Island of Lost Christmas Specials: The Magic Christmas Window [Partially Lost Radio Series]

A snippet of a 1946 NBC Radio Press article on "The Magic Christmas Window"

The Magic Christmas Window [Partially Lost - Radio Series]

Syndicated series (25 episodes) 1944-1945, NBC Radio Recording Division.  

Cast: Susan Douglas, Julian Noa, Kim Spaulding, Jackson Beck, Henry Boyd, Jeanne Elkins, Ronny Liss, Bob Sherry (announcer)

Writers: Steve Carlin, Jack Barefield, Max Ehrlick, Jean Hytone, Arthur Scott.

Producer: Drexell Hines

The Magic Christmas Window was a syndicated fantasy radio series about two children who approach the window and are transported to a magical land of storybook characters and toys. At the end of the 15-minute episode, the children exit the window, and there is an invite to hear another episode.

Today this series is not as well known as "The Cinnamon Bear" or "Jump Jump of  Holiday House", possibly because it has not been heard in its entirety in decades. Also, the series may not have caught on as much since it does not sound like a fantasy adventure serial like those titles. 

The series was first promoted in the Fall of 1944 as having 12 episodes. In 1945, a review for Variety promoted the series as "strickly for kids" with 25 episodes for syndication. 

The lead writer of the series was producer Steve Carlin (1919-2003) later famous for creating and producing "The Rootie Kazootie Show" and the game show "The $64,000 Question". 1945 was a busy time for Carlin when he was writing the "Happy The Humbug" radio and comic strip series. He was later head of children's albums at RCA in 1950.

"The Island of Lost Christmas Specials" a mythical place where
lost shows, specials, and movies can be found.

Survival Status

Up to 12 episodes exist according to the Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs; episodes 01, 02, and 12 - 20. According to WorldCat, one audio cassette collection may have been released years ago with 4 episodes. At least two LPs exist in the Library of Congress. Four episodes are accounted for in the RadioGOLDINdex: "The Poor Prince", "Twas The Night Before Christmas", "Sleeping Beauty" and "The Brave Tin Soldier". 

From all of these sources episodes, 3 - 10 and 21 - 25 are still missing. Hopefully, the complete whimsical journeys into the Magic Christmas Window will resurface one day. 

For Further Reading:

"Magic Christmas Window". Variety. November 21, 1945. https://archive.org/details/variety160-1945-11/page/n157/mode/1up 

Steve Carlin, 84; Produced TV’s '$64,000 Question’ Quiz Show, 84. Los Angeles Times - https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-mar-07-me-carlin7-story.html

Island of Lost Christmas Specials - The Detective's Santa Claus (1913)

 

Advertisement from the January 4, 1913 edition of Moving Picture News

The Detective's Santa Claus (1913)

Released January 14, 1913 by Eclair American Studios

Lillian Lorraine ..... Miss Steele

Will E. Sheerer ..... Tom Steele

Clara Horton ..... Molly Steele

Willie Gibbons ..... Frank Steele

Mimi Yvonne ..... Fanny Steele

George Larkin ..... Bill Tempest

For the second year in a row, this blog will feature the theme of "The Island of Lost Christmas Specials." For this new post, I will go back to the silent film era. There were many, many Christmas short films and features with child actors and famous actors that have been lost for nearly a century. The 1913 Eclair American Studios short "The Detective's Santa Claus" sounds like a charming film. In my research, not one still could be found in film magazines and catalogs that are now available from various digital collections. Among the cast are child actors Clara Horton (1904 - 1979) "The Eclair Kid" and Mimi Yvonne who starred in the 1914 version of "The Littlest Rebel" over 20 years before Shirley Temple.

The synopsis comes from the January 4, 1913 issue of Motion Picture World. 

"Detective Steele is considered a most conscientious and efficient worker on the police force. He is the father of quite a family and as the Christmas holiday approaches finds himself rather hard pressed, financially. He tells his children how Santa Claus comes down the chimney on Christmas Eve and fills the stockings of all well-behaved little boys and girls with toys and candies and goodies of all kinds. The tale has made a deep impression on the minds of the children. After hanging up their stockings they hit on a plan of trapping Santa Claus, and from the attic they drag forth an old bear trap which they set and put in the fireplace. It so happens that on this very night Detective Steele with two other officers, are in pursuit of a well-known criminal for whose capture a reward of one thousand dollars has been offered. The hunted man eludes them in a chase over the roofs of the houses near the detective's own home. Believing they have lost him, Mr. Steele runs into his house for a moment to see his family, and is very much startled by a most unusual commotion in the parlor. He rushes in and discovers that the criminal he had been after, had been caught in the bear-trap the youngsters had set for Santa. The detective, of course, procures the reward, and the children have the best Christmas ever."