Did you know Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling was born on Christmas Day? Timing is everything and The Meek is perfect.
Art Carney made this episode a very uncharacteristic Twilight Zone. It's a Christmas-themed show that is sentimental and uplifting, yet it maintains Serling's cutting commentary on the misery of inner-city poverty. It also includes one of the finest examples of his signature character type: the noble, sympathetic urban man trapped in the brutality of a mid-century American society with no room for the weak, the humble, or the poor.
Henry Corwin is a "professional" department store Santa Claus, who ekes out a seasonal living in a tattered and grimy old Santa suit. Corwin drinks to blot out the grinding hardship of his fellow ghetto dwellers, a hardship he cannot reconcile with the free-flowing greed he sees in Christmas shoppers at the store where he has his latest gig. "Just one Christmas," he says to an angry store manager, "I'd like to see the meek inherit the earth". With this, and a rather ordinary-looking burlap bag, begins a very unusual night for him.
Serling's writing is one part of this episode's greatness. The rest is courtesy of the inimitable Art Carney. He steps entirely away from his typical goofy character to provide a remarkable portrait of a besotted, though big-hearted, department store Santa. In Henry Corwin, he delivers stately dignity and empathy blended with a convincing portrayal of a desperate alcoholic.
For me, this is one of those classic 60's TV Christmas shows that has become a seasonal viewing tradition, along with "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and "How the Grinch Stole Christmas".
That's why I weep.
This amazing Twilight Zone episode that stars Art Carney plays a drunk who is department store Santa Claus. He gets fired for his drinking, He is bewildered when he finds what appears to be a magic sack that distributes the exact presents requested by his pals and the neighborhood children. But this is just the start.
This episode was videotaped and kept to a production value minimum. Yet it doesn't matter, the feel of a snowy Christmas comes alive as Santa stumbles and trudges through this little part of America. The story is a perfect blend of comedy and tragedy… And so it goes.
https://youtu.be/lg7AW-DS2nM?si=wtmzlWbvrBtbBBAJ
A Carol for Another Christmas 1964 film
