The Salt Cracker Crazies Remember Emmet Otter’s Jug Band Christmas

In 1977 legendary puppeteer and creator of the Muppets, Jim Henson, and multi-talented songwriter/composer, Paul Williams, adapted a storybook by Russell Hoban and Lillian Hoban adapted from the timeless holiday masterpiece The Gift of the Magi by O Henry to create the cult classic film of Emmet Otter’s Jug Band Christmas. Just as a folk song is passed through different voices from generation to generation, this touching story of selflessness in the face of adversity, the joy of giving, and the magic of the holidays has gone through many iterations throughout the years; and now, the story will come to life anew at the Jalopy Theatre and School of Music. For one night only, The Salt Cracker Crazies, a New York City jug band, will spin this yarn from memory, regaling the audience with the memories, anecdotes, and most importantly the story and songs from the film. There will be laughs, there may be tears, there will be a talent show, and, most certainly, there will be a whole set of classic hokum chestnuts to keep the audience toasty warm and full of cheer. Fun for the whole family!

The Salt Cracker Crazies are a collective of vagabonds who live beneath the Hellgate Bridge in Astoria, Queens. When not popping out babies and snacking on dollar slices of pizza, they can be found bringing their unique brand of itinerant polyvocal jug band music to street corners, juke joints, museums, back alleys, and jail cells. Their expansive library of transient, agrarian, debaucherous, gin-soaked tunes from the 1920s and beyond has been delighting crowds up and down the East Coast for over a decade and they have no plans to slow down anytime soon. Their prized possession is a well-worn vhs tape of Emmet Otter’s Jug Band Christmas.