Christmas

Picture This Playlist 30: Christmas Goes to the Movies

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Christmas Goes to the Movies will be rebroadcast on Sunday night, Christmas Eve, on WRIU Kingston, 90.3 FM, also streaming at wriu.org, from 7-8 PM. Please don’t miss this.

This show was broadcast on Sunday, December 17 from 7 to 8 PM, on WRIU Kingston, 90.3 FM, also streaming at wriu.org. It will be re-broadcast on Christmas Eve, December 24th, same time same place)

By Wayne Cresser

Christmas Time is Here from A Charlie Brown Christmas composed by Vince Guaraldi, performed here by NRBQ

Opening or “Dah Who Doraze” from How the Grinch Stole Christmas, composed by Albert Hague, Eugene Podanny, and Theodor Suess Geisel, performed by the MGM Orchestra and Chorus

Happy Holiday from Holiday Inn, composed by Irving Berlin, performed by Bing Crosby, Marjorie Reynolds, the Music Maids and John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra

The Polar Express, from The Polar Express, composed by Alan Silvestri and Glenn Ballard, performed by Tom Hanks

What’s This? from Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, composed and performed by Danny Elfman

Christmas Is Coming, from A Charlie Brown Christmas, composed and performed by the Vince Guaraldi Trio

It Feels Like Christmas from the Muppets Christmas Carol, composed by Paul Williams, performed by David Rudman

“Jingle Bells” (with the “Batman Smells” verse) from the Simpsons, featuring the voices of Phil Hartman, Nancy Cartwright, and Harry Shearer

Reindeers are Better than People from Frozen, composed by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, performed by Jonathan Groff

Winter Was Warm, from Mister MaGoo’s Christmas Carol, music Jules Styne, lyrics Bob Merrill singing Victoria Clark

Skating from A Charlie Brown Christmas, composed by Vince Guaraldi and performed by the Vince Guaraldi Trio

Snow from White Christmas, composed by Irving Berlin, performed by Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, and Peggy Lee

In the Season of Hope from The Man Who Invented Christmas, composed by Michael Danna

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, from Meet Me in St Louis, composed by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blaine, performed by Judy Garland

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Eve from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, inspired by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, composed by Johnny Marks, performed by the Decca Concert Orchestra led by Herbert Raybine

 

Christmas Time is Here from A Charlie Brown Christmas , composed by Vince Guaraldi, performed by Guaraldi and the St. Paul’s Episcopal Church Choristers

Have a Holy Jolly Christmas from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, composed by Johnny Marks and performed by Burl Ives and Owen Bradley

White Christmas from Holiday Inn, composed by Irving Berlin, performed by Bing Crosby

Welcome Christmas Reprieve from How the Grinch Stole Christmas! featuring the voice of Boris Karloff

Thank You Very Much from Scrooge, composed by Leslie Bricusse, performed by Anthony Newley and Company

White Christmas from White Christmas, composed by Irving Berlin, performed by the Drifters

God rest ye Merry (traditional)

Source: Picture This Playlist 30: Christmas Goes to the Movies

Curious about “Wassailing?” Get your wassail on!

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Soak your toast in cider, grab your pans and wooden spoons, and head out into your nearest orchard to wassail the evil spirits away.

By Jon Wilks and Rachel Wilkinson

The word wassail derives from Old English wæs hæil which roughly translates as be you healthy or be in good health. In many counties, wassail songs are sung and performances are made to spread good cheer as well as pour libations over tree roots for good harvests. Common traditions include communal drinking, the singing of wassailing songs, dancing, and (at some of the older wassails) people firing shotguns. Common beverages for wassail include cider, hot spiced ale, wine or mead.

Apple wassailing was traditionally held in cider-making communities, so you’re more likely to find wassails in the West Country, or in the Welsh border counties. That said, it appears to be a popular tradition that increasing numbers are returning to, and – like many great traditions – is spreading across England at quite a pace.

In creating this directory of wassails, many of the organisers were first-timers, suggesting that this tradition increasingly holds meaning for many people who may be coming to it anew. People seem to be keen to connect to the land in a way that we’ve perhaps not seen for some time. Whatever the reason, it’s certainly nice to be involved in something that is non-digital, allowing the participants to look up, gaze around them, and really notice the wheel of the year. [ . . . ]

Your wassailing questions answered

When is wassailing celebrated?

Traditionally, people would have gone wassailing on the Twelfth Night (January 5th) or Old Twelvey (January 17th). These days, most wassails take place after the New Year, stretching from January through to March, and can be seen as a way of introducing a little post-Christmas communal magic in the dark and gloomy days before the sun returns.

How to pronounce wassailing?

