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CHRISTMAS CAROLS


The most fun in TV-land was always at Christmas time – no matter what your persuasion.  And it also didn’t matter that sometimes special holiday shows were taped long before the big day.

Ruth Alampi, producer/host of Jerseyfile, a basic talk-show, which I directed for almost nine years always came up with something special - a  group or subject that always put my production skills to the test; Church choirs, handbell choirs players and the famous Princeton Gay Men’s Chorus, just to name a few.  My favorite – The Donnelly Donneleers, inhabitants and staff from a local senior center who sang classic Christmas carols with only a few off-key high notes.  

A show which I produced and directed was The Jersey Local which was a travelogue about fun places to go and things to do.  One segment I was happy to do was produced at the Wolfe Holly Farm that just happened to be in my hometown Millville,  called the Holly City of America.  The farm was one of the biggest holly tree nurseries in America and it offered guided tours, a Holly Museum and a gift shop that had many items with  this favorite Christmas decoration.  Mr. Danial Fenton, a former Millville high school agriculture teacher, narrated our video tour and his information was fascinating, suitable for any time of the year - to summarize, the owner, Mr. Clarence Wolfe owned a major sand mining business used in glass making. He owned a lot of woodland property that naturally contained many Holly Trees.   When he would clear one of these parcels of land to open a sand mine he would save as many of the trees and replant them at his farm in Millville.   Mr. Wolfe, a very religious man, refrained from giving liquor or wine to his customers (which was the standard custom for many big businesses) so instead he boxed cut holly and sent them to his business associates.  As the years passed, he received requests for bigger boxes of holly.  To meet this growing demand, he started to plant trees with his imported ones and the rest is history.   As his gifting idea grew to 1000’s of holiday boxes and 100’s of trees, he decided to create a new business venture.  He hired Mr. Fenton away from his Ag teaching job to manage the farm – and Mr. Fenton then also became a bit famous also – he developed Hollytone – the first fertilizer designed especially for holly trees which I learned grow very slowly and absorb lots of nutrients from the soil.  I brought home a box of holly and a holly decorated serving platter.

Another very Christmas segment for the Local show featured a segment devoted to Thomas Nast who lived in Morristown, NJ and was famed for illustrating Clement Moore’s children’s class - Twas the Night Before Christmas.  We filmed the piece at the Morristown Square in Santa’s workshop which was the attraction of the town’s annual homage to its illustrious illustrator.  Kent Manahan, Emmy winning news anchor interview who else but Santa – Played by guess who?  ME!


I wore a top quality Santa suit with real fur from of Broadway's top costume houses and a magnificent beard that was applied by a freelance theatrical makeup person.   Great fun becoming the jolly old elf for a day which would become one my most favorite stops along the way on my TV journey. 

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