The Plot to Overthrow Christmas

Last updated

The Plot to Overthrow Christmas is a radio play written by Norman Corwin and first performed on December 25, 1938.

Contents

Plot

The play, a fantasy told entirely in rhyme, begins with a narrative introduction. It proceeds without further narration, but a character named Sotto voce occasionally interrupts with parenthetical footnotes for the audience. Sound effects depict a descent to Hell: a gong, followed by two crashes of thunder; then an electronic hum, first descending, then ascending in pitch; which dissolves into a sustained violin note, which finally turns into a classical cadenza.

The violin is being played by the Roman emperor Nero, whose playing is interrupted by a courier summoning him to an urgent meeting called by the Devil, Mephistopheles. Mephisto explains to an assembly including Nero, Ivan the Terrible, the Biblical Haman, the Roman emperor Caligula, the Borgias, and Simon Legree, that he is concerned about the thwarting of his efforts to corrupt humanity, by the peace and good will generated by the Christmas holiday. He solicits proposals to deal with the matter. First, Caligula suggests poisoning Christmas foods and candies. Next, Nero suggests corrupting sacred Christmas music by converting it to jazz style, as has been done to classical music. Then Legree suggests bribing the US Congress to outlaw Christmas, but Mephisto points out the uncertainty of depending on corrupt politicians, who could just as easily be turned the other way. Finally, Lucrezia Borgia suggests assassinating Santa Claus, a deed she is anxious to do herself. Mephisto puts the proposals to a vote, and Borgia's plan wins. Nero is then chosen by lottery as the assassin.

After a bit of fuss about how to get to Earth and to find Santa, Nero ascends to Earth with a gun in Act II and makes the arduous trek to Santa's domicile in the North Pole. Santa invites him in, well aware of Nero's sinister purpose. Santa tells Nero that the Devil cares nothing about Nero, and is only using him to acquire as large an earthly empire as possible. Nero briefly succumbs to this logic, but then takes Santa's argument as a battle of wits, and boasts of his intellectual superiority and cultural (musical) sensitivity. Santa counters Nero's boasting by expounding on the sentimental joys and wonders of Christmas, of which Nero knows nothing. This touches Nero's heart and causes him to repent of his evil purpose and ask how he can help Santa. Santa then showers Nero with hospitality, and runs to get a present for him: a Stradivarius violin. Santa also gives him a piece of sheet music, and the play closes with Nero playing The First Noel on the Stradivarius.

Conception and early productions

In 1938, Norman Corwin was hired by the CBS Radio Network and given his own show, Norman Corwin's Words Without Music. After the show on the week before Christmas, his producer put him on the spot by asking him what he intended to do for a Christmas show. Corwin came up with the title off the top of his head. This constrained his writing, but gave him the opening line: "Did you hear about the plot to overthrow Christmas?" The play was first broadcast on December 25. By 1940, Corwin was leading CBS's Columbia Workshop, and he again produced The Plot to Overthrow Christmas on December 22 of that year. CBS had Corwin produce and direct the play a third time on December 19, 1944, with most of the original cast, which included Will Geer as Mephistopheles. Santa Claus was played by House Jameson, and Nero was played by black stage and radio actor Eric Burroughs. Henry Morgan appeared in the 1944 broadcast as the narrator, as Ivan the Terrible, and Simon Legree. [1] Corwin called Burroughs "the finest Negro actor in radio" after his 1936 appearance in Orson Welles' Federal Theatre production of Macbeth . Jameson later appeared in supporting roles in the 1948 film The Naked City and in nine episodes of its television series adaptation between 1959 and 1963.

In 1960, Corwin collaborated with composer Walter Scharf to turn the play into an opera, for which he provided the libretto. However, Corwin and Scharf could not agree on business terms, and the opera remained only in manuscript form. It was performed only once, in 2000 at Brigham Young University.

