Customer Reviews

Holiday TV Classics: 49 TV Classic Episodes

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is a 4-disc set of 50's and early 60's era TV sit-coms, variety and drama for the Christmas season. An added bonus is a link on Disc One for a Virtual Fireplace that you can keep on the screen while listening to music,wrapping presents, trimming the tree, etc. Cozy.
This set is one of the best values I have seen anywhere for the price. Unbeatable. Curious that some reviewers are complaining about audio/video discrepancies. I have played through all of the discs several times and could not see or hear anything out of the ordinary. They are all in black and white, common in 50's TV, some shows are a little creaky, production-wise, but all the more charming, seeing these early TV holiday shows with a few creaks make them even more enjoyable.
Contents include 5 Christmas episodes of Ozzie and Harriet, 4 of the Beverly Hillbillies, also Christmas episodes of Red Skelton, Jack Benny, Dragnet, Burns and Allen, Abbot and Costello, Petticoat Junction. Variety and music shows, such as Liberace and Fred Waring. Drama shows include Four Star Playhouse, Dickens' A Christmas Carol with Vincent Price, even Sherlock Holmes and a Lux Theatre production of Holiday Affair. Many, many more. Other reviewers have included a complete listing here on Amazon. I was astounded to see original commercials included with some of the shows, giving it a real 50's feel! A wonderful step back in time! This is truly marvelous entertainment for the Christmas Season. Sit back with a mug of hot cocoa and some Christmas cookies, with the Christmas tree lights twinkling, curl up with the afghan and enjoy!!

CONTENTS for HOLIDAY TV CLASSICS (one episode each, unless indicated)--

THE ADVENTURES OF LONG JOHN SILVER ("The Orphans' Christmas") (Australia-1955) - Robert Newton/Connie Gilchrist/Kit Taylor/Billy Kay/Grant Taylor
THE ADVENTURES OF OZZIE & HARRIET - 5 episodes
THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD
ANNIE OAKLEY ("Santa Claus Wears a Gun") (1956) - Gail Davis/Jimmy Hawkins/Brad Johnson/Stanley Andrews
THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES - 4 episodes
THE BOB CUMMINGS SHOW ("Love That Bob")
CAPTAIN GALLANT OF THE FOREIGN LEGION ("The Little Boy Who Found Christmas") (1955) - Buster Crabbe/Cullen Crabbe
The Christmas Carol (1949) - Vincent Price (host)/Taylor Holmes/Patrick Whyte/Queenie Leonard/Jill St. John
DATE WITH THE ANGELS ("Santa's Helper") (1957) - Betty White/Bill Williams/Richard Deacon/Nancy Culp
DEAR PHOEBE ("The Christmas Show") (1954) - Peter Lawford/Marcia Henderson/Charles Lane/Jesse White/Jan Clayton
THE DOCTOR ("A Tale of Two Christmases") (1952) - Richard McMurray/Janie Alexander/Margaret Hayes/Raymond Bramley
DRAGNET - 3 episodes
DUPONT THEATRE (aka "Cavalcade of America")
FOUR STAR PLAYHOUSE - 2 episodes
GENERAL ELECTRIC THEATER ("A Child is Born") (1956) - Ronald Reagan/Nancy Davis/Patti Davis/Robert Middleton/Harve Presnell
GENERAL ELECTRIC THEATER ("Music For Christmas") (1954) - Ronald Reagan (host)/Fred Waring & his Pennsylvanians
THE GEORGE BURNS & GRACIE ALLEN SHOW
GRUEN GUILD PLAYHOUSE ("Joe Santa Claus") (1951) - Maria Palmer/Ray Montgomery/Housley Stevenson/Peter Brocco
THE JACK BENNY PROGRAM - 3 episodes
THE LIBERACE SHOW - 2 episodes
LUX VIDEO THEATER ("Holiday Affair") (1955) - Scott Brady/Phyllis Thaxter/Elliott Reid/George Baxter/Walter Brennan/Margaret O'Brien/Otto Kruger
MEET CORLISS ARCHER ("The Christmas Story") (1954) - Ann Baker/Mary Brian/John Eldredge/Robert Ellis/Vera Marshe
THE PAUL WINCHELL & JERRY MAHONEY SHOW
PETTICOAT JUNCTION
RACKET SQUAD - 2 episodes
THE RAY BOLGER SHOW (aka "Where's Raymond?") (1954)
THE RED SKELTON SHOW - 3 episodes
THE RUGGLES (1952) - Charles Ruggles/Erin O'Brien-Moore/Margaret Kerry/Tom Bernard
THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL ("The Christmas Present") (UK-1955) - Marius Goring/Anthony Newlands/Stanley Van Beers
SCREEN WRITERS PLAYHOUSE ("A String of Blue Beads") (pilot-1953) - Louis Jourdan/Margaret Hamilton/Ellen Cobb-Hill
SHERLOCK HOLMES (TV-1954) - Ronald Howard/Howard Marion-Crawford/Archie Duncan
A Star Shall Rise (1952) - Raymond Burr/Anthony Caruso/Morris Ankrum/Richard Hale/John Crawford
TELEPHONE TIME

Also recommended:
MILL CREEK's 21 hour, 4 DVD set HOLIDAY FAMILY FAVORITES features a mix of vintage TV shows, movies and cartoons.

