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.

Horst in Translation ([email protected]) "The Spirit of Christmas" is a 27-minute short film from 1950, so this one is already over 65 years old. According to IMDb, it is the only effort by writer and director Mabel Beaton. The title makes clear that this is one for the festive season of course, but even if it may look like that, it is not an animated movie, but it is all about the marionettes in here. I am certainly a bit biased as this is not to my liking: the strange movements, the static face expressions etc. Admittedly, this one here handles these issues better than most others, so I was tempted to give it a better rating until eventually they included advertisement during the live action parts at the very end. Oh well, these were when the film really did hit rock bottom. The marionette parts were certainly better, also because they included some decent music and the narration wasn't too bad either. And of course the religious references (Bible) gave a bit of a purpose to the entire project, but on the one hand my subjective preference and on the other some absolute no-gos cannot be equalized by some of the better aspects. At least not for me. I do not agree with the high rating at all and give this one a thumbs-down. Watch something else instead.

lanadavis-43758 Doing research on this special I saw there is two dates. Some people states its from 1653 others 1950. I am willing to be the real date is 1953. The Spirit of Christmas is a Christmas television special performed by marionettes. It first aired in 1953 in the United States.[1] Its half-hour showing time is divided into two segments, one dramatizing "A Visit from St. Nicholas" (AKA THE NIGHT BEFORE Christmas) and one telling the story of the Nativity.[1] The live-action part of the film features Alexander Scourby, who narrates and also plays Clement Moore in the Visit from St. Nicholas segment. The jacket of the DVD version calls it "The Philadelphia Holiday Classic," which refers to the region of the United States where it was originally broadcast. The jacket also describes it as a "50s TV Christmas classic, which has led it to being mis-dated as first being shown in 1950.After its initial 1953 showing and into the 1960s, this special was aired multiple times per Christmas season, without commercial interruptions except for opening and closing remarks by "your telephone company" (Bell Telephone). It was also available as a 16mm film licensed to schools for showings to students.It is very unusual for its time in that it was made in color at a time when there were no color TV sets in existence, so viewers of the time saw it in black-and-white.This is a very special program. Yes its done with puppets but there is depth. You can tell this was made with MAJOR TLC. Now the DVD that I have has a making of feature and its very informative. What would be nice that whoever owns this film would have is restored to its original color brilliance. This is well worth watching. On Christmas Eve you should gather everyone around and watch it with your family and close friends. The special is magic. It is the perfect way to end the night.

Christmas-Reviewer This special was made years before I was born. Watching Christmas Theme Programming daily (From August-December) I found this Television Program produced in 1952 a delight. There have been many advancements in Animation since this was produced however there is something so elegant about seeing a story told with marionettes. In this special we get 2 stories told in just 30 minutes. The first is "The Night Before Christmas" and the 2nd is "The Nativity" Both specials are made with TLC and the makers of this film made this for children but its so well done that adults will love this as well! This Special would be perfect to watch on Christmas Eve before your children go to bed! This has a special "MAGIC" to it. Its almost like a storybook come to life. BUY IT!