Debuting in 2010, this TV movie stars Marla Sokoloff as Della Alexander and Mark Webber as Jim Alexander.
Though O.Henry's short story was originally written and published more than one hundred years ago, adaptations continue to be made. In 2010, a feature length version debuted on the Hallmark Channel directed by Lisa Mulcahy. The Christmas story continues to remain a popular one as the movie was re-broadcast on the Hallmark Channel during the holiday season in both 2011 and 2012. Have you seen this one before?
The story begins with the newlyweds moving in together after their wedding.
Newlyweds Jim and Della Alexander are excited to spend their first Christmas together. Though money is tight, each has plans to buy a special Christmas present for the other. After their car is stolen and they have to buy a new one, they promise each other no gifts this year for the holiday.
Jim spends all his free time working to restore a 1955 Chevy Bel Air, a car that reminds him of his father.
Della has already made plans to buy Jim a hard-to-find steering wheel for his vintage automobile he's restoring. She takes a second job doing laundry for a luxury hotel to earn the extra money for his gift. Meanwhile, Jim decides to break his promise and arranges to buy a special gift for his wife: a wide angle lens and a zoom lens for the camera that she loves to take pictures with.
Della's passion is photography.
In the days leading up to Christmas, Jim begins to sense that Della is keeping secrets from him. Jim also discovers that his wife is lying to him about where she's been. The Alexanders' love and trust for one other begins to break when Jim accidentally sees his wife entering a local hotel with another man. When Jim confronts her about it, Della feels betrayed by his accusation of cheating and refuses to explain her actions. Della also feels hurt that Jim has been spending all his time working on his restoration job and ignoring her requests to decorate the Christmas tree and sit for a Christmas photo.
Della's secret job is working in hospitality services for a luxury hotel. She hopes Jim never misses her as she will be working this 2nd job while Jim works evenings as a bartender.
Apart and miserable for the holiday, Jim is staying with his best friend Ian while Della is staying with her best friend Reneé. Both Ian and Reneé know the truth of this misunderstanding and they set out to reunite the foolish young lovers.
Jim and Della see how wrong and foolish they are when they recognize the sacrifices they made for each other.
It's not until Reneé tricks her friend into returning to her own home does Della realize the 1955 Chevy is missing. Ian also persuades Jim to return home where he finds his wife calling the police about the missing vintage auto. Finally Jim confesses that he sold the car to buy Della the camera lenses--and Della confesses she took a second job to earn more money and pawned her camera to buy him an expensive and rare steering wheel for his car. There's a happy ending for this Christmas TV movie as the Alexanders realize they still love each other after all.
Will Reneé and Ian ever find romance? Everyone likes a happy ending in Christmas TV movies.
This movie may not satisfy viewers looking for a faithful adaptation of O.Henry's original short story. Clearly much has been added--its modern day setting, Della's second job, Jim's accusations of adultery, and there's even a substantial romantic side story involving the best friends Ian and Reneé. However, these extra threads serve to pad or fill out the story, perhaps improving it for some contemporary audiences already familiar with original short story. The addition of the will-they-or-won't-they romance between Ian and Reneé is typical of most of the Christmas TV movies airing on the Hallmark Channel. But the essential elements of O.Henry's tale of love and sacrifice remain in this adaptation too.
Who pays to go to the theater to see a recent TV movie?
Have you ever noticed this before? In the scene where Jim and Della go to the movie theater to see A Christmas Carol, the movie poster is visible in the background. If I'm not mistaken--that's 2004's TV movie A Christmas Carol: The Musical starring Kelsey Grammer. When Jim is seated in the theater, you can hear Grammer's recognizable voice speaking Scrooge's dialogue. Since both movies Gift of the Magi and A Christmas Carol: The Musical are Hallmark Entertainment movies, I can assume this was a matter of licensing. But really, who pays to go to the movies to watch a 2004 TV movie?
Everybody Loves Raymond originally ran from 1996-2005. Reruns still air nationally on TVLand and elsewhere.
