In Memoriam: Barbara Walters (1929 - 2022)

Following Barbara Walters' passing just two weeks ago, I remembered that I had this December 1, 1979 issue of TV Guide, featuring her on the cover.  The issue also included an article written by Miss Walters, herself.  I scanned the article, as well as a few other pages, and thought I would share them here.

One her famous "Barbara Walters Specials" was airing that week.

For this special, she was interviewing Suzanne Somers, Sylvester Stallone, and Stevie Wonder.

In her article, she wrote about the various people she had sat down with in past interviews.

Here are just a few of the other TV listings from that week.  Since it was December, there were a lot of Christmas shows and specials airing.

The Hollywood Christmas Parade (formerly the Santa Claus Lane Parade) was continuing it's annual tradition, which started in 1928.  The grand marshals this year were husband and wife, Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood.  Two years later (almost to the day), Natalie Wood would die tragically, at the age of 43.

John Denver and the Muppets were hosting their own Christmas special.  The very first Muppet film, The Muppet Movie, had been released earlier that year.

RCA Records released a soundtrack album, featuring songs from the television special.

Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer was continuing it's tradition of airing annually, since making it's television debut in 1964.  And Johnny Cash was hosting his own Christmas special, "A Johnny Cash Christmas."

Two early "pay television" companies were "ON TV" and "SelecTV."  Later they merged and became "ON/SelecTV."  This week, both companies were pushing the film, Saturday Night Fever, in their TV ads.

Sears was advertising stereos, calculators and typewriters.....electronic devices that would make good Christmas gifts.

Just a few years later, my mom would purchase an electronic typewriter from Sears.  The model was "The Scholar" (seen below), instead of "The Graduate" shown in the ad above.  The models are almost identical.  My mom made the purchase, after she decided to go back to school and earn her masters degree.  And I ended up typing many college papers on it, myself.  I recently donated the typewriter to my local Goodwill store, but I took a picture of it before saying "goodbye."

Michael Landon was the current spokesperson for Kodak and was advertising another perfect Christmas gift, the Kodak EKTRA camera.

And last up, is this Pepsi-Cola sweepstakes ad, to win a trip for four to Walt Disney World.  There was only one Disney park in Orlando at this time.  The entry form on the next page had been torn out, but I don't really remember sending it in.  If it was, we didn't win.

Barbara Walters did many of her famous Barbara Walters Specials over the years, beginning in 1976.  As I find more TV guide ads for her specials, I will add them to this post.

Rest in peace, Barbara Walters!

Elf Mountain - The Ride, "Omen Rudolph" and "Scary" Mary Poppins

Well, the holidays are over....and Halloween has LONG been over, but are you ready for some scary stuff today to start off the New Year? We will start with something not so scary......the cover of a Knott's Berry Farm Employee publication from 60 years ago! I wonder where this baby is today?


Now for the scary stuff. Did anyone know that after Halloween Haunt, Knott's changes the Haunt overlay on the Timber Mountain Log Ride to an even scarier Christmas overlay? Okay, maybe I'm being a little over dramatic.


It's Elf Mountain Christmas - The Ride. By the way, that structure beneath the sign is an original ticket booth for the attraction. It remained vacated for years, but now acts as sort of a "snack shack."


Here we go into the saw mill.....uh, I mean the Elves Workshop. Keep Hands Inside. No Splashing.


These figures are all static. It would be nice if they had some kind of movement.


Letters to Santa.....


Now we're passing the Paint Department.....


And the reindeer stables.


This little guy has Santa's list.



Elf carolers.....



Now at first glance, this train contained what I thought was a very cool audio-animatronic figure of a cat on top of one of it's freight cars. However at second glance, I realized that it was a real cat just sitting there with it's legs tucked under itself watching as our log passed by. I got right back in line to try and get a photo of it, but it was gone on the second time through, darn it!



This guy was located just before the first drop. Note the Christmas tree in Calico Square off in the distance.



Snowball fight!



I will haunt your dreams tonight......



This guy was actually moving. You can see the wear marks and the red dye that has come off of his clothes during his perpetual attempt at making a snow angel. Okay, who's the litterbug that tossed a candy bar wrapper next to his foot?



Here's one of Bud Hurlbut's original taxidermied critters. Oh the indignity of it all.....doomed to spend an eternity with Christmas lights draped over you, a ribbon in your mouth and a Christmas stocking on your foot. Well maybe not an eternity, but a couple months out of the year, anyway. That's sad.



Frosty and family!



This way to Mrs. Claus' Kitchen. Hmmmm, what is that secret ingredient in her meat pies?


Unfortunately, Mrs. Claus is another static manikin. Marsha? Marsha? And I don't mean Marcia Brady....otherwise I would have said it three times and with an exclamation point. I mean Marsha White from "The After Hours" episode of "The Twilight Zone." Rest in peace, Anne Francis!



Well, we're almost to the end of this strange watery journey. Mrs. Claus is located just before the conveyor belt lift at the end of the ride. Just across from her, is another elf that was making or baking something (not pictured). A little ways up the lift, we see Santa himself flying over a snow covered village (think Department 56 miniatures with plenty of cotton.)



There was a Christmas song sung by "elves" (think David Seville played at 78 rpm) that was running on a continuous loop throughout the ride. Thankfully, the song was not as infectious as "It's A Small World." I do think that small children would like this attraction and some adults would as well. I have to admit that I did enjoy seeing SOMETHING added for Christmas. And I must mention that the scenes look better going past them quickly in a floating log and dimly lit, without my camera flash illuminating them. I would have just liked to see some more motion to the figures. I know, I know.....Cedar Fair does not have Disney's budget! All I have to say is, those "Little Mermaid" characters in California Adventure's new attraction better be moving like crazy!

Since Elf Mountain ends with Santa and his reindeer, I thought that would be a perfect segue to a video I discovered online. It's a re-imagined trailer for the Rankin/Bass "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" TV special, using sound bites from "The Omen." The embedded clip seen below is widescreen, just a tiny bit of it is cut off when inserted here on the blog page. If you would like to view the clip on YouTube in full screen click here: "Rudolph The Omen"