Musical Fruitcake

Barry Gordon is an American film and television actor who began his professional life at the age of three as a child singer and actor. In 1952, at age six, he recorded “Nuttin’ for Christmas,” which is one of the top ten best-selling Christmas records of all time.

When he was thirteen, his Broadway debut in Herb Gardner’s “A Thousand Clowns” earned him a Tony nomination for the role of Nick, a role he repeated in the film version.

He became a fixture as a character actor in feature films and television, most prominently as a co-star in the hit series “Fish” and playing opposite Carroll O’Connor as the lawyer Rabinowitz in “Archie Bunker’s Place.” His voice has been heard for decades as the Nestle Quik Bunny and as Donatello in the original animated series, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.” Most recently, he has appeared in a recurring role as the Rabbi in HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”

Outside of show business, his interests moved into law and politics. In his mid-thirties, he returned to school, graduated summa cum laude as a political science major from California State University, Los Angeles, and went on to Loyola Law School, receiving his J.D. in 1991.

Putting his love of show business and law together, he became active in the Screen Actors Guild, and became the longest-serving President in its history, holding the office for seven years (one year longer than either Charlton Heston or Ronald Reagan).

In 1998, he was the Democratic nominee for Congress and came within three points of beating the popular Republican incumbent, Rep. James Rogan, who went on to become one of the House’s impeachment managers and subsequently lost his seat.

He can currently be heard on his radio show, “Barry Gordon From Left Field.” He also has a webcast TV show called “NewsRap.”

Barry Gordon also appeared in the 1956 hit movie “The Girl Can’t Help It,” with Jayne Mansfield.

Barry Gordon recorded many other songs such as “Girl I Left Behind,” “Santa Claus Looks Just Like Daddy,” “Yes We Have No Bananas,” “Talk, Talk, Talk” and “Zoomah the Santa Claus From Mars.”

LISTEN TO SONG:

DOWNLOAD MP3:
Barry_Gordon_-_Zoomah_the_Santa_Claus_from_Mars.mp3

In 1974, Red Sovine recorded and released “Santa Claus is a Texas Cowboy” for the Chart Label (CH-5231), backed with “The Legend Of The Christmas Rose.” This one is a bit different from the other Red Sovine songs that have been posted here, because on this song Red actually sings, instead of talk/singing his way through the song.

LISTEN TO SONG:

DOWNLOAD MP3:
Red_Sovine_and_The_Girls_-_Santa_Claus_Is_A_Texas_Cowboy.mp3

The BellRays are a “rock ‘n’ soul” group that was founded in the early 1990s in Riverside, California. They opened for The Pixies on their most recent tour, and also with reconstituted MC5, DKT/MC5. Here are The BellRays playing with MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer in 2005 at the Operation Ceasefire concert in Washington DC :

In 1999, The BellRays released a Christmas song called “Rocket Ship Santa” on Safety Pin Records, and it was part of a compilation called “F*ck Christmas” (SP-014).

LISTEN TO SONG:

DOWNLOAD MP3:
The_BellRays_-_Rocket_Ship_Santa.mp3

Alex Houston has been performing for more than 50 years along with his ventriloquist dummy named Elmer, which was purchased for $50 when Alex was 8 years old. His act includes parodies of country songs with Elmer doing most of the singing.

In 1954, Alex and Elmer got booked on Jimmy Dean’s TV show, where they appeared for five years. Alex then moved to Nashville and worked as an opening act for country stars like Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, Conway Twitty, and Charley Pride. Through the years, Alex and Elmer have done approximately 12,000 shows.

Alex and Elmer can still be seen on WBIR-TV in Knoxville, and also in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

In 1972, Alex Houston and Elmer released an album on Willex Records called “Here Comes Peter Cotton Claus,” which features a song by the same name as the first track on each side of the album. On the back cover Charley Pride is quoted as saying: “Alex is so talented that you leave believing there were two guys on that stage.” and “I think Elmer is one of the funniest guys I ever met.” Apparently Charley doesn’t get out much.

LISTEN TO SONG:

DOWNLOAD SONG:
Alex_Houston_and__Elmer_-_Here_Comes_Peter_Cotton_Claus.mp3

Here is a song from 1970, by a singer named Bob Rich, called “Christmas In My Pants.”

“I’ve got Christmas in my pants/and my hands on my hips/I’ve got Easter for a zipper/and Shakespeare’s upper lip.”

LISTEN TO SONG:

DOWNLOAD MP3:
Bob_Rich_-_Christmas_In_My_Pants.mp3