THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, December 2, 1995 TAG: 9511300045
SECTION: TELEVISION WEEK PAGE: 1 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Long : 106 lines
HERE'S A LITTLE gem I mined from a sleigh full of Christmas programming coming up in the next three weeks: Fifty years ago, it took Mel Torme less than an hour to write the music to ``The Christmas Song'' after he read a poem written by lyricist Bob Wells.
``Chestnuts roasting on an open fire. Jack Frost nipping at your nose. Yuletide carols being sung by a choir. And folks all dressed up like Eskimos.''
Wells dashed off the lyric in July of 1945 during an unusual hot spell in Los Angeles. How about that?
Torme, who performed in Norfolk recently, will mark the 50th anniversary of the birth of ``The Christmas Song'' on PBS Christmas Eve at 9 p.m. in a special, ``Cincinnati Pops Holiday with Erich Kunzel and Mel Torme.''
Torme in the special recalls that when he and Wells brought the song to Nat ``King'' Cole in 1945, Cole insisted that he would record the song. Now. ``This song is mine,'' he said. ``Nobody gets that song but me.''
Cole never made a recording that sold faster.
Also scheduled on WHRO, the PBS outlet in Hampton Roads, is a Christmas special in which conductor JoAnn Falletta of the Virginia Symphony is featured. ``The Holidays in Hampton Roads - A Season for Music'' airs on Thursday at 9:30 p.m., to be repeated Dec. 10 at 6 p.m.
A selection of other holiday programming:
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, she of the marvelous operatic soprano voice, jollies up the season twice on cable. On Monday at 6 p.m., and again on Dec. 14 at 10 p.m., Bravo presents ``Kiri's Christmas Concert,'' which originates in the singer's native New Zealand. On Thursday at 9 p.m., Te Kanawa will be seen on A&E in ` `Kiri's Coventry Carols.'' The BBC Philharmonic Orchestra backs her up.
NBC on Dec. 13 at 10 p.m. beams out holiday cheer from the nation's capitol in ``Christmas in Washington'' with the gang from ``Frasier'' taking part. Singers Al
Green, Gloria Estefan and Clint Black also appear. NBC says the honored guests, President Clinton and the First Lady, will join in the caroling.
The Family Channel on Dec. 18 begins running the ``Jesus of Nazareth'' miniseries at 7 p.m. Robert Powell and Ann Bancroft co-star in the miniseries which took about three years to complete. The eight-hour miniseries concludes on Dec. 21. Great supporting cast includes Laurence Olivier, Anthony Quinn, Rod Steiger, Peter Ustinov and James Earl Jones.
What's Christmas without Winnie the Pooh? As flat as week-old eggnog, that's what. The Disney folks and CBS make certain it will be a Winnie kind of a holiday on Dec. 21 at 8 p.m. when ``Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too'' is broadcast. At the finish, Disney slips in a bonus cartoon, ``The Magic Earmuffs.''
The Sci-Fi Channel on Christmas Eve at 3 p.m. rolls out the film that makes it an official holiday season in my house - ``Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.'' If that film is not your cup of eggnog, American Movie Classics on Christmas Day greets the big day with ``A Bing Crosby Christmas.'' It includes at 4 p.m., ``Holiday Inn,'' in which Bing first sang of dreaming about a white Christmas. On Saturday, Dec. 23 at 5 p.m., the USA network shows an updated ``Miracle on 34th Street'' in which Sebastian Cabot plays Santa. Also on USA on Saturday at 3 p.m., another Christmas flick: Dolly Parton stars in ``A Smoky Mountain Christmas.''
If you want to continue in a country kind of a Christmas mood after hanging out with Dolly, it's no problem. On Monday at 9 p.m., The Nashville Network puts Vince Gill, Chet Atkins and Amy Grant together with the Tulsa Philharmonic for ``Christmas with Vince Gill.'' Before that, Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters do their Christmas show at 8. More holiday melodies: PBS on Saturday at 7 p.m. airs ``Peter, Paul and Mary in Concert'' followed by ``A Lawrence Welk Family Christmas.''
TV isn't just about Christmas this time of year. It only seems that way.
Here it is, the month after the November sweeps, and there is still some pretty special programming waiting to be seen.
Ever visualize Jason Alexander of ``Seinfeld'' as a song and dance man?
That he is and darn good at it, too.
See for yourself on Sunday at 8 p.m. when Alexander stars in the revival of ``Bye Bye Birdie'' on ABC. Vanessa Williams co-stars in the TV version of the 1963 film. Five new songs have been added.
Home Box Office on Tuesday at 10 p.m. brings on the sequel to a most watchable hour of a year ago, ``Taxicab Confessions.''
In Part 2, cab drivers meet fares who are not bashful about discussing their sex lives including a play-by-play account of what a couple plans on its first date. ``Taxicab Confessions 2'' seems a bit forced, a bit rehearsed, compared to the original. But it's still great fun - like being the invited guest at a peep show.
On a lighter note, HBO on Saturday at 10 salutes the comic who helped build the pay service into the most popular on cable. Twenty years ago, HBO was a polka festival and Robert Klein. The polkas are history but Klein is still working and still darn funny. ``HBO Comedy Hour: Robert Klein - It All Started Here'' was taped at a theater in Metuchen, N.J.
And right on time for ol' blue eyes' 80th birthday, The Learning Channel on Sunday at 10 p.m. presents ``Frank Sinatra,'' with his 80 years nicely tied up in an hour. If TLC catches Frankie Boy singing a Christmas carol, it will be perfect timing. Timing? Could there be better timing than TBS scheduling ``13 Days of 007'' to coincide with the release of the new James Bond flick?
The Bond classics begin showing up on TBS Saturday at 8:05 p.m. with ``For Your Eyes Only'' followed at 10:50 by ``The Spy Who Loved Me.'' It's a double feature every day right up to Dec. 14. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Mel Torme...
Photo
Join Snoopy, Peanuts, Lucy and Linus in ``A Charlie Brown
Christmas,'' which airs Wednesday at 8 on CBS.
by CNB