Friday, June 12, 2009
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Jonathan Winters' reads A Christmas Carol
NPR.org: December 13, 2004 · "Marley was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. Old Marley was as dead as a doornail."
So begins A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Some say this short story, first published in 1843, transformed Christmas into a major holiday. Before A Christmas Carol, there was surprisingly little celebration during the Christmas season. After its publication, the holiday became a high point of the year. The tale has inspired movies, operas, readings and countless stage performances around the globe.
Master comedian Jonathan Winters presents a distinctive reading of this holiday classic, using a special performing edition prepared by Dickens for his own presentations. He re-creates Ebenezer Scrooge, Bob Cratchit, Tiny Tim, Jacob Marley's spirit and the three Christmas ghosts: Past, Present and Future. Mimi Kennedy also performs.
Produced by National Public Radio and KCRW.
Friday, February 16, 2007
Archive of American Television Interview with Jonathan Winters
Comedian Jonathan Winters discusses his work on "The Jonathan Winters Show", "The Tonight Show", "The Twilight Zone", "Mork and Mindy", "Hee Haw", "The Andy Williams Show", "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson", working with Dean Martin and shares his advice on comedy.
Click below to play each part direct from Google Video. Each ep runs approx 30 minutes.
Archive of American Television Interview with Jonathan Winters Part 1 of 5
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Anti-Semitic animation on The Cartoon Network? I'm agog...
When I first found this Christmas special I was wonderfully taken aback since it features comedy greats like Jonathan Winters, Cloris Lechman and Don Knotts along with the always superb Vincent Price. I've never been one for the Christmas season since it is Christianity in a passive context however with the pedigree of the cast involved I thought it'd still have merit.
Until I found this review over at Amazon...
Judge for youself by clicking here to watch the 50 minute cartoon "The Little Troll Prince" direct from AOL video. I'm on dial up right now so I can't check it out and put in my 2 cents.They are ugly, have big noses, tails, and don't know (or believe) that Jesus is the son of God...Yeah, I'm sure the makers of this cartoon were only talking about trolls.
Reviewer: Jeff Rader "jeffofpdx" (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews I saw this cartoon on Cartoon Network last winter and was totally disgusted. It attempts to convey the message "god is love" with hateful Jewish stereotypes. It's the story of a troll prince who believes the beliefs and behaviors of his people are evil (Troll culture in this cartoon is disgustingly distorted Jewish culture). He meets two human (Christian) children who tell him why his people are so evil and ugly: because they don't believe in Jesus and the Trinity, and tell him that he can convert to Christianity to save his soul (and make him better looking). Trolls who convert become Gnomes, according to the cartoon, but can never become real humans.
This movie does two things: tells Christian children that their ways are the only ways and others are evil. and plays on the feelings of Jewish children who are growing up in areas that are mainly Christian and are constantly reminded that they are doing things "wrong" by not celebrating Christmas--and then tells them they can change their evil ways by accepting Jesus and rejecting their families.
This cartoon would never be made today, where all major holiday cartoons emphasize pluralism. The kind of pluralism being put into todays cartoons may not be very realistic, but it presents a much more peaceful world than this hateful garbage does.
The last song states that Jesus loves everyone, "even ugly trolls." This is a great video if you love to laugh at Christian ignorance, or if you want your children to grow up as ignorant Christians. (Please note that I am not against Jesus, I am against the hate, greed, and ignorance many people use him to justify).
After my stomach stopped turning from what the reviewer says I, at first, decided not to post this program however changed my mind since if it is as truly offensive as Jeff says then the word still needs to get out that crap like this is still being distributed by major media companies and on cable television.
Aside from getting the word out I'm not sure what else there is to do...I'm open to suggestions. My email is on the right sidebar of the site.
If you want to complain to the Cartoon Network over their airing of this program here's the contact:
1050 Techwood Drive
Atlanta, GA 30318
404.885.2263