A Very Special Winter Blog To All!!!!!!!!

Well, girls, Fall, 2011 is History, and Winter is here! Time for cozying up to the fire, 19th Century Novels, and two coming months of monotony, until the Spring!!!!!

Tomorrow is, the way I was taught, the Shortest Day Of The Year, so I just want to say that, with today being the First Day Of Winter, I wanted to open it in a very special way!!!!!

One of my first associations with the season is that wonderful song from "Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol," entitled "Winter Was Warm."

This cartoon special first appeared in 1962--to think it will be 50 next year!!! Hopefully, there will be some kind of COMPLETE Anniversary Broadcast!!!! I understand this was sometimes shown in local theaters--imagine the Lucky Ones who have seen THIS classic on screen!!!!!

It is still one of the most talked about specials of my generation, and for so many reasons. The first is Mister Magoo, voiced by Jim Backus, and one of the iconic cartoon figures for the Baby Boomer generation!!!! The second is how he was used--though an adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic (and an extremely good one; despite major condensation, it is still perfect!!!), the concept was that Quincy Magoo was appearing on Broadway, in a Musical Stage adaptation of Dickens' "A Christmas Carol." It starts out with him enroute to the theater, with the classic opening, "It's Great To Be Back On Broadway!" There are theatrical in-jokes, glimpses of backstage mishaps, and still a show is presented onstage, before an audience that is clearly shown. It is even structured in acts, like an evening at the theater!!!! The concept was brilliant!!!!!

Before going further, let me say that in 1962, Broadway classics were still being churned out. Jule Styne and Bob Merill were getting ready for a classic collaboration of their own--a musical about Fanny Brice, called "Funny Girl," featuring a young Brooklyn up and comer with the last name of Streisand. And Styne had done "Gypsy," with Merman, by this point!!!!!

"Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol" was first aired on NBC the night of December 18, 1962!!!!! Which would have made me all of eight years old!!! And it pointed me in the direction of several things--my Dickens mania, and, darlings, my Theater Queenship!!!! Since the age of 6, I had been captivated by this 33 rpm record I had of Lionel Barrymore as Scrooge, taken from a radio adaptation. I think I had seen at least some of the Alistair Sim (still the gold standard, when it comes to Live Action versions, darlings!!!!)1951 movie, so I was grounded in the story. And I loved the Mister Magoo cartoons; my Uncle Jack, who worked for Shell, gave me a Magoo pin the company, who I guess had been a corporate sponsor, manufactured one year!!!! I still have and cherish it!!!!!

But Mister Magoo and Charles Dickens???? How would this play out????

Well, darlings, here we are today, discussing it!!! Tell you something???

Its dramatic intensity must have been illusion bursting to some kids, accustomed to the Magoo humor, and settled in, after the 'Broadway' opening. But once the curtain went up on Dickens, they pulled out all stops!!!!!

How many of us here can still remember "I'm All Alone In The World," without choking up, and tears coming to our eyes??? Or, by contrast, the strictly Broadway ribaldry (and it would be a show stopper, if done live) of the Thieves' number, "We're Despicable!"??????

But the number that always got to me, still does, and forms the basis for today's blog, is the aching, romantic ballad, "Winter Was Warm."

This was sung in the past, by a girl named Belle. In the Dickens original, or other adaptations, she is called something else, but the situation remains the same. Young Ebenezer Scrooge was engaged to her, but she sensed his love changing, as his romantic dreams and ideals are overtaken by capitalistic, moneygrubbing ones.

"But this is the way of the world!" he answers to her, defensively!!! Just like today's techo junkies, whose humanity erodes in the face of ever increasing technology, forgetting to keep the advantages of technology, without losing the joys of Humanity.

Sadly, Belle, in releasing him, asks, "If you were free, would you today choose a girl whose father had left so little money?" Scrooge is abashed; he knows the answer now is that he wouldn't!!!!

Which is why it is so heartbreaking to see Magoo/Scrooge in the Present, with the Ghost Of Christmas Past, implore, "Yes, Belle, yes!" hands, outstretched. He is truly regretful of a choice that cost him, ultimately, some real happiness, and consigned him to a lonely life!!!!!

And now, it is time to get out the hankies, darlings!!!! For this is when Belle, with that gorgeous Victorian hairdo and red dress, walks from him, goes to a table, picks up a snowglobe, muses on their lost love, and sings--

"Winter Was Warm.
Summer-soft that year.
The winter was warm.
Without a sign of frost,
Like winter lost
Its way that year.

It seems, as I recall,
No blossoms fell that fall,
May didn't leave at all,
Or did love paint an illusion?

Now, trees, with a sigh,
Stand and shiver
While their dreams fall and die.
And all my dreams are bare,
Wrapped up somewhere,
In summer leaves.

Oh, what I'd give to be,
To be in love again.
This year, the winter is cold.
Will it ever be warm,
As it was, then?"

And then, with a parting, "Goodbye, Ebenezer," Belle walks off!!!!!

All right, are we crying now, girls???? Are we???? Darlings, even at eight, this song got to me like nobody's business. I hadn't even started crying at "Over The Rainbow" yet!!!! And the song still gets to one; I was weeping, as I wrote the lyrics. It is a gorgeous song, sung by Miss Jane Kean, who, again, boomers will remember as Trixie, on the Jackie Gleason "Honeymooners" from the Sixties, in color, as part of his hour long variety show, with Art Carney (again!!!) as Norton, and Sheila Macrae as Alice, this time!!!!! Jane's rendition of this song is so powerful it brings comparison to Judy Garland. Some maintain it was she who sang it, since the production company that made this made her cartoon film, "Gay Pur-ee", where she voiced Mewsette. It is definitely not Garland's voice, but imagine if she HAD sung it!!! But not a thing Jane; others have recorded it, but hers is the definitive rendition.

Now, wait till you hear this!!! As this special went on to become a classic, somewhere along the way art gave further way to commerce, so that, by the Eighties, this was still being shown, but the 'Broadway' opening was often cut--bad in itself!!!--and so, horrors, was "Winter Was Warm." Which is stupid, because a chorus sings it on the end credits, and it is used as a score bridge throughout, the same way 'Rainbow' is in 'Oz.' Which shows how high a value its creators placed on it.

My apologies to all--try as I could I was unable to find a picture of this sequence. So I settled for the Broadway title marquee, and Scrooge with Belle in happier times!!!!!

More to the point, without it, you lose the central idea of wrong choices leading to lost happiness--and why!!!! Which is not too young a lesson for children to learn!!!! Look at the impression it made on me!!!! And turned me into a Theater Queen, to boot; those instincts were grounded in me!!!! This song is an understated masterpiece; it may not turn everyone into Theater Queens, but I defy anyone to listen to it, without pause for reflection on and gratitude for the love you have. You know I do, girls!!!!!!!

There is happiness, or wishfulness towards HOPE, within the teariness of this song, and warmth is my wishes for this Winter for all MY girls!!!!!

As warm as all that warmth encased within the snow globe!!!!