The John Denver Rocky Mountain Christmas Special originally aired on December 10, 1975 – 40 years ago today! The special comes off as a little bizarre at times, but very interesting. Denver was an extremely popular singer at the time.
The video above is recorded from a repeat in 1977. It even includes commercials that were part of the 1977 re-broadcast! I find the commercials just as intriguing as the show – they really capture the era.
The special guests were huge stars of 1970s television and music: Olivia Newton-John, Steve Martin, and one of my favorites -Valerie Harper! (Rhoda forever!)
This show and the commercials are fascinating to watch. A real time capsule of the 1970s!
The video quality is not the best because it was transferred to DVD from a videotape. However, it’s so unusual to find a recording of a show from the 1970s with the original commercials!
Of course, there are some abrupt breaks for YouTube commercials, but I don’t let those bother me. I’m just glad that it was uploaded to YouTube! Thanks to Donald Bérubé for uploading it!