The family sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond produced eight Christmas episodes during its nine season run, but one stands out to me today. As you may know, I've been discussing noteworthy adaptations of the short story The Gift of the Magi, a Christmas tale written by the great American author O.Henry. Out of the dozens of versions of O.Henry's account, I've shared the 1952 film O.Henry's Full House, the 1978 TV movie The Gift of Love, a segment within 1999's Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas, Jim Henson Production's 1977 hit Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas, the 1996 operatic TV version from Finland entitledThe Gift of the Magi, the sitcom Alice from a 1979 episode, the 1974 Christmas episode of the family drama Little House on the Prairie, and the 1955 Christmas episode of The Honeymooners. Do you have a favorite so far? Maybe the 2000 episode "Christmas Present" from Everybody Loves Raymond will change your mind.
Robert says he knows what Debra is planning on giving Ray for Christmas--an ugly neck tie!
In this fifth season episode, Ray and his brother Robert are planning an upcoming weekend golf outing in Myrtle Beach for the guys. Worried about having his wife's permission to go away for an entire weekend, Ray strategizes to buy Debra an extravagant Christmas gift to bribe her. When Debra says all she wants for Christmas is a crock pot, Ray decides to buy her something even better, hoping it's even better than what Debra is getting him--so he can better manipulate her. Robert confesses that he saw Debra wrapping gifts earlier and she said she's giving Ray a striped necktie. Ray is convinced his scheme will work.
While Debra opens her big gift, Ray makes eye contact with his brother--hoping Debra is impressed enough to let him go golfing.
On Christmas morning, Debra opens a gift of a crock pot as well as an expensive set of cookware. She's very happy with her extravagant gift. Next, Robert opens a gift from under the tree--but it's the ugly necktie!
Uh-oh! the necktie was for Robert--not Raymond.
Debra admits that when Robert saw her wrapping the gift, she lied and said it was for Raymond so that Robert would be surprised when he opened the gift on Christmas morning. The next gift from under the Christmas tree is for Ray--it's his first DVD player and a set of his favorite movies on DVD!
It turns out Debra has given her husband a very extravagant and expensive gift too.
Debra excuses herself from the room to go into the kitchen to begin cooking Christmas dinner, and Ray and Robert realize their plan failed. Ray's strategy to manipulate Debra--essentially buying her cooperation with an expensive gift--didn't work since he underestimated her gift to him.
Ray & Robert's father Frank offers his own crazy views on where the brothers went wrong.
Robert & Ray begin to speculate on the misstep of their plan.
Pondering where he went wrong, Ray begins to conclude that his wife Debra must also want something from him--why else would she give such an extravagant gift? Suspicious, Ray goes into the kitchen to confront his wife about what scheme she may be up to.
Ray confronts Debra about what she wants in exchange for the expensive gift? "What is the cost---to me?"
Ray asks if he can go with his brother and their friends on a three-day weekend golf outing out of town and she agrees--though it will mean she will be alone with their three young children. Sensing Raymond's surprise, she asks if Ray bought her the expensive cookware set as a bribe for the golf weekend. In turn, Ray asks Debra what she wants, refusing to believe that she bought him the expensive DVD player without motive.
Debra claims she bought the big gift because she loves him, acting hurt at the insinuation that she's manipulative.
But the more Debra denies being manipulative, heaping more and more guilt on Ray, the more Ray becomes convinced that Debra loves playing the martyr--a role that allows her to feel superior to him.
Debra sets everything right.
Hilariously, with this emotional revelation, Debra agrees that Ray may have some truth in his accusation. To make things right, Debra insists that Ray cancel his golf trip--and he should be more responsible around the house and perform even more household chores and childcare duties to keep Debra from ever being able to play the martyr again!
Poor O.Henry! Maybe someone should have bought Debra and Ray a copy of The Gift of the Magi.
This is a very clever anti-Gift of the Magi episode, as I see it. This gift-giving scenario is the opposite of one about making a sacrifice for the benefit of another. Debra and Ray give lavish gifts--not out of love--but to manipulate the other to do what benefits them! Yet, this funny story isn't so detached from reality that we all can't appreciate how gift-giving can sometimes result in this situation. Have you ever manipulated someone with a Christmas gift? Or, been manipulated by an expensive gift?
