Ernest Saves Christmas Part 1: Birth of Ernest, First Commercials and Signing with Disney

The Santa Clause Part 1: Story, Script, Casting & Preproduction: "Seeing isn't believing, beliving is seeing" Come join our holiday movie expert Robert Nicholas as he dwells into the history of Tim Allen's original Disney Christmas movie, The Santa Clause. Learn about how two comics originally wanted Santa to be... by Behind The Bells Podcast

19 min listen

Holiday Inn Part 2: Bing and Fred Together, Pearl Harbor, Fireworks and Controversial Lincoln: "Open Holidays Only!" Irving Berlin was now ready to work with Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire to bring his story of a hotel only open on holidays to life. But there was concern to see how well their personalities would work together. They still had to... by Behind The Bells Podcast

40 min listen

Scrooged Part 1: Writers, Script, Bill Murray and Richard Donner: "I get it. You're taking me back in time to show me my mother and father, and I'm supposed to get all goosey and blubbery. Well forget it, pal, you got the wrong guy!" Today we discover that Scrooged was the product of a script by an experimental... by Behind The Bells Podcast

21 min listen

Scrooged Part 2: Shooting, Post & Release: "It's Christmas Eve. It's... it's the one night of the year when we all act a little nicer, we... we... we smile a little easier, we... we... we cheer a little more" Richard Donner is ready to go. Bill Murray is ready to go. The script is ready to go.... by Behind The Bells Podcast

31 min listen

Behind the Bells Podcast Trailer: Here's a sneak peak at what your in for. Join us each week as we explore the behind the scenes stories of your favorite Christmas movies and TV specials. by Behind The Bells Podcast

1 min listen

Mickey's Christmas Carol Part 1: Decline of Animation, Burny Mattinson's Rise and the Return of Mickey: "If I give money to the poor, then they won't be poor anymore" At a point when Disney was putting out fewer animated projects, a young animator Burny Mattinson pitched a retelling of a Christmas Carol with Mickey and the gang. It was the first new... by Behind The Bells Podcast

31 min listen

Home Alone Part 1: John Hughes, Script, Hiring Chris Columbus, and Casting a Culkin: "Peter! We slept in!" John Hughes was in a point in his career where he would exit directing to focus on writing and producing. Though Uncle Buck would provide some help, it was actually a vacation where John got the idea. Learn how he wrote his... by Behind The Bells Podcast

29 min listen

Ernest Saves Christmas Part 1: Birth of Ernest, First Commercials and Signing with Disney: "Trust people. It pays off more then you think" In order to talk about Ernest Saves Christmas, I felt it was important to discuss Jim Varney's background, how he started to do commercials, how Ernest got his start, and why he got popular. And... by Behind The Bells Podcast

27 min listen

Ernest Saves Christmas Part 2: Going to Camp, Disney and Christmas Production: "I am one with the Yuletide, knowwhatImean?" Ernest Goes to Camp would prove to be a larger hit then Disney anticipated. The sequel would get a larger budget and a new location. See how the first major production in Orlando went, how Ernest became... by Behind The Bells Podcast

31 min listen

The Santa Clause Part 2: Shooting, Post, & Release: "It is Santa! You killed him!" The shooting in Canada wasn't only warmer then expected, but Tim Allen discovers being in a fat suit in the middle of summer isn't as pleasant as it sounds. Plus, what did Michael Eisner want cut out of the movie?... by Behind The Bells Podcast

20 min listen

Rugrats & All Grown Up: The Santa Experience, Babies in Toyland and The Finster That Stole Christmas: "You know Tommy? You were right. Santa isn't such a bad guy after all." Continuing into doing some editorial episodes on Nickelodeon Christmas specials, it's time to look at the channels... former number one hit, Rugrats. One was made at the begining... by Behind The Bells Podcast

55 min listen

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer Part 2: Beginning of Rankin Bass, Expanding the Song, Japanese Puppeteering, and TV Airing: "Rudolph, with your nose so bright, will you guide my sleigh tonight?" We get to the point where Arthur Rankin Jr. and songwriter Johnny Marks meet to discuss turning the classic song into an animated TV special. Time to learn how General Electric... by Behind The Bells Podcast

48 min listen

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang Part 2: Casting, Shooting, and a Botched Release: "Is she dead? No, she's just resting her eyes for a minute. Of course she's f**king dead, her neck's broken" Despite the casting of Robert Downey Jr. (the studio had hoped to cast Johnny Knoxville instead) and Val Kilmer, the movie would start off a... by Behind The Bells Podcast

31 min listen

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang Part 1: Shane Black's Failures, Pulp Detective Novels & a Romance Comedy: "Hey, hey, hey! It's Christmas, wheres my present, Slick?" Time to go into detail of one of my favorite cult Christmas movies, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. See how despite having a good track record, Shane Black's ego is lowered with the failure of The Long... by Behind The Bells Podcast

26 min listen

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer Part 1: Stop Motion Animation, From a Department Store to the North Pole, Nazi-Hunting Songwriter and a Singing Cowboy: "Whats the matter with misfits, thats where we fit in!" Time to dive into the stop motion world of Rankin/Bass! Before we get into the special itself, it's important to go into the history of the story and song...which explains why we never see... by Behind The Bells Podcast

34 min listen

The Ref Part 1: Christmas...in March, Richard Lagravenese, The Fisher King, and a 20 Minute Pitch: "You know what this family needs? A mute" Writer Richard Lagravenense, who was raised in New York, wanted to be a playwright like Neil Simon or Eugune O' Neil. It just so happened that he also loved movies with sharp dialogue and great jokes. Learn... by Behind The Bells Podcast