Recreation on public television

In 1969, Los Angeles public television station KCET produced a program about Corwin's play, which included an interview with Corwin about the play's origin, and a rehearsal and television reading of the play. [2] The show was rebroadcast on PBS on December 23, 1971, as an episode of Hollywood Television Theatre . [3] KCET rebroadcast the program in 2010 (about a year before Corwin's death) in honor of his 100th birthday, and followed it with a new interview with Corwin. [2]

Corwin added two scenes to his original script for the TV production. On his way to the North Pole, Nero encounters a reporter who attempts to poll him on his opinions of classical composers and conductors. He also briefly encounters a woman speaking a strange-sounding language; Corwin decided to add this after hearing an extra cast as one of the demons imitate the sound of a tape being rewound.

Cast

Corwin cast several contemporary veteran radio and television character actors for his 1969 television production. [3]

Related Research Articles

"The Night of the Meek" is episode 47 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It originally aired on December 23, 1960, on CBS. It was one of six episodes shot on videotape in a short-lived experiment aimed at cutting costs.

Art Carney American actor and comedian (1918–2003)

Arthur William Matthew Carney was an American actor and comedian. A recipient of an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and six Primetime Emmy Awards, Carney was best known for his role as Ed Norton on the sitcom The Honeymooners (1955–1956).

Norman Corwin American writer, screenwriter, radio producer, screenwriter, essayist, and teacher

Norman Lewis Corwin was an American writer, screenwriter, producer, essayist and teacher of journalism and writing. His earliest and biggest successes were in the writing and directing of radio drama during the 1930s and 1940s.

Edward Platt American actor

Edward Cuthbert Platt was an American actor best known for his portrayal of "the Chief" in the 1965–70 NBC/CBS television series Get Smart. With his deep voice and mature appearance, he played an eclectic mix of characters over the span of his career.

Alan Reed American actor

Alan Reed was an American actor, best known as the original voice of Fred Flintstone on The Flintstones and various spinoff series. He also appeared in many films, including Days of Glory, The Tarnished Angels, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Viva Zapata!, and Nob Hill, and various television and radio series.

Henry Morgan (humorist) American comedian

Henry Morgan was an American humorist. He first became familiar to radio audiences in the 1930s and 1940s as a barbed but often self-deprecating satirist; in the 1950s and later, he was a regular and cantankerous panelist on the game show I've Got a Secret as well as other game and talk shows. Morgan was a second cousin of Broadway lyricist and librettist Alan Jay Lerner.

John McIntire American actor

John Herrick McIntire was an American character actor who appeared in 65 theatrical films and many television series. McIntire is well known for having replaced Ward Bond, upon Bond's sudden death in November 1960, as the star of NBC's Wagon Train. He played Christopher Hale, the leader of the wagon train from early 1961 to the series' end in 1965. He also replaced Charles Bickford, upon Bickford's death in 1967, as ranch owner Clay Grainger on NBC's The Virginian for four seasons.

Jeanette Nolan American actress

Jeanette Nolan was an American actress. Nominated for four Emmy Awards, she had roles in the television series The Virginian (1962–1971) and Dirty Sally (1974), and in films such as Macbeth (1948).

Romeo Muller

Romeo Earl Muller, Jr. was an American screenwriter and actor most remembered for his screenplays for the Rankin/Bass holiday specials including Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, The Little Drummer Boy, Frosty the Snowman and Santa Claus is Coming to Town.

Santa Claus in film Movie depictions of Santa Claus

Motion pictures featuring Santa Claus constitute their own subgenre of the Christmas film genre. Early films of Santa revolve around similar simple plots of Santa's Christmas Eve visit to children. In 1897, in a short film called Santa Claus Filling Stockings, Santa Claus is simply filling stockings from his pack of toys. Another film called Santa Claus and the Children was made in 1898. A year later, a film directed by George Albert Smith titled Santa Claus was created. In this picture, Santa Claus enters the room from the fireplace and proceeds to trim the tree. He then fills the stockings that were previously hung on the mantle by the children. After walking backward and surveying his work, he suddenly darts at the fireplace and disappears up the chimney.

