What's on TV: Thursday, December 24, 1964

When I was growing up, Christmas Eve was the big night. That was when family came over; that was when we did our tree, after a dinner that usually included the traditional (to some) oyster soup; that was when I opened an obscene number of presents*, after which I would retire to my room with the early favorites and zoom around while the adults opened theirs. The television was on if there was Christmas programming, which was how I somehow missed the famous Apollo 8 Christmas Eve broadcast, although as I think about it now I seem to recall I simply forgot it was on, and was disgusted with myself afterwards. Then, when I'd grown a bit older, I would watch one of the various Christmas Eve church broadcasts, usually the Catholic one although I was still some years away from my own conversion. The next day, Christmas, was something of an anti-climax; after my presents from Santa, there was generally not much going on - maybe the kitchen radio would broadcast Christmas music, or I'd watch the Christmas service from Washington, D.C. on NBC, which usually included a wonderful choral program.

*I was not spoiled; I was simply the only child of the only child in the family to have children, and thus was the object of much gift-giving from family members who enjoyed giving presents to a small child. (These were the family presents, not the Santa presents I'd get the next morning.) Who was I to ruin their fun? I was actually being thoughtful and gracious.

Yes, Christmas Eve was a special day, and the anticipation itself would often make me so excited that I'd be unable to sleep the night before; once I even worked myself into being sick to my stomach. But in much the same way that certain combinations automatically exude a meaning - December 7, for example, or November 22, or your own birthday - December 24 produced an almost Pavlovian response in me.  Therefore, it should be no surprise that this is the day I've turned to for this week's listings. And while the number of specifically Christmas-related shows is down from even a couple of years before, it's still a treasure house of lore and tradition.  Our listings are, once again, from the Twin Cities edition.

	KTCA, Channel 2 (Educ.)
	Afternoon
	05:30p	Kindergarten
	Evening
	06:00p	Boys’ Choir (Church of the Holy Childhood) (special)
	06:30p	Twin City Bach Society
	07:30p	College of St. Teresa (special)
	08:00p	Child’s Christmas in Utah
	08:30p	Private College Concerts
	09:00p	Professions
	09:30p	Town and Country
	10:00p	Brigham Young University

I can vouch for the quality of the music program at the Church of the Holy Childhood in St. Paul; although it was not our regular parish, we went to it several times a year when my wife and I lived in Minneapolis, usually when they were having a special Mass. The founding music director at Childhood was Richard Proulx, one of the legendary names in 20th Century Catholic music, and one of the best in a time when modern Catholic music is anything but good. In later years, continuing into the 21st Century, KTCA would broadcast almost exclusively Christmas programming on Christmas Eve, mostly musical programs. Perhaps they still do.

  

	WCCO, Channel 4 (CBS)
	Morning
	06:30a	Sunrise Semester
	07:00a	Clancy and Axel
	08:00a	Captain Kangaroo
	09:00a	News (Dean Montgomery)
	09:15a	What’s New?
	09:25a	Dr. Reuben K. Youngdahl
	09:30a	I Love Lucy
	10:00a	Andy Griffith
	10:30a	The McCoys
	11:00a	Love of Life
	11:25a	CBS News (Robert Trout)
	11:30a	Search for Tomorrow
	11:45a	The Guiding Light
	Afternoon
	12:00p	News (Dean Montgomery)
	12:15p	Something Special
	12:25p	Weather (Bud Kraehling)
	12:30p	As the World Turns
	01:00p	Password
	01:30p	House Party (guests George Gobel, Carroll Baker)
	02:00p	To Tell the Truth (guests Jan Murray, Phyllis Newman, Darren McGavin, Shelley Winters)
	02:25p	CBS News (Douglas Edwards)
	02:30p	The Edge of Night
	03:00p	The Secret Storm
	03:30p	Jack Benny
	04:00p	Around the Town (guests the Lutheran Brotherhood choir)
	04:30p	Axel and Deputy Dawg
	05:00p	Clancy and Company
	05:30p	CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite
	Evening
	06:00p	News (Dave Moore)
	06:15p	Sports (Don Dahl)
	06:20p	Direction
	06:25p	Weather (Don O’Brien)
	06:30p	The Munsters
	07:00p	Perry Mason
	08:00p	Password (guests Arthur Godfrey, Monique Van Vooren)
	08:30p	The Baileys of Balboa
	09:00p	The Defenders
	10:00p	News (Dave Moore)
	10:10p	Weather (Bud Kraehling)
	10:20p	Sports (Hal Scott)
	10:30p	The Sounds of Christmas (special)
	11:00p	Church Service (Protestant; St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, New York) (special)
	12:00a	Mora High School Choir (special)
	12:30a	Great Lakes Choir (special)
	01:00a	News (local)