The Honeymooners started off as a sketch on a variety series and eventually the characters grew so popular that it became its own series. This 1955 Christmas episode is from the Classic 39--or the original 39 episodes that were sold into syndication and seen again and again by fans over the decades.
Not to be overlooked is another classic Christmas story--one from the beloved sitcomThe Honeymooners. This 1955 episode is not only a quintessential Honeymooners story line but it is one of many TV fans' favorite episodes of the entire series.
Ralph Kramdon accuses his wife Alice of hiding his gift because she doesn't trust him. This itself is a joke because we all know Ralph's not trustworthy!
Though not the first of the Honeymooners' Christmas sketches, fans of this series will recognize that this episode entitled "Twas the Night Before Christmas" is one of the original Classic 39 and the Christmas episode that is most easily available for viewing.
Alice is smart enough to put out a rat trap to catch Ralph sneaking around for his hidden Christmas present.
Though there are a few Christmas gags that run throughout the episode--such as Ralph acting hurt when Alice hides his Christmas gift because she doesn't trust him, and Ed Norton decorating the Kramdon Christmas tree by throwing strands of tinsel over his shoulder, under his leg, or like he's pitching a baseball--the heart of this episode is inspired by The Gift of the Magi by O.Henry. Ralph discovers that what he's bought as a Christmas gift for Alice--2000 matches glued together to make a hairpin box--isn't as special as he was told by the man at the store. When a neighbor gives Alice the same gift and calls it a trifle bought from a novelty store, Ralph knows he can't give Alice the same gift. Feeling guilty that he spent all his savings on a gift for himself--a brand new bowling ball--Ralph schemes to get more money.
Ralph shares with his best friend Ed Norton about how bad he feels for spending his money on a gift for himself. Like so many other Honeymooners episodes, Ralph needs to make some more money.
Eventually Ralph decides to pawn his new bowling ball in exchange for money to buy Alice another present. On Christmas morning, Alice hands him her gift first--a bowling bag for his new bowling ball. When she insists he put his new ball in the bag, Ralph confesses that he's sold his bowling ball.
After receiving a bowling bag as his gift, Ralph is forced to confess that he sold his new bowling ball.
We never actually SEE Alice's gift although it is described in detail.
When Alice opens her gift, we see her surprised but very happy with what she finds: an orange juice squeezer in the shape of Napoleon! (Ralph explains you push the oranges on the top of Napoleon's head the juice drips off the sides of his hat).
What makes this story so emotional is that TV viewers saw in the beginning of the episode is that Norton's wife also received one of these squeezers as a Christmas present, and Trixie and Alice were making fun of the ridiculous gift. Now Alice finds herself with one as the best gift Ralph could come up with. Fans of the series know that Alice puts up with a lot from Ralph and though he tries his best, he often comes up short. And in the end, Alice always loves him anyway. Here, in this Christmas episode we see once again, Alice loves him anyway--and she pretends that this is the best gift she's ever received. If this heart-warming episode doesn’t get to you, you’re made of stone!
The cast returns to center stage to express their holiday greetings.
After the gift exchange scene, the cast of The Honeymooners comes forward on stage and breaks the fourth wall to address the live audience (and the TV audience) to express their holiday greetings. I absolutely LOVE IT when TV series' casts address their audience--there's a long tradition in Christmas episodes for TV shows to do this. Do you have a favorite example? Share it in the comments below.
Another favorite moment in this episode: Ralph explains why he loves Christmas time.
My favorite example of a TV cast that breaks character to express their holiday greetings is one I discuss at length in my latest book Merry Musical Christmas: Vol. 1 because it's also a musical moment. In the 1985 holiday episode "Twas the Episode Before Christmas" of the TV detective series Moonlighting, the cast and crew and their families together sing the popular carol "The First Noel."
I've always thought someone needs to sell a Napoleon orange juice squeezer for the many fans of this episode. If I can buy a leg lamp, I don't know why I can't find one of these!? I bet it would be a best seller. Have you ever seen one?
I'm so pleased to announce I'll be attending the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention this year. This event takes place Thursday, Sept. 19th through Saturday, Sept. 21st, in Hunt Valley, Maryland (north of Baltimore). Please check out their website: click HERE for the link. This year's celebrities include actors Ed Asner, Julie Newmar, Margaret O'Brien, and Johnny Crawford. More will be added as we get closer to the event, I'm sure.
