As rock and roll established itself in the 1950s, parents couldn't help but notice that many of the early pioneers of the genre were Black, and even if the lyrics seemed harmless, the way they sung the songs left little doubt to what was on their mind. What was needed was an alternative, a sanitized rock and roll singer. Enter Pat Boone, a recent college graduate in his early 20s who happily covered all sorts of scandalous R&B songs, essentially turning them into the Kidz Bop covers of that decade. Somehow, instead of being laughed out of town, he established a viable recording career, with sidelines into acting and hosting. He was also openly a conservative Christian, becoming friends with Ronald Reagan during the latter's first run for governor. Later, Boone would enthusiastically support Reagan's run for President (to be fair, Boone is also friends with Jimmy Carter, and in fact performed at Carter's 75th birthday party).
Although Boone had hosted some holiday specials on ABC in the late 70s (which also happened to be the heyday of his daughter, Debby, of "You Light Up My Life" fame), he apparently couldn't find any broadcast networks interested in one in 1984. Enter CBN, the cable network owned by televangelist Pat Robertson. Getting one Pat was a coup for the other Pat and his network, and Pat Boone's Old-Fashioned Christmas premiered a few weeks after Reagan's landslide re-election.
After a cold open in which Boone and the various members of the cast are seen dressed in contemporary clothing, the rest of the special appears to take place in Small Town USA, circa sometime in the 19th century. However, that doesn't extend to the music, as the first song after the transition is "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas", written in 1951. Still, the special keeps this premise up for the duration, as Boone and everyone else dress in what appears to be period-appropriate clothing and act like they're citizens of this town.
Like most variety specials, this one has a number of special guest stars, the most prominent being Lee Greenwood, who would have been a good get in 1984 even for a broadcast network special. Greenwood--like Boone a Reagan-supporting conservative--had had a big hit earlier that year with "God Bless the USA", which would become his theme song. In the world of the special, Lee is the village blacksmith, but he still has time to deliver solo numbers of "The Christmas Song" (from 1946) and "O Holy Night" and is prominently featured during "Hark the Herald Angels Sing".
The other guests are considerably less impressive. 9-year-old Danny Cooksey had recently joined the cast of Diff'rent Strokes in essentially the Cousin Oliver role. His solo number, which appears to be an original song about buying his sister a doll for Christmas, is excruciating. At least Cooksey, who would go on to appear on a number of sitcoms, become a successful voice actor, and work with a number of rock bands, has a lot of biographical information available. I had almost no luck with The Acker Twins who might have appeared in Doublemint gum commercials and might have appeared on The Dukes of Hazzard (the most prominent Acker Twins who come up on Google are a pair of 20-something male singers/guitarists). Their first names don't even get mentioned in the leadup to their one number, "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" (from 1934). The other guest star, Clyde Foley Cummins, doesn't even have a solo number. Indeed, his most prominent appearance is during a comedy (or "comedy") bit where he's inexplicably wearing a Native American headdress and Boone nearly shoots him thinking he's a turkey. His major claim to fame appears to be being a grandson of a Grand Ol' Opry member. At least info on him was relatively easy to come by, as he still performs but is also now a real estate agent in Tennessee.
To be honest, when I realized that this had originally aired on CBN, I dreaded the worst. But surprisingly, the amount of overt Christian content in the special is fairly low. There is a scene set at a Christmas Eve chapel service, where Boone reads the Biblical Christmas story and a number of religious Christmas songs are sang, but none of that is really out of place with what a number of secular Christmas specials on the broadcast networks did. Indeed, that year's highest-rated new Christmas special, Kenny & Dolly: A Christmas to Remember, had an extended sequence set in a chapel with extensive talk about the birth of Jesus.
I don't want to oversell the special, since it isn't that good (the "comedy" bits throughout are especially wince-inducing), but for a special made for basic cable in the mid-1980s, it is much better than anticipated. The music and singing are fine, the production values are strong, and while I'm not sure how authentic the costumes are, they are quite nice to look at. This was shot at Silver Dollar City, an amusement park outside of Branson, Missouri that tries to recreate a late-1800s feel. If you had told me that this had aired on a broadcast network, I would have believed you. That hasn't kept the special from falling into obscurity, to the point it doesn't even have an IMDB entry.
Boone would work to stay relevant in the coming years, including releasing an album of heavy metal covers in 1997. He currently has a show on Sirius, recently appeared in the critically reviled Reagan biopic, and seems to be a Trump skeptic (though he still voted for him).
Pat Boone's Old-Fashioned Christmas isn't great, but it is far better than I feared. If you like cheesy Christmas variety specials of the 1980s, this one is worth watching. If you don't, and aren't a fan of Pat Boone, nothing in this will make you change your mind, but it is far from the worst one out there. For a 1984-produced CBN special, that should be seen as high praise indeed.
Next time: We wrap up 2024 with three very different adaptions of a well-known Christmas story
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