Posted on 12/23/2009 7:58:12 AM PST by earlJam
(CNN) -- ... thanks to a "Seinfeld" writer whose father had made Festivus a quirky household tradition, a 1997 episode of the famed sitcom popularized the peculiar day.
To hear it from Frank Costanza, the character played by Jerry Stiller, the December 23 observance calls for little more than the erection of an aluminum pole, the airing of grievances and the demonstration of feats of strength -- which preferably culminate in wrestling down to the ground and pinning the head of the household.
For at least eight years, Julianne Donovan, 35, has been hosting Festivus parties in the Kansas City, Missouri, area. The graphic designer and illustrator said she was drawn to the holiday...
At her parties, people jot down their grievances and stuff them in the pole. They complain about parking tickets, the economy and their spouses, she said. One of her favorites in recent years read like this: "What's up with the dude in the white shoes? It's way after Labor Day."
Getting in on the fun in recent years is a stairway railing company called Wagner, (they)thought cutting up pipes to make aluminum holiday poles would be an easy -- and fun -- side business. Thus was born festivuspoles.com.
Leto said he's received orders from troops in Afghanistan and people living in Australia...When the company sent Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle a Festivus pole in 2005, he put it up in the executive residence. Today it appears in the state's historical museum.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
I made a donation to thr Human Fund!
In honor of Festivus, I have made a $100 donation, in the name of each FReeper, to the Human Fund. “The Human Fund: Money for People!” :)
Frankly Jerry Stiller has always creeped me out. He’s the closest thing to a real life troll I’ve seen.
Beat me by 2 seconds! :)
The show was anti-Christian.
Another Festivus miricle!
Just so happen to have one of the poles as Wagner is a customer of mine! To bad its not for aluminum...
Festivus is nice, but Frank Costanza’s greatest contribution was the invention, along with Cosmo Kramer, of the “manzierre” or “Bro” for overweight men.
It was probably more anti-Jewish than anything else. There were way more jokes about the Jewish religion than Christianity.
(In case you don’t know, Jerry Seinfeld is Jewish.)
Maybe the show was simply a way we could laugh at ourselves.
I loved the episode, but I am really concerned after reading the article that some people are taking festivus too seriously.
Some people in this article are quoted as saying they did festivus to keep the holidays “inclusive” aka try not to offend people.
That’s flat scary!
I remember “George” being interviewed after the show went off the air.
He said that people would come up to him and say, “I love your character. ‘You’ were just like me!”
He would always respond, “That is not a compliment.”
You are right. The show is funny. But it’s too bad people don’t see the characters for the shallow, empty people they were.
Beats the hell out of “Kwanzaa”...
***The show is funny. But it’s too bad people don’t see the characters for the shallow, empty people they were.***
That is exactly what made it funny - to those of us who recognized our own human foibles, faults and weaknesses.
Humility is humor with redemption.
Didn’t know if there was a silent /sarc after the “Seinfeld is Jewish” line—but FWIW, so is Julia-Louis Dreyfus and Jason Alexander (real name Jay Greenspan).
Michael Richards has, at various times, said he was, and other times said he wasn’t—there is an unfounded rumor that he is related to Danny Kaye
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