If you were a kid back in the day this was your favorite Twilight Zone episode.\u00a0 Santa Claus.<\/p>\n
Henry Corwin is a skid row bum who every year dresses up as Santa Claus at the local department store.\u00a0 But Henry is overcome with sadness for the fate of the poor inhabitants of his slum neighborhood.\u00a0 He goes to the local bar and drinks until he\u2019s drunk and cries until he\u2019s thrown out of the bar.\u00a0 On the way to the store he meets poor children begging him for things that might make their Christmas less sad.\u00a0 And he cries.<\/p>\n
At his job as Santa his inebriated state draws the ire of a little boy and his mother who report him to the store manager Mr. Dundee.\u00a0 Dundee berates Henry and fires him for his drinking.\u00a0 Henry apologizes for his condition but explains that he drinks because his sadness for the suffering of the poor hurts him too much.\u00a0 And he says if he could have one wish it would be that just one Christmas, he\u2019d “like to see the meek inherit the earth.”<\/p>\n
Later on, he is walking down an alley when he hears sleigh bells and finds a big sack full of gifts.\u00a0 Amazed and ecstatic with joy he heads to the local Salvation Army mission and starts handing out gifts to his fellow down and outs.\u00a0 And every package turns out to be the exact gift wanted by the recipient.\u00a0 This goes happily along until the lady running the place complains to the police that Henry is handing out stolen property.<\/p>\n
Officer Flaherty arrests Henry and calls Mr. Dundee to tell him that Henry must have stolen merchandise from his store and is handing it out to his poor neighbors.\u00a0 But when they inspect his sack all they find is trash.\u00a0 Flaherty tells Henry he is free to go.\u00a0 Now Dundee berates Flaherty for his stupidity.\u00a0 Flaherty declares that something supernatural had occurred but Dundee says if that is true, he\u2019d like to see the bag produce a rare bottle of cherry brandy.\u00a0 And of course, Henry produces the brandy as he leaves and wishes them a Merry Christmas.<\/p>\n
Back at the Salvation Army spot he finishes handing over gifts to all of his neighbors.\u00a0 One of his friends asks Henry what gift he wants.\u00a0 And he says he can\u2019t think of one but if he had his wish it would be to give gifts like this every year.\u00a0 Wandering back to the alley where he found the sack, he sees a sleigh drawn by reindeers and an elf that calls him Santa and invites him onto the sleigh.<\/p>\n
Later on, Flaherty and Dundee are walking down the street and see Henry and the elf flying through the sky in the reindeer drawn sleigh.\u00a0 Overcome by the wonder Dundee offers Flaherty the hospitality of his home, a drink of the brandy, and says, \u201cwe’ll thank God for miracles, Flaherty.”<\/p>\n
What can I say?\u00a0 This episode is outrageously melodramatic and sentimental.\u00a0 But if I can\u2019t give Art Carney as Santa Claus an A then I might as well join the SJWs and join the war on Christmas.\u00a0 The only suggestion I\u2019d make is that this episode should be watched on December 24th<\/sup> with the small children of the family in attendance.\u00a0 And to all a good night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If you were a kid back in the day this was your favorite Twilight Zone episode.\u00a0 Santa Claus. Henry Corwin is a skid row bum<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[237,4,244,240,1661],"tags":[734,38,1355,1194,44,309,265,1691,1765,154,1692,838],"class_list":["post-6306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","category-sff","category-sff-tv-reviews","category-tv-reviews","category-twilight-zone","tag-art-carney","tag-review","tag-reviews","tag-rod-serling","tag-sci-fi","tag-sci-fi-tv-review","tag-science-fiction","tag-sff-tv-show-reviews","tag-the-night-of-the-meek","tag-tv-review","tag-tv-reviews","tag-twilight-zone"],"yoast_head":"\n