Simple Gifts

Story

Synopsis

A collection of animated Christmas shorts: An original Maurice Sendak piece about a boy with nothing to give for Christmas -- An excerpt from the early part of Virginia Woolf's "Orlando" set in a time of extreme cold in Tudor England -- A short based on the Toonerville Trolley -- A bittersweet excerpt from Moss Hart's autobiography "Act One" narrated by Jose Ferrer -- A reading from the Christmas day entry from the diary of 11-year-old Teddy Roosevelt -- A reading of a letter by Captain Edward James Hulse describing the surprising Christmas Truce of 1914 -- An animated version by R.O. Blechman of his own book "Tutto Esaurito" (No Vacancy) about the travels of Mary and Joseph.

Directors

R.O. Blechman, Phillip Schopper

Writers

Edward Hulse, Maurice Sendak, Theodore Roosevelt

Language

English

Country

United States of America

Release date

3 December 1977

Ensemble

Cast

• 

  Colleen Dewhurst

  Self - Host

• 

  Hermione Gingold

  Narrator (segment "The Great Frost") (voice)

• 

  José Ferrer

  Narrator (segment "A Memory of Christmas") (voice)

• Dean Wareham

  Narrator (segment "My Christmas") (voice)

• David Jones

  Narrator (segment "December 25, 1914") (voice)

• 

  Paul Dooley

  (segment "Lost & Found") (voice)

• Claudette Sutherland

  (segment "Lost & Found") (voice)