I Wish It Was Christmas Today - Part 14

It's time to resume our review of the holiday flotsam and jetsam on my 20th and most recent seasonal compilation, "I Wish It Was Christmas Today."  Today's focus is on yet another clip from Johnny Carson's iteration of The Tonight Show, along with a track from the 1960s that got included by accident because I'd forgotten I'd used it once before. Oh, well, let's get started!

Track 37
Christmas Gift for Janet De Cordova, Johnny Carson from The Tonight Show (1985) 

Fred De Cordova

This is the third of three clips on this year's mix from the gold standard of late night television, The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson. This one is from 1985 and involves Fred De Cordova, the show's legendary producer. 

Fifteen years older than Carson, De Cordova had accomplished a lot before joining The Tonight Show. After graduating Harvard Law School, he joined the Schubert organization in New York — not as a lawyer, but rather as a director, stage manager and performer. He eventually left New York for Hollywood, where he directed a series of low-budget films, including "Bedtime for Bonzo," starring Ronald Reagan, who became a good friend. He later focused on television, directing hundreds of programs ranging from the Jack Benny Show to My Three Sons and Leave It to Beaver. He joined The Tonight Show as producer in 1970 and became executive producer in 1984. According to De Cordova, his role was to serve as "chief traffic cop, talent scout, No. 1 fan and critic all rolled into one," and, for the most part, he did his job well. He won five Emmys for his work, and the show was a great success. Jay Leno installed his own producer after succeeding Carson as host in 1992, but he was smart enough to keep De Cordova around for an additional five years as a consultant. 

De Cordova was a hands-on producer who remained readily accessible to Carson throughout most of each night's broadcast, sitting just outside of camera range. For the most part, he made sure things stayed on time and provided Carson with feedback during commercial breaks. Occasionally, however, Carson would pull De Cordova into the actual on-air conversation as a disembodied voice from beyond the set. This arrangement was parodied by SCTV in a very funny sketch called "The Fred De Cordova Show." In later years, Carson had a light installed over De Cordova's chair so the camera could pick him up when Carson called on him. You can catch a glimpse of him in this clip, when he and Johnny discuss Mrs. De Cordova's Christmas wish list:

Janet De Cordova in Gracie's Mexican home

I've heard many stories about about Fred's wife, Janet, over the years, which is why I found this short clip about her gift request so compelling. From what I know of her, the idea of Mrs. De Cordova asking for Halley's Comet isn't so far-fetched — if not on a ring, then maybe on a broach or a necklace.  And from what I know about her husband, he might very well have tried to procure it for her. (For background, Halley's Comet is visible from earth once every 75 years or so and was scheduled to make an appearance shortly after this clip was filmed. Its most celebrated showing was in 1910, which is when Carson was suggesting De Cordova could have first picked it up. The joke, in other words, was a knock on the producer's age.) 

Fred and Janet De Cordova didn't want for much during their heyday; in fact, they were the quintessential Beverly Hills power couple of their day. While Fred kept the Tonight Show running in Burbank, Janet was typically making extravagant purchases on Rodeo Drive or lunching with wealthy girlfriends like Nancy Reagan, Betsy Bloomingdale or Joanna Carson. “The De Cordovas’ raison d’être,” said Dominick Dunne, “was to live an A-list life.”

The marriage and lifestyle of this rich and famous couple was detailed in the 2011 Vanity Fair profile "Once Upon a Time in Beverly Hills," by Matt Tyrnauer. It's a fascinating read.

Janet Thomas was a Kentucky native ten years Fred's junior. She relocated to Hollywood in the early 1940s with hopes of getting into the movies, and while that didn't pan out, her good looks earned her a place on the social circuit and she had little difficulty meeting suitable escorts. Her first four marriages ended in divorce, but her fifth, to De Cordova, lasted for 38 years, until his death in 2001. It was not, by many accounts, an extraordinarily loving marriage. But the two proved useful to one another, and they enjoyed all of the many privileges that came from Fred's position at Carson's side, including a gorgeous home, lavish gifts, the latest fashions and the constant support of talented domestic help.

