[Ohio-Talk] December Events

[Steve Cook]

We hope you will join us for the below events in December! Read about each presentation below the Zoom platform information. 

All events begin at 8:00 PM eastern

Friday, December 1, 2023
Audio described movie: It's a Wonderful Life

Friday, December 8, 2023
Audio described movie: How the Grinch Stole Christmas 

Friday, December 15, 2023
Audio described movie: National lampoons - Christmas vacation 

Wednesday, December 20, 2023
Audio described: Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer

Friday, December 22, 2023
Trivia Night

NFB of SC Zoom

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8032543777?pwd=QTVQd2RzN3l6QnNmZ0FmSnp6NG8vQT09

Meeting ID: 803 254 3777
Passcode: 124578
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It’s a Wonderful Life

On Christmas Eve 1945, in Bedford Falls, New York, George Bailey contemplates suicide. The prayers of his family and friends reach Heaven, where guardian angel second class Clarence Odbody is assigned to save George in order to earn his wings. Clarence is shown flashbacks of George's life. He watches 12-year-old George rescue his younger brother Harry from drowning, leaving George deaf in his left ear. George later prevents the pharmacist, Mr. Gower, from accidentally poisoning a customer's prescription.

In 1928, George plans a world tour before college. He is reintroduced to Mary Hatch, who has been enamored with him since childhood. When his father dies suddenly, George postpones his travel to settle the family business, Bailey Brothers Building and Loan. Avaricious board member Henry Potter, who controls most of the town, seeks to dissolve it, but the board votes to keep the Building and Loan open if George runs it. George acquiesces and works alongside his uncle Billy, giving his tuition savings to Harry with the understanding that Harry will run the business when he graduates.

Harry returns from college married and with a job offer from his father-in-law, and George resigns himself to running the Building and Loan. George and Mary rekindle their relationship and wed. They witness a run on the bank and use their honeymoon savings to keep the Building and Loan solvent. Under George, the company establishes Bailey Park, a housing development surpassing Potter's overpriced slums. Potter entices George with a $20,000/year job, but realizing that Potter's true intention is to close the Building and Loan, George rebuffs him.

On Christmas Eve 1945, the town prepares a hero's welcome for Harry, who, as a U.S. Navy fighter pilot, was awarded the Medal of Honor for preventing a kamikaze attack on a troop transport. Billy goes to Potter's bank to deposit $8,000 of the Building and Loan's money. He taunts Potter with a newspaper headline about Harry, then absentmindedly wraps the cash in Potter's newspaper. Potter finds and keeps the money, while Billy cannot recall how he misplaced it. With a bank examiner reviewing the company's records, George realizes scandal and criminal charges will follow. Fruitlessly retracing Billy's steps, George berates him and takes out his frustration on Mary and their children. George appeals to Potter for a loan, offering his life insurance policy as collateral. Potter scoffs that George is worth more dead than alive, refuses to help, and phones the police.

George flees Potter's office, gets drunk at a bar, and prays for help. Contemplating suicide, he goes to a nearby bridge. However, before George can jump, Clarence dives into the freezing river, and George rescues him. When George wishes he had never been born, Clarence shows George a timeline in which he never existed. Bedford Falls is now Pottersville, an unsavory town occupied by sleazy entertainment venues, crime, and callous people. Mr. Gower was imprisoned for manslaughter because George was not there to stop him from poisoning the customer. George's mother does not know him. Uncle Billy was institutionalized after the Building and Loan failed. Bailey Park is a cemetery, where George discovers Harry's grave. Without George, Harry drowned as a child, and without Harry to save them, the troops aboard the transport ship were killed. George finds Mary, now a spinster, and when he grabs her and claims to be her husband, she screams and runs.

George flees back to the bridge and begs Clarence for his life back. The original reality is restored, and a grateful George rushes home to await his arrest. Meanwhile, Mary and Billy have rallied the townspeople, who come into the Bailey home and donate more than enough to cover the missing money. Harry arrives and toasts George as "the richest man in town". Among the donations George finds a copy of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, a gift from Clarence and inscribed, "Remember, no man is a failure who has friends. Thanks for the wings!" When a bell on the Christmas tree rings, George's youngest daughter, Zuzu, explains that "every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings." George looks upward smiling and says, "Atta boy, Clarence!"