‘Wassailing’ or ‘wassail’ is pronounced with an emphasis on the ‘sail’ part of the word. A phonetic way of writing it out would be ‘woh-say-luhng’. It can be heard clearly in many of the wassailing songs in the English tradition. “Wassail, wassail all over the town, my toast it is white and my ale it is brown.”

What does wassailing mean?

The word “wassail” comes from the Middle English toast, “waes hael”, meaning “be thou hale”, which in turn means “be in good health”. The phrase, “waes hael” dates back to pre-Norman times, so if you do decide to get outside and try a quick wassail, you’ll be following a time-honoured tradition. If someone says “waes hael” to you, the appropriate response is to “drinc hael”, or drink their good health [ . . . ]

 

Read more at source: The Tradfolk Wassailing Directory. Where to get your wassail on.

Tributes pour in for The Pogues frontman: ‘Nobody told the Irish story like Shane’

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Singer-songwriter Shane MacGowan remembered as iconic and beloved musician

President Michael D Higgins has led tributes to Shane MacGowan, saying his songs seemed to capture “the measure of our dreams”.

MacGowan’s death at 65 comes after a prolonged period of ill health, including time spent in intensive care. He was best known as the frontman of The Pogues, whose single Fairytale of New York has become a popular Christmas song across Ireland and the UK.

In a statement, Mr Higgins said MacGowan would be remembered “as one of music’s greatest lyricists”.

“His words have connected Irish people all over the globe to their culture and history, encompassing so many human emotions in the most poetic of ways,” he said.

“The genius of Shane’s contribution includes the fact that his songs capture within them, as Shane would put it, the measure of our dreams,” he said.

Fairytale of New York, MacGowan’s best-known song, had a “timeless quality” that would likely see it continue to be listened to every Christmas “for the next century or more”, Mr Higgins said.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said MacGowan was an “amazing” musician and artist. “His songs beautifully captured the Irish experience, especially the experience of being Irish abroad,” he said.

Speaking in the Dáil, Tánaiste Micheál Martin said MacGowan was “an iconic musician who blended many different musical disciplines and genres”.

Mr Martin said his death was “particularly poignant” at this time of year in the context of Fairytale of New York, one of the most “enduring” Christmas songs and “resonates with all of us and continues to do so”.

The singer was born Shane Patrick Lysaght MacGowan on December 25th, 1957, in Pembury, Kent to Irish parents. His father was from Dublin and his mother from Co Tipperary, where he spent many summers in his youth.

His wife Victoria Mary Clarke posted on Instagram that the “love of her life and “measure of her dreams” had died. The pair had married in 2018, having been together for 32 years and engaged for 11 years.

Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald said Ireland had “lost one of its most beloved icons”.

“Nobody told the Irish story like Shane – stories of emigration, heartache, dislocation, redemption, love and joy,” she said.

Sinn Féin deputy leader Pearse Doherty said MacGowan was a “musical icon”, who would be remembered “as one of the greatest songwriters of his generation”.

Siobhán McSweeney, the Irish actor who played Sister Michael in Derry Girls, said MacGowan “was the voice of London for us Irish”.

“When I was scared about moving here he lured me over with songs about chancers, drinkers, lovers, poets and scoundrels … He also taught me how to miss Home, whatever that may be,” she said.

Source: Tributes pour in for The Pogues frontman: ‘Nobody told the Irish story like Shane’

Watch “The Holly and the Ivy”

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“Russian screen writer Anatole de Grunwald imbues this poignant adaptation of Wynward Browne’s West End stage hit with Chekhov’s spirit and relocates the Russian’s genius for deftly-drawn characters to a rambling Norfolk parsonage on Christmas Eve. […] while The Holly and The Ivy now radiates a nostalgic glow, it is actually a revealing record of a country on the cusp of the dramatic social, economic and cultural change that has, sadly, made faith, fidelity and family feel like relics of a distant past.”

Moviemail Catalogue

The Holly and the Ivy is a 1952 British drama film directed by George More O’Ferrall and starring Ralph Richardson, Celia Johnson, and Margaret Leighton with Denholm Elliott, John Gregson and Hugh Williams also in the cast. It was adapted from the 1950 play of the same name by Wynyard Browne.
Produced by Anatole de Grunwald and co-scripted by Browne and de Grunwald it was distributed by British Lion Films. It is about an Irish clergyman whose neglect of his grown offspring, in his zeal to tend to his parishioners, comes to the surface at a Christmas family gathering.

The film was shot at Shepperton Studios outside London with sets designed by the art director Vincent Korda. Actresses Margaret Halstan and Maureen Delany reprised their roles from the stage.[5] It was released in the United States in 1954 by the independent Pacemaker Pictures. [ Wikipedia ]