Cowboy Church #247

 Hello my friends and welcome back for another service of Cowboy Church.

Today's musical selection begins with Roy Rogers and Dale Evans with Let There Be Peace on Earth. This recording comes from the husband-and-wife duo's 1967 Christmas album, Christmas is Always. 

This is followed by Elvis Presley with O Little Town of Bethlehem. The lyrics to this hymn were written by Phillips Brooks in 1865. He wrote the words this hymn after taking a group of Sunday school children on a pilgrimage to Bethlehem. The music was written by Louis H. Redner, the church organist. There was originally another verse to this hymn, "Where children pure and happy pray to the blessed Child. Where misery cries out to thee, son of the undefiled; where charity stands watching and faith holds wide the door, the dark night wakes, the glory breaks, and Christmas comes once more." However, Redner objected to the words "son of the undefiled." Brooks briefly changed the line to "son of mother mild" before dropping the verse all together. This hymn appeared on a small leaflet in 1868 and in The Sunday School Hymnal in 1871.This version of the hymn comes from Elvis' 1957 album, Elvis' Christmas Album. This album met with controversy upon its release for the rock and roll versions it had of classic Christmas songs and the contemporary rock and roll Christmas music. This was considered to be disrespectful. However, this song is performed in a rather traditional manner. It is also simply a lovely version of this classic hymn. 

Afterwards is Red Sovine with his 1956 recording of If Jesus Came to Your House. 

Then comes The Sons of the Pioneers with their 1937 recording of Dwelling in Beulah Land. Dwelling in Beulah Land was written by C. Austin Miles (who also wrote the gospel classic In The Garden) and was first published in 1911. C. Austin Miles once said, “It is as a writ­er of gos­pel songs I am proud to be known, for in that way I may be of the most use to my Mas­ter, whom I serve will­ing­ly al­though not as ef­fi­cient­ly as is my de­sire.” Roy Rogers (at this time Leonard Slye) sings lead on this song. This was his last year with the Pioneers before he would leave to start his solo movie career. 

Next comes Toby Keith with O Come All Ye Faithful. This hymn was originally written by John Francis Wade, who wrote the song in Latin under the name Adeste Fiedeles. Much later Frederick Oakley and William Brooke credited an English translation of this hymn. Instead of just directly translating the hymn, they also added some new stanzas. This English Language version of the hymn first appeared in 1841 in FH Murray's Hymnal for Use in the English Church. Toby's recording comes from his 2007 Christmas Album, Classic Christmas. 

This is followed by Gene Autry with his 1949 recording of If it Doesn't Snow on Christmas. This is the B-Side of his major holiday hit, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. While this may not be the Christmas classic that the A-Side is, it is a fun little song. 

Today's musical selection ends with Johnny Cash with This Train is Bound for Glory. This wonderful recording comes from John's 1979 album; A Believer Sings the Truth. This was a double length gospel album and Columbia Records felt that such an album from John could never be successful. However, Columbia allowed John to release the album on its own and it was successful earning a spot in the Country Top 50. A shorter version of the album called I Believe would be released in 1984, which would feature a select few songs from the double album. A Believer Sings the Truth would not find its way to CD until 2012.

Now it is time for a Christmas sermon. 

Today's movie is Headin' for the Rio Grande (1936) starring Tex Ritter. 

Psalm 115

1 Not to us, Lord, not to us

    but to your name be the glory,

    because of your love and faithfulness.

2 Why do the nations say,

    “Where is their God?”

3 Our God is in heaven;

    he does whatever pleases him.

4 But their idols are silver and gold,

    made by human hands.

5 They have mouths, but cannot speak,

    eyes, but cannot see.

6 They have ears, but cannot hear,

    noses, but cannot smell.

7 They have hands, but cannot feel,

    feet, but cannot walk,

    nor can they utter a sound with their throats.

8 Those who make them will be like them,

    and so will all who trust in them.

9 All you Israelites, trust in the Lord—

    he is their help and shield.

10 House of Aaron, trust in the Lord—

    he is their help and shield.

11 You who fear him, trust in the Lord—

    he is their help and shield.

12 The Lord remembers us and will bless us:

    He will bless his people Israel,

    he will bless the house of Aaron,

13 he will bless those who fear the Lord—

    small and great alike.

14 May the Lord cause you to flourish,

    both you and your children.

15 May you be blessed by the Lord,

    the Maker of heaven and earth.

16 The highest heavens belong to the Lord,

    but the earth he has given to mankind.

17 It is not the dead who praise the Lord,

    those who go down to the place of silence;

18 it is we who extol the Lord,

    both now and forevermore.

Praise the Lord.

Thanks for joining me. Come back next week for another service of Cowboy Church. Happy trails to you until we meet again. 

How Disney Brought Santa to Life: Santa’s Workshop & The Night Before Christmas - West of Neverland

Some Cartoons for Saturday Morning #260

 Hello, my friends and happy Saturday morning. Once again it is time for some classic cartoons. 