Karl Swenson American actor

Karl Swenson was an American theatre, radio, film, and television actor. Early in his career, he was credited as Peter Wayne.

<i>Frosty the Snowman</i> (TV special) 1969 film directed by Jules Bass

Frosty the Snowman is a 1969 American animated Christmas television special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions. It is the first television special featuring the character Frosty the Snowman. The special first aired on Sunday, December 7, 1969 at 8:00pm on the CBS television network in the United States; it has aired annually for the network's Christmas and holiday season every year since. The special was based on the Walter E. Rollins and Steve Nelson song of the same name. It featured the voices of comedians Jimmy Durante as the film's narrator, Billy De Wolfe as Professor Hinkle, and Jackie Vernon as Frosty the Snowman.

<i>I, Claudius</i> (TV series) 1976 BBC TV series

I, Claudius is a 1976 BBC Television adaptation of Robert Graves' 1934 novel I, Claudius and its 1935 sequel Claudius the God. Written by Jack Pulman, it stars Derek Jacobi as Claudius, with Siân Phillips, Brian Blessed, George Baker, Margaret Tyzack, John Hurt, Patricia Quinn, Ian Ogilvy, Kevin McNally, Patrick Stewart, and John Rhys-Davies. The series covers the history of the early Roman Empire, told from the perspective of the elderly Emperor Claudius who narrates the series.

Santa Claus Legendary Christmas character

Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a legendary character originating in Eastern Christian culture who is said to bring children gifts on Christmas Eve of toys and candy or coal or nothing, depending on whether they are "naughty or nice". He is said to accomplish this with the aid of Christmas elves, who make the toys in his workshop at the North Pole, and flying reindeer who pull his sleigh through the air.

<i>A Flintstone Christmas</i>

A Flintstone Christmas is a 1977 animated Christmas television special featuring characters from The Flintstones franchise. It was produced by Hanna-Barbera and is the second Christmas-themed animated work in the franchise, after the 1964 episode "Christmas Flintstone." Both feature the character Fred Flintstone taking on the role of Santa Claus. The special first aired on NBC on December 7, 1977.

Night of the Meek (<i>The Twilight Zone</i>, 1985) 13th episode of the first season of The Twilight Zone

"Night of the Meek" is the first segment of the thirteenth episode from the first season (1985–86) from the television series The Twilight Zone. It is a remake of the original The Twilight Zone series episode, "The Night of the Meek", about a drunken department store Santa who finds a magical sack that can create presents and becomes a real-life Santa Claus. The title is almost unchanged from the original episode, even though the monologue from which the title was derived was replaced.

Christmas elf Western folklore creature

In English-speaking cultures, a Christmas elf is a diminutive elf that lives with Santa Claus at the North Pole and acts as his helper. Christmas elves are usually depicted as green- or red-clad, with large, pointy ears and wearing pointy hats. They are most often depicted as humanoids, but sometimes as furry mammals with tails. Santa's elves are often said to make the toys in Santa's workshop and take care of his reindeer, among other tasks.

Eric Burroughs

Eric Burroughs was an American stage and radio actor whose career spanned the 1930s to the early 1960s. He appeared in Orson Welles's all-Black Federal Theatre Project production of Macbeth. Burroughs was later lauded by radio giant Norman Corwin as being "the finest Negro actor in radio."

Jerry Hausner

James Bernard Hausner, known professionally as Jerry Hausner, was an American radio and television actor, best known as Ricky Ricardo's agent in I Love Lucy and as the voice of Waldo in Mr. Magoo and several characters such as Hemlock Holmes, The Mole, Broodles and Itchy in The Dick Tracy Show.

House Jameson American actor (1902-1971)

House Baker Jameson was an American actor in the era of old-time radio and early television.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.