I think it's worth mentioning that The Sounds of Christmas program at 10:30pm is hosted by none other than Baroness Maria Von Trapp, immortalized in The Sound of Music and played by Mary Martin on Broadway, Julie Andrews in the movie (which would come out early the following year). The program comes from the Trapp family lodge in Stowe, Vermont, and it's followed by the lone non-Catholic church service, and then music from a local high school first, followed by the choir from the Great Lakes Naval Station.

It's amusing that tonight's episode of Perry Mason is a rerun that has nothing to do with Christmas, but I suppose the programmers thought it would be a good one to air tonight, since it deals with Perry and Della finding an abandoned baby on Perry's desk.

	KSTP, Channel 5 (NBC)
	Morning
	06:30a	City and Country
	07:00a	Today
	09:00a	Make Room for Daddy
	09:30a	What’s This Song? (guests Doug McClure, Connie Hines) (color)
	09:55a	NBC News (Edwin Newman)
	10:00a	Concentration
	10:30a	Jeopardy (color)
	11:00a	Say When! (color)
	11:30a	Truth or Consequences (color)
	11:55a	NBC News (Ray Scherer)
	Afternoon
	12:00p	News (John MacDougall) (color)
	12:15p	Weather (Johnny Morris (color)
	12:20p	Dialing for Dollars (guest the Crosier Choristers) (color)
	12:30p	Let’s Make a Deal (color)
	12:55p	NBC News (Floyd Kalber)
	01:00p	Loretta Young
	01:30p	The Doctors
	02:00p	Another World
	02:30p	You Don’t Say! (guests John Astin, Carolyn Jones) (color)
	03:00p	The Match Game (guests Y.A. Tittle, Peggy Cass)
	03:25p	NBC News
	03:30p	Dialing for Dollars (color)
	04:30p	Lloyd Thaxton (guest Tommy Quickly)
	05:25p	Doctor’s House Call
	05:30p	The Huntley-Brinkley Report
	Evening
	06:00p	News (Bob Ryan) (color)
	06:15p	Weather (Johnny Morris) (color)
	06:25p	Sports (Al Tighe) (color)
	06:30p	Daniel Boone
	07:30p	Dr. Kildare
	08:30p	Hazel (color)
	09:00p	Kraft Suspense Theatre
	10:00p	News (John MacDougall) (color)
	10:10p	Weather (Johnny Morris) (color)
	10:20p	Sports (Al Tighe) (color)
	10:30p	Christmas Card (guests Sammy Davis Jr., Norman Luboff Choir, Garry Graffman, Jan McArt, Joe Klein) (special) (color) (joined in progress)
	11:00p	Church Service (Catholic; St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York) (special)
	12:45a	Movie – “The House of the Seven Gables”

Both Dr. Kildare and Hazel offer Christmas episodes tonight; Kildare deals with a cynical man who believes he's dying, while the nurses practice Christmas carols (today, they'd probably all be arrested for singing religious works in a hospital that receives government funding); in the meantime, Hazel's employer, George, gets fed up with the commercialism of the holiday and decides to ban the gift exchange. Today, the scriptwriter would probably be arrested for offending the advertisers.

At 11, following the music program that replaces Carson, NBC covers the Midnight Mass from St. Patrick's in New York City, a Christmas Eve tradition prior to the advent (no pun intended) of the Midnight Mass from the Vatican. As is generally the case with these broadcasts, the famous Francis Cardinal Spellman will deliver a Christmas message. Ominously, this Mass includes the new liturgy that the Second Vatican Council supposedly mandated, in which "some of the Mass sung in English, some in Latin."

