As we finally wind down another year, I'm afraid I don't have a New Year's post for you. You'll have to make do with this oddity of a soundtrack. I couldn't find any hint of a Christmas special called Miss Santa's Hollywood Snowflake, or even a person named T.C. Stubblefield, yet here we have a record by that person that claims to be the soundtrack to said film. There's even a movie poster for it in my LP! (I included a rough photo of it in the download, it's too big to scan properly.) Some
internet sleuthing tells me that the T.C. part of T.C. Stubblefield most likely stands for Troy Cory (Stubblefield is his given last name, I think), and from there some things fall into place. Troy was an international entertainer who never seems to have broken through to the USA, and his exploits elsewhere aren't too well documented. This music appears to have been released under his stage name elsewhere with no mention of a film, so I'm wondering if perhaps the movie never got made. But then the poster and album cover both claim to be a still from the movie. And what a horrible still it is. They couldn't come up with a better photo out of the entire movie? I guess not. The picture is actually printed sideways on the LP jacket so that it wraps around the sleeve from front to back. I've rotated it for you above so that it at least appears like he's not laying sideways. I tell you, this is a weird package all around. I'm not sure how I feel about the music. It's not horrible, but it's not good. It's just sort of there. Maybe you know more about this record or this guy or this movie, or even what year this was released. If you do, please, please, please fill us in! This is
T.C. Stubblefield (AKA
Troy Cory)-
Snowflake's First Christmas (VRA Radioplay Music VRA-00025, Stereo). Like several other shares this season, this record turned up in a Central Florida record store last month during a visit that almost didn't happen. It just goes to show that you never know what you might find, or when or where you're going to find it!
1. An Ol' Christmas Card
2. Christmas Around The World
3. Jingle Bells
4. Silver Bells
5. White Christmas
6. I'll Have A Blue Christmas
7. Motion Picture Soundtracks From "Miss Santa's Hollywood Snowflake" (credited to Troy, his daughter Priscilla, and someone named Manuella)
8. C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S
9. Ol' Little Town Of Bethlehem
10. Silent Night
MEGA
That photo was on both sides of the cover, sideways. One side would have been more than enough. He should have left the eggnog alone.
ReplyDeleteCertainly one of the strangest creatures in your menagerie.
Oh, and Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteAlright, a couple of things on a not-completely-deep dive into the rabbit hole. VRA RadioPlay appears to be affiliated with BBC RadioPlay. And BBC RadioPlay records were made exclusively for radio broadcast. Then there's this write-up of the record (under a different title and with a different song order): "All of the musical soundtracks were used in the Film 'Christmas Around The World', filmed on location in Austria, Utah, Santa's Village, China, and Germany, where the beautiful castle Neuschwanstein and Munich's Nymphenburg castle lend a picturesque background. It features Troy Cory, Priscilla Cory, and German Singer Manuela.
ReplyDelete------This Story finds Saint Nick (Troy Cory) looking for Little Miss Santa (Priscilla Cory) all the way to a little church in Oberndorf, Austria where Silent Night originally was played on X-mas Eve in 1818. (Available on DVD, VRA2525)." It also states that the songs were used in the TV series "Santa's Annual Christmas Updates". And, finally, it's worth noting that Troy Cory released his Christmas album (mostly the same songs, but lacking "Miss Santa's Hollywood Snowflake") in 1976, which suggests that this release would have been after that date (though likely before 1985).
Thanks for the comments, guys.
ReplyDeleteAnd Stubby, thanks for the notes. I read most of that on the weird Troy Cory website, the one that looks like it was written in 1992 on MySpace and hasn't been changed much since. I agree that it appears to be the correct movie and soundtrack, but I'm hoping to find something that independently tells us how this exists. And why is the name different? I suspect even the Miss Santa's Hollywood Snowflake song is the same, it's just a medley, or in some cases individual tracks, on other releases. Surely this record came out for a reason, but I can't seem to find that reason. And I sure ain't trying to order anything from that website!!
Muchas gracias por este bello album, cualquier época del año es Navidad si se está feliz, saludos amigo.
ReplyDeleteGracias!!
ReplyDelete