{"id":1801,"date":"2013-12-24T18:00:15","date_gmt":"2013-12-25T00:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=1801"},"modified":"2013-12-26T16:34:33","modified_gmt":"2013-12-26T22:34:33","slug":"website-unwraps-christmas-time-capsule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2013\/12\/24\/website-unwraps-christmas-time-capsule\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Eve surprise: Website unwraps Channel 7 time capsule"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_1802\" style=\"width: 612px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2013\/12\/24\/website-unwraps-christmas-time-capsule\/\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1802\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1802\" alt=\"Fahey Flynn\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Fahey-Flynn.png\" width=\"602\" height=\"442\" srcset=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Fahey-Flynn.png 602w, \/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Fahey-Flynn-300x220.png 300w, \/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Fahey-Flynn-150x110.png 150w, \/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Fahey-Flynn-400x293.png 400w, \/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Fahey-Flynn-200x146.png 200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 602px) 100vw, 602px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1802\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><\/a> Fahey Flynn<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Yes, Virginia, there is a Fahey Flynn.<\/p>\n<p>On Christmas Eve of 1972, the avuncular anchorman at the peak of his popularity on WLS-Channel 7 hosted \u201cFahey Flynn Presents Seven\u2019s Greetings.\u201d The one-hour special aired just once \u2014 from 11 p.m. to midnight on the ABC-owned station \u2014 and was never seen again.<\/p>\n<p>Until now.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Courtesy of Rick Klein\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fuzzymemories.tv\" target=\"_blank\">Museum of Classic Chicago Television,<\/a> the complete program has been salvaged, restored and made available for all to enjoy for the first time in 41 years. To ease downloading, Klein divided the show into seven segments, which he posted on his<a href=\"http:\/\/www.fuzzymemories.tv\" target=\"_blank\"> website <\/a>late\u00a0Tuesday. (The videos don't play on iPad or iPhone.)<\/p>\n<p>An ad for the special that ran in the Chicago Tribune on Dec. 24, 1972, called it \u201ca relaxing hour of holiday cheer . . . and everybody in our family will be there to bring you a little bit of nostalgia, a little bit of music, and a lot of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s certainly all of that, but viewed more than four decades later, it\u2019s also an amazing time capsule of a golden era in Chicago television and of a local station at the top of its game. Here in just 49 minutes (minus commercials) you can see all the ingredients that made Channel 7 a leader in news, programming, public affairs and community service \u2014 not to mention No. 1 in ratings and revenue.<\/p>\n<p>Sporting his trademark bow tie and lapels as wide as the Mississippi, the 56-year-old Flynn is in fine fettle, relishing his role on the special whether he\u2019s matching wits with a couple of puppets (one a talking hamburger, the other a gesticulating microphone) or suddenly breaking into a waltz with Joanie Sandler (aka Susie Streetnoise), the adorable teenage host of \u201cINK: Interesting News for Kids.\u201d You have to see it to believe it.<\/p>\n<p>Other highlights of \u201cSeven\u2019s Greetings\u201d include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>John Drury reading the 1897 editorial from the New York Sun that concludes: \u201cYes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Ione, host of \u201cThe Prize Movie,\u201d dialing up Santa Claus on her oversize phone.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Joel Daly delivering a sharp-edged commentary on modern times, department store Santas and the true meaning of Christmas.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Weatherman John Coleman tracking the arrival of Santa on radar.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Sportscasters Bill Frink and Duane Dow in a piece of business about assembling toys.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cAction Seven\u201d reporter Frank Mathie channeling Jack Webb in a \u201cDragnet\u201d parody on the search for Santa\u2019s stolen suit.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Bob Kennedy and Susan Peterson of \u201cKennedy &amp; Co.\u201d waxing nostalgic about Christmas traditions and introducing musical numbers from the excellent Viking Ensemble of Homewood-Flossmoor High School.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>A cavalcade of Channel 7 program hosts joining Flynn in a rendition of \u00a0\"A Visit from St. Nicholas,\u201d including Jim Stewart of \u201cPassage to Adventure,\u201d Shari Blair and Rosemarie Gulley of \u201cFeminine Franchise,\u201d Daddy-O Daylie of \u201cBlack on Black,\u201d Frank Agraz of \u201cOiga Amigo,\u201d Sid Ordower of \u201cJubilee Showcase\u201d and Alex Karras. Even the station\u2019s vice president and general manager, John C. Severino, has a cameo.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div id=\"attachment_1803\" style=\"width: 121px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Rick-Klein.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1803\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1803\" alt=\"Rick Klein\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Rick-Klein.jpg\" width=\"111\" height=\"193\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1803\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rick Klein<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Klein, who operates his <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fuzzymemories.tv\" target=\"_blank\">Museum of Classic Chicago Television<\/a> website as a labor of love, said he secured the master tape from Gary Peterson, who\u2019s worked in the video department of Channel 7 since the 1980s. \u201cFrankly I still can\u2019t believe that in 2013 there would be a tape with something as vintage and rare as a locally produced Christmas special from 1972 just sitting around and not really cataloged or preserved, and which could have easily been tossed out and no one would have known the difference,\u201d Klein told me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSure, there are some clunky moments, but overall this is a gem that will bring a glow to the heart to anyone old enough to remember how TV used to be,\u201d Klein said of the special. \u201cAll in all, you are struck by the feeling when watching this of how much television and television news have changed in 40 years \u2014 and not necessarily for the better. Can you imagine any station doing something like this today? And would you care about what the station \u2018personalities\u2019 had to say during it? Not only that, but all the goofing around or lack of sincerity that we normally get from our media today would result in it not meaning very much.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor me, this special was a temporary antidote from that, and a warm reminder that we can get this feeling back in our culture if we only decide that we want to.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Thursday update:<\/strong> The Channel 7 special was written and produced by Rick Ludwin, who went on to a 30-year career with NBC, where he rose to executive vice president for late night and prime-time series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yes, Virginia, there is a Fahey Flynn. On Christmas Eve of 1972, the avuncular anchorman at the peak of his popularity on WLS-Channel 7 hosted \u201cFahey Flynn Presents Seven\u2019s Greetings.\u201d The one-hour special aired just once \u2014 from 11 p.m. to midnight on the ABC-owned station \u2014 and was never seen again. Until now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1801"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1801"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1801\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1838,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1801\/revisions\/1838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}