"Jingle Bells" - Part 48 - Full Nelson!

We left "Jingle Bells" in the capable hands of Ricky Nelson and now we take a look at an episode of his family's TV show that incorporates not on "Jingle Bells" but also "A Christmas Carol!"

This is the 1964 presentation of the 1956 Christmas episode (it makes sense once you watch!):

This one includes the commercials, but they quality isn't as sharp:

Either way, I think that's good retro fun!

The version of "Jingle Bells" that the carolers sing is very well performed. Some work went into that!

I like how Ricky (as Marley's Ghost) keeps trying to feed Ozzie his lines and it's fun to see the snippet of Ozzie acting in the play.

It is funny that the full title of this series is "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" as they don't really have adventures!

The "conflict" of this episode is whether Ozzie can manage to play Santa, act as Scrooge and sing carols on a tight Christmas Eve schedule. If that were only the extent of all of our troubles!

If mentioned at all these days, I think this show is dismissed as a too wholesome artifact of a bygone era. But I enjoy it and think it's way more entertaining than people these days give it credit for. 

To keep in the Ozzie and Harriet Christmas spirit, let's listen to the December 19, 1948 episode of their radio series:

Good fun from before the show moved to the new medium of television!

And for even more, here's a 1937 seasonal record by Ozzie's band with Harriet singing the vocal: 

 

Harriet introduced that tune in the film "Life of the Party" during her 1930s stint as a movie actress:

So, a little bit of everything from the Nelsons!

                                                  

"Jingle Bells" - Part 47 - Ricky!

We stop in 1960 with a version of "Jingle Bells" from hugely popular teen idol Ricky Nelson!

Here it is:

That's pretty cool, sounding exactly how Ricky and his band should! Always great to get a guitar solo from James Burton!

Ricky recorded this in 1960, but it didn't receive an official release until 2000 when it appeared on the "Legacy" box set.

It was apparently recorded for use in a 1960 Christmas episode of "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet," which, of course, featured Ricky and his family, but was not released on record at the time.

Here's a clip from that episode ("A Piano for the Fraternity," December 21, 1960) which also features the Four Preps, who often popped up as members of Ricky's fraternity:

A few takeaways from that video...

I'm really glad that Ozzie and Will Wright do not talk over James Burton's guitar solo, but when they do talk, it's over a piano chorus that's not included on the audio track as released. Hmmm...

I also notice that when the audience joins in for the final chorus, they yell "Hey!" although Ricky does not!

And there are too many reaction shots of "Wally Plumstead" in there!

A few years later Rick(y) recorded a version of "The Christmas Song" for the 1964 holiday episode of the show, and this was also included on the "Legacy" box set:

Here's how it appeared on the show.

Fun to see Rick's daughter and future actress Tracy as a baby!

As always, I have a few tie-ins to some previous posts...

We had previously heard a version of "Jingle Bells" by Ricky's parents here when Ozzie Nelson was a bandleader and Harriet Hilliard (Ricky's full name was Eric Hilliard Nelson) was his singer.

Since his parents were both singers, it's not surprising that Ricky became a singer himself and was very successful. He wasn't just a TV performer who cut a few records (as was really common in the late 1950s and early 1960s), but a legitimate recording star.

Ricky first sang on an episode of the TV show from April 10, 1957 entitled "Ricky the Drummer," the plot of which dealt with the fictional Tommy Jackson and his Orchestra coming to town with (SPOILERS) Ricky sitting in on drums for a number, then singing "I'm Walkin'" with the band.

What's interesting is that "Tommy Jackson" is played by Pete Candoli, the trumpeter heard on the wacky "Hey! Bellboy" with Gloria Wood, which we heard here!

"Tommy" says to Ozzie that he was happy to help out Ricky because Ozzie had let him (Tommy) sit in with his band years before when Ozzie was playing a one-nighter in Indiana! (Pete Candoli was from Indiana.)

This is about the only time I recall someone on the TV show directly saying that Ozzie had been a bandleader. David Nelson also makes a reference to Ozzie still having his saxophone. The joke was that viewers never really knew if Ozzie ever had a job!

Also of note is that the drummer with the band for whom Ricky sits in is played by Alvin Stoller (another character on the show calls him "Al") who was featured on Billy May's "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Mambo," which we heard here!

Everything ties together if you think about it enough!

Here's Ricky's 45 of "I'm Walkin'" on Verve Records with a studio group led by guitarist Barney Kessel:

That's the start of it all!

Ricky formed a permanent band when he signed with Imperial Records and he was fortunate to procure the services of young guitarist James Burton, who contributed lots of brilliant solos on Ricky's records, starting with this 1958 smash:

Still one of the best! 

Throw in that the song was written by Rockabilly greats Johnny and Dorsey Burnette and you get a lot of good things coming together!

Oh, and Ricky's albums also made good Christmas presents: