All Mine to Give
Cast: Glynis Johns, Cameron Mitchell, Rex Thompson, Patty McCormack, Ernest Truex, Alan Hale, Jr., Hope Emerson
Credits: Director: Allen Reisner; Producer: Sam Wiesenthal; Writer: Dale Eunson, Katherine Eunson (Based on the Story “The Day They
Gave the Babies Away” by Katherine Eunson); Universal; 1957
While Christmas is a happy and joyful holiday for many people, for others it is a dark and depressing season. Whether through loneliness or sadness, often the days leading up to that special time are gloomy indeed.
Therefore, those wishing to have a good cry or badly in need of a severe lesson on how truly blessed their lives are, should take time to view All Mine to Give, a five-handkerchief film if I ever saw one.
Produced by RKO in 1956, the film was based on a true story first published in Cosmopolitan by Dale Eunson and titled “The Day They Gave Babies Away.” The story was adapted by Eunson and his wife Katherine for the cinema version.
Starring as Scottish immigrants who come to America are Cameron Mitchell as Robert and Glynis Johns as Jo (most credit lists list Glynis Johns’ character name as Mamie, but I swear I heard Robert call her Jo, so that’s what we’ll go with), often referred to as the Missus or Lassie. Johns and Mitchell turn in outstanding performances as a truly loving husband and wife in this touching dramatization.
The young couple, against the advice of their families, pin all their hopes and dreams on an invitation from an uncle to the New World. As they arrive in the small town of Eureka, they are crushed to discover the uncle has been killed in a house fire just three weeks earlier. As they sit desolate on the charred remains of the cabin, the town physician Dr. Delbert (Ernest Truex), and his wife (Sylvia Field) arrive and insist the couple stay with them. Robert and Jo decide to stay in Eureka, have their baby, start a new life and rebuild the cabin.
As they battle to rebuild the cabin, desperately struggling to finish before winter and the arrival of the baby, their neighbors arrive to help construct the home. Time to pull out that first handkerchief. The film reminds us of the spirit and kindness of the early pioneers as well as how strong and decent our forefathers were.
Immediately after Rob-bie is born, Robert travels all night to his new job in a logging camp. The tough Irish boss (Alan Hale, a long way from Gilligan’s Island) and Robert are destined to come to blows, which they do in a good old-fashioned John Ford–style fistfight whose outcome (like that of Ford’s The Quiet Man) results in newfound respect between the two.
Robert does manage to return home occasionally, which results in the birth of Jimmie, followed soon after by Kirk. The family continues to grow and Robert quits the logging camp and begins a boat-building business. Mother, desperate to learn to read, starts school alongside Robbie. Kirk is soon followed by Annabelle, Elizabeth and Jane.
Life was difficult for families back then, and the rapidly growing children are whisked away by Robert when the doctor places a green quarantine cloth on the front door of the little home—Kirk has come down with diphtheria. Robbie (Rex Thompson), approaching his teenage years, realizes Kirk could die. He watches as his father learns Kirk is getting well, and they can soon return home. Later, Robert, alone on the porch, breaks into tears. Time for
the second handkerchief, but don’t put it away just yet. The family reunion is not the joyful one imagined. Robert and Jo, both tired and overwrought, have words because the children are so dirty, and Robert storms out of the house. Robbie explains their pa did the best he could and Jo, realizing she has been too rough on her husband, hurries to find him. She finds Robert in the barn, coughing violently. While Kirk has recovered, Robert is not so lucky.
The funeral is held in the pouring rain. The six children sit together, the rain mixing with their tears. This scene is especially difficult to watch for anyone who vividly remembers burying a truly loved father. The feelings of loss and rage are almost unbearable, long-buried emotions that immediately resurface while viewing All Mine to Give.
Jo begins sewing to help support the family, and Robbie begins sweeping up at the lumber mill, but soon Jo too is overcome by typhoid fever. The children try to take care of her; but, with Christmas fast approaching, she asks Robbie to bring the family to her. He frantically sends Annabelle to fetch Jimmie and Kirk, who are two of the wise men in the town Christmas pageant. The children gather around their dying mother, who mistakes them for her own brothers and sisters after whom her children were named. Robbie angrily pushes them from the room.
She regains her senses and speaks to Robbie:
“Your brothers and sisters have to have homes, good homes, where they’re wanted and loved. I want you to decide where they’re to be offered. Place them with families that have children of their own. So they won’t be so lonesome for each other. Robbie, I don’t know what I would have done without you. You’ve truly been a man of the house and find a good place for yourself.”
Jo is buried on Christmas Eve as the church bells toll mournfully in the background, and the children convince the town adults to allow them to stay together one last Christmas. Could this film get any sadder?
It is at this point the filmmakers pulled in the reins and rapidly brought about the conclusion, perhaps thinking the audience could not take much more emotional onslaught. Unfortunately, this hasty conclusion is where the film begins to break down. We have come to care for Robbie (played competently by Rex Thompson, who had appeared with Jean Simmons in 1953’s Young Bess as young King Edward and as Anna’s son in The King and I [1956 with Deborah Kerr and Yul Brynner]) and the rest of the children. All Mine to Give would be Thompson’s last film appearance as well as the last film role of Stephen Wootton. Wootton played the freckled-faced Jimmie, who brought smiles to viewers as he tried to avoid the attentions of little blonde twins who constantly followed him around telling him he was cute, the kiss of death to young boys.
The children return home and Robbie reads them “The Night Before Christmas” until they have fallen asleep, all except for Jimmie. As “Silent Night” is heard in the background, Robbie fetches the slate from his mother’s room and, with Jimmie sitting alongside, begins to make a list of families that would take the children.
“Tomorrow’s the best day for me to do what mama told me.”
“But tomorrow’s Christmas,” Jimmie responds.
“That’s just it. On Christmas we ought to get just about anybody we want to take any of us in, you see.”
Robbie takes Annabelle to the Tylers who have two sons but no girls. They are just saying grace over their Christmas dinner when Robbie knocks. Annabelle was played by Patty McCormack, who had been nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award the previous year for her performance as the demented Rhoda Penmark in The Bad Seed. He tells the Tylers she is a hard worker and knows her ABCs, which she annoyingly begins to recite. The Tylers gladly accept, as Mr. Tyler thanks the Lord for this unexpected blessing and Annabelle nonchalantly removes her coat and gloves. She doesn’t even glance up as Robbie leaves. Robbie takes their old cow to Dr. Delbert in payment of his care of Kirk, father and mother. Dr. and Mrs. Delbert tell him they would be happy to take any of the children, but he politely implies they are too old.
He meets Jimmie, who is pulling Elizabeth on a sled. The family they had chosen for her was not home. They see a couple, the schoolmaster and his wife approaching in a sleigh, and stop and ask them if they would like to take Elizabeth. The woman happily bundles up the child, and they drive away. Jimmie notes, “She didn’t even wave.”
They go back to the cabin where Kirk is frantic as the town busybody, Mrs. Runyon (Reta Shaw), has decided to take baby Jane away. 
The three boys line up in front of the door and block her way until she angrily departs. They must hurry since she will create trouble, causing Robbie to be unable to fulfill his mother’s dying wish.
Since Kirk has a talent for music, Robbie orders Jimmie to take Kirk (Butch Bernard) to the only couple in town who have a piano. Kirk sobs saying he doesn’t want to go, but Robbie yells at him and forces them to leave. When Jimmie returns, Robbie has finished dressing baby Jane and tells Jimmie he is taking her to a town 10 miles away and then he will be going to work at the lumber mill. Jimmie is to ask the family with the annoying twins to take him. They part in the snow as Jimmie asks Robbie to come to see him. Robbie answers that he will, but we don’t really believe him. He pulls the baby 10 miles through the falling snow until he spies a homely little cabin with the sound of children’s laughter. He knocks on the door and asks the strangers if they want the baby.