Cast
James Stewart as George Bailey
Donna Reed as Mary Hatch Bailey
Lionel Barrymore as Henry Potter
Thomas Mitchell as Uncle Billy
Henry Travers as Clarence Odbody
Beulah Bondi as Mrs. Bailey
Frank Faylen as Ernie Bishop
Ward Bond as Bert
Gloria Grahame as Violet Bick
H. B. Warner as Mr. Gower
Frank Albertson as Sam Wainwright
Todd Karns as Harry Bailey
Samuel S. Hinds as Pa Bailey
Mary Treen as Cousin Tilly
Virginia Patton as Ruth Dakin
Charles Williams as Cousin Eustace
Sara Edwards as Mrs. Hatch
Bill Edmunds as Mr. Giuseppe Martini
Lillian Randolph as Annie
Argentina Brunetti as Mrs. Martini
Bobbie Anderson as Little George
Ronnie Ralph as Little Sam
Jean Gale as Little Mary
Jeanine Ann Roose as Little Violet
Danny Mummert as Little Marty Hatch
Georgie Nokes as Little Harry Bailey
Sheldon Leonard as Nick
Frank Hagney as Potter's Bodyguard
Ray Walker as Joe (Luggage Shop)
Charlie Lane as Real Estate Salesman
Edward Kean as Tom (Bldg. & Loan)
The Bailey Children
Carol Coomes as Janie
Karolyn Grimes as Zuzu
Larry Simms as Pete
Jimmy Hawkins as Tommy

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

As the inhabitants of Whoville prepare for Christmas, the Grinch, a hostile green creature who lives in a cave on Mount Crumpit, despises the holiday and attempts to sabotage their plans. Six-year-old Cindy Lou Who believes that everyone focuses too much on gifts and not enough on personal relationships. Cindy encounters the Grinch at the post office and falls into the giant mail-sorting machine, but the Grinch grudgingly saves her.

Cindy learns from the townsfolk that the Grinch arrived in Whoville as a baby and was adopted by two elderly women. In school, the Grinch was infatuated with Martha May Whovier, a girl in his class, but ridiculed by jealous classmate Augustus MayWho. That Christmas, the Grinch made an angel as a gift for Martha, then attempted to shave his face, accidentally cutting himself several times. When MayWho, the teacher, and the rest of the class saw the result, all but Martha laughed at him. This caused the Grinch to lose his temper, declare his hatred for Christmas, and flee to Mount Crumpit, where he has lived a solitary, scheming life ever since.

Cindy nominates the Grinch as the town's Holiday Cheermeister, outraging MayWho, who is now the mayor. She climbs Mount Crumpit to invite the Grinch to the celebration, and he eventually accepts, realizing he could potentially encounter Martha (now the Lou Whos' neighbor) and upset MayWho. As Cheermeister, he participates in various events and begins enjoying himself, until MayWho gives him an electric razor as a gift, reminding him of his childhood humiliation. MayWho then offers Martha a new car while publicly proposing to her. Enraged, the Grinch snaps and berates the Whos for their avaricious "love" of Christmas. He shaves MayWho's head, burns down the town's Christmas tree with a makeshift flamethrower, and goes on a rampage before returning home.

Learning that the Whos have a spare Christmas tree, and disgusted with the continuing festivities, the Grinch vows to crush the town's spirit by stealing all of their presents, decorations and food while they sleep. He disguises himself as Santa Claus and his pet dog Max as a reindeer, and descends into Whoville on a hi-tech sleigh. The first house he enters is Cindy's, and when she catches him stealing their tree, he lies to her to facilitate his escape. He singlehandedly strips the entire town of Christmas cheer, stuffing everything into a giant sack, then climbs back to the summit of Mount Crumpit to hurl the sack off of the mountain.

