Babes in Toyland

This is a new (2012) edition of two classic telecasts of the 1950s
First, to clear up some potential confusion: the reviews here by Dean Richards and R.C. Walker are about the 2007 release by a company called Jef Films, which was what we call a "pirated" version of the 1954 BABES IN TOYLAND telecast. What is being offered here, on the other hand, is a properly licensed, authorized DVD release by Video Artists International (VAI) which includes not just the 1954 live telecast of BABES IN TOYLAND, but also the 1955 telecast. (In the days before videotape, re-runs were a technical challenge, so if a program was particularly successful, a repeat performance would be scheduled - which also was telecast live.)

So, VAI is now releasing both of the Max Liebman productions of BABES IN TOYLAND on a single DVD. The first was telecast Dec. 18, 1954, the second on Dec. 24, 1955. Both feature Dave Garroway as Santa (as part of a framing device), "special guest" Wally Cox as the toy-maker Grumio, Jack E. Leonard as Silas Barnaby, and the...

Co-written by Neil Simon, orchestrations by Irwin Kostal, legendary cast!
Until this year, I had no idea there was a live musical spectacular based on Babes in Toyland on NBC in 1954 and 1955, but this year, it showed up on DVD from the same folks who gave us the treasure of The Stingiest Man In Town on DVD last year.

This production, produced and directed by Your Show of Shows' Max Leibman, was co-written by Neil Simon not long after the young scribe was in the Show of Shows writers room. It was likely to be a very big event for TV viewers in '54 and '55, as it starred the Today Show host Dave Garroway as a department store Santa who narrates the story, as well as Wally Cox as toymaker Grumio (a character from the original 1903 script). Cox was starring in Mr. Peepers at the time.

Dennis Day, best known as Jack Benny's confused tenor, is perfect as Tom (Tucker this time, not Piper). Ellen Barrie and the legendary Broadway/cabaret performer Barbara Cook play Joan, in the '54 and '55 broadcasts, respectively. Jack E. Leonard plays...

Rare Time Capsule Of Another Time
Thought this was great retro stuff. I'm a professed 'Toyland' fan it's true, but if you are interested in television archival history then this is a important footnote in TV history. It was major musical production for live television at the time and a very impressive production.
The Ballet numbers actually show some refinement and are very well done. They turn the Victor Herbert operetta into a sort of 'Nutcracker' production. The Baird marionettes are a little creepy by todays standards since no one uses marionette puppets anymore, and a sequence with Wally Cox doing a soft shoe dance with a stepin-fetchit puppet will raise the hair on many baby boomers heads. But marionettes are a art form and these are the ones by the famous Baird family,so there is some room for appreciation.
Long believed to be lost, this classic show presented by Oldsmobile in 1954 has been unseen for over 50 years. All that remains is a rare television kinescope of the original live broadcast. This...

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