Christmas TV from December 24, 1970
(San Bernardino, CA)
A quick peek at what you might have watched back on Christmas Eve of 1970.
Movies from earlier in day included:
The Holly ad the Ivy (1953)
Well made yuletide family drama directed by legendary brit-thesp
Sir. Ralph Richardson. Not very festive but a terrific film.
Silent Night Lonely Night (1969)
Another downbeat holiday drama, this one starring
Lloyd Bridges and
Shirley Jones. An NBC Movie of the week from the year before.
A Christmas Carol (1951)
The
Alastair Sim version.
6:00 PM offered a trio of musical choices. Would you watch the traditional carols of
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir’s Joy to the World, or join
Pat Boone, Shari Lewis and others celebrating
The Magic of Christmas. Perhaps your TV was permanently tuned to channel 28 for their 12-hour marathon of live Christmas performances, this hour featuring the
Ukrainian Chorus of Los Angeles and
The Morningside High School Choir
The second half of Biblical epic
King of Kings (1962) aired on Channel 7’s Six O’clock movie.
6:30 brought Robert Schuller’s
Hour of Power Christmas Special and
Ray Conniff’s Christmas Special (1965) depending on your mood.
7:00 had more music from Ch. 28 with
The Hollywood Tabernacle Brass Ensemble of the Salvation Army and
The Figueroa Street Church of Christ Choir. Ch. 23 offers “
We Wish You a Merry Christmas” billed as a 30 minute musical Christmas festival
7:30 ramped things up with a Christmas themed installment of
The Flip Wilson Show with guests
Burl Ives, Slim Gaillard, and greaser group
Sha-Na-Na, and a made for TV production of the London and Broadway musical
Pickwick, which, while not often sighted around the holidays, is sort of a Christmas story. This BBC production features a plethora of performers familiar to fans of classic British comedy, not the least leading man and Goon Show stalwart
Harry Secombe.
Los Angeles Mayor
Sam Yorty presented
Christmas Greetings From the City of Los Angeles with The L.A. Symphonic Chorus
Classic film fans could catch
Miracle on 34th street (1947) on Ch. 9’s Million Dollar Movie.
8:00 Ch. 28’s marathon of holiday performances comes to a close with appearances from
The Japanese Philharmonic Orchestra of L.A. and
The Korean United Presbyterian Choir.
8:30 marked the premiere of a very special Christmas episode of
Bewitched - “Sisters at Heart”. A tale of racial tolerance penned by a class of ninth-graders from Jefferson High School in Los Angeles.
Also at 8;30 was
Christmas Is with Benji and his dog Waldo imagining what life might have been as a shepherd at the nativity.
By
9:00 it was time for "
Getting Ready for Christmas” with the
Doodletown Pipers. Once ubiquitous on the boob tube these squeaky clean pop singers have gently floated into obscurity.
More traditional music could be found on Ch. 13 with
The William and Mary Christmas Choir followed by a seasonal
Church in the Home.
10:00 brought a repeat of
Dean Martin’s Christmas Show guest-starring
Bob Newhart,
Dom DeLuise, and
Dennis Weaver.
On a more serious note, Ch 28 presented
Dennis Potter’s Son of Man (1969) starring
Colin Blakely, and
Robert Hardy, Originally part of the BBC’s
The Wednesday Play series of dramas.
The
11:00 hour starts with the
Reg Owen led 1938 adaptation of
A Christmas Carol, fifteen minutes later Ch. 2 had
Two Thousand Years Away, a short concert of original carols written by
Donald Swann, and performed alongside
Sydney Carter. I could't find much about this special but most of the songs seem to appear on Swann's 1968 collection of original carols
Sing round the year.
11:30 gave you a choice of
Skitch Henderson’s The Heart of Christmas (repeat) and
Pete Seeger’s Christmas Eve Special
“Bough’s of Holly”.
If you were up all not taking care of Christmas Eve business you could have caught
Holiday Inn (1942) at
Midnight and
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) at 1:00AM.
My Picks for the night...
The Magic of Christmas, Flip Wilson, Doodltown Pipers, Dean Martin, and Skitch Henderson.
Sources include The San Bernardino County Sun, The Odessa American Sun, The Chilliwack Progress