Awakening on Christmas morning, the people are horrified to discover the theft, and MayWho blames Cindy for enabling the Grinch to ruin the town's spirit. However, her cheerful father, postmaster Lou Lou Who, defends her, declaring that she has tried to tell them that Christmas is not about decorations and gifts, but about spending time with family and friends. The townsfolk agree, join hands, and begin Christmas carolling.

Just as he is about to push the sack off the top of Mount Crumpit, the Grinch hears the people singing; realising he has failed to prevent the festivities, he understands the true meaning of Christmas. As he breaks down in tears, the sleigh full of gifts, Christmas trees and decorations begins to slide over the edge of the cliff, along with Cindy, who had come to visit the Grinch and climbed aboard. The Grinch saves Cindy and the sleigh, and they ride down the mountain to return everything. He apologizes for his scheme and surrenders to the police, who spare him and ignore MayWho's demand to arrest and pepper spray him. Realising MayWho's cruelty, Martha returns his engagement ring and declares her love for the Grinch. Later, the reformed Grinch invites the townsfolk over for the Christmas feast, where he personally carves the Roast Beast himself in his cave.

Cast
Jim Carrey as the Grinch, a bad-tempered, devious and misanthropic green-furred creature who despises Christmas and the Whos of Whoville. Before Carrey was cast as the Grinch, Jack Nicholson and Eddie Murphy[5] were both considered.
Josh Ryan Evans as the eight-year-old Grinch (his final film role before his death in 2002[6]).
Taylor Momsen as Cindy Lou Who (in the film, she is six years old, while in the 1957 book and the 1966 TV special she is "no more than two")
Jeffrey Tambor as Mayor Augustus MayWho, Whoville's arrogant and judgmental mayor
Ben Bookbinder as eight-year-old Augustus, who bullies Grinch as an attempt to get Martha to notice him instead.
Christine Baranski as Martha May Whovier, who is mutually in love with the Grinch. Mayor Augustus Maywho also has feelings for her, but Martha does not like him because of his arrogance.
Landry Allbright as 8-year-old Martha, who shows affection for the Grinch and dislikes when kids at school pick on him.
Bill Irwin as Louie Lou Who, Cindy's father
Molly Shannon as Betty Lou Who, Cindy's mother
Anthony Hopkins as the narrator
Kelley as Max, the Grinch's pet dog and sole companion
Frank Welker performs the vocal effects for Max. Welker had previously provided the vocal effects for Max in The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat.
Clint Howard as Whobris, the mayor's sycophantic aide and servant
Reid Kirchenbauer as eight-year-old Whobris
Mindy Sterling as Clarnella Who, one of the Grinch's adoptive mothers
Rachel Winfree as Rose Who, the Grinch's other adoptive mother
Jeremy Howard as Drew Lou Who, one of the mischievous sons of Louie and Betty and brother of Cindy
T. J. Thyne as Stu Lou Who, the other mischievous son and brother of Cindy
Jim Meskimen as Officer Wholihan, the chief of police
Mary Stein as Miss Rue Who, the Grinch's school teacher who later becomes Cindy's teacher
Deep Roy as Post Office Clerk
Rance Howard as Elderly Timekeeper
Verne Troyer as Band Member
Bryce Dallas Howard as Surprised Who

National lampoons - Christmas vacation

Chicago-area resident Clark Griswold intends to have a great Christmas with his entire family. He drives his wife Ellen and children Audrey and Rusty out to the country to find a tree, ultimately choosing the largest one they can find. Realizing too late that they did not bring any tools to cut down the tree, they are forced to uproot it instead. Clark's holiday plans inadvertently cause steadily escalating chaos for the family's yuppie neighbors, Todd and Margo Chester.

When both Clark's and Ellen's parents arrive for Christmas, their bickering quickly begins to annoy the family. However, Clark maintains a positive attitude and remains undeterred in his plans. He covers the house's entire exterior with thousands of lights, which temporarily cause a citywide power shortage once he gets them to work properly.

