The Spirit of Christmas
The Spirit of Christmas
| 01 December 1953 (USA)
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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.

Reviews
Cebalord

Very best movie i ever watch

Ensofter

Overrated and overhyped

SoTrumpBelieve

Must See Movie...

Steineded

How sad is this?

ilcorago-97740

I loved watching this magical program as a child. I was mesmerized by those puppets!According to the TV section of the Philadelphia Inquirer from that year, "The Spirit of Christmas" was first broadcast on December 22, 1951 and was aired 5 times that holiday season. The Wikipedia article and the blog source it quotes are wrong.

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kga58

I've been looking for this for years, but didn't know the title. I heard the familiar voice on a TV program and made note of the name--Alexander Scourby. It wasn't until a couple of weeks ago that I found out the title and that it was available on DVD. Like a previous poster, I saw this every year as a child in elementary school. It was something I looked forward to each year. The puppetry was so impressive to a younger child back then--waaaaay before all the overdone CG effects of contemporary entertainment. Even now the puppet work still looks good. Both segments have such a simple charm. The puppets are costumed as live actors would be---this is far from a shoestring production! This is a timeless classic--required Christmas season viewing.

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skypilot777

I like so many others grew up watching The Spirit of Christmas in Pittsburgh. It was broadcast every year for a long time and then seemed to disappear. Two years ago, I was searching the internet for it which took a long time, because I didn't have a clue as to what it was called. I found a web site called TV Party that had a reference to it, and found a TV station in Philadelphia that gave it away as a promotion for a donation. Now here's the great news for us all, it's been released on DVD and even has extras! Type in The Spirit of Christmas on your search engine, and look for a site that says released on October 11, 2005. You can order it for $9.99Enjoy! Rich P.

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Mary Peterpuffer

One of the Greatest all time films of Christmas. this immortal classic is a story which is in two parts. The First is - The Night Before Christmas and the second is - The Nativity. both stories are beautifully recited and are staged with a musical background in classic and traditional style. The Marionettes are created for this 1950's TV Christmas classic probably represented the cuttingedge of creativity in puppeteering.These classic Christmas tales will be enjoyed by young and old alike. A Christmas must see. this puppteering may have provied inspiration for future successes like Howdy Doody, Kukla Fran & ollie, and much later, the Jim Henson family of characters. You and your family will rediscover the warmth and charm of these classic.

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