Classic Movie Stars on THE MUPPET SHOW

Thanks to Disney Plus, viewers can finally enjoy all five seasons of The Muppet Show, and at my house we've been delighted to have access to the long-awaited fourth and fifth seasons, which were never available on DVD. The release has created some controversy about Disney's decision to include content warnings on a handful of episodes (which are, in some cases, painfully necessary), but for Muppet fans the more pressing questions often involve trying to figure out who the guest star is, since some of these folks might have been famous in the 1970s but are truly obscure now. Luckily for classic movie fans, the guest list also includes some fantastic stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood, and their appearances on the show offer a delightful snapshot of these stars as they appeared in the late 1970s. 

For many viewers who were kids in the 70s, these guest spots might well have been their first introduction to entertainers from their parents' or grandparents' eras, which means that Gen Xers in particular might have been meeting Milton Berle, Edgar Bergen, Danny Kaye, and Gene Kelly for the first time. Other stars were much more familiar to the average 10 year old of 1978, including Mark Hamill, Don Knotts, and Rich Little, while many of the British guests would have baffled American children and adults alike (the show was filmed in London, so British guests were much easier to acquire). Of course, today even the "current" stars of 1978 look like classic ones, but every season of the show mixed classic stars, current American celebrities, and British talents to provide a weirdly educational cultural smorgasbord for unsuspecting child viewers. Singers and dancers had obvious appeal, as did comedians, but that didn't stop the show from featuring action stars like James Coburn and Roger Moore or magician Doug Henning. The classic movie stars were just part of the mix.

Each season has at least one classic star, although some were better known in the 70s than others thanks to musical careers, television roles, or later film roles. In Season One, you can see Rita Moreno, Lena Horne, Peter Ustinov, Vincent Price, and Ethel Merman. Season Two offers Don Knotts, Milton Berle, Edgar Bergen, George Burns, Julie Andrews, Peter Sellers, and Bob Hope. Showing up in Season Three are Danny Kaye, Harry Belafonte, and Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. Season Four is comparatively light on classic movie stars but includes Liza Minnelli, while Season Five ends the series with James Coburn, Tony Randall, and Gene Kelly. Each of these is worth watching, but the episodes with Moreno, Price, Andrews, and Belafonte are particularly good, so start there if you're a classic film fan but not someone with a lot of previous experience with The Muppet Show. 

A handful of the classic film stars who appear on the series also have cameos in the original 1979 film, The Muppet Movie, where you can spot Bob Hope, Milton Berle, and James Coburn along with Orson Welles, Telly Savalas, and many younger stars who also appeared as guests on the show. Many of the Muppet films are also streaming on Disney Plus, so if the classic stars on The Muppet Show whet your appetite for more of Kermit and the gang, there's plenty of content available. 

Want to know everything there is to know about The Muppets? Head on over to my friends at Tough Pigs to find news, articles, podcasts, and commentary! You can also check out the essay anthology, Kermit Culture, that Anissa Graham and I edited; it's available in paperback and Kindle editions at Amazon. Our second anthology, The Wider Worlds of Jim Henson, looks at films and other productions like The Dark Crystal, Fraggle Rock, and Labyrinth.

My Christmas Movies

Every film buff has a favorite Christmas movie, a picture that is such a part of the holiday that it just isn't Christmas without it. Plenty of us even have lists of such movies, and I'm no exception. As we head into the holidays, these are the movies - both classic and more recent - that I'll be watching to get into the holiday spirit.


IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946)

Sure, it's the obvious choice, but for me the Jimmy Stewart classic is a holiday necessity because I often feel down during the Christmas season, and George Bailey's story reminds me that Christmas is a hard time for a lot of people. Besides, it has such a fantastic cast, and every year as I watch more classic movies I appreciate the actors more, from Lionel Barrymore and Thomas Mitchell to Beulah Bondi and Gloria Grahame. 

WHITE CHRISTMAS (1954)

I love pretty much everything about this musical, but I'm especially fond of Danny Kaye and the movie's depiction of soldiers' lives after the war. "Snow" is a beautiful tune (they should play it on the holiday radio stations more often), and Mary Wickes is such a hoot as the nosy housekeeper. The drag performance of "Sisters" by Crosby and Kaye cracks me up, and the finale's salute to Dean Jagger's character always gets me right in the old ticker.


