Billie Holiday

The Year Without a Santa Claus / Nestor, The Long-Eared Christmas Donkey / Rudolph's Shiny New Year

This DVD contains three holiday titles from Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass.

The Year Without a Santa Claus
Even Santa can suffer a case of the holiday blues. In this 1974 stop-motion holiday family favorite, a sparkly eyed Mrs. Claus (voiced by Shirley Booth) sings and tells about the year her hubby felt too weary and too unappreciated to prepare for his annual Christmas rounds. Mickey Rooney stars as the voice of Santa, a rosy-nosed puppet who travels incognito to Southtown in search of his tiniest reindeer, Vixen, and two well-meaning elves. Seems Mrs. Santa sent them to find proof of Christmas spirit--but all they've discovered is ambivalence about Santa's year off. Luckily, when Santa arrives and befriends a buck-toothed lad named Ignatius Thistlewhite, spirits begin to lift rapidly. Adult fans of this cousin to the 1970 television special Santa Claus Is Coming to Town will remember it as the Heat and Snow Miser movie. Their vaudevillian theme songs, complete with trombone and piano riffs, are hard to forget, but other treasured musical moments include "I Believe in Santa Claus," "I'll Have a Blue Christmas Without You," and "Here Comes Santa Claus." --Liane Thomas

Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey
The wondrous story of Christ's birth is told by an unlikely source: Nestor, a gentle donkey with incredibly long ears and a first-hand knowledge of life in a stable. This simple tale, which takes place in the days of the Roman Empire, is about a humble couple about to take a long journey to Bethlehem and a small, insignificant donkey that is destined to help them along. By all outward appearances, Nestor does not deserve such a privilege. Stable animals tease him incessantly for his long appendages until, finally, he is cast out of the barn into the winter cold. Snow and ice bring about even greater calamity for Nestor until he receives a dose of divine goodness. Nestor meets Tilly, a heavenly cherub (voiced by Brenda Vaccaro) who imparts guidance to the despairing burro and tells him that soon he will be chosen to participate in a miracle involving a star, a baby, a lowly stable, and some travelers named Mary and Joseph. Short and sweet, this stop-motion Christmas gem from Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass is narrated by Roger Miller. Get out the hanky for an understated holiday classic that will appeal to families of all ages. --Lynn Gibson

Rudolph's Shiny New Year
Rudolph is legendary for saving Christmas, but did you know he saved the New Year as well? While Santa Claus is recuperating from his December sleigh ride, he receives a letter from an old friend, Father Time. Seems that Baby New Year is missing, and if the little tyke isn't found, Old Year will continue forever--a catastrophe for Father Time, whose job it is to keep things moving forward. A search party is essential, yet with such thick fog, there's only one reindeer fit for the job. "Rudolph with your nose so bright, you've six days left to set things right," says Santa. Trouble hits immediately when Rudolph discovers that Aeon the Terrible, a big-beaked monster bird, is also searching for the missing baby. Rudolph gets help from a giant whale and a good-natured caveman, who dish up plenty of song and dance in between narrow escapes in their race against the end of the calendar year. Sound far-fetched? Perhaps, but it contains as much magic as its predecessors, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town, all produced and directed by Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin Jr., and written by the esteemed Romeo Muller. The same stop-motion animation we've grown to love is here as well, and narrator Red Skelton has as trusted a voice as Burl Ives and Fred Astaire. While the New Year holiday will never be as celebrated as Christmas, this title is a welcome addition to any Rankin and Bass collection of holiday films. --Lynn Gibson

When Santa decides to take a vacation on the day before Christmas, Mrs. Claus and the elves really have to work to show him how much he is needed on the job.
Genre: Christmas
Rating: NR
Release Date: 5-OCT-2004
Media Type: DVD

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

This classic 1964 television special featuring Rudolph and his misfit buddies set the standard for stop-motion animation for an entire generation before Tim Burton darkly reinvented it in the early 1990s. Burl Ives narrates as Sam the Snowman, telling and singing the story of a rejected reindeer who overcomes prejudice and saves Christmas one particularly blustery year. Along the way, he meets an abundance of unforgettable characters: his dentally obsessed elf pal Hermey; the affable miner Yukon Cornelius and his motley crew of puppies; the scary/adorable Abominable Snow Monster; a legion of abandoned, but still chatty, toys; and a rather grouchy Santa. In addition to the title song that inspired it, this 53-minute tape is crammed with catchy tunes such as "Silver and Gold" and "Holly Jolly Christmas." Those who grew up looking forward to watching Rudolph every Christmas season will undoubtedly be able to recite the quotable quotes ("I'm cuuuute. She said I'm cuuuute." "Herbie doesn't like to make toys.") as well as any Casablanca cult audience. --Kimberly Heinrichs

