![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/AP16329633552458.jpg\")
The annual Thanksgiving Day Parade in Philadelphia. Channel 6 took over the parade in 1986 and has done a bang up job with it, says columnist Neal Zoren. (Joseph Kaczmarek – The Associated Press)<\/p>\nThink Thanksgiving Parade, and visions of marching bands, cartoon characters, balloons, and floats begin to materialize before one\u2019s very eyes.<\/p>\n
The obvious isn\u2019t all.<\/p>\n
Broadway-level theater, live music of all sorts, ballet and modern dance, every daypart of television, NFL football, and even \u201cJeopardy!\u201d and \u201cThe Wheel of Fortune\u201d join the baton twirlers, cornet players, Disney characters converging on Philadelphia\u2019s Benjamin Franklin Parkway this Thanksgiving to give a special luster to the 6 ABC Dunkin\u2019 Thanksgiving Day Parade, airing live from 8:30 to noon Thursday, Nov. 27, on Channel 6.<\/p>\n
I feel compelled every year to remind Delaware Valleyans there wouldn\u2019t be a Thanksgiving Day Parade without Channel 6. The station singlehandedly rescued Philadelphia\u2019s Turkey Day march from likely extinction in 1986 when it took ownership of it as the department stores that once presented fell in domino fashion from prominence.<\/p>\n
Look at Philadelphia now. Not one major department store in all of Center City and several suburban emporia shuttered what lookslike for good.<\/p>\n
The annual Thanksgiving Day Parade in Philadelphia. Channel 6 took over the parade in 1986 and has done a bang up job with it, says columnist Neal Zoren. (Joseph Kaczmarek – The Associated Press)<\/p>\n
Using its advertising mettle to enlist significant sponsors, a role taken by Dunkin\u2019 in recent years, and starting from scratch every December for the next November\u2019s event, Channel 6 has not only kept the Thanksgiving Day Parade a thriving institution, but it has seen in grow in scope and variety every year.<\/p>\n
Thank John Morris, the 6 ABC department heads, and the army of talent coordinators, logistics folks, planners, runners, and volunteer balloon carriers that invisibly but palpably bring you what you see each Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n
Sponsors aren\u2019t all. It doesn\u2019t hurt that 6 ABC is owned by Disney and has access to Mickey Mouse and the comic book and live-action icons that charming rodent has spawned.<\/p>\n
The talent lineup is a veritable TV Guide of Disney on-air stars as well as luminaries from 6 ABC\u2019s syndicated programs.<\/p>\n
Then there\u2019s Ensemble Arts Philly coordinating with Morris and his crew to bring the casts of touring shows at or coming to the Academy of Music, the Forrest, and other venues to the Parkway.<\/p>\n
The Philadelphia Orchestra, linked administratively with Ensemble Arts Philly, and others groups associated with the Kimmel Center \u2014 Philadelphia Ballet, Philadanco, Philly Pops, A Soulful Christmas among them \u2014 will appear on Thanksgiving, all giving tone andcultural diversity to the Parkway march.<\/p>\n
Cecily Tynan and Rick Williams once more serve as anchor host for the Channel 6 telecast. Working with them schmoozing amid the crowd, talking to some of the celebrities, and providing color from the sidelines are Adam Joseph, Karen Rogers and Alicia Vitarelli, the last of whom I saw at the opening of \u201cElf\u201d at Bucks County Playhouse this weekend but couldn\u2019t get across the house to say hello to.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m sure there will also be the annual 6 ABC float.<\/p>\n
Among the Ensemble Arts Philly cast members greeting and entertaining the Parkway and TV audience are Lucas Hallauer and David Josefsberg who play Marty McFly and Doc Brown in the tour of \u201cBack to the Future: The Musical,\u201d currently at the Academy of Music, and Somerdale, N.J.\u2019s, Jose Contreras who arrives Dec. 3 as Orpheus in \u201cHadestown\u201d at the Forrest Theatre.<\/p>\n
Other productions sending casts to Philadelphia are \u201cBeauty and the Beast,\u201d \u201cShucked,\u201d and \u201cThe Sound of Music.\u201d<\/p>\n
The local choruses and choirs appearing 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 9, in \u201cA Soulful Christmas\u201d at Marian Anderson Hall also appear.<\/p>\n
Morning, evening, and primetime television will be well represented as Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos from \u201cLive with Kelly and Mark\u201d participate. Ripa\u2019s one-time co-host, Ryan Seacrest,\u00a0reunites with her at the parade but with his current sidekick, Vanna White, from \u201cWheel of Fortune.\u201d<\/p>\n
I\u2019d like to go the parade just to see if White has the smallest waist I\u2019ve ever seen, something I noticed when I interviewed her ages ago. \u201cWheel\u2019s\u201d slotmate, \u201cJeopardy!,\u201d is represented by its host and first long-term champion, Ken Jennings.<\/p>\n
