- Title: Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas
- IMDb: link
Released in 1977, Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas introduced us to the struggling family of Emmet (Jerry Nelson) and his mother Alice (Marilyn Sokol) who have been scraping by since the death of Emmet’s father. As Christmas rolls around both struggle to get the other a gift. Each separately latches on to the idea of earning money by winning the local talent contest. However, to meet the needs of the show, each must trade the other’s prized possession with Alice hocking Emmet’s toolbox and Emmet putting a hole in his mother’s washtub.
Emmet enters as part of a jug band with his friends Wendell Porcupine (Dave Goelz), Harvey Beaver (Jim Henson), and Charlie Muskrat (Richard Hunt). Ma performs a solo. Both are good, but the winner of the contest turns out to be the Riverbottom Gang (who we’ve see causing trouble around town since their arrival).
There’s somethin undeniably sweet and even quaint about Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas that manages to tug at heartstrings even nearly a half-century later. Adapted from the children’s book of the same name, is a sweet story of Ma and the boys coming together in defeat. Although upset, they don’t wallow in their misery. Instead they discover that together they are stronger capturing the notice, and earning a job offer, from Doc Bullfrog (Nelson) thus securing their future.
Created two years prior to The Muppet Movie, the TV-special pushed the limits of the Muppets into more elaborate sets and shots including an opening (not kept in all later versions due to rights issues) of Kermit the Frog (voiced by Henson) on a bicycle riding into town on a bicycle, running into the Riverbottom Gang, and introducing the story. What was learned here would be expanded into the Muppets’ first foray into theaters.
Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas includes a number of original songs from Paul Williams including the standout “When the River Meets the Sea” which Nelson and Louise Gold would perform at Henson’s memorial service years later. The show was a terrific success finding replay over the years on various networks and channels along with later releases on DVD and Blu-ray. A soundtrack of the special was also released in 2018.
Watch “When the River Meets the Sea”
Watch “Brothers in Our World”
Watch “Ain’t No Hole in the Washtub”