Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas

This year was the 28th annual showing of Emmett Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas (EOJBC) at my parents' home. It's our family Chanuka tradition! I was very happy to read all of the other glowing reviews of EOJBC. All of the characters are so great. My dad's favorite character is Wendel, and his lines, "Let's see...half a fifty cents, half a fifty cents..." and "Golly, you got mashed potatoes?!" My sisters and I all love to hate Gretchen Fox, (we wish she WOULD fall off the dock). And while we're on the subject of ol' Gretchen, does anyone else find it just a little convenient that she is one of the talent contest judges who casts her vote AGAINST the jugband and Ma? There's also that crotchety Old Lady Possum who micro-managerially watches Wendel and Emmet rebuild (NOT repair) her fence with her broom in hand, cawing, "Don't just stand around, boys! Ya got WORK to do!" I love the snake when he says to Chuck, "Geez, a guy should be grateful he's got shoulders!" and the bug-eyed fish when he condescendingly spits at the man in the street, "Oh, so sorry!Pbbfft!!"

As many times as I've seen EOJBC, I never tire of it. The scene in the ORIGINAL version with George and Melissa Rabbit's talent performance (gotta love those jazz paws!) absolutely trips me out to this day! I laugh so hard I cry! It was a crime that their scene was scrapped when the movie came out on cassette. Thankfully, that scene is back in on the DVD, but Kermit is gone. I wish the big companies would just put aside the copyrights for a while and reissue a DVD of the original version of EOJBC as it was first shown on HBO, complete with Kermit the Frog and George and Melissa Rabbit's stellar performance. I bet there are a lot of viewers out there who have no idea that George and Melissa were even there! In the version that cuts out their scene, you can still hear their music in the background as Harrison Fox is telling the jugband to get back inside before they miss their curtain call.

Not only are the characters fully developed with great personalities, but there are some great one-liners in the script. Will Possum closes the curtain after the first act, Carrots the Dancing Horse, makes a memorable exit Stage Left AND Right. Pulling the cords, Will drolly says, "It's gonna be a loooooong night," and shakes his head. Ever the gracious hostess, Alice "Ma" Otter welcomes Hetty Muskrat into her home to use the spinning wheel Ma keeps borrowing from her. As she holds a tea kettle in her hands, Ma looks around frantically and asks, "Now, where'd I put that teapot?" We are trying (unsuccessfully as of yet) to get my 4 year old niece to watch it, but she hasn't shown much interest yet. Maybe next year.

Paul Williams is a masterful songwriter and composer (Mr. Big Time Conductor, to quote Harvey). If you like his style, I highly recommend Bugsy Malone (1976), the all-kid casted gangster movie starring Scott Baio and Jodie Foster.

If you have any inclination to watch this movie, go for it. You will not be disappointed!

The brilliance of Jim Henson was that he could make schmaltz without seeming schmaltzy. This is an unabashedly sentimental movie (as one would expect a Christmas special to be) and it succeeds in drawing you into its sentiment, but it never loses that quirky edge that made his Muppets so much more interesting than most programming directed (ostensibly) at children. Who else could pull off making the antagonist an evil teddy bear who sings in a heavy metal band? Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas is my favorite Muppet movie.

There's a new, October 2005 release of Emmett's Jugband Christmas. This one contains an excellent 'making-of' video, made sometime in 2005. It contains a 'blooper' segment, also. It also contains clips of the pieces edited out of the original over the years.

Kermit has been removed from this version, released by HIT Entertainment (Kermit is now owned by Disney). Highly recommended, though.

Also included in the 'making-of' are the intricacies of having two 'Mom' performers. The singer first recorded the songs, then Frank Oz had to lip-sync 'Mom' to the songs, then Frank did 'Mom' with his own voice, then the singer had to re-do all of 'Mom's lines in sync with the video. Intricate, but it worked really well.

This movie is a tender loving movie with lots of humor, it is a wonderful family movie. I remember every Christmas my brothers and I couldn't wait for this movie to show on HBO. The story is a version of the gift of the magi set with animals and a little twist on the story. The characters are adorable and you want to take them home. and who can forget the River bottom band? I highly recommend seeing this movie and making it a tradition in your home.

I first seen this on HBO in the early "80's and fell in love with it then and still love it now, some 19 years later. What a heart-warming tale of a widowed mother trying to raise her only son after "PA" passes away. Pa didn't leave them much, but they made do on what they had. Really a classic and a must see for every child and adult. I just loved the songs in this movie, they were classics in themselves. Even today, at the Christmas season, I still watch this movie, but now I watch it with my son.