The Spirit of Christmas (1953)
This Christmas film, created as a special for television broadcast throughout the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania viewing region, was produced by puppeteer Mabel Beaton and her husband Les for Bell Telephone Company and first aired in 1953. Following a short live-action opening portion, featured are two extended marionette segments, the first dramatizing Clement Moore's "A Visit from St. Nicholas", the second reverently telling the Nativity story; the two stories are staged in classic, traditional style. From 1953 onward, for several years, The Spirit of Christmas was broadcast in the intended region multiple times per holiday season. It was also available as a 16mm film licensed to schools for showings to students. This film often is misstated to have originally been broadcast in 1950.
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The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.
This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.
A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.
This Christmas program is not going to please many people because it lacks a huge WOW FACTOR in terms of visuals. What it does so wonderfully is that it lets you use your imagination. Mabel Beaton uses puppets in this program to great effect. The story is pace beautifully. The film is made "WITH GREAT LOVE" which is apparent.The way this program was made and produced I am sure was the inspiration for the well know "Rankin-Bass" Christmas Specials. If you have kids watch this with them during the holidays. It may play on some PBS stations but it is however worth buying. Trust me it is GREAT.
I agree wholeheartedly with Tom' comments. This is what children suchas myself grew up on, not the sub adequate shows on TV today. The localstation here in Phila only shows the Spirit part of the marionetteprogram, but not the Nativity scene, which I guess is just a sign ofour times. However, it is a treat to see this, even if only for once ayear! Alexander Scourby, who starred and was the voice over for both the shows, was the perfect choice. As a bit of trivia, he appeared years later in a role as an older businessman on (I believe) General Hospital. His was a voice that, once heard, was never mistaken for another. My grandaughters now watch this show with me every Christmas season, so I guess this is a nice legacy to pass down
I remember seeing this show in the 1950's when I was a child in Lancaster Pennsylvania,brought to us by the "Bell Telephone Company."When my family moved to New Jersey in 1961 my beloved Christmas Show was not broadcast by New York stations.When I would visit friends in PA I would mention the show and anyone raised in PA remembered it,and hoped it would be available on tape or DVD,SO FAR NO LUCK!I mentioned it to a friend and he sent me a tape of "The Spirit of Christmas" and I was elated,it even included the commercials.Despite the grainy tape quality I was able to make a DVD.Hopefully it is made for wide release soon,it's a treasure.
Growing up in Philadelphia in the '50s this was on TV every night for at least a week prior to Christmas. Somehow my sister and brothers and I never got tired of it. Even back then we could see that it was pretty primitive - you could almost see the hand making the camels 'walk' as they carried the Wise Men to Bethlehem. That was part of the charm, I think.For the longest time it disappeared from the screen, and as I married and had children of my own I regretted that they would not be able to see it and enjoy it as I had. Then somehow our local PBS affiliate got ahold of it and started playing it during pledge drives at Christmas and offering it as an incentive to contribute a donation. That's how I got my copy. My kids were all under ten at the time and I showed it to them. After viewing it a time or two they labeled it as old fashioned and weren't interested in seeing it after that. I was somewhat disappointed, but came to the conclusion that the MTV / Nintendo generation couldn't appreciate it for what it was.The funny thing is, last evening I was watching TV with my middle daughter - now 19 - and a notorious channel changer, and SHE had the remote. This usually means seeing maybe 5% of 20 programs instead of one whole one. Well, she switched and found The Spirit of Christmas during the Nativity segment, stopped, and we both watched it to the end - no interruptions! I didn't say anything to her about it, but it made me happy to think that maybe it reminded her of when SHE was little. I hope so.The last thing that gets me is the unnamed host of the show with his inch wide necktie and dark suit saying that this was a gift from 'your phone company'. Pray, whatever phone company is that? Have you seen anything from MCI, Sprint, or Verizon that doesn't have an underlying "buy from me" subliminal message? No? Didn't think so! Don't hold your breath! I should know - I work for one of these guys.