Burl Ives: The Man, The Myth, The Legend

“Most infamously, in 1982, he gets a starring part in White Dog… It is a movie about a racist dog. It is a serious topic, of course, but it is pure melodrama and camp and is a real WTF/LOL fest. It stars Christy McNichol (a teen actress/singer in the ’70s — she started out like the Vanessa Hudgens of her day, but then went on a Lohan-y slide out of stardom) as a Hollywood actress who finds this racist dog running loose and then asks Burl Ives, playing a dog trainer, to help her save this dog from being put down/succumbing to its racism… Anyhow, there is a scene towards the end of the movie where Ives, McNichol, and the trainer are eating dinner after touring the trainer’s secret high-tech science lab (naturally), and Ives starts adlibbing — you can tell a cop is supposed to knock on the door and the knock doesn’t come for a bit — and he says, “Oooh, delicious sour cream” and eats like a HEAPING spoonful of it, like half the container is his personal serving.”

Jessica Hopper found out everything you didn’t know you needed to know about “Holly Jolly Christmas” singer and Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer narrator, Burl Ives for Rookie’s mostly-Christmas music roundup. This is just a smidge.