MERRY FESTIVUS & MERRY FITZMAS TOO !

TV: Festivus isn't just for the 'Seinfeld' faithful anymore

08:27 AM CST on Thursday, December 22, 2005
By DARLA ATLAS / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News
Can you believe it? Just one more shopping day until Festivus!
Luckily, the only thing you have to buy is an aluminum pole, and that's assuming you don't already have one. And some would also say there's no such thing as Festivus, anyway. But they would be wrong.
The holiday was made famous by a 1997 Seinfeld episode, in which George's dad, Frank Costanza, describes the traditions he created as a comeback to commercialism. There is the Airing of Grievances, in which family members get to describe the many ways others have wronged them that year; the Feats of Strength, a wrestling tournament that ends when the head of the household is pinned; and the aluminum pole, upon which tinsel is forbidden.
Jerry Stiller, who played Frank Costanza, says he's constantly reminded of his Seinfeld days by strangers on the street.
"You get a lot of people screaming at you, 'There's a Festivus for the rest of us!' " he says in a phone interview from New York.
But if there's a deeper meaning behind Festivus, he's happy to be associated with it.
"We send gifts, wait for a thank-you – why not just put up an aluminum pole with no tinsel or thought to it and leave it alone? I have nothing against giving, but sometimes, a phone call is just as good."
Still, even he can't always embrace the true spirit of Festivus.
"I want to tell you: Right now I'm on a show [CBS' The King of Queens] and I'm sending gifts to everybody that walks on the set," he says. "The grips, the costume people, the hair, the makeup – I have such a need for their love and for them to laugh during the course of rehearsing. It really wrecks me, and I haven't licked it yet."
The holiday – officially celebrated on Dec. 23 – has its roots in real life. Seinfeld writer Daniel O'Keefe's dad is the true father of Festivus. In 1966, as legend has it, the elder Daniel O'Keefe created the holiday to commemorate the first date with his wife, and the family continued celebrations each year through the 1970s. When young Daniel grew up and mentioned it one day at work, the concept was put into the script.
Now Mr. O'Keefe's vision is being adopted by the masses. According to the book Festivus: The Holiday for the Rest of Us (Warner Books, $14.95), there's a Festivus disc-golf tournament in Oregon, a Festivus wine in Oklahoma and Festivus parties across the country, all of which have creative ways of interpreting the rituals. In Missouri, for example, partygoers write down their grievances and put them inside a cardboard, silver-painted pole, which is broken like a piñata at the end of the night so the complaints can be read aloud.
As for local bragging rights, the book notes that the first "O Festivus!" song was overheard last year at Dick's Last Resort in Dallas. Sung to the tune of "O Canada!", the book recites the lyrics, which include:
"Thy feats of strength are glorious to me.
Frank Costanza, we tip our hat to thee.
O Festivus, we'll pin you first, you'll see."
No holiday is complete without commercial tie-ins, of course, so a Milwaukee company has begun selling Festivus Poles. A 6-foot floor model is $38 plus shipping at www.wagnercompanies.com.
Like "yada yada yada," double dipping and sparing a square, Festivus is a Seinfeld gift that keeps regifting. Mr. Stiller says his time on the show "was the freest form of theater I've ever in my life experienced. ... I love basketball, and at its best, that's what the show was like. We passed from one guy to another; it didn't matter who scored the points."
And what are Mr. Stiller's Festivus plans for this year? He chuckles and says, "I think we're going to just let it pass."
Darla Atlas is a Fort Worth freelance writer.
E-mail darlajatlas@yahoo.com
Seinfeld's Festivus
8 tonight, Seinfeld mini-marathon, starting with Festivus episode.
TBS. 2 hrs.
source: http://www.guidelive.com/sharedcontent/dws/ent/stories/DN-festivus_1222gl.ART0.State.Edition1.10288c55.html
------------
Merry Fitzmas ? You'll find out soon enough !