December 21, 2017 • 55 mins
It's the most wonderful episode of the year! Join Josh and Chuck as they ride their sleigh through the debate over whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie, the Rockefeller Center tree, a boozy holiday recipe and plenty more great holiday tidings!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to stuff you should know from how Stuff Works
dot com. Hey Hey, hey, hey, ho ho ho, and
(00:23):
welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles W.
Chuck Bryant. You know, we have a special uh ELF
with us this this time this year for our Christmas
special Noel Elf on the shelf, Noel Hark, you're the bells?
There go the bells? Where are the bells? I am
the bells. It's pretty good. Thanks? Was that tubular bells?
(00:49):
No but one of my that just reminded me of
one of my favorite SNL skits of all time where
the Sweeney Sisters? Um was it? Jan Hooks? Geez, the
late Jan Hooks. Man very sad about that. And I
think Norah Dunne, if I remember correctly remember them the
Sweeney Sisters, of course, I do so great, And I
(01:10):
think they did that for their their Christmas episode. They
did a great medley of Christmas tunes and that one
sort of went like that, nice, it's so good. Well
you just nailed it, man. How are you feeling pretty good?
I'm feeling great because this uh is one of my
favorite episodes of the year. Me too. And we'd like
(01:30):
to point out not to tuot our horn. But one
of the things we always fight for every year is
that the Christmas episode, along with the Halloween episode, remains
add free. We fight for it to the death. There's
so many dead ad sales. People are awake, but you
know what, they deserved it. They shouldn't have crossed. The
(01:50):
ship has just led us, you know. Yeah, so this
is an ever free episode, like you said, and I'm
pretty proud of that too. I think it's nice of us. Yeah, uh,
this is this is just one of my favorite episodes
of the year. It's fun. So as we do every year, Josh,
I think we want to encourage everyone to light a fire,
(02:12):
maybe pour up a hot buttered rum Oh yeah, that's
a good one. Although we do have a good recipe
for this year. Yeah, I guess they could listen to
that and then come back to the beginning or a
rummy eggnog. We're just your favorite non alcoholic Christmas drink
of choice. Get the family together, like the Yule log
hangs the hang that missiletoe, right, and let's get this underway.
(02:35):
So it's been a pretty pretty uh, it's been an
interesting year so far, right, Yeah, but um, I always
like these ones because they make me reflect on the
year and it seems like it was just a month
ago that the year started. Uh, it has gonna by fast.
I feel like I'm speeding toward death. But when I
(02:56):
think about being forty six years old and speeding towards death,
I think, wow, when I was a kid, that was
a long time ago. So if I'm you know, around
middle age ish, like, I got a long way to go.
And it just seems like it's that trick that your
mind plays on you, right where it seems like time
(03:18):
is gaining speed as you get older. Right. I think
there's some science behind that too. I think there's two.
I think it's because you have less time to compare
it to when you're a kid, whereas the older you
get you have more time to compare it to. Probably so,
But the the I've had that same exact thought, chuck,
within the last probably two weeks, towards death. No, no, no,
(03:38):
the other one where it's like, wait a minute, I've
I've lived for a very long time and I'm right
at middle age, so I've got a long time left,
and baby, I'm gonna make the most out of it.
And I'm gonna start with the two thousand and seventeen
stuff you should know Christmas extravagance. I'll tell you what
you shouldn't do. Then if you if you've got a
good feeling about the future and you're a long way
(03:59):
toward death, don't then go down the road of Yeah,
but I only got about fifteen or twenty more good
years right now, it gets really sad. I assume that
medical science is going to advance by such leaps and bounds. Yeah,
we're going to be living healthy to like one fifty. Yeah,
we're gonna be playing tennis at when I finally just
(04:20):
go over and unplugged and drop dead right there on
the tennis court. Yeah, after you beat me in our
final game. Yeah, and a simulation of Andre Agassi. All right,
so let's do this. Should we take an ad break?
Pretty good, Chuck. Let's take a little jingle break? How
about that? Then we'll get into it, all right, Happy holidays, Chuck,
(04:43):
Thank you, all right, buddy, we're back. Oh and speaking
(05:04):
of jingles, big thanks to our pal John begin who
composed us for us. He's composed a number of stuff
you should know ad break jingles, and we went to
and said Hey, will you compose for us this Christmas season?
He said yes, and it was a Christmas miracle. Agreed?
And what should we start with? Oh man, I think
(05:25):
we have to start with die Hard is dieharded Christmas movie? This? This,
you you found this, you put together most of this.
This is a world class episode. By the way, I
want to commend you for it. Thanks. And it's not
like I dug this up this and almost got annoyed
by this one because it's become a very trendy thing
over the past few years to argue about whether or
(05:45):
not die Hard as a Christmas movie. Yeah, it's basically
the clear symbol that civilization is sliding into irreversible decline.
Argument over this, so let's talk about it. Yeah, because
I think the reason why I got jazzed about it,
I feel very similar to you. It's kind of like, guys,
this could not matter less, stop arguing about this. That
was my William Shatner impression. Um, this article you sent
(06:10):
by art Ta Vanna from l A Weekly. I just
think it really gets the point across so well. That
jazz me. Yeah, you know what, do I even have
that one? Why don't you lead this one? Then? Okay, well,
Jimminy Crickets, I think I might have sent it to
you and then not even use that one. Oh it's great, man,
This one is like the best. I'm actually putting it
on my UM website. Are you serious, Clark, It's going
(06:31):
on the reading list. What's the name of it. It's
called Yes, die Hard is a Christmas movie? Stop debating it. Okay,
I don't think I have that one, so but I'm
I can I know die Hard inside and out so
I can get in there. Okay, So Art Art says
that he starts with a quote. Art says, this is
a quote from a BuzzFeed article, but from way back
in two thousand thirteen. This has been going on a while,
(06:53):
but the BuzzFeed wrote, quote most prized among people of
this opinion that die Hard is a Christmas movie is
the transgressive act of selecting a violent action movie over
home alone or more classic fair. We get it, You're
too cool for regular Christmas movies, right, So they laid
down the gauntlet. I think they did a good bit
(07:13):
of calling out and they probably got it right for
some people. But Art says, wait a minute, Wait a minute,
who's to say what classic Christmas fare is if you're saying,
if you're talking about It's a Wonderful Life, you're being
brainwashed like Frank Capra followed in the tradition of Norman Rockwell,
and all of this is like some weirdo small town
communalism utopianism that doesn't have even really exist. And the
(07:36):
whole reason that you're crazy for It's a Wonderful Life
is because it lost its copy right back in the
seventies and the television networks around the country started showing
it for free, so it almost was force fit into
a Christmas tradition. And it's a Wonderful Life, I mean,
if we gotta, if we're really gonna take this down
(07:57):
that path. Is not a Chris Smiths movie. It's not
even set at Christmas. There is a scene set on
Christmas Eve, one scene in that movie. And something I
read because I was looking up whether or not It's
a Wonderful Life as a Christmas movie or it's just
got that by association, and they said, if if It's
a Wonderful Life is a Christmas movie, then e t
(08:19):
is a Halloween movie. I don't know, man, I don't know,
because here's the thing, and this is, this is we'll
just reveal the end here. Then the one thing that
die Hard and It's a Wonderful Life have in common
is getting your family back before Christmas morning. Like the
(08:40):
the whole thing that's driving the plot is a race
against time to get everything the way that it should
be before Christmas morning happens. Sure, And also, is a
Christmas movie one that is is set at Christmas or
one that is just got filled with the spirit of Christmas?
I think if are you asking what my opinion is.
(09:02):
My opinion is that if somebody feels like Christmas Eve
when they watch a movie and it becomes like a
tradition for them to watch it, or they have a
good Christmas feeling from it, then leave that person alone. Well,
but like, is the Godfather Thanksgiving movie because they showed
Everythanksgiving on TV? And The Sound of Music is an
Easter movie because they show it around Easter. If it
(09:24):
is that to some people, then then that's fine. It
makes it that for those people. Okay, so you're saying
the setting of the movie and the contents they're in
have no bearing on whether or not, Like it doesn't
even have to take place at Christmas or be Christmas Eve. No,
I'm I'm saying that, yes, it does not have to
take place at Christmas, but I'm not saying that the
(09:45):
settings had no bearing because I do think that if
if die Hard wasn't set at Christmas, no one would
be talking about whether it was a Christmas movie or not.
So that the the time that it takes place definitely
does have an impact on it. That's not the only thing.
And if it doesn't take place around Christmas, that doesn't
automatically disqualify it from being a Christmas movie. It just
(10:07):
makes make it a Christmas movie. Right, So so that's
our Those are our opinions. But let's get into what
Art ta Vana says all the reasons why I die
Hard is a Christmas movie? Huh? All right, what's he got?
So he says not only is it a Christmas movie,
but he said that it is one of the This
is a quote one of the most carefully sculpted Christmas
allegories in history. So either Art ta Vanna is totally
(10:31):
mad or this guy's got something figured out that everybody
else is missing. Yeah, I mean he does make some
pretty good points. Um. One of the things, well, I mean,
we can just tick through a bunch of these. One
of the things is, uh is the name John from
John McLean, he said, could be an illusion to John
the Baptist or John the Apostle. And also Holly Gennaro
(10:53):
the wife, her name is Holly. Doesn't get much more
Christmas E than Holly, that's right, and so John. The
premise of this is John has lost his wife. Ers.
In the process of losing his wife, she's moved from
New York, their home, to l A to pursue her career,
and in the process she's dropped her married name in
(11:14):
favor of Gennaro, her her maiden name. That's what That's
what she goes by professionally, right, John is out there.
The premise of this is what has brought John out
to l A for Christmas is to to basically reclaim
his wife, as art Ta Vana puts it. Okay, So
(11:34):
that's the that's the premise in John's name can be
an allegory for John the Baptist, John the Apostle, something
religious and Christmas E christianny I should say. And then
Holly's name is that pagan plant Holly. And then he
also says that there's thirteen terrorists, which doesn't it first
seem very Christmas e right, yeah, but he says that
(11:58):
very Uh. Specifically, Han Scruber says that he is not
a terrorist. Uh. And so then you have twelve to
see this is where it Paul's apart fer me. He says,
twelve card carrying terrorists, like the twelve Apostle christ or
the twelve Days of Christmas. But like, none of them
are terrorists. They're all robbers. Uh. Yeah, but only one
(12:20):
of them said that they're not a terrorist. Right. I
thought that was a weak two. But then Art wins
me back with the very next point. He says that, um,
like Santa Claus John McClean, it keeps a list, but
he writes its sharply on his arm. And rather than
it's boys and girls who have been good or bad,
naughty or nice, these are terrorists he's either killed or
(12:43):
plans to kill. Uh. And of course, in one of
the great scenes, uh when and by the way, spoiler alerts, oh, man,
I guess, I guess so people like man I was
just gonna watch die Hard this year for the first
time ever. Uh. He sends one dead terrorist down in
one of my favorite scenes from the thirty second floor
(13:04):
down the lobby, the door opens. He is dead and
has a on his chest. Okay, say it in a
German accent, please, and not only that, I'll say it
with my best Alan Rickman r I p now a
half a machine gun. Ho ho ho oh goodness. So
(13:28):
he says this proves that McClean is a sociopathic Santa
Clause yeah, and that the elevator was his chimney. Yeah.
