Christmas and the Hard Luck Kid: That Girl

Today, let's look at a Christmas episode from That Girl and listen to her tell the story of how she once made a little boy's Christmas the best one ever. 

gif by me

This episode of That Girl originally aired on December 22, 1966, in the show's first season. 

We open in a department store with the kiddies all lined up to see Santa. Anne Marie's boyfriend, Donald, is in line to take one of Santa's helpers to lunch, and he finds out that the woman in line behind him is there to see one of Santa's helpers because she once spent Christmas with her son, Tommy. 

Who are they meeting? 

That girl!

Full disclosure: I've never seen any of That Girl before this episode but I've seen the fawning all over classic movie Twitter and I've been meaning to find it on DVD so I can enjoy it myself. It's going to be one of my New Year's resolutions. 

Ann Marie takes a break to chat with Donald about how she knows the woman in line, and to open the present. She says you're allowed to open presents from people you don't really know, and he wants to know why she'd get a gift from someone you don't really know. 

So Ann Marie starts to tell the tale of how, three years ago, before she became an actress, she was a teacher at an all-boys boarding school and met Tommy, the little boy in question. 

This is Tommy. If you hear him talk, you'll recognize his voice immediately: he voiced Linus in a bunch of Charlie Brown specials, including A Charlie Brown Christmas and It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

Ann Marie reveals that she probably won't be back after Christmas, as she's leaving to become an actress. He reveals that his parents are actors, and that he's never spent Christmas in his house, always in a hotel while his parents have been on shoots. 

He further reveals that he hasn't heard from his parents yet, so he doesn't even know where he's celebrating the holidays this year. 

In visiting with the headmaster, Mr. Merriman, she reveals that she's serious about leaving to become an actress and that she had a lot of fun putting together the Christmas pageant. They talk about Tommy, and how he was great in the play. 

The headmaster reveals that Tommy's parents aren't going to be home for Christmas: the film they're working on has run behind schedule. 

She's packing her bags back in her room when Roger, another student, drops by with a present for her. She's touched by his thoughtfulness, but in that typical kid way, he tells her not to get too excited, he's only giving it to her because his mother won't let him keep it. It's his dead bug collection. 

"I wish my mother liked bugs as much as you do," he says, promising that from now on, he'll bring any dead bugs he sees to her so she can add them to the collection. 

She goes to visit Tommy one last time, and he tells her that he's going to spend Christmas at the school, as Mr. Carson, the groundskeeper lives at the school and will be there to take care of him. She's aghast, and offers to bring Tommy home with her to spend the holidays.

But Mr. Merriman's unwilling to let her take Tommy home due to the insurance policy on students that won't let them leave a 10 mile radius from the school. She goes to break the news to Tommy, and he asks if she likes him. 

When she tells him it's the insurance, he asks if they don't like him. So she tries to explain it to him, but while she's talking she decides that she's going to spend Christmas at the school as well so he's not alone. 

Ann Marie calls her father to tell him she's not coming home. 

And, at first, he thinks Tommy is a suitor, not a student. She tells him the story and how she probably wouldn't have a very merry Christmas thinking about Tommy being all alone. "You're a good kid," he tells her before hanging up. 

So they bid adieu to everyone and soon they have run of the school. 

She keeps talking about all the fun things they're going to do, but he keeps replying, "Yeah." 

They're excited to have a snowball fight, especially now that the sky's getting dark. But then... it turns to rain. "Tommy? How do you build a rainman?" 

"A tree doesn't make a Christmas, it's the people around it," Ann Marie tells Donald. She tells them they just kept doing the things that worked: playing the same games over and over, decorating and redecorating the tree, eating the same sandwiches...

"I really enjoyed watching you move the angel around," he tells her. They realize they haven't eaten yet, and Ann Marie offers to make more jelly sandwiches ("Not again!" he says). 

"Cut in two or folded over?" she asks. Who eats a sandwich folded over? Makes no sense to me. 

To add a festive atmosphere, Ann Marie lights a candle. Then they hear footsteps. 

It's Mr. Carson coming with a list of tasks for Ann Marie. Turns out Mr. Merriman promised that if Ann Marie looked after his few chores, he could go visit his brother at Christmas this year. "It's really very easy," he says about checking the furnace. "It's all push buttons." 

"Very easy," she agrees. "It's all push buttons..." 

It's not at all hopeful that she says, "So that's what a furnace looks like when she gets down there." And then she's not sure which button to press. But then she realizes that he didn't tell her to press a button, just to check it. 

"As long as you're talking to yourself, you may as well know the answer," she says. 

She stops by to visit Tommy before he falls asleep, asking if he's okay to sleep in the big room alone. He's totally fine and not at all scared. But Ann Marie is, and she's dancing around revealing that. Just as she's about to leave, there's a thunderclap and she runs back into the room.

"Would you like me to read you a story?" Tommy asks her.

The next morning she's on the phone with her mother, telling her that Tommy's playing alone in the gym, but then she hears another voice and runs to see what's happening. 

It's Roger! He lives nearby and comes over to use the gym at vacation. So they all spend the afternoon playing together...

Basketball, follow the leader... She's absolutely tuckered trying to keep up with all the energy, but bless her for trying. 

Soon Roger has to leave to go home, and Tommy's a little disappointed that he's going to be all alone again. 

Ann Marie tries to rouse him for a game of hide and seek, but he doesn't hide. He's too sad. 

"He can go home and have Christmas with his parents, and all I can do is look at this tree and eat jelly sandwiches," Tommy says. He then goes up to the room to read comic books. 

Ann Marie ends up calling Roger's mother and tells her about Tommy and how he should be spending the holiday with a family and not a teacher. She agrees immediately to take in Tommy. 

He asks if she'll be alright alone, and she tells him not to worry about her, and off he goes! 

She starts singing to herself, decorates the tree a bit, and then hauls out the angel to get it ready...

...but then she falls into the chair and tries not to get sad. "It's just one night, one Christmas. I'm not a kid anymore," she says. 

The next morning, Christmas morning, Ann Marie's on the phone with her father when Tommy comes back. I love her outfit here, but then, I've loved all of her outfits so far.

He tells her it was the best Christmas he's ever had, that the family had Christmas just for him because they're Jewish, and thanks her for arranging everything. 

Back in the present day, Donald tells her it's a great way to have realized the meaning of Christmas. She agrees, but says it also revealed something else: that she hates jelly sandwiches.

THE END!