Episode 316 – THE HOLDOVERS

The Matineecast

Runtime

63 minutes

Show Contents

0:00 Introduction

3:46 The New Slang: THE HOLDOVERS with Guest Bob Turnbull

49:49 The Other Side: Bob and Ryan talk further reading after Alexander Payne’s film

Thoughts from your host…

Just last week, I introduced my team at work to my podcast. So if anyone from the office is tuning-in today – thanks for making the leap!

When I was a boy, there was one Christmas that was unlike the others. I was eight and a half, and this holiday involved a change in the normal family schedule and found me at home for most of the day instead of making the rounds to the grandparents’ homes.

What I remember the most about that Christmas was that while I played with my new toys in the family room, my mom had tuned a radio to CBC for me. We often had radios on in our house – far more so than the television – and on this Christmas Day, CBC was playing readings of classic stories. There were readings of “A Little Matchstick Girl”, “The Little Mermaid”, and eventually “A Christmas Carol”. I’m showing my age here, but this reading of “The Little Mermaid” preceded the animated Disney film by three whole years.

I bring this up because the first two stories weren’t Christmas tales, and yet the spirit of them suited the holiday well. There was a warmth to them; a tenderness. They weren’t even truly the happiest tales, and yet they kept little Ryan good company on such a happy day.

Today’s film – while certainly more of a “Christmas tale” than those stories – fits the bill. Not always a happy tale, but with warmth and tenderness. It’s the sort of film I would program on December 23rd if I could host a screening, and the sort of story I wish we’d get more of than the umpteenth Hallmark Channel classic.

Little Ryan might not have had the full attention for todays film…but I feel as though he’d have enjoyed knowing that all these years later, these stories would still be there to keep him company during the holidays.

Links Mentioned in Episode 316:

Matineecast 276 where James McNally and I discussed C’MON C’MON

Bob’s Twitter feed can be found here. Comments and feedback are welcome and thank you very much for listening.

Enjoy!