M hmm. So it's getting a little weird here. John
McClean has Christmas dinner. That's the twinkie that he eats
during a period of respite week. It's weak um, but
he says, Art says, there is a miracle in this,
(13:50):
and they even call it out there's a Christmas miracle
because remember THEO, the guy who's kind of like the
hacker of the group. He's trying to crack the safe
with the drill and Hans comes down to see how
the progress is going, and THEO tells them it's going
to take a miracle to get past this electromagnetic lock.
Very in very short order, the FBI turns off the power.
(14:14):
But before this, Hans Gruber says, THEO, you asked for
a miracle, I give you the f B. I. So
they specifically say there's a miracle in this, in this ship,
in this movie. Yeah, that's another one, that's right. What
else John McClean makes it. He makes it back to
(14:38):
his family. He and his wife are reunited. At the end,
she gives him her Christmas gifts. She identifies herself as
Holly McClean. Right, and then ostensibly by extension, I guess
they're going to go home to their six year old
daughter for Christmas morning. The sun has not risen yet,
so it's still Christmas Eve, and there are Barra bonds
(15:00):
floating down like snow around them, and they even play
the song let it Snow. So Art points some stuff out.
He says he went back and looked at reviews that
he could find because he works for l A Weekly,
he's a he's a movie critic. I think he sold
water to me. At this point, he said, I could
not find any reviews that cited this thing as a
(15:21):
Christmas movie. It came out in July. Yeah, this this
is definitely something that has been retrofitted for sure, Right,
No one called it a Christmas movie back then. Only
the clever generations of today. So yeah, so he points
out that, um that no one at the time said
this is a great Christmas movie as a buddy picture.
(15:41):
It's how they put it right, um or just an
action like shoot him up fast, and it was. It
was a great movie still is right. But the he
he says that, um, at the same time, there was
a weird kind of foreshadowing that same year because Scrooge
came out, which is another a great Christmas movie, and
(16:01):
that is a bona fide Christmas movie because it's an
adaptation of a Christmas Carol, there's no question about that.
But in it, Bill Murray plays a TV executive who
has green lit a picture called The Night the Reindeer
Died and it's about a terrorist attack on the North
Pole in Santa's workshop, and he says, the implication of
this is that you would have to be some soulless
(16:24):
TV executive to watch an action movie for Christmas. Yeah.
I don't buy it. Oh, I think it just ties
the whole thing up. It just brings it right back
to the beginning. Man. No, no no, no, I don't buy
that you would have to be a soulless uh. Oh yeah, yeah,
I'm on board. I think it's a Christmas movie. Art
Tavanna is the oracle of our time. Uh, so I
(16:46):
have Are you done with Art Tavanna? Yeah? All right,
because I've got a very special Christmas gift for you, sir. Okay,
And I kept this a surprise, thank you. I was
wondering what this was. You see, I'm holding a piece
of paper in my hand, and when I have in
my hand is an email exchange with the writer of
die Hard. What Jeb Stewart, What this is insider information?
(17:11):
What I know? Right? Wow? All right? So man, look
at that smile. I can't believe I'm dizzy. All right.
So I was able to get this email and he
was happy to oblige. Uh. He's sort of been making
the rounds on this, I think interviewed him on it,
and um, and he's just a great dude. So um.
(17:33):
I knew that there was a book that die Hard
was based on called Nothing Last Forever by Roger Thorpe,
and so I thought, well, when he wrote that, you know,
was that said at Christmas? Was Christmas a big deal?
Or did you run with it? So these are this
is his reply and all this amazing chuck. Uh and
this is it's not super long, but I'm just I'm
gonna read the whole thing because that conserves it. So
(17:55):
he said that, uh uh nothing. Last Forever is a
dark Nora novel about a sixty us year old man
who comes to bits forty year visit his forty year
old daughter in l A. So obviously he changed that stuff.
Uh and then he and then he, you know, talks
a little bit more about the writing process, and then
he says, so back to your question, Yes, Christmas was
always part of the theme. Thorpe said it on December
(18:18):
the novel for a very practical reason. We need the
building as empty as possible. Yeah, so that makes sense.
That's where that comes from. However, once he established this,
he sort of abandoned the theme. Since I had a
lot of dramatic leeway, I took the approach let's go
for it first. So this all came from Jeb Stewart,
all the Christmas e stuff. First. I changed the main
(18:39):
characters ages set up the story about a thirty year
old guy with old school ideas about marriage coming from
New York to visit as a strange wife, but everything
right again with his family. L A represents and conflicts
with his views of normal Christmas. Music is different, the
office party and gifts are over the top. His wife
keeps her maiden name, and the temperature is warm and
not snowy. It drives him crazy. But once Hans Gruber
(19:01):
takes over Nakami Plaza, all that melts away, all the action,
all the struggle become John McLean's long journey to discover
what really matters his family. You don't appreciate what you
have until you risk losing it. Since family is at
the core of the idea of this work, what better
than what better holiday than Christmas? Uh, there's no question
in my mind that die Hard is a Christmas movie.
(19:24):
You have you have it. A Christmas movie has more
to do with just being said at the holiday. It
has to include the holiday in the themes of the film.
Christmas also needs to be reflected in the characters, their
stories and dialogue. I tried to do this as much
as possible, even when it means sending a body down
the elevator with a Santa cap and a message written
on a shirt saying ho ho ho Now I have
(19:46):
a machine gun. Anyway, that is my argument that Die
Hards a Christmas film. I'm happy some people agree. As
someone once told me, it's not Christmas at our house
until Hans Gruber falls off nakatmi plaza. Amen to that,
Jeb Stewart. Wow, that is definitive, Chuck, nicely done. Yeah,
that's funny. I had no idea that it was originally
(20:07):
ho ho ho. Now I have a machine gun. I'm
sure some exects workshopped it and focus grouped it and
then they switched it around. Well I'm not sure if
he's saying that's how he wrote it, but that's wonderful, Chuck.
Kudos to you. That's a great Christmas present. And kudos
to Jeb Stewart. He says he's a big stuff. You
should know fans to take that for what it's worth. Well,
I just got you some socks. Oh wow, Sorry, I
(20:32):
got you a personalized letter from Jeb Stewart and some socks.
All right? Is that the end of our segment? Yeah?
All right, Okay, which one you want to do next?
(21:14):
I'm happy to rock around the Rockefeller Christmas Tree. Okay, Rockefeller,
it's the The r is silent and invisible. So most
of this information comes from an article this year from
Dana Schultz The history of Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree a
New York holiday tradition. Dude. So the Rockefeller Center Tree.
(21:39):
Everybody knows this thing, right, They probably know more than
they realized that that statue is Prometheus, the big Golden Statue,
which and I only say that because I didn't realize
that until researching this article. But it's an extremely famous
thing because it's a giant tree, it's in the middle
of New York and everybody watches it. But it has
some really sweet, humble origins that I weren't what wasn't
(22:00):
aware of at all. Yeah, and I gotta say, if
you've never been to New York at Christmas, do yourself
a favor and go, because the word magical is thrown
around a lot, but it is truly magical. It is.
It's just it's great Rockefeller Center. Uh, it's just it's
wonderful to go down there. You know, even if you're
a Scrooge McDuck, I think your heart might melt a bit. Sure.
(22:24):
Can you just see like Scrooge McDuck duck weeping quietly
and in public off to the side of the ice
skating rink, and it would be kind of neat like
there's a cartoon in real life. So back to the origins,
where are we? Yeah, and the Great Depression was in
full swing. This is another thing I didn't realize. Did
(22:45):
you know the Great Depression is also called the clutch plague?
Is that what that is? Yeah? I did not know that.
The only explanation I saw was that the clutch plague
more refers to the global depression, whereas the Great Depression
is the American Great Depression. Gotcha, That's all I saw.
But so the clutch Plague slash Great Depression is going
on and a group of workers, construction workers are building
(23:08):
Rockefeller Center at the time, and Christmas comes around and
the workers decide, hey, we need to Christmas up this
place a little bit. So they pull their money together
and they buy a twenty foot tree and they install
it right there on the construction site. And if that's
not heartwarming enough, uh, their families made garland to decorate
(23:28):
the tree with. So it's truly like this great little
you know, the thing that these people did in the
in the peak of the depression, the deepest trough of
the depression, to to increase their spirits as the holidays
Christmas sweaters always had embroidered up increase. Oh that's good.
(23:53):
He really stubble that with man Um. So the men
lined up apparently to get their paychecks at the tree.
And a couple of years later, uh n three, Rockefeller
Center said it. You know what, let's make this a thing. Uh.
We're gonna actually erect a tree and have a lighting ceremony.
It's gonna be fifty tall. And this is now, uh,
just a great new tradition here in New York City. Yeah.
(24:15):
So yeah, in nineteen what was that three? They've been
doing it ever since. And they actually were smart enough
to broadcast it on the radio. Uh. And then twenty
years later they started broadcasting it on television. And apparently
today like tens and tens, if not hundreds of millions
of people watch the tree lighting Except me. I wasn't
(24:36):
one of them. I forgot to watch it. I have
never watched it. I haven't either, but I always go.
I mean, if I'm in New York City in the wintertime,
I always go by Rockefeller Center. Sure. So, there's actually
some pretty cool facts about the tree that um, I
wasn't aware of. They tend to be a typical species
(24:57):
the white spruce. Yeah, and apparently that's because they are
generally very straight and very strong, uh, and grow about
the height that they want, which is, you know, between
generally between eighty feet right. Um. And they find him
by scouting by helicopter, like Pennsylvania, Connecticut, upstate New York.
(25:21):
Apparently they got one from Ohio once that had to
be flown in the world's largest cargo plane. Yeah, how
about that pretty cool? So they they I mean, they
put a lot of thought and this is not like, oh,
there's a big tree, and they want him to be upright.
And the head gardener who his job in part is
to go scout throughout the year to find a tree. Um,
(25:43):
his name is Eric Pose. He says that you want
to not be able to see the sky through it.
Oh wow, you wanted to be dense enough that you
can't just see the sky through it. Yeah, So they
erect that thing. Um. It usually does not derive by
world's largest cargo plane, as he really in a truck. Uh.
And then they have these guy wires. Of course, is
(26:03):
so large they have guy wires supporting it. Right there
at the midpoint, they have a steel spike in the
base and for many, many years. They've had scaffolding installed
around it so they can obviously get up there to
decorate it. And they've been using LED lights for how long?
I thought I saw a year here, two thousand seven, alright,
(26:24):
so about ten years they've been using the L E.
D s about fifty thousand. So these trees are usually donated,
and I get the feeling that's a great honor. Sure.
I think some guy from New York City lands helicopter
in your field and says, can I have that tree
for free? Well, we'll mention your name in the press release.
And the city slicker just takes advantage of the poor
(26:46):
country folk and gets a tree out of them in
the true spirit of the season. So the one of
the things that grabbed me was those LED lights. They
save twelve hundred kill a lots of electricity a day,
which is enough to power a two thousand square foot
home for a month, Which means that about four years
worth of energy for a two thousand square foot home
(27:10):
is saved every year from the like month and a
half that the tree is lit. That's what gets you.
