Retro TV: Serling's Carol For Another Christmas

Rod Serling, the creator of The Twilight Zone, crafted a memorable holiday tale for that much revered show, as well as another for his later anthology series, Night Gallery. For The Twilight Zone, Serling wrote "The Night of the Meek," which starred Art Carney as a down on his luck department store Santa who gets a chance at redemption. On Night Gallery, Serling combined Christmas and Hanukkah in a thoughtful episode entitled "The Messiah on Mott Street," featuring Tony Roberts, Edward G. Robinson and Yaphet Kotto in a moving tale set in a low rent New York neighborhood, where a dying man (beautifully played by Robinson) has an encounter with an angelic figure (Kotto) who might be an angel, or a harbinger of death. Both episodes are essential viewing for Serling fans.

Serling scripted yet another Yuletide tale, Carol For Another Christmas, an updated version of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, which aired on ABC as a holiday movie special in 1964. The film stars Peter Sellers, Ben Gazzara, Eva Marie Saint and Sterling Hayden, who plays Daniel Grudge, a powerful industrialist and weapons manufacturer who lost his son, Marley, in World War II. Grudge's nephew, Fred, visits and encourages him to use his wealth and power to effect positive change in the world, and to help the US engage in cultural exchanges with other countries. 

Peter Sellers in Carol For Another Christmas

Grudge feels the US should remain isolated, not get involved with other parts of the world, and also that we should build up our nuclear armaments in order to protect ourselves. Like Scrooge in the Dickens original, Grudge is taken on a mystical journey by three ghostly visitors on Christmas Eve, who show him what the past, present and future of our conflict-driven world has been, is currently, and could be like in the future, if the world continues on its current destructive and warlike path.


Sellers appears in the "Ghost of Christmas Future" segment, as the demagogue-like leader of a post-nuclear war society, who encourages violent conflict and an "us vs. them" philosophy. Also appearing in the film are Robert Shaw, Percy Rodriguez, Pat Hingle, James Shigeta, Steve Lawrence and Britt Ekland, who was married to Sellers at the time. Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, with a score by Henry Mancini, the film received mixed reviews upon its original release, with some critics find it overly preachy and too didactic, while others praised the performances of the cast, including Sellers, Hingle and Lawrence.

Carol for Another Christmas was the first in a series of  TV specials initiated by the United Nations. The goal of the series was to educate viewers about the UN's work, in order to gain support for their missions around the world. Only four of the six proposed specials were produced. Carol for Another Christmas aired only once in 1964, and was not shown again until Turner Classic Movies rebroadcast it in 2012. It's since aired annually on TCM in December, though it has never been released on home video. While the film is a bit over the top in delivering its message, it's an interesting entry in Serling's oeuvre. Its offbeat twist on the Dickens original and somewhat downbeat themes set it apart from his more hopeful tales, and the all-star cast and solid direction by Mankiewicz make it worth seeking out.





Retro TV Christmas: A Bionic "Carol"

"A Bionic Christmas Carol"

Back in the 1970s, many TV series would showcase a special holiday themed episode during the Christmas season. The Six Million Dollar Man followed the tradition with "A Bionic Christmas Carol," which originally aired on December 12, 1976, during the show's penultimate season. If you're looking for an old school Yuletide tale filled with familiar TV faces, look no further, than "A Bionic Christmas Carol." The episode, written by Wilton Schiller, is, of course, the bionic adventure series version of A Christmas Carol, the classic story by Charles Dickens. Years before Lee Majors had a cameo in Scrooged, his Steve Austin character plays Santa to a Scrooge-like figure portrayed by Ray Walston, of Damn Yankees and My Favorite Martian fame.

Walston plays Horton Budge, the owner of a company providing parts to the government for a Mars mission vehicle. When Steve Austin, the bionic man, is sent to investigate a series of accidents at the contractor, he becomes involved with the family of Bob Crandall, Budge's nephew, who's being badly mistreated by his uncle for a past misdeed. The miserly owner is also forcing the company's staff to work through the holiday, and to cut corners on the government project, resulting in faulty equipment. It's up to Steve Austin to help Crandall's family, teach Budge the error of his ways (with a little inspiration from Charles Dickens) and make sure the company fulfills its contract properly, delivering equipment that's up to spec.

