Miss Velma's Christmas Sharpshooting Scene

[SufferinSprings]

WOW. Thanks for posting this Miss Velma classic. Quick bit of trivia: The device they are calling a "hand organ" here is a Stylophone. David Bowie plays one on the classic hit "Space Oddity" and also endorsed the device in magazine ads in the UK after the song's release.

[MrAccordionPimp]

She really was a master at that hand organ

[DoxiaGwynplaine]

The complete Miss Velma's Christmas Special is now available to view at: DoxiaGwynplaine channel. More UWC videos to come.

[truvelocity]

They were no fools. Televangelism was big money! I have to admit, she was fantastic and a joy to watch.

[StephenWorth]

I was announced at the healing horn. The interesting thing about the Jaggers' church was the disproportionate number of downs syndrome people in the congregation

[BaronTurco]

This IS Christmas

[BaronTurco]

This is what Xmas is all about.

I especially like the hand organ farts near the end of the song

[exhoicat]

Miss Velma and O.L. Jaggers were a couple of the funniest people on TV in Los Angeles. I especially loved their "mighty golden altar" made out of junk scavenged from theatrical prop houses ... looked like a steam calliope. And the whole thing WAS a circus, as this video shows so well.

LOL in peace, whoever you were, Miss Velma

[ripperduck]

@exhoicat I lived in San Francisco but my dad's family was from LA. I was about 9-10 when I came down to visit and my cousins insisted that I stayed up to watch these two. OL Jaggers looked like Elvis wearing a martian costume and he was yapping about the Golden Altar of Incense Prayer. I still remember it because my cousins kept repeating it as if it meant something. Even at that age I knew I was seeing really absurd stuff, it made Tom and Jerry cartoons seem absolutely rational....

[exhoicat]

@ripperduck Did you ever see Miss Velma do a "healing" service? That was a howl! Although I think some of the action was pretty standard stuff. The people wanting to be "healed" would stand in a row facing her, and she'd walk along, bark, "Heal!" and smack the victim on the forehead. They'd fall over backward into the arms of the "catchers" behind them, and be lowered to the floor. No evidence that anyone was actually healed of anything, of course.

[ripperduck]

@exhoicat No I cant say that I did. I do remember OL playing the piano and singing about coming to the golden altar of incense prayer. We actually sang that damn thing all the time that we were visiting. This happened about 35 years ago damn it, and NOTHING and I mean NOTHING has been as good. It had to be if I still remember this stuff...

[bharfarar]

@ripperduck ...seeing Miss Velma and Dr. Jaggers on when cable TV first started up in LA was like a Twilight Zone episode. Just otherworldly. Cheesy? Gaudy? It was pre Firesign Theater.

[stlgtrace]

I loved watching O.L. & Miss Velma. I used to work for a supermarket I'd come home at 4 or 5AM after working all night and then get a thrill by watching O.L. & Miss Velma! Praise the Lord!

[bharfarar]

Magnificient beyond description, almost betraying infinite holiness on an order we mortals rarely behold.

[MrAccordionPimp]

WOW SHE's a great shot and wow what a selection to be played on a hand organ

[Kevinsniff]

I love playing my hand organ

[Kevinsniff]

they are both dead first Dr Jaggers I believe , then Miss Velma of a broken heart

[slinkylady01]

This captures the true spirit of Christmas, lol. Does anyone know if she made any other holiday specials?

[bigarv65]

Awe inspiring! I sit dumbfounded as I watch. I never sat through Miss Velma that much when this used to come on while I was in high school, but I could listen to Dr. O Lee Jaggers' whole show. Just truly amazing stuff. Thanks for posting this, and PLEASE if anyone has anything with Dr. O Lee, please post it or email me. I must find the sermon where he worked in a picture of a chicken embryo!

[bbocjcp]

"After this, she will play the hand organ." This single-handedly redeems Christmas.