Almost!
NBC had Matt Lauer and Meredith Viera doing the play by play-- or is it "step by step" for a parade? These are pretty notorious people to do a parade. I remember Captain Kangaroo doing the parade commentary, and Hugh Downs, and Regis, and Katy Couric and more. When I searched for past hosts to aide my recall, the first few that I found reminded me why I have historically avoided watching the parade. Example:, the 1989 CBS host list included Patrick Duffy and Joan Van Ark, Faith Ford, Mary Frann, Tim Reid and a visit from Richard Chamberlain. Now, honestly, in your absolutely most delirious chemical induced moments, could you have ever come up with a combination like that?
More research revealed that Bryant Gumbel and Willard Scott did the parade for a ten year span, '87 to '97. I believe that Bryant is the obnoxious Gumbel. Greg is the sports oriented one who's actually rather likable. I also found that Matt and Meredith have been doing this for ten years now. I am beginning to recall why I usually avoid watching this spectacle.
By the way, the Macy's Parade was born in 1924. Since there was no TV back then, the commentators for the first parade, Sid and Manny, two guys from the tenement district, bellowed their descriptions at the crowd through megaphones until they were chased off by a barrage of rocks from onlookers who feared that commentators might become a permanent fixture.
The first act in this year's parade was was James Taylor, who sang America the Beautiful. It was simply wonderful. The next act was Miley Cyrus. The downward spiral was officially launched. Next, three little blond lip-synchers called The Clique Girlz. Implosion! My parade watching was over for the day.
TV doesn't give us the real drama of the parade, the human interaction with inflated floating creatures, the parade balloons. The first balloon ever used in the parade was Felix the Cat in 1927. Mickey Mouse debuted in 1934. Underdog joined in 1965. The list is pretty long, with Ronald McDonald winning my nomination for perennial creepiest balloon, and Pikachu a creepy close second. Pikachu looks like a dust mite that has grown to mammoth proportions, ready to assault Manhattan.
The balloon creatures have had problems over the years, the drama that TV denies us. In 1986, the evil Raggedy Ann balloon knocked down a lampost and the Superman balloon was attacked by a tree--presumably a helium filled kryptonite tree-- that tore off his Superhand. In 1997, the Cat in the Hat crashed into a lampost, resulting in one human parade attendee suffering a fractured skull that left her in a coma for a month. The winds that same year prompted NYC police to stab and subdue balloon Barney and balloon Pink Panther, committing grand scale balloonicide, justified, allegedly, by public safety concerns. The NYC balloon coroner's investigation was never made public.
My favorite balloon just debuted this year: Buzz Lightyear. It looks like they've dressed up Jim Thome and floated him down the street.
My other favorite, the M&M's, has been banned, presumably for bad behavior. The two photos below reveal the M&M's plotting their attack and the aftermath of their helium fueled rage.
This misfortune proved that Al Roker and Willard Scott are not the biggest gas bags in New York.
That is all.
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Different topic, carried over. http://durbin.senate.gov/ That's where you can tell Dick Durbin that he's dicked you and me and everyone else in Illinois, having now proceeded with his bold faced display of cronyism, seeking a commutation of sentence for George Ryan. Dick wrote a letter to W, who's been handing out pardons as his reign comes to a conclusion. You can send an email to W comments@whitehouse.gov , or just hope he treats the request like the USA's economy, in which case Ryan won't be going anywhere.
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THIS JUST IN: In an effort to show they are environmentally concious, the leaders of the Big 3 Automakers originally planned to fly to the hearings in DC this week via parade balloon. However, realizing that they do not manufacture large cartoon-inspired helium balloons, and thus this mode of transportation afforded no gradiose photo opportunities, they scrapped that plan and decided to drive good ol' American-made hybrids across half the country. When asked why they opted to waste the time and fuel to drive to DC, rather than take a vacant seat on one of several available commercial jet flights from Detroit to DC, Ford's CEO explained that "airplanes are bad", and cited as evidence the public outrage after he and the two others flew to DC for the first round of talks in the their corporate jets. Furthering belief that the 3 heads of America's auto industry have missed the point in a big way, Nardelli, Mulally and Wagoner arrived wearing 'Palin 2012' buttons and had forgotten to remove the "Drill Baby Drill" bumper stickers from the back of their hybrid vehicles.
Palin 2012...it's a staggering concept that Palin may outlast Chrysler.
I think the heads of the Big 3 are more cunning than we credit them. Who's paying for their credit insurance?
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