ABC\u2019s \u201cMonday Night Football,\u201d broadcast on ESPN but occasionally spilling to Channel 6 and local stations, will have a presence with its announcers, Joe Buck and Troy Aikman.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/AP24209730067157.jpg\")
The cast of \u201cAbbott Elementary\u201d is expected at the 6ABC Thanksgiving Day Parade. (AP Photo\/Chris Pizzello)<\/p>\n
Quinta Brunson, Sheryl Lee Ralph, and the cast of \u201cAbbott Elementary\u201d are scheduled to appear en masse. \u201cGood Morning America\u201d weather alumnus, Sam Champion, will also be there.<\/p>\n
Entertainers abound. They include the current version of The Four Tops, David Archleta, and Jordin Sparks.<\/p>\n
New NBC 10 anchor<\/p>\n
Lena Tillett joins Channel 10 as an anchor and reporter on Jan. 12.<\/p>\n
She takes over some of the anchor roles filled by Tracy Davidson, whose last day on Channel 10 is Nov. 25. Tillett will be paired with Jacqueline London, who was inducted into the Broadcast Pioneers Hall of Fame last weekend, at 5 p.m., and with Fred Shropshire at 7 p.m.<\/p>\n
She comes to the NBC station from WRAL-TV in Raleigh, N.C., where she is also an anchor-reporter. The D.C. native also worked at WOWT-TV in Omaha and News 12 in Brooklyn and the Bronx, N.Y.<\/p>\n
She received a degree from Georgetown University in English and communications and holds a master\u2019s from New York University in documentary journalism.<\/p>\n
Preston & Steve Campout results<\/p>\n
Preston & Steve\u2019s Campout for Hunger had its usual impact.<\/p>\n
During its encampment on the Xfinity Live parking lot, it collected 1.8 million pounds of food and raised more than $1.6 million in donations.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s only the latest tally.<\/p>\n
Preston & Steve are heard weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m. on WMMR (93.3 FM). They are hosts of the most popular morning show in the market.<\/p>\n
One role, then acting bug bit<\/p>\n
Christopher Patrick Mullen is one of about four actors I\u2019ve spoken to in recent weeks who owe their career, or at least the experience that led to their career, to his older sister.<\/p>\n
In Mullen\u2019s case, his sister, Marie, dragged him to an audition for \u201cThe King and I\u201d at her school, Malvern\u2019s Villa Maria Academy, because it was an all-girls school, and the production needed boys for several roles, including the king\u2019s many children.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt that time, I wasn\u2019t interested in performing at all,\u201d Mullen says by telephone from his home. \u201cAll I thought about then was baseball. I knew everything there was to know about baseball, and if anything, I wanted to be a baseball player.<\/p>\n
\u201c \u2018What do I have to do at his audition?\u2019 I asked because I didn\u2019t know what an audition was.<\/p>\n
\u201c \u2018Just answer any questions the director asks you, sing when he tells you to, read when he tells you to, and see what happens,\u2019 she said. \u201c \u2018It won\u2019t kill you.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
Mullen was given a role, in fact, he played the best juvenile part in Rodgers and Hammerstein\u2019s musical, the Siamese prince, Chulalongkorn, and was bitten by a different kind of theater bug from most kids.<\/p>\n
\u201cI enjoyed performing,\u201d Mullen says, \u201cbut what I really loved was working as a professional and being in a company and on stage with adults. I felt part of something and important. I had friends of all ages.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was a kid then. Now I\u2019ve gotten to the point where I\u2019m the oldest member of most companies and playing the senior roles.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mullen\u2019s current role is the Major General, the military veteran and father of several daughters who are being wooed by pirates that landed near their coastal British home in Gilbert & Sullivan\u2019s \u201cThe Pirates of Penzance,\u201d at West Mt. Airy\u2019s Quintessence Theatre through Sunday, Jan 4.<\/p>\n
The part was a challenge to Mullen, who undertook it while appearing in a Stephen King thriller, \u201cMisery,\u201d at Ambler\u2019s Act 2 Playhouse, and who has to deliver a complicated G&S patter song \u201cI Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General,\u201d chocked with tongue-twisting lyrics and performed at high speed.<\/p>\n
Mullen laughed as he talked about catching up with his off-book casemates at early \u201cPenzance\u201d rehearsals but said he has the song mastered for the next months of Quintessence performances.<\/p>\n
That mastery is no surprise. For more than 30 years, Mullen has been an integral part of the Philadelphia\u2019s burgeoning theater community. He was there at the beginning, and he\u2019s still going.<\/p>\n
Known for his versatility and ability to from outright comedy to Shakespearean majesty.<\/p>\n
![\"Benjamin](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/CAROL-Marley-Scrooge-2022.jpg\")
Benjamin Brown, front, and Christopher Patrick Mullen star in \u201cA Christmas Carol Comedy\u201d at Hedgerow Theatre in November 2022. (COURTESY OF HEDGEROW THEATRE)<\/p>\n
Mullen has been seen in many of the major roles the theater offers and says he has some undone parts in mind for the future.<\/p>\n
He talked about the stress of doing the first Gilbert and Sullivan show in his career, saying he was so tense learning the thousand lyrics to his patter song, being tied to a bed waiting to have his ankles hobnailed in \u201cMisery\u201d was a relief from his angst at \u201cPenzance\u201d rehearsals.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s over now. I have the song and the part down, and it\u2019s fun.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn all of my work, even the most complex of Shakespeare\u2019s monologues (Mullen is a frequent and veteran Mercutio from \u201cRomeo and Juliet) I never had to deal with Gilbert\u2019s level of verbiage. It stymies you at first. Then you get involved with Gilbert\u2019s wit and Sullivan\u2019s pace, and it becomes great.\u201d<\/p>\n
It seems natural Mullen would master the language. He has played almost every major Shakespearean role, although he says he looks forward to tackling \u201cTwelfth Night\u2019s\u201d Malvolio some day, and gets real joy from teaching others how to find the poetry and story in Shakespeare.<\/p>\n
\u201cShakespeare is brilliant. He gives you everything in his cadences.\u201d<\/p>\n
To think all of this acting started with a yen for baseball and dance.<\/p>\n
\u201cI continued in the theater, acting in high school and going on to DeSales College for a degree in dance.<\/p>\n
\u201cDeSales doesn\u2019t believe in letting a student limit himself. I could be a dancer, but I was guided to be and maybe prodded to be a full performer. That\u2019s when I fell in love with all of it, not just working as a child with adults and feeling a part of a more mature world but collaborating with other creative people to entertain audiences of yet more people.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom being hysterical at the prospect of that audition at Villa Maria, I began to look forward to each show and each new group of colleagues.<\/p>\n
\u201cQuintessence is a great place to work. Alex Burns, who is directing \u2018Pirates\u2019 built in from scratch when he was in his twenties. Alex is like an encyclopedia of theater, plays, acting styles. What I like best is he strives to do what I strive to do, and that is entertain.<\/p>\n
\u201cGilbert & Sullivan take care of a lot, but doing this show is a joy because of a chorus that sounds just gorgeous and the many opportunities it gives to entertain.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mullen had a lot of support from his family as he developed his career. Even in childhood, culture was part of his life. His sister no longer performs, but one of her children does.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s also a scary mother\u2019s premonition that came true.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy family was watching Zeffirelli\u2019s 1968 movie of \u2018Romeo and Juliet,\u2019 and after Mercutio did his famous Mab speech, my mother turned to me and said \u2018you\u2019re going to play that part someday.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
As mentioned, Mullen has played most Shakespeare roles and numbers them among his favorites. But in remembering his stage roles, there\u2019s a lot of comedy and effective acting, as in the Arden production of \u201cAssassins\u201d a few years back.<\/p>\n
Mullen galvanized that production with every performance.<\/p>\n
Besides his work on stage, Mullen is a teacher who is especially keen on helping young performers find and understand the humanity and scope in their roles.<\/p>\n
He also directs and is looking forward to helming a production of Craig Wright\u2019s \u201cThe Pavilion,\u201d in which he appeared a decade back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Think Thanksgiving Parade, and visions of marching bands, cartoon characters, balloons, and floats begin to materialize before one\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":400542,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5132],"tags":[5229,171,1269,1448,2830,1311,1072,11104,7156,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-400541","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-opinion","11":"tag-pa","12":"tag-pennsylvania","13":"tag-philadelphia","14":"tag-things-to-do","15":"tag-top-stories-dtd","16":"tag-tv-and-streaming","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115602717380367382","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=400541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400541\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/400542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=400541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=400541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=400541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}