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| Banner for the 80th Anniversary of the children's Christmas radio serial "The Cinnamon Bear". |
25 Years Ago
December 1, 1992 - Frosty Returns (not a sequel to Rankin & Bass' Frosty The Snowman, 1969) premieres on CBS with John Goodman as Frosty and has aired each year since. Co-produced by Bill Melendez, (A Charlie Brown Christmas), the child characters look like they could fit into the "Peanuts" world.
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| Cover to the Little Golden Book's adaption of the holiday special, by Muller and Bill Langley, From the Author's Collection |
December 4, 1992 - Noel one of the last TV Christmas specials written by Romeo Muller (Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer, Frosty The Snowman) premieres. It is the story of a joyful Christmas ornament narrated by Charlton Heston. Muller passed away on December 30 that year at the age of 64.
50 Years Ago
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| News story about the new Christmas special "Cricket On The Hearth". Albany (New York) Times Union) 1967 |
December 18th 1967 - The Rankin Bass special "The Cricket On The Hearth", based on the Charles Dickens story, debuts as an episode of the Danny Thomas Hour. Naturally it starred the voices of Danny Thomas and his daughter Marlo Thomas. It has not been screen on TV is some time, but is available on DVD.
75 Years Ago
December 14 - 25, 1942. "What is the name of the Lone Ranger's nephew's horse? Why Victor! Everybody knows that!" - A Christmas Story (1983)
Over the course of 6 episodes of the classic radio series, The Lone Ranger discovers that the son of his slain brother Capt. Dan Reid is still living! The younger Dan Reid would ride with The Lone Ranger and Tonto in many episodes of the popular radio series (and for a while in the television version). Another interesting crossword clue for "A Christmas Story" would have been "What is the dual identity of the Lone Ranger's nephew's son?" (Answer: "The Green Hornet")
80 Years Ago
November 26, 1937 - The Christmas radio serial "The Cinnamon Bear" is first heard. Still broadcast on radio to this day between Thanksgiving and Christmas, it is the longest on-going Christmas special in American broadcast history. "Rudolph" is catching up after 53 years.
125 Years Ago
December 18, 1892 - The two act ballet "The Nutcracker" premieres at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg. It was adapted from E. T. A. Hoffmann's story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King", modified by Alexandre Dumas' in his story "The Nutcracker". It originally featured choreography by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with the still famous score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. It would take a while before the music would catch on in the United States. Today Nutcrackers are widely used and displayed with the Christmas holiday.
130 Years Ago
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| Cover to 1959 children's edition of Sherlock Holmes stories. |
December 1, 1887 - A Study In Scarlet, the first Sherlock Holmes story appears in Beeton's Christmas Annual
