Santa Comes Down Your Radio

A snowstorm of Christmas shows repeated every year greets TV viewers at this time of year. The practice didn’t start with television; it goes back to the days of network radio.

So it was that Amos told Arbadella about the meaning of Christmas December after December. And other shows did the same kind of thing. Jack Benny didn’t repeat his Christmas shows. Instead, he took the “buying presents” plot and reworked it, although some of the same lines found themselves into the script for several years.

Here’s Herald Tribune syndicate columnist John Crosby from January 5, 1948 looking back at Christmas repeats. The Allen and Morgan Christmas shows of which he speaks should be available on-line. Morgan gave his listeners a tale of greedy kids and a cautionary message of being careful about what one wished for. Allen focused on how people didn’t treat each other according to the Golden Rule; they were paranoid and selfish instead.

RADIO IN REVIEW
Footnote on Christmas
By JOHN CROSBY
Every year at Christmas time I find it interesting to watch the nation's radio comedians approach with a sort of seasonal diffidence the problem of Santa Claus. Here they are confronted with a legend that can't be dismissed with a wisecrack like high prices or Vishinsky. Santa is a serious subject and must be dealt with reverently by a bunch of people who spend the rest of the year being irreverent about everything else.
I think the comedians grapple with the problem rather successfully or else I have been so overwhelmed with the benign spirit of Christmas that I think these Christmas skits are better than they are. Once the comedian has struggled with and mastered the inflexibilities of Santa Claus, he never changes so much as a syllable. Like children we are told the same stories every year. In fact these traditional Christmas programs are the only really sensible programs to review because if you miss them this year, you can catch them next year or the year after that. (Just carry this around in your pocket all year long.)
All of these Santa Clauses, it ought to be noted, differ greatly in personality and even in character. As in the many biographies of Lincoln, the portrayals reveal a good deal more about the authors (or the actors) than they do about the subject. Every year, for example, Fred Allen plays a Santa Claus who goes on strike because he has been treated so badly in the past. This Santa is a rugged, outspoken, acid, and, on the whole, bitter old gentleman who appears to have examined the Christmas tradition critically and found that the people of the world weren't really worth all the fuss. This is easily the most daring and natural of the radio's Santa Clauses and perhaps the children better not be exposed to him until they are about fourteen. The kids, I think, will find the Allen Santa rather charming though unexpected but they may look at the rest of us with some dismay after hearing the Allen grievances.
Henry Morgan has now twice told the same story at Christmas time which, he explained, automatically made the program a tradition. In his story, a couple of kids lobbied through Congress a bill making Christmas a daily rather than a yearly event. The Morgan Santa Claus is a defeated, wistful, rather seedy old gentleman of whom everyone is heartily tired. He reminds me of some of the aging and no longer sought-after actors who hang around The Lambs and tell you about the time they played with Jack Barrymore. Perhaps you'd better keep the children from this one entirely.

The funniest and easily the most charming of the annual Santa Claus stories is told every year by Ozzie and Harriet, or more particularly by Ozzie. (Harriet doesn't really believe in Santa Claus and has only a fond but rather dim faith in her husband.) Ozzie's Santa Claus clings to the established order. He's a hearty, merry old soul of illimitable generosity who, while he lacks the grandeur of the Allen Santa and the clarity of the Morgan Santa, is altogether satisfactory for children of all ages. The only disturbing characteristic of this Santa Claus is the fact that he blew into the Nelson household a couple of days before Christmas to check up on things. If Santa Claus is going to go tramping around the country all year round, it'll be a terrible job getting the kids to bed at any time of the year.
In addition to the regulars, a new entrant has come into the lists — the department store Santa Claus in "Miracle on 34th Street" — which was presented on Lux Theatre. Some instinct tells me he will be back again next year and all the other years like "White Christmas". Frankly, I'd rather reserve judgment on this one till next year or possibly the year after. A man can't be expected to offer a really rounded appraisal on just one performance.