Ep. 81 The Modern Moron Holiday Treat Classic Extravaganzapalooza Pt. 2

Welcome to part two of the Modern Moron's Holiday Special name that Christmas artist Extravaganzapalooza! Our first song is by Ertha Kitt, which the senator gets without even hearing her iconic song "Santa Baby" even being played.  Now, I have to down a rabbit hole before we even get to the episode. I mention in this episode that we could do a whole show on Ertha Kitt.  While in pop culture she is remembered for that song as well as playing Cat Woman in the last season of the Batman TV series, she had a very long and successful career on Broadway and other stages in the world as well as on screen and as a recording artist.  But she was also an activist, primarily speaking out against the war in Vietnam, racism and underprivileged youth's.  In fact, she attended a luncheon at the whitehouse hosted by "Ladybird" Johnson in January of 1968 which derailed her career by perhaps a decade or more.  The luncheon was focused on crime and young people committing cirme… remember that.  Ertha was in attendance because of her advocacy for a group in Washington DC called "Rebels With a Cause".   Ladybird Johnson welcomes everyone to the luncheon and at one point, President Lyndon Johnson comes in to applause and says a few words.  As LBJ, turns to leave, Ms. Kitt… who  is only a few feet away from him, stands up to ask the president a question.  Actual audio from that luncheon was apparently uncovered just this year by the LBJ Library in Austin, Texas.  The President was not going to take questions.  This is 1968 and he thought he'd just come by and say hello to the ladies having their cute little luncheon.  So here is the audio of Ertha Kitt asking President Johnson a question about delinquent parents… I believe that's the phrase you'll hear … delinquent parents who have to work and therefore cannot be there enough to parent completely.  It's a little hard to hear, but LBJ responds and at the end I believe he says something to the effect of, "That's a good question to ask yourself and the women here and ya'll have a good luncheon… here's the recording: So, LBJ walks away from on his last word.  No handshake, no smile, no nothin'... it looked like she pissed him off.  Purportedly she was shunned from that moment on at the luncheon, who knows.  But I did read a couple of sources that said the White House staff car that brought her to the White House for the luncheon was not available to take her back to her hotel and she had to take a cab.   Supposedly acting and singing gigs dried up for her after that incident and she ended up moving to Europe or at least spending a majority of her time there as she couldn't find work in the U. S.  It was later reported in 1976 in the NY Times that the CIA had opened a file on Ertha Kitt at the request of the Secret Service which produced an extensive report containing second‐hand gossip about the entertainer but no evidence of any foreign intelligence connections.  I have a link to that 1976 archived article at the bottom of the show description.  See all the fun stuff the Holiday's bring?! Later in this episode the Senator and I have a wonderful Moron Moment when we discuss our mutual love for The Charlie Brown Christmas Special and the great Christmas music in that program from jazz musician Vince Guaraldi.  The Senator mentions a  song with no lyrics called "Skating"... it sounds like this… then he says the song doesn't have anything to do with Christmas in the lyrics.  But we had just established that there were no lyrics in the song he's trying to recall.  Typical morons trying to have an intelligent conversation… it just goes in circles, he ends up howling Hark The Herald Angels" like the end of the special.  and neither of us are listening to the other.  And we never… never identify the song the Senator was originally talking about because we're basically having a contest to see who can name the most moments from the special … no listening going on whatsoever… You'll see. It will definitely make you grateful… that you don't have us drinking Egg Nog by your fireplace talking non-stop about all the crap we know about A Charlie Brown Christmas.  It's The Modern Moron Christmas Holiday Special Extravaganzapalooza brought to you by Dolly Madison. CLOSE - Have you ever listened to two people talking without listening to each other more than that?  That was some serious two old men on a porch talk right there…  Regarding the Senator's comment about CBS cancelling the Charlie Brown Christmas Special because of references to Christianity… I could not find a reasonably credible news source or multiple sources to confirm that.  What I did find on more than one site is that all of the Charlie Brown Holiday Specials for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas were not on broadcast television this year because the rights are now owned by Apple TV. ($$)  You know what we should have done?  We should have done a show about Christmas Specials we watched when we were kids!  From Rudolph to Charlie Brown to one of my favorites, The Mr. Magoo Christmas Carol.  That Mr. Magoo was an incredible actor.  Ah maybe next year...  I always forget to ask you to please hit like, thumbs up, subscribe, leave a great review… or even a bad review for that matter, retweet, repost, and blah, blah, blah  Thank you for listening and if I don't post another episode before Christmas I hope you have a great one.   Erhta Kitt vs. LBJ - Newly Found Audio - YouTube |  This Is The President  C.I.A. in '68 Gave Secret Service a Report Containing Gossip About Eartha Kitt After White House Incident (Published 1975) - NY Times Archive   Charlie Brown holiday specials will not air on TV for the first time in decades — they'll be on Apple TV+ - CBS News Charlie Brown holiday specials move to Apple TV+, ending long runs on CBS, ABC - Fox News