily made the list. Only if I'd have known about it earlier. To be fair, this game was only a give-away to retailers of American Greetings, who manufactured the jolly gaudy coloured quasi-marsupials come teddy bears that could be turned completely inside-out. So how would I know?

What we have here is a weak (at best) loose adventure game, that even the makers should hang their heads in shame over producing. Even if it was a marketing give-away. A series of crappy ill-considered non-interactive 4 colour graphic set pieces, or just simply a slap-dash throw together bunch of weak tasks revolving around the Popples being in Santa's workshop. Or both! Who cares? It was utter garbage. A bad promotional tool for a bad toy. Let's move on and never talk of this again.

Weird Retro Christmas Countdowns

18/12/2014

Christmas is only a week away, and it's time to settle down in front of the TV and watch some good old Christmas movies. So far we've offered you the delights of the Top Ten: Christmas Slasher Movies and The Best Of The Worst Weird Christmas Movies lists. So if reading isn't your thing, and you'd rather sit back relax and watch a video... Weird Retro presents it Christmas Countdown from December 2012.

All the movies featured have appeared in one of our other lists this year. But just to summarize here's the top ten list from the video.

10) The Christmas That Almost Wasn't (1966)
9) Santa Claus (1959)
8) Silent Night, Evil Night (A.K.A. Black Christmas) (1974)
7) Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)
6) Evil Christmas (A.K.A. You Better Watch Out & Terror In Toyland) (1980)
5) Don't Open Till Christmas (1984)
4) Elves (1989)
3) Jack Frost (1996)
2) Santa Claus Conquers The Martians (1964)
1) The Magic Christmas Tree (1964)

Xmas Xtra Bonus Movie: The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978).

WPIX's Yule Log, An American Tradition

17/12/2014

The burning of a Yule Log is a tradition that goes back centuries, but in the modern era many homes no longer have a fireplace on which to burn the log. So in 1966 Fred M. Thrower, President and CEO of WPIX in New York hit on an ingenious idea. He wanted to give a Christmas gift to the people of New York, who lived in apartments and so couldn't experience the wonders of an open fire at Christmas time. The idea of broadcast, also provided time for employees of the television station to stay home with their families, instead of working for the usual morning news program.

The film was a looped shot of a fireplace, with accompanying Christmas traditional music available until 1988 via the radio station WPIX-FM. The whole thing was broadcast without any commercials from Christmas Eve through to Christmas Day. And has been a tradition every year, except during the 90s and the year 2000.

The original 1966 footage was filmed at Gracie Mansion, the official residence of the Mayor of New York. However during the filming, a spark from the fire damaged an antique fireplace rug, causing $4000 worth of damage. Only 17 seconds of footage was recorded on 16mm film, which looked a bit jerky and artificial. So in 1970, it was decided to re-record the footage. However, due to the damage caused during the original filming, the Mayor of New York wouldn't let them use the Gracie Mansion fireplace. A very similar fireplace was found in California, and a 6 minute loop was recorded on 35mm film in the height of the summer, on a roasting hot August day.

Over the years, a number of TV stations across America have picked up the footage made their own broadcasts. Some have even imitated the original WPIX Yule Log, for broadcast. In the age of VHS tape and into DVD, there have been a large number of video fireplaces produced. And with the spread of the Internet and the availability of YouTube videos, traditionalists can go back and enjoy the wonders of the original WPIX Yule Log.

There is a full version playlist, with original music of the WPIX Yule Log from Christmas 1983, that can be viewed in all its glory on YouTube here.

Terry Gilliam's Christmas Card (1968)

16/12/2014

Before he was the world famous director of movies like 12 Monkeys (1995) and Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas (1998). Even before Monty Python, Gilliam worked with some of the future Pythons on a British TV series called Do Not Adjust Your Set, which ran from 1967 to 1969. The then unknown animator created animation surreal segments, like those he would become more well known for in Monty Python, using the cut-out card style that became such a major element of the Python's visuals.

In 1968, Gilliam was a hard-up cartoonist living in London, having trouble making ends meet. John Cleese a friend of his suggested him for the TV show. After seeing his work, he was commissioned to make a short animation for an episode of the show being aired on Christmas Day.

Struggling for inspiration, Gilliam went to the Tate Gallery, finding a collection of Victorian Christmas cards there, of which he made photocopies.

The result was a darkly twisted take on the traditions of Christmas, replete with deranged Wise Men galloping across various card scenes and a malevolent Santa. A surreal piece of free-association that Gilliam would in later years become so well known for through his work on Monty Python. And remember, when you watch this... Do Not Adjust Your Set was supposed to be a kids TV show in Britain.