A Very Merry Cricket

<p>🎄 It’s 1973, and a musical cricket is about to save the Christmas spirit during New York City’s quietest power failure.  </p><p>Join us for a one-cat open sleigh ride into Chuck Jones’s beautifully animated sequel to “The Cricket in Times Square.”  </p><p>****  </p><h2>🎙 Guest:  </h2><p>Michael DiGiovanni (<a href="https://popcultureretrofitpodcast.libsyn.com/">Pop Culture Retrofit</a>, <a href="https://classicfilmjerks.libsyn.com/">Classic Film Jerks</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/TheyCallMeDiGio">@TheyCallMeDiGio</a>).  </p><p>****  </p><h2>💬 Topics & Tangents:  </h2><p>1. A very insightful <a href="https://letterboxd.com/pd187/film/a-very-merry-cricket/">Letterboxd review</a>.  </p><p>2. <a href="http://namethatchristmasspecial.com/2021/07/25/a-very-merry-cricket/">Name That Christmas Special’s screenshot gallery</a> for this special.  </p><p>3. Today’s TV Trope: <a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BullyBulldog">Bully Bulldog</a>.  </p><p>4. Mel Blanc’s voice for the Alley Cat sounds his voice for Clarence the Cat in “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXpdojyFxzs">Birds Anonymous</a>.”  </p><p>5. DiGio introduces me to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yorkshire_pudding">Yorkshire pudding</a>.  </p><p>6. “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpSdkexudQQ">Down by the Old Mill Stream</a>.”  </p><p>7. The similar “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YchkhCh98FY">Joy to the World</a>” segment from “<a href="https://adventcalendar.house/episodes/claymation">Will Vinton’s Claymation Christmas Celebration</a>.”  </p><p>8. The final <a href="https://classicfilmjerks.libsyn.com/">Classic Film Jerks</a> movie, “<a href="http://classicfilmjerks.libsyn.com/babes-in-toyland-march-of-the-wooden-soldiers">Babes in Toyland (March of the Wooden Soldiers)</a>.”  </p><p>****  </p><h2>📼 Retro Commercial Break:  </h2><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I6WYbhzIpA ">Mel Blanc American Express Card Commercial, 1971</a>.  </p><p>****  </p><h2>🎤 And Now, These Messages:  </h2><p><a