MUSIC FROM SPACE: Bea Arthur in the STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL -

The Star Wars Holiday Special has become justly infamous - it's a bizarre, incoherent, ridiculous mess - but it's a fun kind of bizarre, incoherent, ridiculous mess. In this clip we visit a rather Weimar-esque catina on Tatooine, with Bea Arthur as a Marlene Deitrich-like dame struggling to run her bar under Imperial rule. The song she sings is a mix of John Williams' Star Wars cantina band calypso music and Weill-ian cabaret music, and it's surprisingly effective thanks to Arthur's total convinction as she performs with rubbery squid-people and giant rat puppets. Consider this clip an unironic tribute to Arthur, who died yesterday at age 86.





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