For those who knew the De Cordovas or attended their parties, the secret to Janet's reputation as a hostess was her longtime housekeeper, Gracie Covarrubias. It was Gracie who tended to all the details and all of Janet's many needs. Through good times and bad, it was Gracie who absorbed all of the bumps and shocks that threatened Janet's home life, smoothing everything over so she could enjoy her daily pursuits without worry or fear. This wasn't unique among the denizens of Beverly Hills. Many of the rich and famous had hired help upon whom they depended. But Gracie grew to become much more than that to Janet De Cordova.

Following Fred's death in 2001, Janet discovered that her financial resources were far more limited than she'd imagined. Yes, her husband earned a decent wage, but Janet's clothing and jewelry alone ate up a good chunk of that. And while they never had children, their staggering entertainment and household expenses didn't allow for the creation of a financial cushion for the lean times. Janet was forced to sell their home and started to look for a new place to live. 

Things began to look even worse for Janet when Gracie announced she'd decided to return to Mexico to live in the house she'd built with the savings from her tireless service to the De Cordovas. Janet was devastated. How would she ever survive without Gracie? It was then that the two women agreed to an arrangement that stunned Janet's Beverly Hills friends. Gracie agreed to bring Janet with her to live out her final years in her housekeeper's Mexican home. It's an incredibly sweet story, well detailed in the Vanity Fair piece I commend to your attention. I understand HBO has had the rights to Janet's story for a number of years and is working to develop something from it. I know I'd be more interested in seeing that than seeing Halley's comet on a ring.

Here's a clip of Fred as an actual guest on the Tonight Show:

Did You Know:  Fred De Cordova played late-night TV producer Bert Thomas in Martin Scorsese's brilliant film The King of Comedy (1983). In the film, Robert De Niro plays a disturbed aspiring comedian who kidnaps talk show host Jerry Langford (Jerry Lewis) in order to appear on his nightly show. I've set the clip, below, to open on one of De Cordova's scenes, but if you haven't seen it, I encourage you to watch the whole movie, which is terrific. 

Track 38
She's Coming Home, The Wailers (1965)

Several weeks ago, I mentioned the terrific 1965 album "Merry Christmas from The Sonics, The Wailers and the Galaxies," on which you'll find the third track from this year's compilation, "Santa Claus," by The Sonics. You'll also find this track — "She's Coming Home," by The Wailers. This isn't the first time I've featured this tune on one of my mixes. It also appears on my 2020 mix, "All Alone on Christmas," making it one of only a small handful of tunes to appear more than once. Why the second showing? I don't know, I guess I just really like the song. And, to be honest, I'd forgotten I'd used it previously. I haven't listened to or thought much about my 2020 collection since I put it together and when I heard this song again while playing the Sonics, Wailers and Galaxies record this fall I was thinking more about how much I liked it than whether I'd used it previously. I guess I must also really like The Wailers, as I included another of their terrific tunes, "Christmas Spirit," on my 2018 mix, "My Christmastime Philosophy."

The band was originally formed in 1958 as "The Nightcaps" by five high school friends in Tacoma, Washington. They had an early break when a demo of one of their earliest original songs, an instrumental called "Tall Cool One," caught the attention of the New York-based Golden Crest label and they were offered a recording contract. "Tall Cool One" hit Billboard's Top 40 under the group's new name and their first album, "The Fabulous Wailers" was well reviewed. Unfortunately, they were dropped by their label after refusing to relocate to New York and returned to the Seattle area for good. 

Over the next nine years, the band established itself as a local favorite in the Pacific Northwest. They performed frequently and released a number of fine albums on their own record label. They also helped to promote other area bands, including The Sonics and The Galaxies, with whom they collaborated on the 1965 album on which "She's Coming Home" appears.

This really is a great song — one that captures all of the hopefulness, excitement and bittersweet feelings that can arise among young people reuniting over the holidays after time away at school:

 

We've only got three more tracks to examine this year, and I expect to get to them sometime over the next day or two. Hang in there, everybody — Christmas is coming!

I Wish It Was Christmas Today - Part 11

We're continuing to examine the 41 tracks on my 20th and latest holiday music compilation, "I Wish It Was Christmas Today," and today I have some background on two more tracks, each of which touch on U.S. politics in the 1970s and '80s. 