In addition to the celebrities, there will be vendors and book authors such as myself there. In addition to having my books available, I'm also giving a presentation on Friday, Sept. 20th entitled "Entertaining Spirits: the Many TV Adaptations of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol."
Here's a description: "Author of Tis the Season TV: the Encyclopedia of Christmas-Themed Episodes, Specials, and Made-for-TV Movies,
Joanna Wilson presents a fascinating and entertaining survey of
television's many adaptations, aberrations, and re-imaginings of A Christmas Carol.
TV has added its own special stamp to Charles Dickens' beloved
Christmas tale, and Wilson will take TV fans on a guided tour of some of
the best and most interesting Christmas Carol iterations through TV history--from Rod Serling's rarely seen 1964 version, Carol for Another Christmas, to the first animated TV Christmas special, Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol, to outrageous sitcom adaptations such as Bewitched, Sanford and Son, Family Ties, and much more".
I'm so excited and I hope you will join me at the convention in September. I look forward to seeing some old friends and meeting some new ones. Tickets are available at the MANC website as well as more details about the schedule of events. See you there!
Hopefully you've been following along the last several weeks as I've
been reminiscing about some of the best and most interesting film and TV
adaptations of O.Henry's popular Christmas short story The Gift of the Magi. So far I've discussed the 1952 film O.Henry's Full House, the 1978 TV movie The Gift of Love, a segment within 1999's Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas, and 1977's Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas, the 1996 Finnish-made operatic version The Gift of the Magi, and the 1979 sitcom version onAlice. Another outstanding TV adaptation was made in 1974 on the pioneer/western drama Little House on the Prairie. Please don't tell me that you've never seen this classic first season episode!?
The Ingalls family (left to right) baby Carrie, Pa (Charles), Ma (Caroline), and Laura. Seated is oldest daughter Mary with the family dog.
In the first season episode entitled "Christmas at Plum Creek," each member of the Ingalls family works hard and makes great sacrifices in order to get gifts for the others. Though none of them has much money, they each have the desire to make this first Christmas in their new home a special celebration.
Mary spends weeks working with seamstress Mrs. Whipple to learn how to sew a new shirt for Pa.
Charles spends long nights working in the barn rebuilding a set of four wagon wheels to sell to Mr. Oleson.
The oldest daughter Mary decides to take on an afterschool job working with the town's seamstress. Ma begins to sell more of her chickens' eggs to the Oleson Mercantile to raise additional monies, and Pa offers to re-build a set of buckboard wheels that Mr. Oleson says he'll buy. Everyone is busy planning on a special Christmas--everyone except Laura who can't figure out a way she can earn any money.
The Ingalls family Christmas includes Pa playing Christmas music on his fiddle while the girls dance in front of the fireplace.
Though the story unfolds slowly, in the end it becomes clear what has happened. On Christmas morning as the family opens their gifts, we see that Laura has knit her father a scarf, Laura is given a horse saddle from her father, Mary receives a rabbit fur cape made by her parents, and Pa receives a hand sewn shirt from Mary. Surprised by her daughter's gift, Caroline hides the handmade shirt that she has sown for Charles--so as not to lessen Mary's gift.
After Pa sells his wagon wheels, he tries to use the money to buy Ma the stove she wants. When Charles is told that the stove is already sold, he has no gift for his wife.
Then Caroline opens the crate that was delivered to the home--it's the iron stove that she wanted. The attached card says that the expensive gift is from Laura! Caroline and Charles are more than surprised--but a knock at the door answers all their questions.
Mr. Oleson and Nellie knock on the door Christmas morning.
Mr. Oleson has come to collect Laura's most treasured possession, her horse Bunny. Laura sold Bunny to her least favorite person Nellie Oleson, in exchange for the stove for Ma.
Charles tells Caroline "She loves you. Don't spoil it for her."
Though Caroline doesn't want Laura to sell her horse for a stove for her, Charles urges Ma to accept the gift in the spirit in which it was offered.
Pa comforts Laura by telling her that maybe she'll get another horse in the future.