This is the part of the film I find most difficult to accept; and, after wallowing through a box of tissues, I was a little annoyed with the ending. While my brothers and sisters and I fought like cats and dogs when we were kids, the bond between siblings is a strong one, and I can’t accept children who just lost their mother and then are plopped down in new homes showing such little emotion. Also, I don’t think Robbie would just drop off the baby at a house that looked happy. While we were growing up, our baby sister was our pride and joy, and we would have fought like tigers to protect her. Finally, Robbie knew his mother wanted nothing more than for him to return to school. Since he struggled so hard to fulfill her last wish, I don’t think he would have ruined it by working in a logging camp, an idea she detested. A more satisfactory ending would have had Robbie give the baby to a family in town and live with Dr. Delbert. The children could have kept that special family bond, and we would have had a somewhat happy ending rather than Robbie walking alone in the falling snow pulling that sad little sled on Christmas Day.
The Amos ’n’ Andy Show (June 1951–June 1953) “Christmas Show”
One of the more entertaining and seldom seen treasures of early television remains The Amos ’n’ Andy Show, the first all-black situation comedy. Called racist by many and said to perpetuate racial stereotypes by others, the show has never garnered the exposure it deserves, and in the early 1950s, it portrays Amos (Alvin Childress), Andy (Spencer Williams, Jr.) and the Kingfish (Tim Moore) as not being any dumber than any other characters to be found on the tube at this time, and in episodes such as this classic Christmas one, the characters reveal themselves to be multi-dimensional and caring human beings.
Andy Brown is very proud of his godchild, friend Amos’ first daughter, and the two follow a ritual every Christmas Eve: They go out together and window shop at all the major downtown department stores. The child wishes it would snow tomorrow, thinking a white Christmas would be perfect. Looking at all the toys, the child asks Andy lots of questions that require Andy to make up answers. Seeing a Junior Paint Set for $5.95, the sign says easel additional. When asked what an easel is, Andy fakes it and says it is something you place on your head, with a little tassel, that keeps the head warm. Another sign offers Kiddie Furniture Set—$14.95, but the Perambulator is extra. Again asked what a Perambulator is, Andy says it is just like the easel, but there’s no tassel. The girl looks admiringly at her uncle and swoons, “You know everything, don’t you!”
Andy tells the child that he has to wrap some presents tonight, so there’s only time to check out one more store window, and there Andy’s godchild sees the present of her dreams. “That’s a talking doll, Uncle Andy. It’s my favorite.” But her father already told her that Santa Claus couldn’t afford it this year.
Returning to the Lodge, Andy and Lightning are wrapping presents and talking when the Kingfish walks on in, dropping hints about the $6.95 blue bathrobe and where it is sold in hopes Andy will buy it as a Christmas present for him. Pretending to measure the size of the Lodge door with his arm
s, the Kingfish lets Andy know that he will be coming up to the Lodge early tomorrow with a really big present for him. Andy, a sad look on his face, tells Kingfish he is embarrassed, that he is broke and doesn’t have any money left to buy Kingfish a present. Immediately changing gears, the Kingfish tells Andy, that on second thought, he won’t be arriving at the Lodge as early as expected tomorrow morning. “I have lots of packages to deliver, so I might not be here until February or March... don’t wait up here for me!”
Andy is also embarrassed that all he could afford to buy for his godchild is another box of crayons, the exact same present he bought her nine years ago when she was born. So he immediately rushes to the Glove Department Store and offers to work anywhere doing anything to be able to afford that special talking doll. As fate would have it, the regular Santa Claus assistant had to leave early, so Andy is hired to be the rotund and jolly helper to Santa Claus. The man who hires him tells Andy to just call the floor walker if he runs into any problems. However, once out on the floor, the generally overwhelmed Andy calls for the floor walker at every opportunity he has. When the first child asks for a jet plane and train, and Andy asks the boy if he has been good all year, the child answers I won’t drink my milk, and Andy calls for the floor walker, but the child changes his mind and says for these presents he will drink milk, letting Andy off the hook.
A tough older child approaches Santa and asks for a machine gun, and wants to know why he didn’t get the skates he wanted last year. Putting Santa further on the spot, the same boy asks if there are trees up in the North Pole, to which Andy answers no, just snow. But the kid wants to know then where does Santa get all the oranges and apples he puts in stockings. In desperation Andy yells out for the floor walker again. But the day moves along and Andy speaks to his last child before closing time, feeling tired yet satisfied. The stock boy delivers Andy’s doll and he exits the store a very satisfied man.
