Simple Gifts (TV 1977)

Directors:

R.O. Blechman, Phillip Schopper

Writers:

R.O. Blechman (segment), Fontaine Fox (comic strip "Toonerville Trolley"),

Stars:

Colleen Dewhurst, Hermione Gingold, José Ferrer

Cast

Cast overview:
Colleen Dewhurst	...	Herself - Host
Hermione Gingold	...	Narrator (segment "The Great Frost") (voice)
José Ferrer	...	Narrator (segment "A Memory of Christmas") (voice)
Tony Allon	...	(segment "A Memory of Christmas")
Charles Bender	...	(segment "A Memory of Christmas")
Dwight Marfield	...	(segment "A Memory of Christmas")
Peter Rogan	...	(segment "A Memory of Christmas")
Ellen Sandler	...	(segment "A Memory of Christmas")
Dean Wareham	...	Narrator (segment "My Christmas") (voice)
David Jones	...	Narrator (segment "December 25th, 1914") (voice)
Paul Dooley	...	(segment "Lost & Found") (voice)
Claudette Sutherland	...	(segment "Lost & Found") (voice)

Storyline

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Genres:

Animation

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Company Credits

Production Co:

WNET Channel 13 New York, Educational Broadcasting Corporation

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

User Reviews

Amazingly simple but profound

How sad that this title is not on DVD, and that PBS stopped airing it before VCRs were common. An anthology of six stories, including an excerpt from Virginia Woolf's Orlando, one from Theodore Roosevelt's diary, and a World War I Christmas tale, apparently true.

All are set at Christmas time. In fact, I remember it airing as "Six Simple Gifts for Christmas." The animation is minimalist, and what little dialog there is, is of the "'I know what to do,' she said" variety, as if we are being read to. A true charmer, each segment is a small masterpiece.