32 min listen

Mickey's Christmas Carol Part 2: Team of Animators, Getting Donald Back, Beating the Smurfs and TV Airings: "One hundred gold pieces, and not a penny more!" Burny not only gathered his best crew, he assigned people to whichever character they wanted. So why did Disney not want them to hire back the original voice of Donald Duck? Learn about how characters... by Behind The Bells Podcast

38 min listen

Home Alone Part 2: Daniel Stern Fired, Production Shut Down, Joe Pesci's Swear Jar and getting John Williams: "This is it! Don't get scared now." At the start of production in Winnetka, Illinois, Home Alone seemed to have things ready to go with the entire production being done in a gym. But Daniel Stern would be fired early to be replaced by a Matlock actor.... by Behind The Bells Podcast

39 min listen

The Ref Part 2: Jerry Bruckheimer, From an A$$H0!E to Actor, Alternate Ending and Almost Cult Status: "Hey! The only one who yells is me!" Film Producer Jerry Bruckheimer was about to come on because of...NASCAR. Denis Leary wanted to go from a risqué standup comic to actor and MTV commercial director Ted Demme was ready to break into movies Learn... by Behind The Bells Podcast

40 min listen

Holiday Inn Part 1: Irving Berlin's Success, Birth of White Christmas, and Bing Crosby, the First Multimedia Star: "Don't Ask Why. Just go and God Bless America." Irving Berlin went from being the youngest of eight children to an immediate hit songwriter whose song "Blue Skies" would be one of the first pieces of music on film. But he would end up away from his... by Behind The Bells Podcast

30 min listen

Robert's Christmas Interviews: Ed Daly: Merry Monday everyone! We've got something special for today! We have our first interview with Ed Daly, the author of the recently published ultimate guide on the season, "The Christmas Book". The first part has us talking about how he got the idea to... by Behind The Bells Podcast

161 min listen

Krampus Part 1: Christmas Monsters, Shadow of St. Nicholas, Orgins of Krampus and Rise on the Internet: "It's Christmas. Nothing Bad is going to happen on Christmas!" Happy Halloween!! Before we go into the movie, learn of Krampus' origin in Alpine Pagan Winter Traditions, how Christmas Cards gave him expansion, how the Austrian political climate may... by Behind The Bells Podcast

37 min listen

Santa Claus The Movie Part 1: A Very 80's Santa, History of the Salkinds, a Father/Son Rise and Superman's Success: "From this day on, now and forever, you will bring all our gifts to all the children in all the world and all this to be done on Christmas Eve" Santa Claus the Movie is what you'd call an 80's cult classic. It's a Christmas movie that most people... by Behind The Bells Podcast

48 min listen

Doug: Doug's Christmas Story (Nickelodeon) & Doug's Secret Christmas (Disney): “This is supposed to be a happy time. This isn’t happy” In our first editorial episode, rather then doing a deep dive, we'll be looking into my general thoughts and opinions on whatever I want. Today I'd thought we'd start with a nostalgic... by Behind The Bells Podcast

37 min listen

Rocko's Modern Life: Rocko's Modern Christmas: "Christmas to me is forgetting their differences and coming together. Singing and laughing, celebrating the spirit of the season... you know, Christmas cheer" Now we're touching upon one of my favortie 90's cartoons! Let's talk about how Rocko's... by Behind The Bells Podcast

43 min listen

Robert's Christmas Interviews: Natalie Bickel: Merry Monday everyone! For our second interview, we have Natalie Bickel, who has published a new children's Christmas book, The Christmas Clue. We go into her personal Christmas history (which is where she was inspired to write her story) and she is... by Behind The Bells Podcast

60 min listen

Elf Part 1: Spaghetti Candy, Big Meets Ten Commandments, A Jewish Lover of Christmas and Nearly Chris Farley: “I like to smile, smiling’s my favorite” Robert is back after a brief hiatus to explore the first major Christmas classic of the new millennium, Elf. Even though he’s gone back and forth on it, Robert does consider Elf a great Christmas movie... by Behind The Bells Podcast

49 min listen

Home Sweet Home Alone, Featuring Tis the Podcast, Christmas Conversations, & Feliz Christmas Merry Navidad: "I don't know why they are always trying to remake the classics. Never as good as the originals" Today we've got a special treat! Joining me are Anthony from Tis the Podcast, C.J. from Christmas Conversations and Manny from Feliz Christmas Merry... by Behind The Bells Podcast

75 min listen

Ren and Stimpy: Son of Stimpy and A Scooter for Yaksmas: "Why Ren, don't you know? It's Yaksmas Eve, the shabbiest day of the year!" We've done some safe family shows from Nickelodeon... how about something more edgy? It's time to talk about the insanity that is Ren and Stimpy. We'll be looking into two... by Behind The Bells Podcast

52 min listen

Krampus Part 2: Santa Claws, Christmas Movie Inspiration, Shooting in New Zealand and Competing with Star Wars: "St Nicholas is not coming this year. Instead, a much darker, ancient spirit. His name is Krampus" It turns out that Michael Dougherty had wanted to do a scary Christmas movie for a while. Let's see how his research in Halloween's Pagen origins lead... by Behind The Bells Podcast

44 min listen

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Ernest Saves Christmas Part 1: Birth of Ernest, First Commercials and Signing with Disney

Ernest Saves Christmas Part 1: Birth of Ernest, First Commercials and Signing with Disney

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