Since the dawn of television, religious shows have been a staple over the airwaves. That included shows aimed at kids, though it wasn't until 1960 and the arrival of Davy and Goliath that a memorable kid-aimed Christian series finally caught on. That stop-motion animated series, which at least in my market was still being broadcast as late as the mid-80s, and had a revival in the early aughts, was produced by the Lutheran Church in America. The Lutherans followed up the success of that show with a number of other kid-friendly vehicles, both animated and live-action, including the three 70s productions we're discussing today.
Christmas Is and The City That Forgot About Christmas are part of the four-installment, search-engine unfriendly Is series, which also included Easter Is and Freedom Is (produced for the Bicentennial in 1976). All four specials follow the adventures of elementary school kid Benji and his giant sheepdog Waldo. I watched Easter Is a few years back for a week of Easter special reviews back at the old country, and found it to be atrocious, with a poor story and awful animation that actually made the Saturday morning animation of the era look good. It seemed like they spent most of their budget to hire special guest star Leslie Uggams to play the very minor part of Benji's teacher and to sing a couple of songs. Sadly, the two prior Christmas specials weren't any better.
Christmas Is, which launched the series, sees Benji (voiced by Richard Sacino, in his only IMDB credit) upset that he's regulated to playing a shepherd in his school's Christmas pageant for the second year in a row. After a couple of decently catchy songs and a pep talk from his teacher and a Linus-wannabe friend, he promptly fell asleep and found himself dreaming he was a homeless kid working for the innkeeper in Bethlehem, voiced by Hans Conried, a reasonably famous actor, comedian, and voice-over actor of the era. Of course he witnesses the birth of Jesus, and learns the importance of the shepherds in the Christmas story.
In addition to Conried, the Lutherans hired several other familiar voice actors for the film, including June Foray and Don Messick. However, they might have better spent the money punching up the script and working on the animation. Christmas Is largely ends up as a second-tier A Charlie Brown Christmas rip-off.
Somewhat better was its sequel, The City That Forgot About Christmas, the only title in the series which you can find reasonably fast on Google. This one is based on a book, and largely regulates Benji (now voiced by David Kelley, who would also voice the character in the other two Is specials) to the special's framing device, in which he and a friend (I believe voiced by a young Phil Morris, a longtime actor best known for playing flamboyant attorney Jackie Chiles on Seinfeld) listen to a story from Benji's grandfather (Sebastian Cabot) about a simple carpenter (also Cabot) who arrives in the titular town and sets up shop, much to the chagrin of the town's evil mayor (Charles Nelson Reilly), especially after the carpenter begins to teach the townspeople about Jesus and Christmas. Like Christmas Is, this one seemed to spend most of its budget on its cast, as in addition to Cabot and Reilly, they hired Messick again, as well as Louis Nye and Casey Kasem. The animation is a bit better, as is the story, which was adapted from a book by Mary Warren. Still, it's not great.
The Lutherans went live-action with their 1978 special The Stableboy's Christmas, though they might have been better off sticking with animation. The special is shot on cheap-looking video, amid sets that could generously be described as "community theater". The story is a near-remake of Christmas Is, complete with a dream sequence, the inn, the not-very-friendly innkeeper, an even meaner Roman soldier, and a boy who witnesses the birth of Jesus. The major difference is that the dreamer is not the boy this time. The dreamer is played by Danielle Brisebois, who had recently joined the cast of All in the Family as Archie and Edith's niece, and the titular stableboy, whom she dreams about, is played by Sparky Marcus, a reasonably well-known kid actor of the era. The greedy innkeeper reformed by the sight of the baby Jesus was played by William Schallert, who unfortunately comes across as only slightly less nice and understanding then when he was playing Patty Duke's father/uncle. Naturally, he reforms, as does Brisebois, who decides that yes, she will give the doll she was wanting to her cousin.
Having seen Easter Is, I wasn't expecting much going in with this trio, and I was right to keep my expectations low. There are a few amusing moments in The City That Forgot About Christmas, but all three specials are almost completely forgettable. There's not really any good reason to seek out it, Christmas Is, or The Stableboy's Christmas. Find a Davy and Goliath marathon if you need a dose of Lutheran kids TV.
Next time: Two specials from America's foremost Christmas a cappella group.
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