Hollywood Television Theatre Season 2, Episode 12: The Plot to Overthrow Christmas

The Typists

Two pathetically ordinary people waste their lives in the office of a company offering typing services.

60 min

The Police

A black comedy about a country where all criminals have been rehabilitated.

60 min

Lemonade

Edith Northrup and Mabel Lamston pass the time drinking up the profits in glass after glass of their spiked lemonades. They talk about their children, their husbands, and their fantastic dreams, mixing the fabrications and truths of their lives.

60 min

Birdbath

Story about a struggling young writer working in a New York restaurant as a counterman and a co-worker in the same place who is a waitress.

60 min

Beginning to End

Irish theatre actor Jack MacGowran's celebrated readings from Samuel Beckett. Included are "Waiting for Godot", "Embers" and "Krapp's Last Tape".

60 min

Enemies

The play deals with the interrelationship between two elderly Jewish men.

60 min

Neighbors

Arkady Leokum's study of the nature of prejudice centers around the encounter between a white couple, in an affluent neighborhood and the black couple to whom they are selling their house.

60 min

The Standwells: About Love

A theatrical family of puppets celebrate the subject of love in song, monologue, and drama. The Standwells are brother and sister hand puppeteers who perform with three other puppets in a repertory troupe based in New York.

60 min

The Bread and Puppet Theatre

An exceptional experimental company consisting of both puppets (from 2 to 8 feet tall) and live actors. Program includes, "The Great Warrior", about a champion who turns against those he's called in to save. "The Dead Man Rises", in which a maiden finds a drowned man and brings him back to life. And "A Man Says Goodbye to His Mother", in which a doomed soldier leaves for war in a far-off land.

Young Marrieds at Play

Two couples meet for an evening of Monopoly -- and wrecked social amenities by truth telling.

60 min

The Picture

An unhappy rich old man tries to buy beauty by purchasing a painting from a young artist.

Day of Absence

Satire about a slice of white society that crumbles when the black work force mysteriously disappears. With one exception (the reporter), the actors are blacks in white-face, members of the Negro Ensemble Company. Playwright Douglas Turner Ward appears as the mayor.

Chekhov Live from Hollywood

(1) A Marriage Proposal: The hot tempers of two Russian landowners almost ruin a love match. (2) The Bear (originally The Boor): A widow clashes with a soldier over a debt.

The Scarecrow

In 17th-century Massachusetts, a vengeful witch turns a scarecrow into a gentleman. His mission: Win the heart of a rival's fiancee.

Awake and Sing

A celebration of the human spirit, examining the frustrations and hopes of a Jewish family struggling to survive the Depression in the Bronx -- and even live a little in the bargain.

Invitation to March

A socialite bride-to-be is aroused from her slumber of boredom by a beach-combing free spirit.