That's nuts. That's so much energy, and that's not how
much it uses that's how much they saved by transferring
to l e ed s. You know, it gets me.
What So, starting many years ago, they started to recycle
the trees, um. And for a while what they would
(27:31):
do was uh mulch it up and then spread it
around the walking paths of Central Park, which is pretty great.
You know, it's a good way to do it. Um.
But for the past eleven years, I think, including this year,
what they do is they donate the tree to Habitat
for Humanity, so it comes down on January seven, and
then they mill the wood, make that into lumber and
(27:54):
they build homes. So there are Habitat for Humanity homes
that people are living in, built from the rocket fellow
Christmas trees, and you can sell them for a million bucks.
That's so great. It is pretty great. I mean, just
the Habitat for Humanity parts great enough. You know. I
think when they were moltenate, they got about thirty thirty
(28:15):
three bushel bags of mulch and everyone involved in the
spreading of the molts was mugged. Yeah that's Central Park.
It's nineteen well I guess back then maybe, yeah. So, Um.
One of the other things that that grabbed me was
the star that's now become pretty famous too. It's I
think it was introduced in two thousand four. It says
(28:37):
it's made of twenty five thousand crystals, right, and the
thing is like ten ft tall and weighs five pounds. Yeah,
it's crazy. It's nine a half feet wide. It was
designed by an artist, a Geman artist, Michael Hamas And uh, yeah,
that's they've been using that thing since two thousand four. Yeah,
I've had fifty pounds of star. Can you imagine if
(28:58):
that thing just came off the top up? It would
it would kill somebody Because there's actually a pretty good
chance that it could kill somebody. Chuck, because three quarters
of a million people come see that tree every day,
so the chance of it following on somebody or pretty high.
I've never been by when it's just desolate. I'll say that. No,
(29:20):
I can't imagine three quarters of a million in a day.
That's crazy. So that's it for the tree. Huh, that's
all I got. One of these days, we're gonna watch
the lighting. Will make some popcorn, Get our coziest socks on,
get our eggnog on. Oh yeah, I think that that
just went without saying, so, Chuck, this is one of
(30:12):
my favorites of all time, which one I had no
idea that well, like finding out about a little weird
pop culture things that happened before I was born, I
had no idea about It's one of my favorite things
in the world. And you've delighted me by sending this
thing to me about Christmas in space in Did you
know about this already? No? But I was just thinking,
(30:34):
like you, you have been diligent about keeping a list
of what we've done every year so we don't repeat ourselves. Um,
and it's getting tough. I gotta say, there's only so
much Christmas that's happened. I literally looked up like I
think two or three different things. I was like, we've
never done this, and then I saw your list. I
was like, ah, we've done that. So um, I thought,
(30:55):
wait a minute, like astronauts spending Christmas in space, that's
that's gotta have happened. Oh, you had an independent thought
about it, like it wasn't You didn't just come across it.
I don't know. I had an independent That is magnificent,
a Christmas miracle. It must have increased your holiday spirit
tremendously by at least thirty eight percent. So Christmas in
(31:18):
space happened for the first time in nine There was
actually like a holiday transmission basically, um the Apollo eight
crew starring Frank Boorman who was the commander, Tom Hanks
slash Jim Level was the pilot, and William Anders was
the Lunar module pilot, and they orbited the Moon on
(31:41):
Christmas Eve, and they knew they were going to be
orbiting the Moon, so they planned to transmission from space
to basically they launched on December twenty one, like, oh,
wait a minute, I didn't Oh oh man, Yeah, did
you pack a Bible for them to read from? I
thought you did. Well, somebody thought about it because they
(32:02):
had a Bible up there or else they have like
a bunch of scripture rehearsed and memorized because they decided
to go with Christianity that year for Christmas, which is appropriate,
and they from space they read some scripture and uh
and bestowed blessings on the Earth below them. And apparently
a billion people watched this transmission of their live pictures
(32:24):
in their audio over the like from the lunar module. Yeah,
so they sent out this transmission. Uh. They closed with
the message good night, good luck, a merry Christmas, and
God bless all of you, all of you on the
good Earth. That was a great Frank Bourman, you know, Burman,
(32:46):
very stiff. I thought that was nice. It was kind
of velvety. Oh well, I appreciate that. Right. So the
the Christmas and space thing, it was kind of sporadic
for a while. Sky Lab U five years later where
the next group to UM spend Christmas in space. They
(33:06):
made a little Christmas tree out of food cans. There
was a Space Shuttle launch or a Space Shuttle mission
in ninety four or nineties. I'm sorry, UM they spent
Christmas in space and they fixed the Hubble telescope on
that mission, which was huge, huge, it changed everything. Yeah,
(33:30):
that was a big deal. Um. The first time there
was Christmas in space on the Russian mirror, American astronaut
John Blaha I went up there and said, yeah, I'm
appear with cosmonauts, but I guess I'll celebrate Christmas anyway.
And I believe, uh, I believe that was his second
Christmas in space. Yeah. That guy was just showing off
(33:53):
by then. Yeah, He's like, I don't have a family
I care about, Just go ahead and send me up.
This was just a single guy. I got some plants
I don't take very good care of. And you know what,
my parents are gone to some mothers and Father's Day.
Go ahead and send me right, They always said him,
whether he wanted to go or not, if it wasn't,
if it wasn't in space, he was eating by himself
(34:13):
and kind of weeping quietly at Cracker Barrel. So which
one is it gonna be? You choose? Buddy? Is cracker
Barrel on Christmas? Is it? Yeah? I knew waffle House was? Yeah?
You mean I ate there for Thanksgiving this year at
waffle House? No? I think Cracker Barrel. Okay, it was
actually really good. I ate waffle House Thanksgiving one year
by myself outside. Is that? Did you really? Yeah? I
(34:36):
can't remember the deal, but it was one year where
like my family wasn't around, or maybe I was away
from them and everyone was gone, and so I was like,
all right, scattered some mother and cupboard. Well that sounds
pretty good. It was great actually that Thanksgiving. Ever, So
that's I was gonna say, like, what was it? Actually? Like?
Way more amusing than you thought like, that's how it
was for us. I was like, is this gonna be
(34:57):
like sad or great? And it was great. They serve
traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Yes, and again it was really good.
I mean, just as salty and tasty and fatty as
you would imagine Thanksgiving a cracker barrel to be. Yeah,
we do. Uh, Thanksgiving is my mom's jam. So we
always go to Diane's place and I cook up my cornbread,
dressing and mashed potatoes is what I bring. Very nice.
(35:20):
But this is not about Thanksgiving, No, it's about Christmas
and space, that's right. So now it's become kind of routine.
Charles um Ever since they launched the International Space Station.
It's been continuously occupied since November of two thousand, so
every year there's astronauts and space from all different countries
aboard the I S S. And one of the cool
(35:41):
things I saw about that was that they at any
time you're on the I S S, you you go
around the Earth about every ninety two minutes, So in
any given day you see about fifteen sunrises. But on
Christmas Day that means that the astronauts get fifteen Christmas
mornings throughout the whole day. I thought it was pretty cool.
That is pretty cool, and every year that you know,
(36:02):
they make a big deal about it. Now, um, I
think it's a bit of an honor to to go
up and be at the I S S on Christmas
now and imagine they have you know, it stinks to
be away from your family, but imagine they have a
great familial experience together up there taking care of business
they do for the future of humanity. You got anything else, space, No?
(36:27):
All right, well we'll move along right after this jingle
to some great great Christmas toys of the twentieth century.
(36:49):
M Okay, Chuck. I don't know if you remember this
or not, but the twentieth century was just seventeen eighteen,
nineteen years ago. Yeah, I remember it. Okay, I remember
it too. It formed a substantial portion of my life.
Those were our best days. Yeah. And one of the
reasons why they were some of our best days is
(37:09):
because there were some of the greatest toys ever invented
came out of the twentieth century. Yes, dangerous, dangerous toys
that you had to have the first time in in
world history that anyone ever had to have a toy
on Christmas happened in the twentieth century. All right, before
we get to these, I'm gonna ask you, do you
(37:31):
have a standout memory of one Christmas where that was
something you had to have? I can't. I think that Nintendo,
the original Nintendo was probably it. UM and I don't remember.
I don't remember if I got it for Christmas or
(37:51):
some other time or whatever. But UM, for me, I
remember opening a robot arm, which I hadn't asked or
but turned out to be like one of the coolest
things I've ever had, opening a robot arm. Yeah, it
was a robot arm. And then there was another UM
like zip Racer, Remember the cord that that would like
(38:11):
make a motorcycle go really fast, which we talked about
in the Evil Kinevil episode. I remember that. I remember
opening that on Christmas morning too. Is the robot arm
something that you could wear? No? No, it was like
on a tabletop robot arm you could pick stuff up with. Okay, Yeah,
So do you have a must have toy that you remember? Well?
I do. I have a couple. One was the year
(38:32):
that the pac Man Atari cartridge came out. That was
a big one. UM And little did we all know
that that game sucked really bad pac Man did. Yeah,
it was okay actually, but you you wanted it to
be like the Arcade game. Oh it wasn't high. I
don't remember playing pac Man on Atari. Yeah it was
(38:54):
instead of waka waka waka, it went dot don't don't, don't,
don't don't. Oh yeah, yeah, when it ate one of
the things like it was, it was pretty bad. Uh.
And the other big one before that was when I
was younger, I wanted more than anything. One year, I
wanted a stretch armstrong and did you get it? Well
that they my parents actually did the old trick a
(39:16):
ruski on me, like, oh, is there one more thing
over there? Because I was disappointing because I didn't get
stretch arms song, so they actually pulled one over on
me and I got stretch Uh. It would have been
funny if they were like, oh no, there isn't anything.
Is there one more thing under the tree? Oh no,
that's just dog poop, right, which we wrapped up for
(39:37):
some reason. All right, but getting to these iconic twenty
century toys. First on your list is uh, the iconic
iconic cabbage patch kid. I had one of these. Maybe
I got it at Christmas. I don't remember well at
our house, and I may have told this story before
(39:58):
we had the original um dolls, the ones that these
were later ripped off from. Yeah, the original all cloth
dolls handmade by Xavier Roberts I think was his name,
because they were made right here in Georgia and Cleveland,
I'm sorry, not made born in Cleveland, Georgia where baby
Land General still is. But my sister got I think
(40:23):
the seventy five or one ever made that was signed
by him, and it's worth some dode today. Do you
still have it? Oh? Yes, Michelle's got it, so she has.
It was one of the top hundred ones made and
it became pretty valuable. And then I have My mom
ended up getting my brother and I to each which
I literally have never touched. But I'm just waiting for
(40:45):
those to gain enough in value and I'm gonna sell those.
Is this still like in the box? No? No, no not.
They didn't come in boxes. They were they were just
like on a shelf. Oh oh wow, those were early ones.
The ones I got came in a box. Yeah, that's
when they I think. I can't remember who took it over.
