Old-Time Radio Christmas, 5 of 5: The Man at the Gate of the World

Welcome to the final installment of my five-part look at extra-Biblical Christmas stories in old-time radio! I have a real odd duck for you this time: it's Mr. President and the story "The Man at the Gate of the World." The story in question was written by W. E. Cule and first published in 1929.

Mr. President is a real odd duck; it starred Edward Arnold, known to be one of the more conservative Hollywood actors. Each week in the series he would portray a different President of the USA, referred to in the script only as "Mr. President" until the close of the play. The concept was an interesting one - it challenged listeners to guess which President was the week's protagonist.

Of course by its nature, Mr. President had a very shallow well to draw from - there simply weren't that many Presidents (or interesting stories about them). Despite this, the series ran from 1947-1953. To pad out the series, each Christmas Arnold would feature a non-presidential story - his adaptation of "The Man at the Gate of the World."

In the story Arnold portrayed Caspar the Persian, one of the fabled Three Wise Men (which means this story is more closely connected to Epiphany than Christmas but we'll let it slide). The name "Caspar" has a long tradition in the church but it's not from the Bible - none of the three wise men received names there. Caspar returns to Bethlehem just after the slaughter of the innocent children there. Incorrectly believing the Christ chid he visited is dead, Caspar mourns him. Eventually he learns Christ evaded the slaughter but is once again too late, hearing of his crucifixion. Caspar makes his home in Damascus and then, one day, in walks Judas Iscariot...

Now, hold on... Judas hung himself after the crucifixion, right? Well, not in this story - here, Judas explains that story was told by the other Disciples. Caspar's encounter with Judas sets in motion the meaning of the story --- forgiveness.

Again, this is an odd duck. Not the place you'd expect to hear a quasi-Biblical story. But Arnold was a very fine performer and acquitted himself well. You can hear the 1949 version of his performance here.

Merry Christmas to all!

Old-Time Radio Christmas, 4 of 5: The Boy Who Sang for the King

Welcome back to my five-part series on quasi-Biblical Christmas programs heard in old-time radio. After three outings by author Charles Tazewell, it's time for another author: Frank Pachling. Pachling wrote the story "The Boy Who Sang for the King," which was heard during an episode of A Day in the Life of Dennis Day on December 25, 1946. You might recall that's the same day Bing Crosby read "the Small One." These were clearly the salad days for quasi-Biblical Christmas stories!

A Day in the Life of Dennis Day is something of a spin-off from the Jack Benny Program. Supposedly it was about what Dennis was up to while not singing for Mr. Benny. Really, it was its own show; it was made by many of the people who worked on the sitcom radio program the Life of Riley; if you like the Life of Riley you might like this program too (you'll certainly hear a lot of familiar voices and product jingles).

Like the story "the Lullaby of Christmas," this one concerns a boy who visits the newborn Christ child. In this instance, it's a boy who is determined to one day sing for a king; in Bethlehem, his hope is granted.

You can hear the episode of a Day in the Life of Dennis Day featuring "The Boy Who Sang for the King" at the Old-Time Radio Researchers' Library!

Old-Time Radio Christmas, 3 of 5: The Small One

Today's entry in quasi-Biblical old-time radio Christmas programs is the story "the Small One" by Charles Tazewell. It's probably the best-known story Tazewell ever wrote and he owes a lot to Mr. Bing Crosby, who presented the story as a Christmas special on his radio program. Bing went on to cut a record of his dramatic reading of the story and made reading it an annual radio tradition for some time.

The story concerns a small boy and a small donkey. The boy wants to spare the donkey's life by finding a new owner for the creature; he finally does so when the couple Mary and Joseph purchase him. I'm not sure where the tradition of Mary riding on a donkey to Bethlehem came from - it's not from the Bible. Not being Roman Catholic I do find it a little objectionable because Jesus himself rode a donkey into Jerusalem - it feels as though it's according Christ's divinity to Mary. Then again, it might be an innocuous piece of art, the animal chosen for its humility rather than any allusion to Palm Sunday.

You can hear Bing's original performance of "the Small One" on the December 25, 1946 broadcast of Philco Radio Time at the Old-Time Radio Researchers' Library!

Old-Time Radio Christmas, 2 of 5: The Lullaby of Christmas

For today's quasi-Biblical old-time radio Christmas show we turn again to radio author Charles Tazewell. This time it's "The Lullaby of Christmas." Like "the Littlest Angel," this show was rebroadcast on many occasions.

In this story the protagonist is again a child - a boy who cannot speak and suffers mockery at the hands of others. He ends up in Bethlehem at the time of Jesus' birth and receives a supernatural gift.

You can hear "the Lullaby of Christmas" at the Old-Time Radio Researchers' library here, as it was broadcast on December 13, 1950 as an episode of the Family Theater, narrated by Roddy McDowall.

Old-Time Radio Christmas, 1 of 5: The Littlest Angel

Merry Christmas! Earlier this year I ran a month-long series of posts in an old-time radio Halloween theme during October. I'm going to run a very brief one for this Christmas season. I'd like to examine an unusual sub-genre of old-time radio Christmas programs - the Nativity expansion story.

There are straight-faced adaptations of the Nativity, but it's a little more fascinating to discover the few programs which tell stories that were not actually Biblical. The very concept of a radio program hosting a "Christmas episode" was one that came about slowly; certainly in the early 1930s the cast would pause to say "Merry Christmas" when their program fell on the 24th or 25th, but even Jack Benny took some time to develop his annual Christmas shopping trips (not 'til the late 30s). Christmas-themed episodes truly came into vogue during World War II, probably because the absence of so many family members in the listening audience was a powerful emotion to tap into. When the war ended, the trend became, if anything, even grander; virtually every post-war radio program would deliver at least one Christmas episode during the season, even if the show were a detective program (Dragnet, Richard Diamond), a movie adaptation showcase (Lux Radio Theater) or western (Gunsmoke).

We'll begin with author Charles Tazewell, a name we'll be returning to a few times. Tazewell wrote for the radio but the tales I'm featuring were published later on as children' books. We'll start with one of his best-known tales, "The Littlest Angel." The first version was presented in 1940 but we don't have many of the early broadcasts. Perhaps the most amazing version to discover would be the 1945 version. It aired in the timeslot belonging to Inner Sanctum Mysteries and was directed by the show's director Himan Brown and sponsored by their sponsor, Lipton Tea. Other shows would air a Christmas tale in place of their usual fare regardless of the program's typical content - but one understands why they wouldn't want a charming kid-friendly Biblical story to open with the creaking door and a few puns by Mr. Host. Still, I really wish Brown had aired "the Littlest Angel" as an episode of Inner Sanctum Mysteries, the contrast would have been hilarious!

The story concerns the troubles of a child-angel who is homesick for his life on Earth - because like the majority of popular culture surrounding angels this story thinks angels were formerly human (the Bible is very clear that they're a different form of life from humans). With the birth of Jesus, the little angel brings a gift in the hopes of pleasing God.

You can hear a version of "The Littlest Angel" that aired on Family Theater on December 21, 1949 here! Loretta Young narrates the story; the last third of the show features a choir singing Christmas carols.

Merry Christmas!

MERRY CHRISMAS TO ALL!

Season's greetings to you!

New Marvel Appendix profiles!

I don't often update at the Marvel Appendix but here's a couple of new ones: Linda Donaldson and Number Nine, two members of the Secret Empire from very different incarnations. These were fun to write!