"A Bionic Christmas Carol," is a fun, if unspectacular, entry in the series. It's pretty typical of holiday themed TV from the 1970s. What makes it truly enjoyable for fans of classic television is the number of familiar faces appearing in the episode. In addition to series regulars Lee Majors as Steve Austin and Richard Anderson as his OSI boss Oscar Goldman, the cast includes the aforementioned Ray Walston, as well as Dick Sargent (Bewitched), Quinn Cummings (Family), Adam Rich (Eight Is Enough), Antoinette Bower (a frequent TV guest star who was featured in shows like Star Trek and Mission: Impossible) and even a cameo by Ann Dusenberry, who appeared in series like McCloud, Magnum, P.I. and Murder, She Wrote.

"A Bionic Christmas Carol," directed by Gerald Mayer, is a light, entertaining episode of The Six Million Dollar Man. There are no spies, aliens, or robots on hand in this fourth season entry, but it does allow you to see Steve Austin play Santa opposite Mr. Hand from Fast Times At Ridgemont High, so how bad can it be? And watch for the scene in the toy store, where you can actually see the Steve Austin action figures on the shelves! The episode is available on the DVD and Blu-ray releases of the series. You might want to make this a holiday viewing double feature with "Judgement In Heaven" a 1965 holiday themed episode of Majors' previous TV series, the western The Big Valley.

Nimoy's Directing Debut: "Death on a Barge"

Leonard Nimoy is well-known for portraying Mr. Spock in both the original Star Trek TV series as well as reprising the role in a number of Trek films, and on the spinoff Star Trek: The Next Generation. Nimoy was also a successful director, having helmed Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, as well as the hit comedy Three Men and a Baby. Nimoy actually began his career behind the camera way back in 1973, on an episode of Night Gallery. "Death on a Barge," a third season episode of the classic Rod Serling hosted anthology series, is an offbeat vampire tale featuring Lesley Ann Warren, who like Nimoy, had appeared on the Mission: Impossible TV series. "Death on a Barge," is based on a story by Everill Worrell, and was adapted for Night Gallery by Halsted Welles.

Nimoy had appeared in "She'll Be Company For You," an earlier third season episode of the series, and had talked with Night Gallery producer Jack Laird about directing for the show. Laird had already engaged other actors, including Jeff Corey, to direct for the series, and agreed to let Nimoy try his hand at helming an episode. "Death on a Barge" concerns a young man named Ron, who meets a mysterious woman named Hyacinth, who is confined to a barge that's anchored on a wharf. Ron is beguiled by the beautiful Hyacinth, who only appears during the evening hours. She explains to him that she can never leave the barge, and alludes to the fact that they can never really be together. Ron becomes obsessed with Hyacinth, and is determined to discover her secret, which he eventually learns, with tragic results.  

Lou Antonio, Brooke Bundy & Robert Pratt

"Death on a Barge" is an eerie, atmospheric tale, well directed by Nimoy. Lesley Ann Warren (then billing herself as Lesley Warren) is excellent as the alluring, sensual Hyacinth. She effectively conveys the loneliness and longing of the character. Robert Pratt does a decent job as Ron, and the supporting cast includes familiar faces Lou Antonio (who also went on to a career as a director) as Ron's brother, and Brooke Bundy as his girlfriend Phyllis, who Ron pushes to the background when he becomes smitten with Hyacinth. Nimoy does a fine job working with the actors, which was a hallmark of his later work as a director. Lesley Ann Warren noted in an interview featured on the commentary for the Night Gallery third season Blu-ray set that Nimoy was wonderful to work with, and that he spent time talking with the actors about their process, and their approach to the characters,

The look of "Death on a Barge" is slightly hurt by the fact that the crew, because of budgetary restrictions, had to shoot some sequences "day for night," a common practice in television production during this period. Despite this drawback, Nimoy and cinematographer Gerald Perry Finnerman (a veteran of Star Trek) manage to to imbue the episode with a haunting and romantic visual feel. It's a shame that the episode has a shorter running time (Night Gallery was been cut from an hour to a half hour in length for its third season) which doesn't allow the story room to breathe and develop a bit more. "Death on a Barge" is still an effective, mesmerizing tale of love, obsession and death. It's one of the better episodes of Night Gallery's final season, and excellent debut behind the camera by the multi-talented Leonard Nimoy. The episode is available as part of the Night Gallery Season 3 Blu-ray set, which was recently released by Kino Lorber Home Video.