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| Snippet from a NTA Film Network Ad for "This Is Alice" with Patty Ann Gerrity. Media History Digital Library. |
Christmas Story (1963) with Patty Ann Gerrity
The Hook (what makes it interesting): A Christmas special that was actually an episode of an rare and fondly remembered TV show for a short lived TV network, and that had a small landmark in Golden Age TV history.
For those new to this blog, every December I add titles to the "Island of Lost Christmas Specials", a wishlist of lost or publicly unavailable Christmas media, episodes and specials from radio and TV.
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In the 1958-1959 season American families were treated to a new series about a little "impish", "angel" "tomboy" girl named Alice Holiday. Titled This Is Alice, it was unique among all the Golden Age sitcoms with child characters for being one of the few with a little girl as the lead character. In fact it may have been the first American TV series with girl under 13 as the lead. Dennis The Menace with the late Jay North, Leave It To Beaver still have a strong syndication and streaming run today, but Alice has not been syndicated in decades and is mostly remembered by the generation that first saw her.
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| Patty Ann Gerrity, image from TV Radio Mirror, April 1959. Media History Digital Library |
9 year old Patty Ann Gerrity (1948-1992) was Alice, Phyllis Coates was her Mom, and Tommy Farrell played her father. Kathy Garver, who would become a household name with Family Affair auditioned for the lead but was cast as Alice's friend Sally. Already experienced in acting on film and dancing Gerrity also stood out with what could be her signature look; a combination of freckles, blue eyes and brown hair done up in two pigtails with ribbons.
This is Alice was the only child centered series from Desilu Productions. Gerrity was promoted in the press by Desi Arnaz as a "miniature Lucille Ball". The single season aired in first run syndication from 1958-1959 on the short lived NTA Film Network (1956-1961) and continued in American markets until 1962. That is the latest I could find it in American TV logs. The program also ran overseas. It was known as "La Travesuras di Alicia" in Argentina.
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| Snippet from the Honolulu Star Bulletin, December 24, 1964. From Newspapers.com |
The series had a Christmas episode simply titled "Christmas Story". Based on TV listings, this episode was distributed as a stand alone Christmas special in some markets in 1963 and 1964. It seems to have had a very limited run as I could only find it listed in stations in Hawaii and California. Based on TV snippets it is was the story of Alice trying to sell Christmas trees while also helping an elderly woman
The Alice Christmas specials as broadcast the week of Christmas 1964 seem to be the very last times this series was broadcast on TV in the United States.
The print for the original "This Is Alice" episode "Christmas Story" does exist in the UCLA Film and TV archives, as does the entire series. The question is what changes were made to the print of "Christmas Story" shown in 1963 and 1964? If any?
To date only 4 episodes of "This Is Alice" are available publicly today thanks to the Moviecraft YouTube.
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