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The worst toy of the 1970s?  I actually received Milky as a Christmas present as a kid (though I'm sure I would have preferred to have gotten an X-wing Fighter).

Here's a commercial for Milky the Marvelous Milking Cow from Kenner:

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McDonald's Star Trek: The Motion Picture Happy Meal commercial:

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The Shat-Man's spoken word performance of "It Was a Very Good Year":

Merrie Christmas to all!

"Hardrock, Coco and Joe - The Three Little Dwarfs" from Centaur Productions:

Don't touch that dial!

An annual Christmas Eve television tradition in the New York area for almost fifty years, here's the one and only original WPIX Channel 11 Yule Log:

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Coca-Cola commercial featuring "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony) Buy the World a Coke" performed by The Hillside Singers and produced by Al Ham (writer of the immortal Action News theme "Move Closer to Your World"):

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Crazy Eddie commercial:

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"Suzy Snowflake" from Centaur Productions:

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Though not necessarily a Christmas movie per se, this 1979 animated adaptation of C.S. Lewis' 1950 novel The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is inextricably linked to the holiday in my mind, both in its overt religious themes and its general snow covered wintry ambience.  Along with Rankin/Bass' version of The Hobbit, this made for TV movie was one of the gateway drugs into the world of fantasy literature for me, since I saw the cartoon versions first and then read the books they were based on later.  Thanks television!

Compared to the recent 2005 live action feature film or even the 1988 BBC miniseries, this version is a relatively low budget affair directed by Bill Melendez, director of the beloved trilogy of Peanuts holiday specials A Charlie Brown Christmas, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and the slightly lesser A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.  Though it lacks the big budget sheen and special effects set pieces of the 2005 film, this is an extemely faithful adaptation of the novel with a narrative that moves quickly but is well paced and about 99% free of any extraneous padding, which is not something I would say for the 2005 live action film (or Peter Jackson's bloated Hobbit trilogy).  Obviously not as polished as a Disney production, the animation is decent for a made for TV movie, though the character design could be considered a bit wonky, especially for the four Pevensie children and their Brady kids fashions; there are a few scenes where these kids just look downright ugly.  Susan fares the worst, usually looking like some type of greasy haired encephalitic inbred; maybe she was just going through an awkward phase since once the kids are portrayed as adults they lose most of the ugliness in their original lumpy, pasty faced designs.

That caveat aside, this adaptation still manages to retain a bit of the "veddy British" cozy tea time atmosphere of the original story, a feeling of homely magic that I personally felt was more or less lost in the 2005 film in favor of Lord of the Rings-lite style battles and CGI spectacle.  And though I can only really remember a Minotaur or two in the White Witch's army of monsters and some Centaurs on Aslan's side in the live action film, this cartoon version features a whole menagerie of weird and bizarre creatures in the two armies, including but not limited to: a unicorn, a flying horse, a couple of dryads, a werewolf, a trio of witches and a plethora of assorted ghouls and goblins.  Not a bad monster count for a kiddie cartoon!

Here's a short clip:

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Hickory Farms commercial:

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Ronco's Mr. Microphone commercial:

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Dispatches from McDonaldland #2

In which Clown Ronald skates on thin ice while cartoon animals strike curious poses:

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"The Snow Miser Song" from Rankin/Bass' The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974):

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Andre Cold Duck commercial:

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Carvel Santa and Chanukah cake commercial (thank you):

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Common Household Deities of North America, Mid to Late Twentieth Century

No. 6,  The Mother Goddess of Breakfast Syrups:

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"The Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth" duet performed by Der Bingle and Der Bowie:

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Though not held in as high regard as some of its more popular kiddie matinee brethren such as The Wizard of Oz, Mary Poppins, or even Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the 1968 film adaptation of Ian Fleming's novel about a magical flying car is still one of the great children's live action films of all time, full of song, spectacle and adventure.

With a 144 minute long running time though, it could be considered a bit too epic for especially hyperactive children or fidgety adults to sit through without squirming; but there is much to delight in here, notably the elaborate, Rube Goldbergesque proto-steampunk mechanical inventions of Caractacus Potts (Dick Van Dyke) and some beautiful Technicolor widescreen aerial cinematography as the winged motorcar soars above the English countryside and the working windmill the Potts family live in all the way to a fairytale castle located in Vulgaria, the mythical European country of the stock villain Baron Bomburst--and that's a real windmill, real castle, and real aerial photography, no CGI scenery here.  If only the character of Caractacus Potts were a preteen girl yearning for the freedom of flight instead of good old middle aged Dick Van Dyke, this could almost be a Miyazaki film come to life.

Special mention must be made of the truly scrumptious Sally Ann Howes.  After watching her performance of "Doll on a Music Box" as a young boy, I would never again look at a package of Swiss Miss quite the same way.

And to top it all off, there is the Child Catcher.  Created especially for the film by screenwriter Roald Dahl and played by ballet dancer Robert Helpmann, the Child Catcher is simply one of the most terrifying film characters of all time:

Brrrrr!  To this day just looking at him gives me the willies!

Here's the trailer:

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K-tel Sno-Bloc Maker commercial:

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Hai Karate aftershave commercial:

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Common Household Deities of North America, Mid to Late Twentieth Century

No. 5, The small god of indigestion:

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Life Day hymn "Tree of Life" aka "A Day to Celebrate" peformed by Princess Leia Organa from the Star Wars Holiday Special (1978):