Today's cartoon selection begins with one of my favorite Christmas cartoons of all time, Mickey's Good Deed (1932).  This film was from 1932, at this time, Mickey was at the absolute height of his popularity. He was famous in a way that no cartoon character before had ever been. Critics often compared his popularity to that of Charlie Chaplin's little tramp, and like that character Mickey had fans of all types. He was equally popular with intellectuals and small children. In fact, this same year Walt Disney would receive a special Academy Award for creating Mickey. Renowned Soviet director Sergei Eisenstein (best known for his silent film The Battleship Potemkin (1925)) was a huge fan and even wrote essays on Walt Disney, that discussed the brilliance of Mickey Mouse cartoons (He would remain a huge Disney fan and even later call Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) the single greatest film ever made). Almost every other American cartoon studio was copying what Disney had done with Mickey Mouse. Characters like Foxy (at Warner Brothers) and Cubby Bear (at Van Beuren) were extremely thinly disguised copies of Mickey himself. In fact, in 1931, the Van Beuren studio was sued by Walt for using two mice characters that looked exactly like Mickey and Minnie. There was no doubt, Mickey was movie royalty. Mickey did for animated comedies, exactly what Charlie Chaplin's little tramp had done for live action comedies. Like the comedy films made before Chaplin, the animated comedies before Mickey were often very funny, but you very rarely felt any other emotional response to what was happening on screen. Mickey changed all that and nowhere was it clearer than in Mickey's Good Deed. You may notice that this doesn't sound like your typical cartoon short of the era, and my point is it isn't. This film while not sacrificing the slapstick comedy, also adds a lot of drama to the story itself. However, the Disney studio understood exactly what Chaplin had found out earlier. If the comedy and the drama are both driven by the story and characters, they can both easily co-exist. This idea is done to absolute perfection in this cartoon. This is a beautiful and moving film, while it never forsakes the comedy. The following is a review from The Film Daily, "Right up there with the best of these animated cartoons. Subject has a special holiday flavor in that it shows how Mickey and his dog manage to bring cheer into a big family of needy animal folks. Clever and lively as usual." The following is an exhibitor's review from The Motion Picture Herald, "Mickey's Good Deed: Mickey Mouse - Christmas cartoon. Kids like Mickey. That's why they come. One Mickey Mouse cartoon on your Saturday's program brings the kiddies out to the matinee. Running time, eight minutes. - Edmund M. Burke. Fort Plain Theatre, Fort Plain, N.Y. General Patronage."  

Next comes Frosty the Snowman (1954). This very short cartoon from the UPA studio (best known for the Mr. Magoo cartoons) was a holiday staple at Chicago's WGN-TV station including airing annually on WGN's The Bozo Show. 

Up next is a truly charming and lovely Christmas film from the Halas and Batchelor animation studio, The Candlemaker (1956). This animation studio was started by husband and wife John Halas and Joy Batchelor and is best known for their classic feature film, Animal Farm (1954). 

Bug Bunny's Looney Christmas Tales (1979) is a delightful TV special that featured the Looney Tunes characters (though strangely not Daffy Duck) in three new Christmas themed shorts. In between these shorts there were a few interstitial scenes. You can watch those below. 

Now it is time for a commercial break. 

Up next comes a classic Silly Symphony, The Night Before Christmas (1933). Though the Silly Symphonies were mostly one-off shorts, the occasional sequel could happen (with the Three Little Pigs sequels being the most well-known). The Night Before Christmas is a follow up to the often better remembered Santa's Workshop (1932). Yet as much as I love Santa's Workshop, I love this sequel even more. It could be argued that this movie picks up where the previous one left off, as the last one ends with Santa leaving the North Pole for his trip and this cartoon has him visiting houses. This is a reissue and there is a bit of a difference towards the end. In the original 1933 version, Little Junior is disappointed to get a chamber pot for Christmas. Here he is happy to get a puppy. In this version we do get a bit of Junior getting a blackface appearance from the chimney soot that would be cut out when the film was shown a Disney TV Christmas special in 1983. For all four years of the original Mickey Mouse Club, this would be the Mousekartoon on the last new episode to be aired before Christmas. The following is a brief article from The Film Daily (dated December 28, 1933), "In conjunction with the showing of Walt Disney's Silly Symphony, 'The Night Before Christmas,' The Radio City Music Hall is exhibiting six original Walt Disney drawings used in the production of this picture. The short, a united Artists release, will be held over a second week." A review of the cartoon in The Film Daily called The Night Before Christmas "... one of Walt Disney's best cartoons." Not everyone was so impressed as evidenced by the following exhibitor's review from The Motion Picture Herald, "NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS, THE: Silly Symphony—These Silly Symphonies arc okay, but not worth difference in rental United Artists asks for them. -P. G. Held, New Strand Theatre, Griswold, Iowa. General patronage." 

