Surprise From Santa
Friday, December 24, 1948. 7:00pm EST, WCBS-TV, New York (CBS Network, obviously)
The Hook: A lavish TV Christmas spectacular, undocumented in many sources, with one of the last TV appearance of a tap-dancing legend, and possibly the first TV Christmas special with original songs.
Survival Status: Most likely was never recorded, but it should have been. Behind the scenes, photos and production materials hopefully exist in private hands or archives.
Starring: Anne Jeffreys, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Jules Munshin, Kathryn Lee, Whitford Kane (Santa Claus), Toni Halloran & Clifford Tatum (the children), Bil and Cora Baird and the Baird Puppets.
Script: Sam Taylor; Music and Lyrics: Arthur Swartz, Howard Dietz,
Bill "Bojangles" Robinson (1878 - 1949) is still one of the most celebrated dancers of the 20th century. Before he passed away at the age of 71 in 1949 Robinson had made a few appearances on the growing medium of television. Like Fanny Brice, Al Jolson, and other Broadway & Vaudeville performances veterans who died around the mid-20th century, his TV appearances are either lost, or were never recorded to begin with.
Robinson was one of just several performers on a 90 minute Christmas Spectacular called "Surprise For Santa" that aired Christmas Eve 1948. Reviews of the show by Variety suggest that it was an excellent production that demonstrated the best TV had to offer with professional talent. Two new songs by the Schwartz-Dietz team were to be introduced, one called "Sleigh Bells". This program was believed to have been the first live TV program with new original songs. Arthur Swartz and Howard Dietz were seasoned award winning song writers and a TV program put on by them was a big deal in this era.
Actress Anne Jeffreys (1923 - 2017) performed songs with a rear screen projection effects, said to be the first for a CBS production. Jules Mushin did the "Cowardly Lion" number from the "Wizard of Oz", an early performance of the film's music on television. The Bil and Cora Baird Marionettes did a dance to the tune of "Jingle Bells" as sung by and LP record of Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters.
Chevrolet sponsored the series for $30,000, a huge sum for a television special at that time. Their ads ran every 15 minutes.
Documentation
TIME Magazine, Radio & TV: Program Preview, Dec. 27, 1948 - http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,886494,00.html
"Arthur Swartz Doing Christmas Eve Video Show Costing $30,000" Variety, December 15, 1948. https://archive.org/details/variety172-1948-12/page/n112/mode/1up?q=surprise+from+santa
Many newspaper listings for CBS affiliates feature this special in the 7:00pm EST time slot.
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