SCROOGED (1988)

My taste in Christmas Carol adaptations tends toward the bizarre, and this is certainly one of the weirdest and funniest versions. I just can't resist Carol Kane's sadistic sugar plum Ghost of Christmas Present or David Johansen's hilarious cab driver Ghost of Christmas Past - "Niagara Falls!" It even has Robert Mitchum in it! I don't love everything Bill Murray has done, but this picture and Groundhog Day are right up there with Ghostbusters in the comedian's canon. I laugh, I cry; it's better than Cats.


THE MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL (1992)

As the co-editor of two books about Jim Henson, I'm definitely a Muppet fan, and this twist on Dickens is such a fun outing for the familiar cast of characters. Gonzo, my favorite Muppet, gets an especially good part as Charles Dickens himself, and the Ghost puppets represent some of the Henson group's most beautiful creative designs. Michael Caine is a delight as Scrooge, even if he experiences his essential change of heart rather too quickly to be as mean as he's supposed to be. When I saw this movie in the theater after its original release, it made me sad because Jim Henson had died in 1990, and this picture was the first to appear after his passing. Today, its bittersweet quality has softened, but like the original story it remains a sentimental experience.

What movies make your Christmas holiday complete? Let me know in the comments!


 

Having Myself a Classic Movie Christmas

We're a full week into December, and it's time to get serious about classic Christmas movies. TCM is showing 33 of them this month, including several fan favorites and a lot of less obvious choices, but I'm mostly a traditionalist when it comes to classic holiday films (with a few notable exceptions). Here are six movies I have to watch over the holidays this year, or it just won't be Christmas.

1) It's a Wonderful Life (1946) - My father loves this movie, and I grew up watching it several times each holiday season. It still gets to me today, and I love the huge cast of memorable performers, from the big name leads to the veteran character players. This year I actually get to host a screening of the Capra classic at our local library!

2) White Christmas (1954) - I just love everything about this film, from its WWII patriotism and selfless themes to its crazy drag version of "Sisters" and Mary Wickes' nosy housekeeper. The songs are fantastic, the mood is nostalgic and sweet, and the holidays aren't complete without Danny, Bing, Rosemary, and Vera-Ellen.

3) Three Godfathers (1948) - So I've got a well-established thing for classic Westerns, especially those John Ford/John Wayne collaborations, and this one is simply a Yuletide treasure. Yes, it's another iteration of the now familiar "three men and a baby" plot, and not even the first Western to have the title or tell the story, but the Duke, Pedro Armendariz, and Harry Carey, Jr., are just so lovable and rough that I can't resist them. Personal favorites like Ward Bond, Mildred Natwick, and Jane Darwell help to make this one a holiday essential at my house.

4) The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) - Yes, there are lots of great versions of Charles Dickens'  Christmas tale, but this one is my favorite hands-down, not just for the goofy Muppet humor but for the incredible puppetry work on the Ghosts, especially the Ghost of Christmas Past. Hey, I love the Muppets so much I co-edited two books about them, so nobody can be surprised if I spend time watching Muppet holiday movies every time December rolls around (I watch all of the other Muppet holiday shows, too, but this one is the best). Gonzo as Charles Dickens? Genius! Michael Caine as Scrooge? Fabulous!

5) Scrooged (1988) - Bill Murray's irreverent take on A Christmas Carol is a riot, and it's even got Robert Mitchum! The Ghosts are especially fun, thanks to over-the-top performances from David Johansen and Carol Kane. Bobcat Goldthwait steals his scenes as an ex-employee pushed a little too far by Bill Murray's modern-day Scrooge.

6) Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964) - Having grown up a veritable resident of the Island of Misfit Toys, I find Rudolph's outcast protagonist deeply sympathetic in this quirky TV classic. We actually watch all of the Rankin/Bass holiday specials each year, but this one is especially funny and poignant, and full of quotable lines thanks to Larry Mann as Yukon Cornelius. "It's a night not fit for man nor beast! Here's the man... and here's the beast!" - such lines are endlessly repeated in my family this time of year.

Of course, I'll be watching other holiday films this month, including Christmas in Connecticut (1945), Miracle on 34th Street (1947), 101 Dalmatians (1961), A Christmas Story (1983), and even Gremlins (1984), but these six are at the top of my nice list when it comes to Christmas pleasures. Bake some cookies, make a cup of cocoa, and tell me about your favorite Christmas movies in the comments section below!