Kalico y Colico took it over. They got plastic heads
and those were sort of the mass market version, and
(41:06):
I guess Xavier Roberts probably got rich. Oh yeah, I'm
not that deal. I would think so. So the Cabbage
Patch Kid three was when Kalico took over and it
became like just a breakout hit. It was one of
the first times, if not the first time, when there
were reports of people like shoving and punching each other
(41:27):
in the face and paying like way more than the
actual value of the doll Like apparently people were selling
it for like ten times what the dollar went for,
which was twenty five bucks, which back in bucks is
not cheap. I have no idea how much it would
be now, but I'll bet it's a lot. And the
Cabbage Patch Kid craze was so significant it's spilled over
(41:51):
to the next year and there if so, Christmas of
Night was just as crazy as Christmas of nineteen eighty three.
And apparently they made two and a half billion dollars
off of Cabbage Patch Kids between nine eight three and nine. Yeah,
that is uh. I think nine eight four was just
(42:12):
two point five billion, wasn't it. Oh my goodness? Is
that right? Yeah, that's that's just one year, dude, that's
so many. That's like a hundred million cabbage patch kids. Yeah,
and they, like you said, it went all the way
through nineteen eight. This is not a one year craze. Um,
and it's just nuts. You can, like I said, you
can still go to Babyland General. And the whole deal
(42:33):
with those was they were born and not made, and
they were I mean, that was like the little cute
ce selling point. But the dolls came named. Yeah, do
you remember your name? Well? I remember. I don't remember
my two original dolls they were they were like the
(42:53):
little TV stars or something that was on their T shirt. Um,
but my sisters I remember because her doll and it
is even kind of misshaping. Those early ones were kind
of funny looking, like his hairline was crooked and stuff
because it was like folksy and handmade, and it was
routinely drunk while he was making. But her doll's name,
the one that's so valuable is Chuck. No. Yes, that's
(43:17):
a sign from God. YEA. Mine was Webber din No
white is that first and last name. No, that was
his first and middle name. His last name was Clark.
Obviously Webber Dino d I n oh, yep, Webber Dino Clark.
Pretty weird. Huh, I didn't I didn't name him. That's great. Yeah,
(43:41):
you U still have it. Oh no, no, imagine those
probably are worth much money. No, probably not in the
shape he was in by the time I aged out
of him too, did a mohawk and stuff. I don't
think his head was attached any longer. Yeah, eventually he
blew up that doll. Right, so there's more chuck and
(44:02):
we gotta go backward in time. That's right, this next one,
because it turns out and we talked about this in
the Action Figure episode a little bit, but so Star Wars.
When Star Wars came out, it was such a total
surprise to everybody that um Kenner, who had the rights
to make the action figures, hadn't even started production by
(44:23):
the time Christmas came around. Yeah, I mean no one.
No one thought the movie was going to be big,
much less the ancillary products associated with that movie. So
little kids got vouchers, remember that. Did you have a voucher?
I don't think so. I think I got the toys
a little bit later. Okay, because this is Christmas, of
(44:44):
they're like, oh, God, we got caught with our pants down.
Get some vouchers out quick. So little kids got vouchers
wrapped up his presence that they were finally able I
guess in eight sometime, um to to trade their voucher
and or the actual action figure. Yeah, and they were
a hot ticket for a solid seven years. Uh. And
(45:06):
I certainly had a ton of them. Um. I did.
Had no idea that there was a thing that people
did where they left them in boxes and didn't play
with them. I didn't know that was the thing. So
I've played with mine and they were all very well worn,
which I think is the way to do it. Same here,
I've still I think I still have like a box
of like busted up g I Joes that are in
(45:29):
no way shape or form sellable. Yeah, my brother and
I have a bunch of these. But yeah, unless you
have some super rare java. Uh. And I'm not on
gonna get it wrong, but it's either the cloth cape
or the plastic cape. Cloth one. Is that the valuable one?
I don't remember. There are nerds out there that are
freaking out right now, I'm so sorry, or loose skywalkers,
(45:50):
take your eye out, lightsaber right the double telescoping. Yeah,
I think that was that was worth a lot of dough. Yeah.
But back in Christmas, the nineteenth of any seven, no
one had any idea and little children were unwrapping presents
and going I had no idea what a voucher was
until just now, thanks Mom and Dad. And they said,
well that's good, because here, Mom and Dad, I have
(46:12):
what I got you as vouchers for a backscratch in
breakfast in bed free hugs so cute. And then lastly,
Chuck is tickle Me Elmo, and I have to say
shout out to history dot com. They came up with
this article. I think there was a lot more to it,
but these are the ones that held the most water.
But Tickle Me Elmo. If you thought the cabbage Patch
doll craze was nuts, tickle Me Elmo. Was it just
(46:37):
off the chain? Yeah, Elmo. I think we've even talked
about this before for some weird reason, but it became
way after me, probably in the Muppets episode. Uh So,
I was never an Elmo aficionado because this was by
that point I was fifteen years old. I didn't care
about things like that. But my daughter loves Elmo and
(46:58):
it has transcended, uh since then for sure, because almost
still super popular. You were twenty five, by the way,
Oh yeah, I was thinking eight six. Oh yeah, I
was way too old for real, right, he'd been more
so than being fifteen would have been. Yeah, I was
still drunk in Athens, Georgia. But I think that's cute
(47:18):
that that, um she's still into that or that almost
still around for kids to be into today because almost
just too cute and great a character just just go
away because of some stupid craze. You know. I agree,
And I had the I have the curse of doing
too good of an Elmo impression. So now almost every
morning still I have to start out by doing Elmo
(47:39):
voices with the Elmo doll. Oh that's sweet, it is sweet,
so um on. In October, I guess there was a
big surprise on the Rosie O'donnald Show when she debuted
the Tickle Me Elmo doll, which most people hadn't heard
of by this time. And if you remember, do you
remember the doll? Right? I think you like Pressett's belly
(48:01):
or maybe even tickle it. And I'd be like stop
stop right, yeah, I think he gave it a squeeze
and he giggled right, and it was super cute and
it just captured America's heart. And Rosie O'donnald's show was
huge at the time, like Oprah level huge. So it
was a huge plug for the tickle miomo makers and
they were totally caught off guard. They had no idea
(48:22):
that this was coming. And since it was October, there
was a huge shortage of this suddenly very much in
demand doll by the time Christmas rolled around. Yeah, and
they did not do vultures, right, didn't they. Um, they
just did raffles or something. I think they did raffles
and um stampedes. Those are the big ones, the classic stampede. Yeah,
(48:43):
there was a report of a Walmart employee in Fredericton,
New Brunswick who was trampled and had to go to
the hospital because yeah, they did this the smartest thing
possible line up. But then when we opened the doors,
it's every person for themselfs for themselves. Yeah, and this
is the final thing from history dot com. It says
in New York, the son of jailed mob boss John Gotti,
(49:05):
along with his friends, dropped eight thousand dollars at a
toy store and report will be made off with a
case of Tickle me Elma. Pretty smart. I hope it
is too. That would be so great. So what's the
must have toy this year? Do you know? I have
no idea? Do you have no idea? Nope? All right,
we'll find out one way or another by hanging out
(49:26):
at toy stores. I guess I get the feeling there
isn't a Well maybe that still happens sometimes, like a
single must have. Oh yeah, it definitely happens sometimes. I
don't know what it is, though, I guarantee it's not
going away like the Ferbi remember that that silly thing.
Now it's hatchamles. Oh well that might be the thing.
(49:47):
Actually that was last year, right now, Yeah, because I
remember Noel had trouble finding one for his daughter. Oh yeah,
but you came through it, and you know he did.
It was a Christmas miracle, It was all right. So
we're gonna have another little jingle and come back with
our traditional Christmas boozy recipe. Yeah, okay, So I have
(50:20):
a little background here because we're talking about Wasstle. Did
you see the background thinking? Did I send it to you?
So the etomology not the entomology the etymology of wostle.
The word w A s s a I l. Yeah,
apparently it comes from the Old Norse vest hile, and
then the old English, because most English words come from
(50:42):
the Norse or Germanic words, right, wass hall, and the
whole thing was basically like a greeting or a toast,
which was being good health. Eventually it was turned into
wass hale and then wostle, and wostle is so old
that it actually appears in Bao Wolf as a greeting,
right again being good health. So there was this tradition
(51:06):
of going on Christmas Day or Christmas Eve, I can't
remember which one um or you would basically just go
to people's houses around town, like during a whole day
and hang out and maybe bring them a little present
or eat some food. And it was like kind of
a roving Christmas party, and that was called wostl ng.
(51:26):
And then eventually this warm punch that you would serve
your guests came to be called wostle. And because it
kind of came out of this tradition, there's no one
watle recipe, but it's usually a very strong, drinky, boozy,
warm punch is basically the only the only requisite for it.
(51:47):
That usually has something like nutmeg or something in it.
That's right, And uh, you're the cocktail man, so you
want to go over the recipe here. Well, there's two.
Did you see both? I only saw the one that
was super rummy? Okay, well will this go with that
one then? Because the other one is pretty traditional. This
one is not just rummy, but it's beery. Oh so
(52:11):
sounded funny. I gotta admit, I'm I'm ready to try
this one. Chuck two quarts of lager beer. And you
don't have to just use beer that comes in a
court size. As a matter of fact, you might want
to just steer clear those all together for this one.
A court of rum they just get giddy. Five ounces
(52:31):
of simple syrup, three ounces of lemon juice, a teaspoon
of grated nutmeg. You want that freshly grated, teaspoon of
grated ginger, you want that fresh too, and then fruit
slices for garnish. Pretty simple stuff that you can really
kind of put together, uh, from from just about any store.
Yeah that sells such things. So you take the beer,
(52:52):
the simple syrup, the lemon juice, the nutmeg and the ginger,
and you put it together in a sauce pan and
you warm it on low heat for about ten minutes.
You want to get a nice steam off of it,
but do not let it boil. If you boil it,
all the alcohol will cook off, so don't do that.
You add the rum and you stir it, and then
you place some that fruit in a heat resistant bowl
(53:15):
or some sort of serving vessel, and you pour the
watle in there um and then you have wastle. You
drink it. So you haven't had this, No, I haven't.
I just found it the other day, all right, it's
for this recipe was from the spruce. And there's another
one they have which has brandy and sherry in it,
but beer and lagger. Two quarts of beer in one
quart of rum. That's a party. It's a party in
(53:38):
your mouth, it is uh. And of course, always drink
wastle responsibly. And if you're over twenty one in these
United States, yes, And if you're watling and someone's home
and they ask you to leave, do the Christmas e
thing and leave, that's right. Interpretor in the UK you
can be like twelve years old and drink probably is
that true. No, I don't know. I think it's probably eighteen.
(54:00):
Is that a Christmas legend? Yeah? I think so so, Charles.
We've reached the end here, that's right. This has been
maybe our best one yet. I like to think each
year they get a little bit better. The guests appearance
from the writer of Die Hard, Are you kidding me?
That was pretty pretty great. The socks that I got
to those are amazing. Yeah, rate, that was very surprised.
(54:26):
They're magic fingers toe socks. Uh. Well, Happy Happy Christmas,
Merry New Year, and all that stuff. To all of
you people out there, we hope you have just a
wonderful holiday season, no matter how you celebrate it, no
matter what your religion, no matter whether you have no
religion at all, no matter where you are in the world,
we hope you have a very very warm and glad
(54:49):
holiday tidings, right agreed, Thanks for joining us, and uh
we'll see you next year in two
Welcome to stuff you should know from how Stuff Works
dot com. Hey Hey, hey, hey, ho ho ho, and
(00:23):
welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles W.