After the Olesons leave, Laura begins to cry and not because her beloved horse is gone but because Pa spent so much time making her a saddle for it. At this point in the story, unless you're made of stone, you'll find yourself crying along with all the members of the Ingalls family. It's a very heartwarming story, to say the least. There's one last Christmas gift to open--baby Carrie reminds them that she has a gift to give. After finding a penny, she has gone to the store to buy a gift for Baby Jesus. It's a shiny star ornament for the top of the family's Christmas tree.
Pa helps Carrie put her star on top of the tree.
Not only does this western drama take on story elements from O.Henry's classic story The Gift of the Magi--Pa gives Laura a saddle for a horse that she sells for the money to buy Ma an iron stove. But "Christmas in Plum Creek" emphasizes a different dimension to giving gifts as well. Here, Caroline puts away her handmade shirt to Charles to protect her daughter's feelings when Mary makes Charles a shirt. Charles gladly embraces Laura when she feels badly about all the effort he put into getting her a saddle for the horse she sold. And, Caroline loves her daughter enough to allow her to make this big sacrifice (selling her horse) to show her mother how much she loves her. Where's that box of tissues?
Are you a Little House on the Prairie fan? There are several more Little House Christmas episodes--is there one you like more than this one?
Remember this series' theme song? It was sung by Linda Lavin--the actress who played Alice. But you knew that, right?
I'm still continuing my discussion of memorable adaptations of the Christmas short story The Gift of the Magi, written by American author O.Henry. So far I've discussed the 1952 film O.Henry's Full House, the 1978 TV movie The Gift of Love, a segment within 1999's Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas, Jim Henson Production's 1977 hit Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas, and the 1996 operatic TV version from Finland entitledThe Gift of the Magi. While there are dozens--yes, dozens--of TV sitcom versions of The Gift of the Magi, I thought I'd remind you of one of my favorites. As a former child of 1970s and '80s TV, this fourth season episode of Alice entitled "Mel, the Magi" is one I've seen over and over.
This fourth season story revolves around the waitresses Flo, Alice and Vera, cook and owner Mel Sharples, and Alice's son Tommy.
In this 1979 Christmas episode, there is more story than just The Gift of the Magi plot line. The waitresses decide to hold their Christmas Eve party at Mel’s diner and invite all their regular customers. On Christmas Eve, the lights on the Christmas tree short out the diner's electricity and Mel desperately calls every electrician in Phoenix.
Eventually a man in a Santa suit arrives and he fixes the wiring. But when the waitresses' Christmas gifts from the back room turn up missing,
Flo calls the police. The police begin combing the neighborhood for suspicious men
in Santa suits who may be in possession of their gifts. There's also a subplot about the child-like Vera believing that the electrician in the Santa suit is the real Santa.
What we've seen earlier in the episode is that the waitresses have all agreed to buy one and only one gift for each other this year--Alice is going to buy for Tommy, Tommy for his mother Alice, Flo will buy for Vera, and Vera will get a gift for Flo. Mel says he's been saving all year for one gift for himself: a new color TV. However, with prices on the rise, Alice ends up pawning her silver coffee pot to buy Tommy a case for his guitar, Flo hocks her velvet painting of Johnny Cash to buy Vera a collection of Burt Bacharach LPs, Vera pawns her record player to buy a leather picture frame for Flo’s favorite painting of Johnny Cash, and Tommy sells his guitar to buy his mother a silver creamer to match her coffee pot. Only Mel and the regular customer Henry are aware of the sacrifices made by the thoughtful gift-givers for one another.
Mel, played by Vic Tayback, is usually characterized as being frugal. However in this Christmas episode, Mel is charmingly generous.
On Christmas Eve, one of the suspicious men in a Santa suit brought into the diner by the police is Mel Sharples--and he has all the waitresses' gifts! Turns out Mel has gone around and bought back all the pawned items. Now Flo has the velvet painting and its frame, Alice receives a creamer and her coffee pot, Tommy has his guitar back and a case for it, and Vera gets her record player back and a set of Burt Bacharach albums.
Sorry, I couldn't get a photo of Flo's oil painting of Johnny Cash on velvet. Every Johnny Cash painting needs a frame.
