User Reviews

This 1968 episode is an old style variety program in the mold of Ed Sullivan. It is done in front of a live audience and the guest cast features John Byner, Glen Campbell and the luscious Lennon Sisters. There is a premiere Russian Juggler thrown onto his horse to juggle just as a bonus. Add to the cast the Crosby Family including little Mary Crosby singing long before shooting JR.

Crosby sings several of his Christmas tunes including "White Christmas". Campbell does "Witchita Lineman" nd a couple of other tunes. Byner does some stand up comedy and some impressions of famous people including his version of Bing. Some of Byners humor is very much oriented for the 1968 period. Even Crosby does a monologue to open the show, and some of his nicely paced moody humor during the show.

The Lennons sound as great at they look on this show, which is WOW. The strongest music portion is the group getting together and doing a 10 minute group of songs late in the show, but there are plenty of standards here that we all know and love for Christmas. Then there is a Russian juggling knifes while standing on the back of a trotting horse, and then juggling fire and more just to add some daring to all the musiial comedy. Good show, only flaw is a violin/kazoo section with Bing and his wife where it is obvious they are syncing their instruments to a sound track. Ignore that section, as the rest of the show is flawless.

My previous review of a Bing Crosby-hosted Christmas ep of "The Hollywood Palace" had as his guests, the cast of "Hogan's Heroes"-a show he owned. This time, he has his second family with him with wife Kathryn, and kids Harry, Mary, and Nathaniel. Other guests were comedian-impressionist John Byner, singers The Lennon Sisters, and singer Glen Campbell. Glen, who had hosted a summer show in The Smothers Brothers slot on CBS, the previous few months, was slated to host his own regular season show on the same network the following January so it's a little strange to see Bing plug his show on ABC (though Glen's network wasn't mentioned)! Anyway, Bing performs with them all by the Christmas-themed finale. And, yes, Glen performs his hit song at the time, "Wichita Lineman". Byner does his celebrity impressions in front of Bing including his version of Der Bingle. The Lennon Sisters do what they always did on Lawrence Welk (which had preceded "Hollywood Palace" on Saturday nights during this period): sing in harmony. Also appearing was a Russian juggler on horseback (which I think was taped in another studio). I enjoyed all that I just mentioned. So on that note, I highly recommend this Christmas ep of "The Hollywood Palace".