Chuck Bryant. You know, we have a special uh ELF
with us this this time this year for our Christmas
special Noel Elf on the shelf, Noel Hark, you're the bells?
There go the bells? Where are the bells? I am
the bells. It's pretty good. Thanks? Was that tubular bells?
(00:49):
No but one of my that just reminded me of
one of my favorite SNL skits of all time where
the Sweeney Sisters? Um was it? Jan Hooks? Geez, the
late Jan Hooks. Man very sad about that. And I
think Norah Dunne, if I remember correctly remember them the
Sweeney Sisters, of course, I do so great, And I
(01:10):
think they did that for their their Christmas episode. They
did a great medley of Christmas tunes and that one
sort of went like that, nice, it's so good. Well
you just nailed it, man. How are you feeling pretty good?
I'm feeling great because this uh is one of my
favorite episodes of the year. Me too. And we'd like
(01:30):
to point out not to tuot our horn. But one
of the things we always fight for every year is
that the Christmas episode, along with the Halloween episode, remains
add free. We fight for it to the death. There's
so many dead ad sales. People are awake, but you
know what, they deserved it. They shouldn't have crossed. The
(01:50):
ship has just led us, you know. Yeah, so this
is an ever free episode, like you said, and I'm
pretty proud of that too. I think it's nice of us. Yeah, uh,
this is this is just one of my favorite episodes
of the year. It's fun. So as we do every year, Josh,
I think we want to encourage everyone to light a fire,
(02:12):
maybe pour up a hot buttered rum Oh yeah, that's
a good one. Although we do have a good recipe
for this year. Yeah, I guess they could listen to
that and then come back to the beginning or a
rummy eggnog. We're just your favorite non alcoholic Christmas drink
of choice. Get the family together, like the Yule log
hangs the hang that missiletoe, right, and let's get this underway.
(02:35):
So it's been a pretty pretty uh, it's been an
interesting year so far, right, Yeah, but um, I always
like these ones because they make me reflect on the
year and it seems like it was just a month
ago that the year started. Uh, it has gonna by fast.
I feel like I'm speeding toward death. But when I
(02:56):
think about being forty six years old and speeding towards death,
I think, wow, when I was a kid, that was
a long time ago. So if I'm you know, around
middle age ish, like, I got a long way to go.
And it just seems like it's that trick that your
mind plays on you, right where it seems like time
(03:18):
is gaining speed as you get older. Right. I think
there's some science behind that too. I think there's two.
I think it's because you have less time to compare
it to when you're a kid, whereas the older you
get you have more time to compare it to. Probably so,
But the the I've had that same exact thought, chuck,
within the last probably two weeks, towards death. No, no, no,
(03:38):
the other one where it's like, wait a minute, I've
I've lived for a very long time and I'm right
at middle age, so I've got a long time left,
and baby, I'm gonna make the most out of it.
And I'm gonna start with the two thousand and seventeen
stuff you should know Christmas extravagance. I'll tell you what
you shouldn't do. Then if you if you've got a
good feeling about the future and you're a long way
(03:59):
toward death, don't then go down the road of Yeah,
but I only got about fifteen or twenty more good
years right now, it gets really sad. I assume that
medical science is going to advance by such leaps and bounds. Yeah,
we're going to be living healthy to like one fifty. Yeah,
we're gonna be playing tennis at when I finally just
(04:20):
go over and unplugged and drop dead right there on
the tennis court. Yeah, after you beat me in our
final game. Yeah, and a simulation of Andre Agassi. All right,
so let's do this. Should we take an ad break?
Pretty good, Chuck. Let's take a little jingle break? How
about that? Then we'll get into it, all right, Happy holidays, Chuck,
(04:43):
Thank you, all right, buddy, we're back. Oh and speaking
(05:04):
of jingles, big thanks to our pal John begin who
composed us for us. He's composed a number of stuff
you should know ad break jingles, and we went to
and said Hey, will you compose for us this Christmas season?
He said yes, and it was a Christmas miracle. Agreed?
And what should we start with? Oh man, I think
(05:25):
we have to start with die Hard is dieharded Christmas movie? This? This,
you you found this, you put together most of this.
This is a world class episode. By the way, I
want to commend you for it. Thanks. And it's not
like I dug this up this and almost got annoyed
by this one because it's become a very trendy thing
over the past few years to argue about whether or
(05:45):
not die Hard as a Christmas movie. Yeah, it's basically
the clear symbol that civilization is sliding into irreversible decline.
Argument over this, so let's talk about it. Yeah, because
I think the reason why I got jazzed about it,
I feel very similar to you. It's kind of like, guys,
this could not matter less, stop arguing about this. That
was my William Shatner impression. Um, this article you sent
(06:10):
by art Ta Vanna from l A Weekly. I just
think it really gets the point across so well. That
jazz me. Yeah, you know what, do I even have
that one? Why don't you lead this one? Then? Okay, well,
Jimminy Crickets, I think I might have sent it to
you and then not even use that one. Oh it's great, man,
This one is like the best. I'm actually putting it
on my UM website. Are you serious, Clark, It's going
(06:31):
on the reading list. What's the name of it. It's
called Yes, die Hard is a Christmas movie? Stop debating it. Okay,
I don't think I have that one, so but I'm
I can I know die Hard inside and out so
I can get in there. Okay, So Art Art says
that he starts with a quote. Art says, this is
a quote from a BuzzFeed article, but from way back
in two thousand thirteen. This has been going on a while,
(06:53):
but the BuzzFeed wrote, quote most prized among people of
this opinion that die Hard is a Christmas movie is
the transgressive act of selecting a violent action movie over
home alone or more classic fair. We get it, You're
too cool for regular Christmas movies, right, So they laid
down the gauntlet. I think they did a good bit
(07:13):
of calling out and they probably got it right for
some people. But Art says, wait a minute, Wait a minute,
who's to say what classic Christmas fare is if you're saying,
if you're talking about It's a Wonderful Life, you're being
brainwashed like Frank Capra followed in the tradition of Norman Rockwell,
and all of this is like some weirdo small town
communalism utopianism that doesn't have even really exist. And the
(07:36):
whole reason that you're crazy for It's a Wonderful Life
is because it lost its copy right back in the
seventies and the television networks around the country started showing
it for free, so it almost was force fit into
a Christmas tradition. And it's a Wonderful Life, I mean,
if we gotta, if we're really gonna take this down
(07:57):
that path. Is not a Chris Smiths movie. It's not
even set at Christmas. There is a scene set on
Christmas Eve, one scene in that movie. And something I
read because I was looking up whether or not It's
a Wonderful Life as a Christmas movie or it's just
got that by association, and they said, if if It's
a Wonderful Life is a Christmas movie, then e t
(08:19):
is a Halloween movie. I don't know, man, I don't know,
because here's the thing, and this is, this is we'll
just reveal the end here. Then the one thing that
die Hard and It's a Wonderful Life have in common
is getting your family back before Christmas morning. Like the
(08:40):
the whole thing that's driving the plot is a race
against time to get everything the way that it should
be before Christmas morning happens. Sure, And also, is a
Christmas movie one that is is set at Christmas or
one that is just got filled with the spirit of Christmas?
I think if are you asking what my opinion is.
(09:02):
My opinion is that if somebody feels like Christmas Eve
when they watch a movie and it becomes like a
tradition for them to watch it, or they have a
good Christmas feeling from it, then leave that person alone. Well,
but like, is the Godfather Thanksgiving movie because they showed
Everythanksgiving on TV? And The Sound of Music is an
Easter movie because they show it around Easter. If it
(09:24):
is that to some people, then then that's fine. It
makes it that for those people. Okay, so you're saying
the setting of the movie and the contents they're in
have no bearing on whether or not, Like it doesn't
even have to take place at Christmas or be Christmas Eve. No,
I'm I'm saying that, yes, it does not have to
take place at Christmas, but I'm not saying that the
(09:45):
settings had no bearing because I do think that if
if die Hard wasn't set at Christmas, no one would
be talking about whether it was a Christmas movie or not.
So that the the time that it takes place definitely
does have an impact on it. That's not the only thing.
And if it doesn't take place around Christmas, that doesn't
automatically disqualify it from being a Christmas movie. It just
(10:07):
makes make it a Christmas movie. Right, So so that's
our Those are our opinions. But let's get into what
Art ta Vana says all the reasons why I die
Hard is a Christmas movie? Huh? All right, what's he got?
So he says not only is it a Christmas movie,
but he said that it is one of the This
is a quote one of the most carefully sculpted Christmas
allegories in history. So either Art ta Vanna is totally
(10:31):
mad or this guy's got something figured out that everybody
else is missing. Yeah, I mean he does make some
pretty good points. Um. One of the things, well, I mean,
we can just tick through a bunch of these. One
of the things is, uh is the name John from
John McLean, he said, could be an illusion to John
the Baptist or John the Apostle. And also Holly Gennaro
(10:53):
the wife, her name is Holly. Doesn't get much more
Christmas E than Holly, that's right, and so John. The
premise of this is John has lost his wife. Ers.
In the process of losing his wife, she's moved from
New York, their home, to l A to pursue her career,
and in the process she's dropped her married name in
(11:14):
favor of Gennaro, her her maiden name. That's what That's
what she goes by professionally, right, John is out there.
The premise of this is what has brought John out
to l A for Christmas is to to basically reclaim
his wife, as art Ta Vana puts it. Okay, So
(11:34):
that's the that's the premise in John's name can be
an allegory for John the Baptist, John the Apostle, something
religious and Christmas E christianny I should say. And then
Holly's name is that pagan plant Holly. And then he
also says that there's thirteen terrorists, which doesn't it first
seem very Christmas e right, yeah, but he says that
(11:58):
very Uh. Specifically, Han Scruber says that he is not
a terrorist. Uh. And so then you have twelve to
see this is where it Paul's apart fer me. He says,
twelve card carrying terrorists, like the twelve Apostle christ or
the twelve Days of Christmas. But like, none of them
are terrorists. They're all robbers. Uh. Yeah, but only one
(12:20):
of them said that they're not a terrorist. Right. I
thought that was a weak two. But then Art wins
me back with the very next point. He says that, um,
like Santa Claus John McClean, it keeps a list, but
he writes its sharply on his arm. And rather than
it's boys and girls who have been good or bad,
naughty or nice, these are terrorists he's either killed or
(12:43):
plans to kill. Uh. And of course, in one of
the great scenes, uh when and by the way, spoiler alerts, oh, man,
I guess, I guess so people like man I was
just gonna watch die Hard this year for the first
time ever. Uh. He sends one dead terrorist down in
one of my favorite scenes from the thirty second floor
(13:04):
down the lobby, the door opens. He is dead and
has a on his chest. Okay, say it in a
German accent, please, and not only that, I'll say it
with my best Alan Rickman r I p now a
half a machine gun. Ho ho ho oh goodness. So
(13:28):
he says this proves that McClean is a sociopathic Santa
Clause yeah, and that the elevator was his chimney. Yeah.