	KMSP, Channel 9 (ABC)
	Morning
	07:45a	Breakfast with Grandpa Ken
	08:30a	Romper Room (Miss Betty)
	09:30a	The Price Is Right (guest Eileen Farrell)
	10:00a	Get the Message (guests Arlene Francis, Barbara Cook, Mary Ingels, Douglas Fairbanks)
	10:30a	Missing Links (panelists Nipsey Russell, Phyllis Kirk, Sam Levenson)
	11:00a	Father Knows Best
	11:30a	Ernie Ford (guest Mel Tormé)
	Afternoon
	12:00p	Top Cat
	12:30p	The People’s Choice
	01:00p	Lois Leppart
	01:30p	Day in Court
	01:55p	ABC News (Marlene Sanders)
	02:00p	General Hospital
	02:30p	Young Marrieds
	03:00p	Trailmaster
	04:00p	A Date With Dino
	05:00p	ABC Evening Report (Ron Cochran)
	05:15p	News and Weather (local)
	05:30p	Leave it to Beaver
	Evening
	06:00p	Dobie Gillis
	06:30p	The Flintstones (color)
	07:00p	Donna Reed
	07:30p	My Three Sons
	08:00p	Bewitched
	08:30p	Peyton Place
	09:00p	Jimmy Dean (guests Jerry Vale, Porter Wagoner, the Qunito Sisters)
	10:00p	News (Bill Fahen)
	10:10p	Weather (Jerry Smith)
	10:20p	Sports (Tony Parker)
	10:30p	Movie – “Mother is a Freshman”
	12:00a	Church Service (Catholic; Bishop Fulton J. Sheen at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, D.C.) (special)

Speaking of Cardinal Spellman as we just were, the reason Bishop Sheen is celebrating Mass in Washington, D.C. instead of his home archdiocese in New York is that Spellman, his bitter enemy and adversary, has banned the good Bishop from televised Masses in New York. It's an ugly side of the often ugly politics that has plagued the Church in one way or another for centuries.

Elsewhere, The Flintstones offers a happy Christmas episode in which Fred serves as a department store Santa - this despite the fact that Christmas, in the form of Christ, has yet to occur. It's B.C., folks, remember? Bewitched also acknowledges the Yuletide season, as Darrin I and Sam take in an orphan who believes in neither Santa nor Christmas. Unfortunately, that would be pretty much par for the course today. 

	WTCN, Channel 11 (Ind.)
	Morning
	10:15a	Hank Meadows
	10:30a	Movie – “Ruggles of Red Gap”
	11:45a	Party Fare
	11:55a	News (Dick Ford)
	Afternoon
	12:00p	Lunch With Casey
	12:45p	The King and Odie
	01:00p	Movie – “Alice in Wonderland”
	03:00p	Bachelor Father
	03:30p	Dave Lee and Pete
	04:30p	Superman
	05:00p	Casey and Roundhouse
	05:45p	Rocky and His Friends
	Evening
	06:00p	The Rifleman
	06:30p	Bold Journey
	07:00p	Adventure Theater
	07:30p	Movie – “Battle Stations”
	09:00p	Wanted – Dead or Alive
	09:30p	News (Dick Ford)
	09:45p	Weather (Stuart A. Lindman)
	09:50p	Sports (Buetel, Horner)
	10:00p	Movie – “Hail the Conquering Hero”
	12:00a	Amos ‘n’ Andy (time approximate)

I'm a little surprised Channel 11 doesn't have more Christmas programming on tonight, but I'd suspect the local children's shows hosted by Casey and Pete have a heavily festive atmosphere to them. The Amos 'n' Andy episode at midnight, however, is a classic, as "Andy takes his goddaughter Arabella shopping before Christmas."

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By the way, have you noticed the link on the sidebar to the "25 Days of Ad-vent"? Over at In Other Words, we've been counting down to Christmas with some great vintage ads from Christmases past. click on the link to check them out! TV