Monday, November 27, 2017

TV TRADITIONS


It is hard to believe that I have TV traditions. The television was never a favorite of mine as I got older, not because of any so-called: "Sophistications" but because I have no patience with commercials. That in itself is ironic since I come from a commercial field, advertising.
 
I will watch a movie when there are no commercials promised, I will go to a movie because the idea is no commercials to interrupt the flow of the story. I do tape or record shows from TV that I watch later so I can fast-forward through the commercials.

But over the years I have developed a few movies that I like to watch out of tradition. When it comes to Thanksgiving Day there is nothing better than the March of the Wooden Soldiers, or its official name: "Babes in Toyland"! To watch the great masters of comedy, a little slapstick, and insane reasoning, Laurel and Hardy are the go-to guys. The fantasy and songs bring me back to my very young childhood, recalling even what I wore when I saw the movie for the first time.

There is another show on the same day I must watch also, and that, of course, is the Honeymooners, starring Jackie Gleason, Art Carney, Audrey Meadows and Joyce Randolph. Sitting through one of those shows is like sitting back in Brooklyn in the apartment I was raised in, pure nostalgia. The Honeymooners is an exception to my tradition of TV movies.

Then comes the Christmas season. I hope you sissy-Mary political correct will allow me to say "CHRISTMAS" instead of "Holiday" since the movie is about Christmas. The movie: A Christmas Carol in its original 1951 version is my favorite. This is arguably the movie version of A Christmas Carol to which all others are compared. Alastair Sim is the perfect Scrooge, unhappy with the world; mean and an uncaring old man.

And so, with a football game to round out the viewing, Thanksgiving and Christmas become the best holidays for the screen.

To all you sissy-Mary political correct, HAPPY HOLIDAYS!


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