Ellen's cousin Catherine and her redneck husband Eddie arrive unannounced with two of their younger children, Rocky and Ruby Sue, and their pet Rottweiler, Snots. Eddie later admits they are living in the RV in which they arrived, as he went broke and had to sell their home and land. Clark offers to buy gifts for Eddie's kids so they can still enjoy Christmas. Soon afterward, Clark's senile Aunt Bethany and cantankerous Uncle Lewis arrive.

Clark begins to wonder why his boss, Frank Shirley, has not given him his yearly bonus, which he desperately needs to pay for a new swimming pool. After a disastrous Christmas Eve dinner, during which Aunt Bethany's cat is electrocuted and Uncle Lewis accidentally burns down the Christmas tree while lighting his cigar, a courier delivers an envelope. Instead of the bonus Clark expects, it is a membership in a jelly club. He snaps and angrily wishes for Frank to be delivered to the house so he can insult him to his face.

Taking Clark's request literally, Eddie kidnaps Frank, who admits to canceling the Christmas bonuses but then reinstates them in the face of Clark's chastisement. Meanwhile, Frank's wife Helen calls the police, and a SWAT team storms the Griswold house and holds everyone at gunpoint. Frank decides not to press charges and explains the situation to his wife and the SWAT leader, both of whom scold him for canceling the bonuses until he reveals his change of heart.

The family goes outside when Rocky and Ruby Sue believe they see Santa Claus in the distance. Clark tells them it is actually the Christmas Star and that he finally realizes what the holiday means to him.

Uncle Lewis says that the light is coming from a sewage treatment plant, reminding Clark that Eddie had been dumping his RV sewage into the nearby storm drain. Before Clark can stop him, Uncle Lewis lights another cigar and tosses the match into the drain, causing a giant gas explosion which sets a Santa's sleigh decoration afire and launches it into the sky. Aunt Bethany starts singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" and everyone joins in as the flaming decoration flies into the distance.

The entire family, along with the Shirleys and the SWAT team, go inside to celebrate while Clark and Ellen share a Christmas kiss. Clark is satisfied that he has provided a great Christmas for his family.

Cast
Chevy Chase as Clark W. "Sparky" Griswold Jr.
Beverly D'Angelo as Ellen Griswold
Juliette Lewis as Audrey Griswold. Audrey was previously portrayed by Dana Barron and Dana Hill in the last two films and later by Marisol Nichols in Vegas Vacation
Johnny Galecki as Russell "Rusty" Griswold. Russ was portrayed by Anthony Michael Hall and Jason Lively in the previous two films and later by Ethan Embry in Vegas Vacation. Notably, this is the only film in which Rusty and Audrey are not the same age, hence Lewis being taller than Galecki.
John Randolph as Clark Griswold Sr., Clark's father
Diane Ladd as Nora Griswold, Clark's mother
E. G. Marshall as Arthur "Art" Smith, Ellen's father
Doris Roberts as Frances Smith, Ellen's mother
Miriam Flynn as Catherine Johnson, Ellen's cousin
Randy Quaid as Eddie Johnson, Catherine's husband
Cody Burger as Rocky Johnson
Ellen Hamilton Latzen as Ruby Sue Johnson
William Hickey as Uncle Lewis
Mae Questel as Aunt Bethany (Questel's final film role before her death in 1998)
Sam McMurray as Bill, Clark's co-worker
Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Margo Chester, the Griswolds' yuppie neighbor
Nicholas Guest as Todd Chester, Margo's husband
Brian Doyle-Murray as Frank Shirley, Clark's boss
Natalia Nogulich as Helen Shirley, Frank's wife
Nicolette Scorsese as Mary, a lingerie counter clerk
Alexander Folk as Lead SWAT Officer
Jeremy Roberts as cop
Woody Weaver as cop
Doug Llewelyn as the voice of the Parade Announcer
Keith MacKechnie as delivery boy

Steve Cook
You are invited to join us on the 1st and 2nd Friday of each month at 8:00 PM Eastern for audio described movies using the below Zoom platform! 
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8032543777?pwd=QTVQd2RzN3l6QnNmZ0FmSnp6NG8vQT09
Meeting ID: 803 254 3777
Passcode: 124578