Taking the doll to Amos’ home, he drops off presents for Amos and his wife and the other children, but the special package, from Santa Claus, Andy declares, is for his special godchild. Before Andy leaves to drop off other presents, Amos and the wife invite him to Christmas dinner tomorrow. Checking in on his daughter, Amos finds his daughter too excited to sleep, so she asks if he can listen to the radio for a while. Amos agrees, and the radio station is presenting a special musical choral version of The Lord’s Prayer. Above the musical accompaniment, the loving father and taxicab driver, in his own way, explains the meaning of the prayer to his daughter. As she falls asleep, the camera closes in on her window, the snow beginning to fall, just in time for Christmas.
Too many people are afraid to rebroadcast Amos ’n’ Andy in fear that it portrays the white man’s stereotype of African-Americans, and while Lightning (Horace Stewart) is portrayed as being dumb and slow moving, and Andy is portrayed as being just a tad faster and smarter than Lightning, the sense of family and warmth that exists between friends always comes to the forefront in each episode. In this special Christmas one, we have the flashback of Amos calling up his friend Andy and waking him from a deep sleep. The disoriented friend, who at first forgets to get dressed before leaving his apartment, comes to the aid of a friend and comforts Amos in the delivery room while his wife is giving birth. We have the close rapport and camaraderie existing between Lightning and Andy, and even if the Kingfish is self-centered and only out to give a present when he can get one in return, there’s still a close bond that exists between Andy and the Kingfish (shown in Andy’s guilt at being broke and being unable to buy his friend a present). We have Andy’s panic and guilt over only getting his goddaughter a box of crayons, and his trepidation and success at being a department store Santa helper (perhaps the only racist note of the entire show was calling a black Santa Claus Santa’s helper and not the real thing), being able to earn his precious niece the present of her dreams. And when Andy arrives to deliver his Christmas Eve presents at Amos’ home, he is taken into the family and accepted as an actual family member, given a present himself and reminded to be at Amos’ family Christmas dinner, because Andy is a bachelor and alone for the holidays. And when Amos interprets the meaning of The Lord’s Prayer to his daughter, the sense of family and commitment can be seen shining on the proud father’s face. Amos ’n’ Andy was always a comedy, and in comedies, the characters typically make fun of one another, and while some racial stereotypes may have been encouraged in the series, at least in this Christmas episode, a sense of family, community and caring rings through loud and strong.
An Affair to Remember
Cast: Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr, Richard Denning
Credits: Producer: Jerry Wald; Director: Leo McCarey; Cinematographer: Milton Krasner; Writers: Delmer Daves and Leo McCare
y (Based on a Story by McCarey and Mildred Cram)
Grant and Kerr fall in love aboard a cruise ship and vow to meet in New York at the Empire State Building. Kerr is hit by a car on the way to the rendezvous and never makes the meeting. She is now handicapped and doesn’t want to see Grant again. He sees her at the theater but doesn’t realize she uses a wheelchair. Her children's choir visits her before they sing at chruch for Christmas. Grant tracks her down and Christmas Day he arrives at her apartment where she is resting on a couch. He almost leaves before realizing the truth, leading to a most satisfying ending for this tearjerker.
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Adorable little Hallie O’Fallon (precocious Thora Birch) visits the real Santa (a tribute to Miracle on 34th Street) at Macy’s to ask him to reunite her parents for Christmas. Big brother Ethan (played convincingly by Ethan Randall) warns her not to ask Santa for personal things, not wanting Hallie to be disappointed when Santa can’t deliver. The relationship shown between brother and sister is charming, rather than the typical love/hate scenario in most films. Ethan looks out for his little sister (as do most big brothers in real life), zipping up her jacket when he picks her up outside school to walk her home (granted that no responsible adult would have allowed Hallie to go out into the snow wearing a tutu under that jacket—one of many such scenes in the film that make responsible adults shake their heads).