Track 29
The Night Before Watergate, Rich Little (1973) 

This short track is another clip from The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, the second of three on this year's mix. It was taped on November 30, 1973, which is just over 51 years ago, and it features a guy whom Carson refers to as "probably the finest impressionist in the business" at the time — Rich Little. I was a big fan of Mr. Little back then, based largely on his impressions of Richard Nixon, whom I actively disliked. While most of my family was Republican, my maternal grandmother loathed Richard Nixon as did the woman who took care of my brother and me after our mother was killed, and these two smart women persuaded me that Nixon was bad news. I avidly followed the Watergate scandal throughout junior high. When I was 13, I won my school's citizenship award and was thrilled to receive a bound volume of the Senate Watergate Committee transcripts as my prize.  Of course, most of the country was following Watergate then, and Rich Little was getting lots of work doing his Nixon impressions. As Little explains in the clip, he used to do a version of "The Night Before Christmas" each year, and with the public's attention focused on Nixon's problems, his Christmas story for 1973 was called "The Night Before Watergate":

I've set the clip (above) to start at the beginning of the selection I chose to include in this year's mix. but I urge you to watch the tape from the beginning to see Little's entrance, get a sense of the in-house NBC Orchestra, and hear about the other guests on that evening's show.

Rich Little is still alive, and recently celebrated his 86th birthday. He was probably at or near the high point of his career around the time this show was taped. Throughout the rest of the 1970s and '80s, he was a frequent guest on The Tonight Show and occasionally guest hosted for Carson. He frequently appeared at various venues in Las Vegas and ultimately relocated there, and maintained active television and touring schedules. Born in Canada, he became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2010. I was sorry to learn recently that he considers himself a Republican and thought Donald Trump won the 2020 election.

 

I can't help but compare the public's reaction to the Watergate scandal with our current political climate. Back then, reports of the alleged bugging of the Democratic National Committee in June of 1972 received scant coverage at first, allowing President Nixon to win reelection by a landslide that fall. But when evidence emerged suggesting that Nixon may have participated in covering-up Republican involvement in the break-in, Congress, the media, the FBI and others began thorough investigations.  Once Nixon was found to have lied about his role in the cover-up, it was over. His political support evaporated overnight, with even most Republican leaders demanding his resignation. This year, by contrast, we have just elected a twice-impeached, convicted felon who has committed far greater transgressions than Nixon and whose entire campaign was based on lies, hatred and revenge. His recent appointments consist of unqualified, corrupt stooges eager to destroy the departments they are supposed to lead. Yet even as he sets himself up as a de facto dictator, the institutions that should be protecting us appear uninterested or unable to stop the impending madness. I'm heartbroken, and left to wonder how we could have fallen so far so fast.

Maybe we should look to some of our comedians for help, as we did a half century ago. I'm just not sure Rich Little's going to be much help this time around.

Track 30
The Night Ronald Reagan Rode with Santa Claus, Red River Dave (1984) 

"Red River" Dave McEnery

This next track is (or should be) a genuine Christmas classic, for it tells the story of the night Ronald Reagan accompanied Santa Claus as he delivered toys to the children of the United States. I discovered this one on The World's Worst Records, an aptly named website, subtitled "An Arcade of Audio Atrocities." The song was written and performed by a feller named Dave Largus McEnery (1914-2002), a Texas native who became known as "Red River Dave" because he enjoyed singing the classic ballad "Red River Valley."

Described by the Old Time Blues website as "[o]ne of the true blue, larger-than-life Texas characters," McEnery 

tried his hand at just about every occupation that appealed to him at one point or another: prolific songwriter, blue yodeler, rodeo cowboy, television personality, real estate agent, Shriner, ventriloquist, fine artist, truck stop preacher, and many, many more. 

He launched his career doing rope tricks and singing western songs at rodeos in and around San Antonio before migrating to the East Coast. He found work at a series of radio stations singing and playing western music. He started making records in 1940 for the Decca label and went on to become a prolific recording artist, creating dozens of discs of traditional cowboy songs and popular standards.