New Orleans

This little-seen, 1947 drama is a treat for jazz fans, thanks to an otherwise creaky, if nobly intentioned story built around the music's Crescent City genesis that provides an ample excuse to turn the camera on authentic jazz greats. Nick Duquesne (Arturo De Cordova) is a Bourbon Street charmer whose gambling club provides the mythic stomping grounds for none other than Louis Armstrong, whose vocalizing sweetheart Endie, played by none other than Billie Holiday, proves no slouch herself. A newly arrived debutante, Miralee (Dorothy Patrick), arrives in New Orleans and falls first for the music and then for the roguish but ultimately gallant Nick. The movie follows knee-jerk plot machinations revolving around her family's efforts to excise Nick from her life, her own dream of mingling jazz and classical music, and the gambler's transformation into a jazz promoter.

The script works in the squalor and much of the geography of Storyville and the French Quarter, even providing a contrasting look at the genteel parlor music being played in "respectable" casinos, and the casting telegraphs the production's reverence for jazz. Satchmo's other musical partners are equally serendipitous, including Kid Ory, Barney Bigard, Bud Scott, Zutty Singleton, Meade "Lux" Lewis, and Red Callender. A brief arc late in the film adds Woody Herman and his orchestra.

When the musicians are featured, New Orleans is a frequent delight, with Armstrong as magnetic as always, and Holiday endearing. As an actress, she's a terrific singer, and luckily Lady Day's dialogue is far briefer than her featured vocals. The DVD version boasts additional period shorts showcasing Armstrong (1932's "A Rhapsody in Black and Blue") and Holiday's "Symphony in Black" from 1935). --Sam Sutherland

Billie Holiday - Ultimate Collection

The Billie Holiday The Ultimate Collection DVD features rare TV and film performances, an especially rare radio interview with Mike Wallace, an audio-only rehearsal session with pianist Jimmy Rowles, audio interviews with friends and fellow musicians, an interactive timeline and an evocative photo-document gallery featuring hundreds of images, from rare photos to personal letters, plus Lady Day's complete recording history for major record companies. Performance highlights include three from 1956's Stars Of Jazz TV that are seen here for the first time since their original broadcast, Holiday's first appearance on film, Duke Ellington's "Saddest Tale," and the classic "Fine And Mellow" with Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, and other jazz greats.

FILM AND TV PERFORMANCES
Saddest Tale
The Blues Are Brewin'
Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans
My Man (Mon Homme)
Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone
Billie's Blues
Fine And Mellow
What A Little Moonlight Can Do
St. Louis Blues - Bessie Smith
I Cover The Waterfront - Louis Armstrong

AUDIO PERFORMANCES
Swing! Brother, Swing!
They Can't Take That Away From Me
Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me
I'll Get By
I Wonder Where Our Love Has Gone

AUDIO INTERVIEWS
John Hammond, Jo Jones, Roy Eldridge, Barney Josephson, Tiny Grimes, Billy Eckstine, Jimmy Rowles, Sylvia Syms, Corky Hale 1955 Audio Rehearsal: Billie Holiday And Jimmy Rowles For "Jeepers Creepers"
1956 Audio Interview: Billie Holiday With Mike Wallace, Night Beat
Timeline: Hundreds Of Images And Interactive Features
Complete Recording History For Okeh, Vocalion, Brunswick, Aladdin, Columbia, Commodore, Capitol, Decca, Clef And Verve

Lady Day - The Many Faces of Billie Holiday

Given the often inextricable relationship between art and suffering, it's no coincidence that Billie Holiday, popularly acclaimed as jazz's greatest (if not technically best) female singer, was also one of its most tragic figures. While both triumph and tragedy are covered in this hourlong documentary, we are mercifully spared excessive details about the more sordid aspects of Holiday's life (her drug and alcohol addictions, her disastrous relationships with abusive men) in favor of careful consideration of her music. Testimonials are offered by those who played with her (pianist Mal Waldron and trumpeters Buck Clayton and Harry "Sweets" Edison), were influenced or inspired by her (singers Carmen McRae and Annie Ross), or worked with her (producer Milt Gabler). Together, they paint a portrait of a woman who was both tough and vulnerable, sad and defiant, an unschooled musician who became a supreme innovator.