M hmm. So it's getting a little weird here. John
McClean has Christmas dinner. That's the twinkie that he eats
during a period of respite week. It's weak um, but
he says, Art says, there is a miracle in this,
(13:50):
and they even call it out there's a Christmas miracle
because remember THEO, the guy who's kind of like the
hacker of the group. He's trying to crack the safe
with the drill and Hans comes down to see how
the progress is going, and THEO tells them it's going
to take a miracle to get past this electromagnetic lock.
Very in very short order, the FBI turns off the power.
(14:14):
But before this, Hans Gruber says, THEO, you asked for
a miracle, I give you the f B. I. So
they specifically say there's a miracle in this, in this ship,
in this movie. Yeah, that's another one, that's right. What
else John McClean makes it. He makes it back to
(14:38):
his family. He and his wife are reunited. At the end,
she gives him her Christmas gifts. She identifies herself as
Holly McClean. Right, and then ostensibly by extension, I guess
they're going to go home to their six year old
daughter for Christmas morning. The sun has not risen yet,
so it's still Christmas Eve, and there are Barra bonds
(15:00):
floating down like snow around them, and they even play
the song let it Snow. So Art points some stuff out.
He says he went back and looked at reviews that
he could find because he works for l A Weekly,
he's a he's a movie critic. I think he sold
water to me. At this point, he said, I could
not find any reviews that cited this thing as a
(15:21):
Christmas movie. It came out in July. Yeah, this this
is definitely something that has been retrofitted for sure, Right,
No one called it a Christmas movie back then. Only
the clever generations of today. So yeah, so he points
out that, um that no one at the time said
this is a great Christmas movie as a buddy picture.
(15:41):
It's how they put it right, um or just an
action like shoot him up fast, and it was. It
was a great movie still is right. But the he
he says that, um, at the same time, there was
a weird kind of foreshadowing that same year because Scrooge
came out, which is another a great Christmas movie, and
(16:01):
that is a bona fide Christmas movie because it's an
adaptation of a Christmas Carol, there's no question about that.
But in it, Bill Murray plays a TV executive who
has green lit a picture called The Night the Reindeer
Died and it's about a terrorist attack on the North
Pole in Santa's workshop, and he says, the implication of
this is that you would have to be some soulless
(16:24):
TV executive to watch an action movie for Christmas. Yeah.
I don't buy it. Oh, I think it just ties
the whole thing up. It just brings it right back
to the beginning. Man. No, no no, no, I don't buy
that you would have to be a soulless uh. Oh yeah, yeah,
I'm on board. I think it's a Christmas movie. Art
Tavanna is the oracle of our time. Uh, so I
(16:46):
have Are you done with Art Tavanna? Yeah? All right,
because I've got a very special Christmas gift for you, sir. Okay,
And I kept this a surprise, thank you. I was
wondering what this was. You see, I'm holding a piece
of paper in my hand, and when I have in
my hand is an email exchange with the writer of
die Hard. What Jeb Stewart, What this is insider information?
(17:11):
What I know? Right? Wow? All right? So man, look
at that smile. I can't believe I'm dizzy. All right.
So I was able to get this email and he
was happy to oblige. Uh. He's sort of been making
the rounds on this, I think interviewed him on it,
and um, and he's just a great dude. So um.
(17:33):
I knew that there was a book that die Hard
was based on called Nothing Last Forever by Roger Thorpe,
and so I thought, well, when he wrote that, you know,
was that said at Christmas? Was Christmas a big deal?
Or did you run with it? So these are this
is his reply and all this amazing chuck. Uh and
this is it's not super long, but I'm just I'm
gonna read the whole thing because that conserves it. So
(17:55):
he said that, uh uh nothing. Last Forever is a
dark Nora novel about a sixty us year old man
who comes to bits forty year visit his forty year
old daughter in l A. So obviously he changed that stuff.
Uh and then he and then he, you know, talks
a little bit more about the writing process, and then
he says, so back to your question, Yes, Christmas was
always part of the theme. Thorpe said it on December
(18:18):
the novel for a very practical reason. We need the
building as empty as possible. Yeah, so that makes sense.
That's where that comes from. However, once he established this,
he sort of abandoned the theme. Since I had a
lot of dramatic leeway, I took the approach let's go
for it first. So this all came from Jeb Stewart,
all the Christmas e stuff. First. I changed the main
(18:39):
characters ages set up the story about a thirty year
old guy with old school ideas about marriage coming from
New York to visit as a strange wife, but everything
right again with his family. L A represents and conflicts
with his views of normal Christmas. Music is different, the
office party and gifts are over the top. His wife
keeps her maiden name, and the temperature is warm and
not snowy. It drives him crazy. But once Hans Gruber
(19:01):
takes over Nakami Plaza, all that melts away, all the action,
all the struggle become John McLean's long journey to discover
what really matters his family. You don't appreciate what you
have until you risk losing it. Since family is at
the core of the idea of this work, what better
than what better holiday than Christmas? Uh, there's no question
in my mind that die Hard is a Christmas movie.
(19:24):
You have you have it. A Christmas movie has more
to do with just being said at the holiday. It
has to include the holiday in the themes of the film.
Christmas also needs to be reflected in the characters, their
stories and dialogue. I tried to do this as much
as possible, even when it means sending a body down
the elevator with a Santa cap and a message written
on a shirt saying ho ho ho Now I have
(19:46):
a machine gun. Anyway, that is my argument that Die
Hards a Christmas film. I'm happy some people agree. As
someone once told me, it's not Christmas at our house
until Hans Gruber falls off nakatmi plaza. Amen to that,
Jeb Stewart. Wow, that is definitive, Chuck, nicely done. Yeah,
that's funny. I had no idea that it was originally
(20:07):
ho ho ho. Now I have a machine gun. I'm
sure some exects workshopped it and focus grouped it and
then they switched it around. Well I'm not sure if
he's saying that's how he wrote it, but that's wonderful, Chuck.
Kudos to you. That's a great Christmas present. And kudos
to Jeb Stewart. He says he's a big stuff. You
should know fans to take that for what it's worth. Well,
I just got you some socks. Oh wow, Sorry, I
(20:32):
got you a personalized letter from Jeb Stewart and some socks.
All right? Is that the end of our segment? Yeah?
All right, Okay, which one you want to do next?
(21:14):
I'm happy to rock around the Rockefeller Christmas Tree. Okay, Rockefeller,
it's the The r is silent and invisible. So most
of this information comes from an article this year from
Dana Schultz The history of Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree a
New York holiday tradition. Dude. So the Rockefeller Center Tree.
(21:39):
Everybody knows this thing, right, They probably know more than
they realized that that statue is Prometheus, the big Golden Statue,
which and I only say that because I didn't realize
that until researching this article. But it's an extremely famous
thing because it's a giant tree, it's in the middle
of New York and everybody watches it. But it has
some really sweet, humble origins that I weren't what wasn't
(22:00):
aware of at all. Yeah, and I gotta say, if
you've never been to New York at Christmas, do yourself
a favor and go, because the word magical is thrown
around a lot, but it is truly magical. It is.
It's just it's great Rockefeller Center. Uh, it's just it's
wonderful to go down there. You know, even if you're
a Scrooge McDuck, I think your heart might melt a bit. Sure.
(22:24):
Can you just see like Scrooge McDuck duck weeping quietly
and in public off to the side of the ice
skating rink, and it would be kind of neat like
there's a cartoon in real life. So back to the origins,
where are we? Yeah, and the Great Depression was in
full swing. This is another thing I didn't realize. Did
(22:45):
you know the Great Depression is also called the clutch plague?
Is that what that is? Yeah? I did not know that.
The only explanation I saw was that the clutch plague
more refers to the global depression, whereas the Great Depression
is the American Great Depression. Gotcha, That's all I saw.
But so the clutch Plague slash Great Depression is going
on and a group of workers, construction workers are building
(23:08):
Rockefeller Center at the time, and Christmas comes around and
the workers decide, hey, we need to Christmas up this
place a little bit. So they pull their money together
and they buy a twenty foot tree and they install
it right there on the construction site. And if that's
not heartwarming enough, uh, their families made garland to decorate
(23:28):
the tree with. So it's truly like this great little
you know, the thing that these people did in the
in the peak of the depression, the deepest trough of
the depression, to to increase their spirits as the holidays
Christmas sweaters always had embroidered up increase. Oh that's good.
(23:53):
He really stubble that with man Um. So the men
lined up apparently to get their paychecks at the tree.
And a couple of years later, uh n three, Rockefeller
Center said it. You know what, let's make this a thing. Uh.
We're gonna actually erect a tree and have a lighting ceremony.
It's gonna be fifty tall. And this is now, uh,
just a great new tradition here in New York City. Yeah.
(24:15):
So yeah, in nineteen what was that three? They've been
doing it ever since. And they actually were smart enough
to broadcast it on the radio. Uh. And then twenty
years later they started broadcasting it on television. And apparently
today like tens and tens, if not hundreds of millions
of people watch the tree lighting Except me. I wasn't
(24:36):
one of them. I forgot to watch it. I have
never watched it. I haven't either, but I always go.
I mean, if I'm in New York City in the wintertime,
I always go by Rockefeller Center. Sure. So, there's actually
some pretty cool facts about the tree that um, I
wasn't aware of. They tend to be a typical species
(24:57):
the white spruce. Yeah, and apparently that's because they are
generally very straight and very strong, uh, and grow about
the height that they want, which is, you know, between
generally between eighty feet right. Um. And they find him
by scouting by helicopter, like Pennsylvania, Connecticut, upstate New York.
(25:21):
Apparently they got one from Ohio once that had to
be flown in the world's largest cargo plane. Yeah, how
about that pretty cool? So they they I mean, they
put a lot of thought and this is not like, oh,
there's a big tree, and they want him to be upright.
And the head gardener who his job in part is
to go scout throughout the year to find a tree. Um,
(25:43):
his name is Eric Pose. He says that you want
to not be able to see the sky through it.
Oh wow, you wanted to be dense enough that you
can't just see the sky through it. Yeah, So they
erect that thing. Um. It usually does not derive by
world's largest cargo plane, as he really in a truck. Uh.
And then they have these guy wires. Of course, is
(26:03):
so large they have guy wires supporting it. Right there
at the midpoint, they have a steel spike in the
base and for many, many years. They've had scaffolding installed
around it so they can obviously get up there to
decorate it. And they've been using LED lights for how long?
I thought I saw a year here, two thousand seven, alright,
(26:24):
so about ten years they've been using the L E.
D s about fifty thousand. So these trees are usually donated,
and I get the feeling that's a great honor. Sure.
I think some guy from New York City lands helicopter
in your field and says, can I have that tree
for free? Well, we'll mention your name in the press release.
And the city slicker just takes advantage of the poor
(26:46):
country folk and gets a tree out of them in
the true spirit of the season. So the one of
the things that grabbed me was those LED lights. They
save twelve hundred kill a lots of electricity a day,
which is enough to power a two thousand square foot
home for a month, Which means that about four years
worth of energy for a two thousand square foot home
(27:10):
is saved every year from the like month and a
half that the tree is lit. That's what gets you.
That's nuts. That's so much energy, and that's not how
much it uses that's how much they saved by transferring
to l e ed s. You know, it gets me.
