"Alfred Hitchcock Presents" Santa Claus and the Tenth Avenue Kid (1955)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Don Weis

Writers:

Marian B. Cockrell (teleplay)
Margaret Cousins (story)

TV Series:

"Alfred Hitchcock Presents" (1955)

Original Air Date:

18 December 1955 (Season 1, Episode 12)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Plot:

While working as a department store 'Santa Claus', a paroled convict tries to help a troubled boy.

Plot Keywords:

Santa Claus | Department Store | Parole | Shoplifting | Parole Officer

Cast

Barry Fitzgerald	...	Harold 'Stretch' Sears
Alfred Hitchcock	...	Himself - Host
Virginia Gregg	...	Miss Clementine Webster
Bobby Clark	...	The 10th Avenue Kid
Arthur Space	...	Mr. Chambers - Parole Officer
Justice Watson	...	Store Manager
Norman Willis
Betty Harford	...	Doris
Alan Reynolds
Mimi Gibson	...	First Little Girl in Line To See Santa
Gary Hunley
Wendy Winkelman		(as Wendy Winkleman)
Tony Blankley		(as Anthony Blankley)
Butch Bernard
Noel Green

Runtime:

USA:30 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Filming Locations:

Republic Studios - 4024 Radford Avenue, North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Shamley Productions

Very Nice Change-Of-Pace Episode

This is a very nice change-of-pace episode of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", with a typically good starring performance by Barry Fitzgerald, plus Virginia Gregg and child actor Bobby Clark getting some good moments of their own during their scenes of give-and-take with Fitzgerald. The story combines a relatively standard holiday theme with a dose of practical cynicism, and Hitchcock himself adds to it with his sardonic opening and closing remarks.

The story actually has a positive theme to it, and the more sarcastic moments actually serve to make the upbeat point more believable. The setup has Fitzgerald as a recently paroled petty criminal, who is given holiday employment as a department store 'Santa Claus'. Gregg is the overly cheerful employment agent who takes an interest in him, while Clark is a bad-tempered boy whom the equally grouchy 'Santa' views as a personal challenge. The story line is concise and the script is carefully written, fitting perfectly into the half-hour television format.

Fitzgerald was excellent at portraying this kind of hardened character who nevertheless has something good somewhere inside him. He makes the character likable and sympathetic even when he is behaving in a disreputable fashion, and he never overdoes things in either direction. There are many similar holiday-themed features that are based on similar ideas, yet this one is still worth seeing for the simple yet skillful way that it presents its story and its characters.