This episode may be predictable but it’s a satisfying adaptation of O.Henry’s classic tale. To me, this is a great version of The Gift of the Magi because Mel knows his friends are spending beyond their budgets for Christmas but he ends up embodying the spirit of Christmas, sacrificing his own color TV set to buy their gifts back. Since Mel treats his waitresses so poorly most of the year, it's nice to see him go out of his way for them at the holidays.
Can you name one of the dozens of other sitcom adaptations of The Gift of the Magi? Which is your favorite?
Don't avoid this foreign language version--the DVD version includes English subtitles!
Hopefully you've been following along the last several weeks as I've been reminiscing about some of the best and most interesting film and TV adaptations of O.Henry's popular Christmas short story The Gift of the Magi. So far I've discussed the 1952 film O.Henry's Full House, the 1978 TV movie The Gift of Love, a segment within 1999's Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas, and 1977's Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas. Another outstanding TV adaptation is the 1996 operatic version made for Finnish TV, simply titled The Gift of the Magi.
In this version, the original character names of Jim and Della have been replaced with Joel and Minna. Doesn't Joel look like a younger Tim Robbins?
This opera version of the Christmas story lifts the emotional drama of the familiar tale to new heights. Much like the original story, a young couple Joel and Minna are short on money at Christmas time. In this version, through song, we also learn that Joel is also struggling to pay their rent.
The landlord Mr. Salomon adds tension to the story as he pressures the young couple to pay their rent, stopping Joel outside the apartment to admire his valuable heirloom watch.
The landlord Mr. Salomon clearly wants to acquire Joel's valuable watch.
Another character, a woman of loose morals known in the small village as The Queen of Sheba adds another voice to the unfolding story. The Queen’s song puts Minna's struggle in context, explaining that a woman’s beauty is her asset and to jeopardize her value is to risk losing her man and her status in society.
Though she's an outcast in the community, the Queen of Sheba (a prostitute) has a worldly understanding of men and society.
Although Minna doesn’t like The Queen, she knows cutting off her hair certainly jeopardizes how her husband may value her especially since they are newly married and the relationship is still young.
Minna gazes in the mirror and considers selling her hair--her only thing of value.
A third character, the wigmaker adds his perspective in song to this timeless story. At first the wigmaker expresses his contempt for Minna’s faith in the power of love and her sacrifice. But as the wigmaker hears his own cynical remarks about love, he’s moved to follow after Minna to see if her ultimate gift does indeed impress her husband.
The wigmaker doubts the power of love but wants to see for himself what happens when Minna and Joel exchange gifts.
In the end, the townsfolk who have watched all day as these dramatic events unfold now gather and stand outside the young couple’s home to watch through the curtains in the front windows to marvel at the most precious gift exchange.
Knowing full well what's been going on, the villagers all watch the windows to see the couple's reaction.
Interestingly, this TV version also takes the story another step to connect this gift exchange between Minna and Joel with the gifts the three magi offered the baby Jesus. The scenes in which Joel and Minna exchange gifts are framed with captions that remind viewers of the first Christmas gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh. It's a thoughtful reminder of the spirit of the season.
The townsfolk watch as Minna's and Joel's precious gifts are offered. The framing element connects the biblical Christmas story to this tale about giving.
Though the opera's lyrics are in another language, the visuals and the subtitles clearly communicate the beautiful Christmas story and the power of giving one’s only possession. This hour-long opera performance does not take place on stage in a great opera hall but rather is shot on sets--many of them out of doors. The result includes close-ups and a variety of camera angles which helps create a more intimate viewer connection with the performances.
Like only opera can do, the emotional highs are higher and the lows are a lower in this classic Christmas tale. Here, Minna prays that her husband doesn't reject her for sacrificing her beauty for him.
This musical adaptation is certainly different from much of the made-for-TV Christmas entertainment--and that's why I'm drawn to it. Its operatic melodrama also creates a far more emotional story that enriches the familiar Gift of the Magi plot. It's also interesting to see how this classic story written by the great American author O.Henry is adapted in Finland for international TV audiences. I think it translates well.
Are you an opera fan? Have you seen this version of The Gift of the Magi before? Check out a clip I found on Youtube:
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