What So, starting many years ago, they started to recycle
the trees, um. And for a while what they would
(27:31):
do was uh mulch it up and then spread it
around the walking paths of Central Park, which is pretty great.
You know, it's a good way to do it. Um.
But for the past eleven years, I think, including this year,
what they do is they donate the tree to Habitat
for Humanity, so it comes down on January seven, and
then they mill the wood, make that into lumber and
(27:54):
they build homes. So there are Habitat for Humanity homes
that people are living in, built from the rocket fellow
Christmas trees, and you can sell them for a million bucks.
That's so great. It is pretty great. I mean, just
the Habitat for Humanity parts great enough. You know. I
think when they were moltenate, they got about thirty thirty
(28:15):
three bushel bags of mulch and everyone involved in the
spreading of the molts was mugged. Yeah that's Central Park.
It's nineteen well I guess back then maybe, yeah. So, Um.
One of the other things that that grabbed me was
the star that's now become pretty famous too. It's I
think it was introduced in two thousand four. It says
(28:37):
it's made of twenty five thousand crystals, right, and the
thing is like ten ft tall and weighs five pounds. Yeah,
it's crazy. It's nine a half feet wide. It was
designed by an artist, a Geman artist, Michael Hamas And uh, yeah,
that's they've been using that thing since two thousand four. Yeah,
I've had fifty pounds of star. Can you imagine if
(28:58):
that thing just came off the top up? It would
it would kill somebody Because there's actually a pretty good
chance that it could kill somebody. Chuck, because three quarters
of a million people come see that tree every day,
so the chance of it following on somebody or pretty high.
I've never been by when it's just desolate. I'll say that. No,
(29:20):
I can't imagine three quarters of a million in a day.
That's crazy. So that's it for the tree. Huh, that's
all I got. One of these days, we're gonna watch
the lighting. Will make some popcorn, Get our coziest socks on,
get our eggnog on. Oh yeah, I think that that
just went without saying, so, Chuck, this is one of
(30:12):
my favorites of all time, which one I had no
idea that well, like finding out about a little weird
pop culture things that happened before I was born, I
had no idea about It's one of my favorite things
in the world. And you've delighted me by sending this
thing to me about Christmas in space in Did you
know about this already? No? But I was just thinking,
(30:34):
like you, you have been diligent about keeping a list
of what we've done every year so we don't repeat ourselves. Um,
and it's getting tough. I gotta say, there's only so
much Christmas that's happened. I literally looked up like I
think two or three different things. I was like, we've
never done this, and then I saw your list. I
was like, ah, we've done that. So um, I thought,
(30:55):
wait a minute, like astronauts spending Christmas in space, that's
that's gotta have happened. Oh, you had an independent thought
about it, like it wasn't You didn't just come across it.
I don't know. I had an independent That is magnificent,
a Christmas miracle. It must have increased your holiday spirit
tremendously by at least thirty eight percent. So Christmas in
(31:18):
space happened for the first time in nine There was
actually like a holiday transmission basically, um the Apollo eight
crew starring Frank Boorman who was the commander, Tom Hanks
slash Jim Level was the pilot, and William Anders was
the Lunar module pilot, and they orbited the Moon on
(31:41):
Christmas Eve, and they knew they were going to be
orbiting the Moon, so they planned to transmission from space
to basically they launched on December twenty one, like, oh,
wait a minute, I didn't Oh oh man, Yeah, did
you pack a Bible for them to read from? I
thought you did. Well, somebody thought about it because they
(32:02):
had a Bible up there or else they have like
a bunch of scripture rehearsed and memorized because they decided
to go with Christianity that year for Christmas, which is appropriate,
and they from space they read some scripture and uh
and bestowed blessings on the Earth below them. And apparently
a billion people watched this transmission of their live pictures
(32:24):
in their audio over the like from the lunar module. Yeah,
so they sent out this transmission. Uh. They closed with
the message good night, good luck, a merry Christmas, and
God bless all of you, all of you on the
good Earth. That was a great Frank Bourman, you know, Burman,
(32:46):
very stiff. I thought that was nice. It was kind
of velvety. Oh well, I appreciate that. Right. So the
the Christmas and space thing, it was kind of sporadic
for a while. Sky Lab U five years later where
the next group to UM spend Christmas in space. They
(33:06):
made a little Christmas tree out of food cans. There
was a Space Shuttle launch or a Space Shuttle mission
in ninety four or nineties. I'm sorry, UM they spent
Christmas in space and they fixed the Hubble telescope on
that mission, which was huge, huge, it changed everything. Yeah,
(33:30):
that was a big deal. Um. The first time there
was Christmas in space on the Russian mirror, American astronaut
John Blaha I went up there and said, yeah, I'm
appear with cosmonauts, but I guess I'll celebrate Christmas anyway.
And I believe, uh, I believe that was his second
Christmas in space. Yeah. That guy was just showing off
(33:53):
by then. Yeah, He's like, I don't have a family
I care about, Just go ahead and send me up.
This was just a single guy. I got some plants
I don't take very good care of. And you know what,
my parents are gone to some mothers and Father's Day.
Go ahead and send me right, They always said him,
whether he wanted to go or not, if it wasn't,
if it wasn't in space, he was eating by himself
(34:13):
and kind of weeping quietly at Cracker Barrel. So which
one is it gonna be? You choose? Buddy? Is cracker
Barrel on Christmas? Is it? Yeah? I knew waffle House was? Yeah?
You mean I ate there for Thanksgiving this year at
waffle House? No? I think Cracker Barrel. Okay, it was
actually really good. I ate waffle House Thanksgiving one year
by myself outside. Is that? Did you really? Yeah? I
(34:36):
can't remember the deal, but it was one year where
like my family wasn't around, or maybe I was away
from them and everyone was gone, and so I was like,
all right, scattered some mother and cupboard. Well that sounds
pretty good. It was great actually that Thanksgiving. Ever, So
that's I was gonna say, like, what was it? Actually? Like?
Way more amusing than you thought like, that's how it
was for us. I was like, is this gonna be
(34:57):
like sad or great? And it was great. They serve
traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Yes, and again it was really good.
I mean, just as salty and tasty and fatty as
you would imagine Thanksgiving a cracker barrel to be. Yeah,
we do. Uh, Thanksgiving is my mom's jam. So we
always go to Diane's place and I cook up my cornbread,
dressing and mashed potatoes is what I bring. Very nice.
(35:20):
But this is not about Thanksgiving, No, it's about Christmas
and space, that's right. So now it's become kind of routine.
Charles um Ever since they launched the International Space Station.
It's been continuously occupied since November of two thousand, so
every year there's astronauts and space from all different countries
aboard the I S S. And one of the cool
(35:41):
things I saw about that was that they at any
time you're on the I S S, you you go
around the Earth about every ninety two minutes, So in
any given day you see about fifteen sunrises. But on
Christmas Day that means that the astronauts get fifteen Christmas
mornings throughout the whole day. I thought it was pretty cool.
That is pretty cool, and every year that you know,
(36:02):
they make a big deal about it. Now, um, I
think it's a bit of an honor to to go
up and be at the I S S on Christmas
now and imagine they have you know, it stinks to
be away from your family, but imagine they have a
great familial experience together up there taking care of business
they do for the future of humanity. You got anything else, space, No?
(36:27):
All right, well we'll move along right after this jingle
to some great great Christmas toys of the twentieth century.
(36:49):
M Okay, Chuck. I don't know if you remember this
or not, but the twentieth century was just seventeen eighteen,
nineteen years ago. Yeah, I remember it. Okay, I remember
it too. It formed a substantial portion of my life.
Those were our best days. Yeah. And one of the
reasons why they were some of our best days is
(37:09):
because there were some of the greatest toys ever invented
came out of the twentieth century. Yes, dangerous, dangerous toys
that you had to have the first time in in
world history that anyone ever had to have a toy
on Christmas happened in the twentieth century. All right, before
we get to these, I'm gonna ask you, do you
(37:31):
have a standout memory of one Christmas where that was
something you had to have? I can't. I think that Nintendo,
the original Nintendo was probably it. UM and I don't remember.
I don't remember if I got it for Christmas or
(37:51):
some other time or whatever. But UM, for me, I
remember opening a robot arm, which I hadn't asked or
but turned out to be like one of the coolest
things I've ever had, opening a robot arm. Yeah, it
was a robot arm. And then there was another UM
like zip Racer, Remember the cord that that would like
(38:11):
make a motorcycle go really fast, which we talked about
in the Evil Kinevil episode. I remember that. I remember
opening that on Christmas morning too. Is the robot arm
something that you could wear? No? No, it was like
on a tabletop robot arm you could pick stuff up with. Okay, Yeah,
So do you have a must have toy that you remember? Well?
I do. I have a couple. One was the year
(38:32):
that the pac Man Atari cartridge came out. That was
a big one. UM And little did we all know
that that game sucked really bad pac Man did. Yeah,
it was okay actually, but you you wanted it to
be like the Arcade game. Oh it wasn't high. I
don't remember playing pac Man on Atari. Yeah it was
(38:54):
instead of waka waka waka, it went dot don't don't, don't,
don't don't. Oh yeah, yeah, when it ate one of
the things like it was, it was pretty bad. Uh.
And the other big one before that was when I
was younger, I wanted more than anything. One year, I
wanted a stretch armstrong and did you get it? Well
that they my parents actually did the old trick a
(39:16):
ruski on me, like, oh, is there one more thing
over there? Because I was disappointing because I didn't get
stretch arms song, so they actually pulled one over on
me and I got stretch Uh. It would have been
funny if they were like, oh no, there isn't anything.
Is there one more thing under the tree? Oh no,
that's just dog poop, right, which we wrapped up for
(39:37):
some reason. All right, but getting to these iconic twenty
century toys. First on your list is uh, the iconic
iconic cabbage patch kid. I had one of these. Maybe
I got it at Christmas. I don't remember well at
our house, and I may have told this story before
(39:58):
we had the original um dolls, the ones that these
were later ripped off from. Yeah, the original all cloth
dolls handmade by Xavier Roberts I think was his name,
because they were made right here in Georgia and Cleveland,
I'm sorry, not made born in Cleveland, Georgia where baby
Land General still is. But my sister got I think
(40:23):
the seventy five or one ever made that was signed
by him, and it's worth some dode today. Do you
still have it? Oh? Yes, Michelle's got it, so she has.
It was one of the top hundred ones made and
it became pretty valuable. And then I have My mom
ended up getting my brother and I to each which
I literally have never touched. But I'm just waiting for
(40:45):
those to gain enough in value and I'm gonna sell those.
Is this still like in the box? No? No, no not.
They didn't come in boxes. They were they were just
like on a shelf. Oh oh wow, those were early ones.
The ones I got came in a box. Yeah, that's
when they I think. I can't remember who took it over.
Kalico y Colico took it over. They got plastic heads
and those were sort of the mass market version, and
(41:06):
I guess Xavier Roberts probably got rich. Oh yeah, I'm
not that deal. I would think so. So the Cabbage
Patch Kid three was when Kalico took over and it
became like just a breakout hit. It was one of
the first times, if not the first time, when there
were reports of people like shoving and punching each other
(41:27):
in the face and paying like way more than the
actual value of the doll Like apparently people were selling
it for like ten times what the dollar went for,
which was twenty five bucks, which back in bucks is
not cheap. I have no idea how much it would
be now, but I'll bet it's a lot. And the
Cabbage Patch Kid craze was so significant it's spilled over
(41:51):
to the next year and there if so, Christmas of
Night was just as crazy as Christmas of nineteen eighty three.