There are so many episodes on this DVD we still haven't seen them all. If you grew up in the 50's and 60's you will remember some of these shows and commercials. We really enjoyed taking a little step back in time. The video quality of some of these episodes is a little rough or I would have given it 5 stars.

I ordered this set as a surprise for my wife and was surprised myself when I found out it was the same set I had ordered last year but with a new cover and description. Oh Well!

While the cover here clearly shows 51 episodes, the disc I received only had 48 episodes. The image quality is HORRIBLE. There was absolutley no attempt to clean up the film, which is a real shame. At one point, my Robin Hood Christmas Goose episode showed words across the screen that said something to the effect of adjusting calibration. (Uh, this is a dvd, no adjusting of VHS on my end!) As for the sound, the voice track was good.

Over all we loves this product. We received it promptly and in the condition promised. The only down side which is no fault of the sellers is the sound quality of the DVD which is probably attributed to the age of the recordings or the people who produced the DVD. There is a static type noise through the entire DVD but it is not overwhelming and you soon grow accustomed to it; it does not overly detract from your viewing experience.

The quality of the shows themselves more than makes up for the less than perfect sound quality. Both of the stories told on the DVD where simplistic yet very well told and entertaining. Not to mention thought provoking and at times moving. Watching 'A string of blue beads and A star shall rise' will now be a part of our christmas traditions and if you enjoy wholesome themes that harken back to a simpler purer time then you too will want to add this DVD to your collection.

I bought this on a whim thinking if it was a dud at least I didn't spend a bundle on it. I am delighted with it. The Christmas episodes from long gone TV shows are incredible. They come from a gentler, less complex time and it's a great trip in the TV Time Machine. I enjoyed all of the ones that I watched and even saw some from shows I don't remember.
I highly recommend this for good clean fun. Also a good study of entertainment in a different era for students of the media
I doubt I would have bought this from looking at the cover as I'm not a Beverly Hillbillies fan but they are a small part of it.
I loved "Racket Squad" as a child and even remember meeting Reed Hadley. So I'm glad they included a couple of episodes.
I'm not going to list all of the episodes as others have done that but it is jam packed and definitely worth the money. And if you don't like an episode or so not to worry there are tons more.

I was happy this DVD set came while my father-in-law was visiting, since he's the only other person I know who would appreciate it. We had a fun time watching these old shows, and he especially liked seeing the commercials that some of the shows include. (He's old enough to remember most of this stuff!)

A couple of the shows have bad picture resolution (The George and Gracie Show is, sadly, especially bad) and a couple have sound issues. And of course many of the shows and stories are silly and overacted by 21st-century standards. But if you like watching old movies on TCM or if you're a fan of vintage TV, you'll get a kick out of this set.

My favorites were the Ozzie and Harriet episodes, the Ruggles episode, the Jack Benny episodes, and the Date With the Angels episode (featuring a young and lovely Betty White.) and my father-in-law and I got a huge kick out of the old Long John Silver episode with Robert Newton. I would love to see more of these old holiday episodes...surely there are more out there in the public domain!

The reviews here are put under numerous items. This is for the Westlake Ent. edition which contains only 2 film shorts, and for which there does not seem to be any other reviews. "A Star Shall Rise" is from the tv series Family Theater and features Raymond Burr in a story of the Three Wise Men. The film is complete with a couple of splices during dialogue, and has a good amount of background noise. "A String of Blue Beads" is an unsold 1953 pilot for an anthology series and is in color. It features Louis Jourdan and Margaret Hamilton. There is one bad splice and may be slightly missing a little footage. Otherwise, the films are quite entertaining.

I picked up this set recently. Reading the previous reviews I wasn't expecting much in terms of overall picture/sound quality (these are all TV episodes that have fallen into public domain limbo and many are available from multiple cheapo DVD outlets); nevertheless I was quite pleased with the complete package.

Annie Van Auken has already outlined the contents of the set, so there's no need for me to repeat any of that here; but needless to say that if you're a classic TV buff, there's plenty to be enjoyed. I particularly appreciate the episode from Peter Lawford's short-lived sitcom DEAR PHOEBE (which seemed like it was quite the charmer), and Betty White's one-season wonder A DATE WITH THE ANGELS (Critic's Choice released a DVD with four other episodes from this show a while back, but it's hard to find now). The Christmas episode of A DATE WITH THE ANGELS ("Santa's Helper") includes lots of sponsorship material from Plymouth, too!

Aside from a strange "video calibration" message flashing up during the final part of the GEORGE BURNS & GRACIE ALLEN SHOW episode, I couldn't find much that's technically wrong with this set. Regular buyers of public domain TV stuff from Alpha, etc., will be familiar with the standard of picture and sound quality encountered here.

The addition of a "virtual fireplace" on the first disc is a cute touch. Nice for the price.