During the 1950s and '60s, his material evolved to include topical social commentary and tributes to dead celebrities. This is the stuff he's perhaps best known for today. As the Old Times Blues site explains,  

[h]is songs increasingly reflected his patriotic, conservative, and staunchly anti-communist politics, as heard in such numbers as “The Bay of Pigs,” “The Great Society,” and “The Ballad of John Birch.”  For a time in the mid-1960s, Dave turned his attention toward being a “dynamic real estate salesman,” even billing himself on contemporaneous records as “Singing Cowboy Realtor.”  Though sales of his private press 45 RPM singles were usually fairly poor, Dave continued to record and publish his old-time yodeling songs about current events all the way into the 1980s, with numbers like “The Pine-Tarred Bat (Ballad of George Brett),” “The Ballad of E.T.,” and “The Night Ronald Reagan Rode with Santa Claus.”  In total, McEnery penned more than a thousand songs over the course of his life, many of which were never commercially recorded, and are now likely lost to time; in one 1946 publicity stunt, he wrote fifty-two songs in twelve hours while handcuffed to a piano.  Later in his life, he broadened his horizons to include oil painting, usually western landscapes, which he sometimes sold.  

This track was released in 1984 on Beautiful America Records, backed with a song called, "Santa's Watchdog, Archibald," both of which can be heard on and/or downloaded from the World's Worst Records site HERE. 

I suppose any true patriot would be stirred by the notion of Santa and Ronald Reagan joining forces, which is why this track is so powerful. Even a quick look at the lyrics should quicken the pulse of any true-blue American:

It was the night before Christmas at Santa’s abode,

The cold wind was whistlin’ down the old Arctic Road,

Reindeer were prancin’ out there in the snow,

And Santa’s big sleigh was all ready to go.

 

When out from the snow storm there rode a tall man,

The cowboy dismounted, extended his hand and said,

I’m Ronald Reagan, I hope it’s alright,

I’d like very much, sir, to join you tonight.

I’m bringing some presents, some items of truth,

That I want to give to America’s youth,

Oh, ho! chuckled Santa, of course I know you,

I gave you a pony the year you were two.

 

Why, you’re Ronald Reagan,

Of course, it’s alright,

I’m happy to have you on my journey tonight

We’re proud of you, Ronnie. You’re on the right track,

Now what’s in your saddlebag? What’s in your pack?

 

Why you’ve got mementoes of America there,

There’s Washington crossing the Old Delaware,

And miniature replicas of the Liberty Bell,

And prints of the Star Spangled Banner as well.

 

And pictures of patriots long in their graves,

And Abe’s proclamation that freed all the slaves,

And framed constitutions to hang on the wall,

And statues of liberty, nine inches tall.

 

And flags called old glory. Oh, God bless her name,

And little toy Alamos and the Battleship Maine,

And copies of music, well there’s “Over There,”

And “God Bless America,”

And manuscripts rare.

 

Son, you’ve brought some keepsakes more precious than gold,

For they tell the story of our country of old,

America’s creed and the great Declaration,

Of the 4th of July that made us a nation.

 

Why your pack’s a treasure,

I’m so glad you came,

To help me deliver such gifts in the name,

Of honor and liberty and freedom so sweet,

Ronald Reagan, this Christmas will never be beat.

 

Quick Dasher, quick Dancer, quick Vixen of old,

Yes, we’ve got a story that’s worth being told,

Get moving old Rudolph, start leading the way,

This Christmas we’re boosting the great USA!

 

With a dash on the wind they flew into the night,

Ronald Reagan and Santa Claus, holding on tight,

The sleigh bells were playing Yankee Doodle in time,

And here’s what I heard Santa shout down the line.

 

Merry Christmas, America, it’s time to renew,

Your pledge of allegiance to the red, white and blue,

And we found a new spirit in America because

One night Ronald Reagan flew with old Santa Claus.

I'm not sure there's much more to be said about that — at least not until someone finds a way to add Donald Trump to the mix. (If you want a real acid trip. try playing this song at a very slow speed.)

In his later years, Dave leaned real hard into the dead celebrity thing, releasing post mortems on Bing Crosby, James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Lee Harvey Oswald, Sharon Tate, Amelia Earhart and Elvis Presley's mother, Gladys. He recorded a tribute to kidnapped newspaper heiress Patty Hearst when she was feared dead, but the discovery that Hearst helped her captors pull a bank heist kind of killed the mood for that tribute. He released the song anyway. I believe it's sung to the tune of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." (Listen HERE.)

In the end, of course, McEnery himself was called to follow the celebrities he'd honored in song. He died on January 15, 2002 at the age of 87. All told, he led a rather interesting life.