And apparently they made two and a half billion dollars
off of Cabbage Patch Kids between nine eight three and nine. Yeah,
that is uh. I think nine eight four was just
(42:12):
two point five billion, wasn't it. Oh my goodness? Is
that right? Yeah, that's that's just one year, dude, that's
so many. That's like a hundred million cabbage patch kids. Yeah,
and they, like you said, it went all the way
through nineteen eight. This is not a one year craze. Um,
and it's just nuts. You can, like I said, you
can still go to Babyland General. And the whole deal
(42:33):
with those was they were born and not made, and
they were I mean, that was like the little cute
ce selling point. But the dolls came named. Yeah, do
you remember your name? Well? I remember. I don't remember
my two original dolls they were they were like the
(42:53):
little TV stars or something that was on their T shirt. Um,
but my sisters I remember because her doll and it
is even kind of misshaping. Those early ones were kind
of funny looking, like his hairline was crooked and stuff
because it was like folksy and handmade, and it was
routinely drunk while he was making. But her doll's name,
the one that's so valuable is Chuck. No. Yes, that's
(43:17):
a sign from God. YEA. Mine was Webber din No
white is that first and last name. No, that was
his first and middle name. His last name was Clark.
Obviously Webber Dino d I n oh, yep, Webber Dino Clark.
Pretty weird. Huh, I didn't I didn't name him. That's great. Yeah,
(43:41):
you U still have it. Oh no, no, imagine those
probably are worth much money. No, probably not in the
shape he was in by the time I aged out
of him too, did a mohawk and stuff. I don't
think his head was attached any longer. Yeah, eventually he
blew up that doll. Right, so there's more chuck and
(44:02):
we gotta go backward in time. That's right, this next one,
because it turns out and we talked about this in
the Action Figure episode a little bit, but so Star Wars.
When Star Wars came out, it was such a total
surprise to everybody that um Kenner, who had the rights
to make the action figures, hadn't even started production by
(44:23):
the time Christmas came around. Yeah, I mean no one.
No one thought the movie was going to be big,
much less the ancillary products associated with that movie. So
little kids got vouchers, remember that. Did you have a voucher?
I don't think so. I think I got the toys
a little bit later. Okay, because this is Christmas, of
(44:44):
they're like, oh, God, we got caught with our pants down.
Get some vouchers out quick. So little kids got vouchers
wrapped up his presence that they were finally able I
guess in eight sometime, um to to trade their voucher
and or the actual action figure. Yeah, and they were
a hot ticket for a solid seven years. Uh. And
(45:06):
I certainly had a ton of them. Um. I did.
Had no idea that there was a thing that people
did where they left them in boxes and didn't play
with them. I didn't know that was the thing. So
I've played with mine and they were all very well worn,
which I think is the way to do it. Same here,
I've still I think I still have like a box
of like busted up g I Joes that are in
(45:29):
no way shape or form sellable. Yeah, my brother and
I have a bunch of these. But yeah, unless you
have some super rare java. Uh. And I'm not on
gonna get it wrong, but it's either the cloth cape
or the plastic cape. Cloth one. Is that the valuable one?
I don't remember. There are nerds out there that are
freaking out right now, I'm so sorry, or loose skywalkers,
(45:50):
take your eye out, lightsaber right the double telescoping. Yeah,
I think that was that was worth a lot of dough. Yeah.
But back in Christmas, the nineteenth of any seven, no
one had any idea and little children were unwrapping presents
and going I had no idea what a voucher was
until just now, thanks Mom and Dad. And they said,
well that's good, because here, Mom and Dad, I have
(46:12):
what I got you as vouchers for a backscratch in
breakfast in bed free hugs so cute. And then lastly,
Chuck is tickle Me Elmo, and I have to say
shout out to history dot com. They came up with
this article. I think there was a lot more to it,
but these are the ones that held the most water.
But Tickle Me Elmo. If you thought the cabbage Patch
doll craze was nuts, tickle Me Elmo. Was it just
(46:37):
off the chain? Yeah, Elmo. I think we've even talked
about this before for some weird reason, but it became
way after me, probably in the Muppets episode. Uh So,
I was never an Elmo aficionado because this was by
that point I was fifteen years old. I didn't care
about things like that. But my daughter loves Elmo and
(46:58):
it has transcended, uh since then for sure, because almost
still super popular. You were twenty five, by the way,
Oh yeah, I was thinking eight six. Oh yeah, I
was way too old for real, right, he'd been more
so than being fifteen would have been. Yeah, I was
still drunk in Athens, Georgia. But I think that's cute
(47:18):
that that, um she's still into that or that almost
still around for kids to be into today because almost
just too cute and great a character just just go
away because of some stupid craze. You know. I agree,
And I had the I have the curse of doing
too good of an Elmo impression. So now almost every
morning still I have to start out by doing Elmo
(47:39):
voices with the Elmo doll. Oh that's sweet, it is sweet,
so um on. In October, I guess there was a
big surprise on the Rosie O'donnald Show when she debuted
the Tickle Me Elmo doll, which most people hadn't heard
of by this time. And if you remember, do you
remember the doll? Right? I think you like Pressett's belly
(48:01):
or maybe even tickle it. And I'd be like stop
stop right, yeah, I think he gave it a squeeze
and he giggled right, and it was super cute and
it just captured America's heart. And Rosie O'donnald's show was
huge at the time, like Oprah level huge. So it
was a huge plug for the tickle miomo makers and
they were totally caught off guard. They had no idea
(48:22):
that this was coming. And since it was October, there
was a huge shortage of this suddenly very much in
demand doll by the time Christmas rolled around. Yeah, and
they did not do vultures, right, didn't they. Um, they
just did raffles or something. I think they did raffles
and um stampedes. Those are the big ones, the classic stampede. Yeah,
(48:43):
there was a report of a Walmart employee in Fredericton,
New Brunswick who was trampled and had to go to
the hospital because yeah, they did this the smartest thing
possible line up. But then when we opened the doors,
it's every person for themselfs for themselves. Yeah, and this
is the final thing from history dot com. It says
in New York, the son of jailed mob boss John Gotti,
(49:05):
along with his friends, dropped eight thousand dollars at a
toy store and report will be made off with a
case of Tickle me Elma. Pretty smart. I hope it
is too. That would be so great. So what's the
must have toy this year? Do you know? I have
no idea? Do you have no idea? Nope? All right,
we'll find out one way or another by hanging out
(49:26):
at toy stores. I guess I get the feeling there
isn't a Well maybe that still happens sometimes, like a
single must have. Oh yeah, it definitely happens sometimes. I
don't know what it is, though, I guarantee it's not
going away like the Ferbi remember that that silly thing.
Now it's hatchamles. Oh well that might be the thing.
(49:47):
Actually that was last year, right now, Yeah, because I
remember Noel had trouble finding one for his daughter. Oh yeah,
but you came through it, and you know he did.
It was a Christmas miracle, It was all right. So
we're gonna have another little jingle and come back with
our traditional Christmas boozy recipe. Yeah, okay, So I have
(50:20):
a little background here because we're talking about Wasstle. Did
you see the background thinking? Did I send it to you?
So the etomology not the entomology the etymology of wostle.
The word w A s s a I l. Yeah,
apparently it comes from the Old Norse vest hile, and
then the old English, because most English words come from
(50:42):
the Norse or Germanic words, right, wass hall, and the
whole thing was basically like a greeting or a toast,
which was being good health. Eventually it was turned into
wass hale and then wostle, and wostle is so old
that it actually appears in Bao Wolf as a greeting,
right again being good health. So there was this tradition
(51:06):
of going on Christmas Day or Christmas Eve, I can't
remember which one um or you would basically just go
to people's houses around town, like during a whole day
and hang out and maybe bring them a little present
or eat some food. And it was like kind of
a roving Christmas party, and that was called wostl ng.
(51:26):
And then eventually this warm punch that you would serve
your guests came to be called wostle. And because it
kind of came out of this tradition, there's no one
watle recipe, but it's usually a very strong, drinky, boozy,
warm punch is basically the only the only requisite for it.
(51:47):
That usually has something like nutmeg or something in it.
That's right, And uh, you're the cocktail man, so you
want to go over the recipe here. Well, there's two.
Did you see both? I only saw the one that
was super rummy? Okay, well will this go with that
one then? Because the other one is pretty traditional. This
one is not just rummy, but it's beery. Oh so
(52:11):
sounded funny. I gotta admit, I'm I'm ready to try
this one. Chuck two quarts of lager beer. And you
don't have to just use beer that comes in a
court size. As a matter of fact, you might want
to just steer clear those all together for this one.
A court of rum they just get giddy. Five ounces
(52:31):
of simple syrup, three ounces of lemon juice, a teaspoon
of grated nutmeg. You want that freshly grated, teaspoon of
grated ginger, you want that fresh too, and then fruit
slices for garnish. Pretty simple stuff that you can really
kind of put together, uh, from from just about any store.
Yeah that sells such things. So you take the beer,
(52:52):
the simple syrup, the lemon juice, the nutmeg and the ginger,
and you put it together in a sauce pan and
you warm it on low heat for about ten minutes.
You want to get a nice steam off of it,
but do not let it boil. If you boil it,
all the alcohol will cook off, so don't do that.
You add the rum and you stir it, and then
you place some that fruit in a heat resistant bowl
(53:15):
or some sort of serving vessel, and you pour the
watle in there um and then you have wastle. You
drink it. So you haven't had this, No, I haven't.
I just found it the other day, all right, it's
for this recipe was from the spruce. And there's another
one they have which has brandy and sherry in it,
but beer and lagger. Two quarts of beer in one
quart of rum. That's a party. It's a party in
(53:38):
your mouth, it is uh. And of course, always drink
wastle responsibly. And if you're over twenty one in these
United States, yes, And if you're watling and someone's home
and they ask you to leave, do the Christmas e
thing and leave, that's right. Interpretor in the UK you
can be like twelve years old and drink probably is
that true. No, I don't know. I think it's probably eighteen.
(54:00):
Is that a Christmas legend? Yeah? I think so so, Charles.
We've reached the end here, that's right. This has been
maybe our best one yet. I like to think each
year they get a little bit better. The guests appearance
from the writer of Die Hard, Are you kidding me?
That was pretty pretty great. The socks that I got
to those are amazing. Yeah, rate, that was very surprised.
(54:26):
They're magic fingers toe socks. Uh. Well, Happy Happy Christmas,
Merry New Year, and all that stuff. To all of
you people out there, we hope you have just a
wonderful holiday season, no matter how you celebrate it, no
matter what your religion, no matter whether you have no
religion at all, no matter where you are in the world,
we hope you have a very very warm and glad
(54:49):
holiday tidings, right agreed, Thanks for joining us, and uh
we'll see you next year in two
Stuff You Should Know News
Hosts And Creators
Chuck Bryant
Josh Clark
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