ABC Minute Magazine - "Tis the Night Before Christmas" (1978)

Here's a segment of ABC Minute Magazine, an interstitial feature run by the network in the mid-to-late 1970's in-between daytime soaps. This segment deals with the collected works of Clement Moore, author of what was originally published as "A Visit from St. Nicholas" but became better known as "The Night Before Christmas." Hosted by James Walker (who had reported on the death of high-wire artist Karl Wallenda earlier in the year, as seen on this clip), from the house of the late Anne Lyon Haight in Moore's home base of Litchfield, CT; she had first amassed her collection of Moore's works in the 1930's, and they were donated by her children to the Carnegie Mellon in 1982 (she died on August 8th 1977 at age 88). Illustrations from Moore's most famous work are shown. (Look for a very short snippet of the 1946 Christmas classic "It's a Wonderful Life" at the very end as the recording changes)

A presentation of ABC News.

Opening and closing voiceover by Bill Owen.

The opening titles for ABC Minute Magazine were created by the now-defunct Dolphin Productions of New York using an early computer-based process called "Scanimate." The company was one of a handful that used such a system; others included Image West of Los Angeles and Computer Image Corp. of Denver, CO. The font used for the ABC Minute Magazine logo was Ronda Bold.

This aired on local Chicago TV on Monday, December 25th 1978 at 6:58pm.

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