Hear Red River Dave's "California Hippie Murders"

Hear Red River Dave's "The Ballad of Emmett Till"

Read McEnery's obituary in The Guardian

Hope you're keeping happy and warm and have finished at least some of your holiday shopping. I'll be back now and again over the coming days with background on the 11 remaining tracks from this year's mix.

Can Graham Nash Talk Crosby and Stills Into Reviving CSN's Rumored Holiday Album?

Having now reviewed this year's crop of new holiday releases, let's turn our attention to one group that won’t be releasing a holiday record this year – Crosby, Stills & Nash. I’ve been a big fan of these guys for years, and I’ve been lucky enough to see them play a whole bunch of times in all of their various combinations and permutations, with and without their sometime bandmate Neil Young. Best known for their intricate harmonies and social consciousness, CSN has survived more ups and downs – individually and as a group – than just about any band out there, yet after 44 years they're still playing together and still sounding good. I've always thought CSN is especially well equipped to do a fabulous holiday album, and after watching them play "My Country ‘tis of Thee" on the first episode of The Tonight Show following the 9/11 attacks, I was more convinced of this than ever (see video, below). So I was thrilled when Graham Nash leaked word several years ago that the group had signed a two-record deal with Columbia that called for one album of cover songs followed by an album of holiday material. As Nash explained,

For the last 30 years, I've wanted Crosby, Stills & Nash to consider doing a Christmas record. I think that with our harmonic structure, and our sense of rhythm and our sense of melody – we could do a fabulous Christmas record.

Great minds think alike.

Under the terms of their record deal, CSN was paired with respected producer Rick Rubin, who was also Columbia's president at the time. On paper, it seemed to be the perfect fit. Rubin's production discography includes some of the biggest albums of the past 20 years, and while he's worked with an incredibly diverse group of artists, he is perhaps best known for reviving the careers of such veteran performers as Johnny Cash and Neil Diamond. Unfortunately, Rubin's relationship with CSN got off on the wrong foot, and only grew worse. According to published reports, the band became frustrated with Rubin's preoccupation with other projects and felt they weren't getting as much of his time as they deserved. Moreover, the band – particularly Crosby – felt Rubin was being too directive and too often substituted his judgment for theirs. According to Nash: “After almost 50 years of making records, we think we know what we’re doing, so it’s very hard to tell Crosby, Stills and Nash what to do. You can suggest anything you want, but you can’t tell us what to do." With frustration mounting on both sides of the studio, CSN and Rubin opted to part ways before the first record could be completed. Crosby and Nash have each been quoted as saying they remain committed to finishing the album of cover songs with Stills, but nothing much has been said publicly about the Christmas project.

One factor weighing against a CSN holiday album is the many competing demands on the artists' time. CSN has been touring as a group pretty much every summer and they regularly write new songs to add to their performances. In addition, Stills has put together a group called The Rides, which is made up of Stills, bluesman Kenny Wayne Shepherd, and Electric Flag’s keyboardist, Barry Goldberg, with support from Chris Layton, former drummer of Stevie Ray Vaughn’s Double Trouble, and CSN bass player Kevin McCormick. The group released a fine sounding album this year titled Can’t Get Enough. Stills contributions are especially strong, including the track “Don’t Want Lies,” which was the highlight of CSN’s recent performance at Neil and Pegi Young’s annual Bridge School benefit last month. (You can watch CSN’s rendition with special guest Neil Young HERE.)

It's great to see Crosby, Stills and Nash as active and vital as they've been in recent years, but with each passing holiday, the likelihood of a CSN Christmas record diminishes slightly. Stills, 68, has apparently been dealing with a number of medical issues in recent years. Crosby, 72, underwent a liver transplant in 1994 after years of drug abuse, and he suffers from diabetes. Hopefully, all three will be able to play and record for many years to come, and somewhere along the way we'll have a chance to hear their signature harmonies on such songs as "Silent Night," "What Child Is This?" and "Santa Claus, the Original Hippie."

In the meantime, CSN fans who dig Christmas music can drag out my groovy 2009 mix, I Just Can’t Wait ‘til Christmas, and play the Barenaked Ladies' song “Deck the Stills,” from Barenaked for the Holidays. And then there's this YouTube video (below), which is billed as Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young playing "White Christmas" . . . although something seems a little off, wouldn't you say?



Here's Crosby, Stills & Nash performing "My Country 'Tis of Thee" on The Tonight Show following the 9/11 attacks: