Virtually every TV series in the 1950s created special Christmas themed shows year after year, including Robin Hood, Captain Gallant of the Foreign Legion, Four Star Playhouse, Racket Squad, Burns and Allen and more. The TV shows that I offer can be found on various DVDs HERE or on posters that promote Christmas Programs for movie theaters, TV stations or home viewing.
The poster on the right gathers the very best of the best, or ones guaranteed to entertain and uplift today. A Howdy Doody Christmas is silly but short -- Howdy and Buffalo Bob fly to the North Pole to rescue Santa, all in 8 minutes. Santa's Surprise is the first Little Audry cartoon; she and some ethnic friends from around the world stow away in Santa's sleigh and give him a big present back at the Pole. Betty White always delights, and in this 1957 episode of "Date with the Angels" she works in a department store where the aged Santa starts giving away all the presents. In a rare episode of Ozzie and Harriet from 1953, The Miracle, Ozzie recalls a childhood Christmas incident. Ricky plays Oz in the flashback while Ozzie and Harriet play his parents and David is his brother. Um, don't try to figure that out, but do try to see it someday. "Christmas Shopping Show" is a hilarious Jack Benny Show in which he shops for a present but sends clerk Mel Blanc to the loony bin. In "Cop and the Anthem," Red Skelton as Freddy the Freeloader tries to break into jail Christmas Eve to get a good meal.
All of these are included in the 13 DVD volumes listed later on the page, so get one for the best shows or get em all like a small TV station did this past week. They plan to run a segment of TV shows, cartoons or features every day until Christmas, starting as soon as they get them this coming week.
On Christmas Eve, it's bitter cold in a raging snowstorm. (How did they do that on the Roach lot?) Poverty and misery are shaking hands. The gang enjoys what they can: watching a Santa in a toy-shop window and smelling bread baking. But hope is in short supply when Joe says that all Santas are fake. The kids ask the shoemaker who tells them Santa is real, you just have to wish hard enough. Mickey and Jackie want to make the younger kids' Christmas happy; the Spirit of Santa helps them out by giving them an idea to sell hot bricks to peddlers, beat cops, and others stuck outside. With the money, they buy presents to distribute that night. Meanwhile, the Mob is using a dozen fake Santas to steal toys; the police force them down a chimney right where the Gang lives, so....
Also on this disc is a DuPont Theater episode from 1956 "Three Young Kings." As part of the Christmas festivities in a Latin-American village, 3 youngsters dressed as the Magi traditionally distribute gifts to other children whose parents purchased the presents. But one year passing through the poor section of town they give all the gifts away to the truly needy.
You can watch all of these and more for free soon -- hey, it's Christmas time -- on Flictopia.
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