Fairly or not, documentaries like this one will inevitably be compared to Ken Burns's Jazz, especially when they contain some of the same material, as is the case here. But while Lady Day doesn't always benefit from the comparison (actress Ruby Dee, reading from Holiday's autobiography, and narrator David Smyrl race through their lines as if they've got a train to catch), it surpasses Jazz in one vital respect: instead of constantly interrupting the music with voiceovers, Lady Day offers some of Holiday's few performances on film or TV in their entirety, including "Strange Fruit," her graphic and disturbing song about Southern lynchings, and "Fine and Mellow," in which a visibly and audibly deteriorating Holiday is backed by Lester Young, Ben Webster, and other jazz immortals. --Sam Graham

Monterey Jazz Festival: 40 Legendary Years

Monterey Jazz Festival - Place Miles first on the bill. He wants those "fresh ears." And how about the time Jon Hendricks stepped on stage still jotting down the composition he was to perform? "Aren't you ready" musical director John Lewis asked. "Never" Hendricks laughed. Yet the result was perfection in progress: the legendary debut of Evolution of the Blues. And what about Ella, Louis, Dizzy, Sarah, Dave, Monk, Clark Terry, even Lady Day? They're also part of the lore that one weekend every year makes Monterey synonymous with jazz. Hosted by contemporary favorites Joshua Redman and Patrice Rushen and featuring archival performance footage plus on-camera commentary from notables (including lifetime jazz buff Clint Eastwood), this compendium of the Monterey Jazz Festival sings, swings and syncopates with joy. Like eggs and bacon and romance and roses, some things just go together. Things like Monterey and jazz, going together now for 40 magical, musical years. Year: 1998 Director: William Harper - Starring: Joshua Redman, Patrice Rushen

DVD Features:
Interactive Menus
Music Video
Production Notes

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

This classic 1964 television special featuring Rudolph and his misfit buddies set the standard for stop-motion animation for an entire generation before Tim Burton darkly reinvented it in the early 1990s. Burl Ives narrates as Sam the Snowman, telling and singing the story of a rejected reindeer who overcomes prejudice and saves Christmas one particularly blustery year. Along the way, he meets an abundance of unforgettable characters: his dentally obsessed elf pal Hermey; the affable miner Yukon Cornelius and his motley crew of puppies; the scary/adorable Abominable Snow Monster; a legion of abandoned, but still chatty, toys; and a rather grouchy Santa. In addition to the title song that inspired it, this 53-minute tape is crammed with catchy tunes such as "Silver and Gold" and "Holly Jolly Christmas." Those who grew up looking forward to watching Rudolph every Christmas season will undoubtedly be able to recite the quotable quotes ("I'm cuuuute. She said I'm cuuuute." "Herbie doesn't like to make toys.") as well as any Casablanca cult audience. --Kimberly Heinrichs

The Ladies Sing the Blues

Culled from rare black-and-white footage from the early to mid-20th century, this excellent anthology showcases a number of gems from the best and brightest female vocalists in America. There's the radiant "Empress of the Blues" Bessie Smith in her only recorded film appearance singing "St. Louis Blues." The gospel great Sister Rosetta Tharpe delivers a down-home version of "That Lonesome Road," which is contrasted by jazzy and sassy Dinah Washington's "Lean Baby." The immortal Billie Holliday's touching 1957 TV performance of "Fine and Mellow," recorded with saxophonists Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, and Gerry Mulligan two years before her death in 1959, is the finest clip in this collection. From Ethel Waters and Sarah Vaughan to Lena Horne, Ida Cox, and Peggy Lee, this set shows why women have been the standard bearers of the American vocal tradition. --Eugene Holley Jr.

The "Ladies" who created an art form and sang their way into legendâ€Â¦ a bygone era is recaptured in this filmed salute to the women who started it allâ€Â¦ whose turn of phrase made musical history.

ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME PERFORMANCES
Priceless footage of the great American divas (complete songs, not just tantalizing excerpts) Billie Holiday backed by the most extraordinary band ever formed-Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Benny Webster, Roy Eldridge, and Gerry Mulligan. The great Bessie Smith in her only film appearance...Dinah Washington from the stage of The Apollo Theatreâ€Â¦Peggy Lee, Sarah Vaughan, Lena Horne, and others, singing their classics. For many of them, this was their only performance on cameraâ€Â¦certainly some of their greatest performances! Performances thought to be lost to time!

MUSICAL SELECTIONS
1 St.

Lady Day Sings The Blues

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

This classic 1964 television special featuring Rudolph and his misfit buddies set the standard for stop-motion animation for an entire generation before Tim Burton darkly reinvented it in the early 1990s. Burl Ives narrates as Sam the Snowman, telling and singing the story of a rejected reindeer who overcomes prejudice and saves Christmas one particularly blustery year. Along the way, he meets an abundance of unforgettable characters: his dentally obsessed elf pal Hermey; the affable miner Yukon Cornelius and his motley crew of puppies; the scary/adorable Abominable Snow Monster; a legion of abandoned, but still chatty, toys; and a rather grouchy Santa. In addition to the title song that inspired it, this 53-minute tape is crammed with catchy tunes such as "Silver and Gold" and "Holly Jolly Christmas." Those who grew up looking forward to watching Rudolph every Christmas season will undoubtedly be able to recite the quotable quotes ("I'm cuuuute. She said I'm cuuuute." "Herbie doesn't like to make toys.") as well as any Casablanca cult audience. --Kimberly Heinrichs