“Babes in Toyland,” 1954 and 1955

This image wasn’t from “Babes in Toyland.” It’s from “Today,” and that’s Florence Henderson next to Santa Dave. It’s the best I could do on a moment’s notice. (NBC photo)

We all have our ideas of Santa Claus. For some it’s the image of Santa as immortalized by Coca-Cola. For others it’s the Rankin-Bass Santa Claus who finds room in his team and in his heart for a certain unique reindeer. Or maybe you think of the jaded department store Santa from A Christmas Story. But would you believe that for two years, Dave Garroway was Santa Claus? It really happened.1

Let’s go back to 1954. NBC Television faced a problem: staving off the heavy competition CBS was putting up in prime time. Key to NBC’s efforts to fend off this threat was an idea that the always-innovative Pat Weaver had: a collection of ambitious, creative 90-minute productions called “spectaculars.” Aired in prime time, these programs were meant to draw eyes over to NBC to see something they wouldn’t see anywhere else. These presentations were produced by Fred Coe as Producers’ Showcase and by Your Show of Shows impresario Max Liebman2 as Max Liebman Presents.

Some of the “spectaculars” fared better than others. NBC’s first presentation, Satins and Spurs with Betty Hutton, was relentlessly promoted and set high expectations, but laid an egg. Others, however, became beloved classics, as happened with the Fred Coe-produced Peter Pan with Mary Martin. And not only were the spectaculars meant to lure eyes to NBC, but they were also aimed at promoting the color television system pioneered by the network’s parent company, RCA.3

In late 1954 NBC announced a special Christmas-themed spectacular, an adaptation of Victor Herbert’s musical Babes in Toyland, to be aired on Max Liebman Presents. It was adapted by a team of very talented writers, which included a young Neil Simon. The cast was a who’s who of the day’s television and radio stars, including Wally Cox (of Mr. Peepers), comic Jack E. Leonard, and Dennis Day (well-known from being the resident tenor on Jack Benny’s programs). Bil and Cora Baird would create marionettes especially for the program. Oldsmobile’s dealer network would sponsor the program. And holding it all together as the department store Santa who narrated the proceedings? None other but our own Dave Garroway.

Babes in Toyland aired on December 21, carried both in black-and-white and in color, and met good reviews. It was a charming program with moments that could be enjoyed by children and adults alike. And Dave Garroway made for a droll, delightful and slightly bemused Santa, keeping a lost little girl entertained at the end of a wearying day. Reviews were good. One columnist decried some “inappropriate Broadway-type wisecracks” the writers put in Garroway’s mouth4, but considered the production “well done” and wrote that it “should become as much of an annual classic for TV as Charles Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’ for radio.”

Liebman later said he began planning a rebroadcast for 1955 as soon as the good reviews came in. NBC liked the idea. When a re-staged Babes in Toyland was announced for Christmas Eve 1955, it was eagerly anticipated. One paper called it a “TV treat” and looked forward to its return. Liebman told a reporter that it would be much the same production as the year before, using the same scenery and much the same cast5, and that modifications would be minor. There was some concern that with the program airing for 90 minutes starting at 9 PM on Christmas Eve, it would interfere with the tradition that children would need to go to bed early so Santa could do his work. But Liebman said otherwise. “I have it on the very best authority that Santa isn’t going to start making the rounds this year until after 10:30. He’s going to be watching Babes in Toyland.”

Liebman had hoped Babes in Toyland could become an annual tradition, and told a reporter, “I was discussing the matter with Garroway the other day, and we agreed that if we all could get just a little more money, it would almost be practical for us to put on this show once a year and do nothing else.” But it was not to be, and the Liebman production of Babes in Toyland wasn’t presented again after 1955.

Although it wasn’t aired again, both years’ presentations were preserved via kinescope (only black-and-white, alas; the color presentation is lost forever).6 A few years ago, the kinescopes were made available on DVD, and you can watch, compare and enjoy whenever you like. Having watched them both, it’s easy to see just why adults and children alike were so charmed by this presentation. And it’s a glimpse at a whimsical side of Dave Garroway, too. Why not pick up a copy and make it part of your own Christmas tradition?

Sources:

  • Jack Gaver, “‘Babes in Toyland’ Changed Little,” Louisville Courier-Journal, Dec. 19, 1955: 15.
  • Paul Mavis, review of Babes in Toyland DVD, at
    https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/61107/babes-in-toyland-1954-1955-tv-versions/
  • “Network Notes,” Anniston (Ala.) Star, Dec. 11, 1954: 23.
  • Kenneth Nichols, “Town Crier,” Akron Beacon Journal, Dec. 27, 1954: 11.
  • “Saturday Highlights: TV Treat: ‘Babes in Toyland,'” Des Moines Sunday Register Iowa TV Magazine, Dec. 18, 1955: 11.

  1. At this point, I need to give serious credit to the review of the Babes in Toyland DVD written by Paul Mavis and published at DVD Talk. His review gives a very detailed backstory into the program, and I drew heavily from it as I wrote this entry. Go check it out. I also need to thank the very special friend of the blog who lent me his personal copy of Babes in Toyland.
  2. The closest analogue to Liebman in modern television is Lorne Michaels, executive producer of Saturday Night Live. If you strip the modern aspects off SNL, its production is very much like how putting on Your Show of Shows would have been back in the day. If Liebman and Michaels could somehow have a conversation today, they would probably be able to look at each other and say “…yep. Exactly.”
  3. Which was kind of a quixotic notion in 1954, as color television was so new that only a few markets had color capability. And a new color set cost more than what the average family was willing to fork over, anyway. But RCA relentlessly promoted color at every opportunity. General Sarnoff wanted to recover his company’s years-long investment of money, time and influence.
  4. As an example, in a 1955 interview Liebman talked about a critic’s complaint about a line from near the end of the show, when Garroway-as-Santa was explaining what had happened to the characters in later years, and said that Little Bo Peep had opened a sweater factory. “For some reason that struck this critic as being a risque line. As far as we were concerned, we might just as well have said that she opened a woolen mill. Anyway, we’ve taken out that bit entirely.” For younger readers who don’t know why that might be considered risque, look up the term “sweater girl.” Or maybe you’ve figured it out without having to look it up. It was a different time.
  5. Barbara Cook would replace Jo Sullivan, who was rehearsing for a new musical.
  6. And to add to the sadness, a program called Inside NBC, hosted by Bill Cullen, featured a look at a rehearsal of the 1955 production on its December 23 edition. No kinescopes of Inside NBC seem to exist today. History can be cruel, can’t it?