Now for another holiday staple of WGN-TV, Hardrock, Coco and Joe: The Three Little Dwarfs (1951). 

My favorite Casper the Friendly Ghost cartoon is True Boo (1952). This film puts a lot of delightful Christmas spirit in with its traditional Casper story. The gags where Casper uses everyday objects to make toys, heavily borrows from the Max Fleischer Color Classic, Christmas Comes but Once a Year (1936).

While it is easy to say that the DePatie-Freling cartoons of the mid and late 1970's were not on par with the studio's cartoons of the 1960's and early 70's without any sense of doubt, A Pink Christmas (1978) is a huge exception. This TV special is about as good a cartoon as the studio ever made. This dialogue-less special is somewhat based on O. Henry's The Cop and the Anthem. The Pink Panther has often been compared to Charlie Chaplin, mostly because he is a pantomime character. This though is probably the most Chaplin-esque film the cartoon cat ever stared in. It beautifully combines comedy and pathos, and the idea of a poor tramp like character looking for food of course has roots in Chaplin as well. In fact, this film borrows a gag from Chaplin's The Gold Rush (1925) (involving shoveling snow). It succussed very well. It is both very funny and very moving.

Thanks for joining me. Come back next week for more animated treasures. Until then may all your tunes be looney and your melodies merry. 

Resources Used

Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies: A Companion to the Classic Cartoon Series by Russell Merritt and J.B. Kaufman 

Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse: The Ultimate History by J.B. Kaufman and David Gerstein. 

https://mediahistoryproject.org/

 

Classic Short Film: It's Christmas Time (1952)

Movie Review: The Housemaid

 

Michael's Movie Grade: B-

A trashy but entertaining thriller. 

There is nothing subtle about this movie at all. The story involves a young woman who has just gotten out of prison, desperate for a job. She gets a job as the live in housemaid for a couple that has some serious and dangerous problems. Though her very sanity is being tested she can't leave because she will never get another job or a place to live with her record. The story milks everything it can out of this premise, with all the sex and violence one might image. While the movie may go more than a little overboard on the sex and violence, it still works. This is heavily because of the three main stars. Sydney Sweeny, Amanda Seyfried and Brandon Sklenar are all simply wonderful here, with each one playing off of the others perfectly. Watching these three work with each other is worth the price of admission alone. They are simply dynamic on screen and make even the corniest moments a lot of fun to watch. This is also the rare modern thriller that kept me guessing what was going to happen all the way through. Many of the twists quite surprised me. If they are kind of over the top and soap-opera like in retrospect, they worked quite well while I was watching the film. Director Paul Feig also keeps the movie moving at such a pace that it never once becomes boring. 

 This movie is very soap-opera like and relies too much on the shock value of gore and sex. However, it is also a thriller that keeps you guessing what is going to happen next and benefits from a cast that gives it their all. 

Movie Review: The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants

 

Michael' Movie Grade: B

A really fun SpongeBob adventure. 

This movie is in many ways an extended episode of SpongeBob. That is not to say that the film feels overlong (the hour and a half runtime goes by very quickly) but rather that there is nothing bigger or more cinematic here than in a typical TV episode. Sure, we may be dealing with ghost pirates and spooky danger, but The Flying Dutchman has been one of the series' characters from very early on. While as essentially a feature-length episode it does not reach the heights of the show's early season (which are still hilarious), it is still quite entertaining.

The storyline moves at a quick pace, and its comedic momentum keeps it consistently fun, even when some of the jokes fall flat. SpongeBob's desire to prove himself to be a "Big Guy" is instantly relatable to anyone that has ever been a kid. Meanwhile as silly as SpongeBob and Patrick's antics are, there is a real warmth to their friendship here that gives the film quite a bit of heart. We even get to see a warmer side of Mr. Krabs, which works quite well. The Flying Dutchman works perfectly as a villain here. His over-the-top evilness and how much the character enjoys himself is a pure delight to watch. The Underworld is also a great environment for this film. It is quite atmospheric, and the designs of the various creatures are really creative. 

For such a silly comedy, the humor can be a bit hit and miss at times. There are times when the filmmakers seem to be trying too hard to be funny and it doesn't come off. However, there are also moments that truly made me laugh out loud (the 30 minutes later joke is hilarious). 

As great as SpongeBob, Patrick, Mr. Krabs and The Flying Dutchman are here, the supporting cast is not as strong. Many of the other SpongeBob characters are too sidelined and don't really get to do much. Meanwhile, the new characters simply aren't all that memorable. 

This may not be the best SpongeBob adventure, but it is still a really fun movie. 

By the way this movie is accompanied by a short Christmas-themed film with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. This short is quite smart, funny and just as entertaining as the feature.  

Video Link: Bob Dylan - Must Be Santa (Official Video)