The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow is a 1975 animated Christmas special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions. It is narrated by Angela Lansbury and co-stars Cyril Ritchard. It was the first special that Jules Bass wrote under the pseudonym “Julian P. Gardner” (he would use that name again for The Little Drummer Boy, Book II, The First Easter Rabbit, Pinocchio’s Christmas, The Leprechauns’ Christmas Gold, and The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus).
Plot[]
A few weeks before Christmas, Sister Theresa and her fellow nuns, Sister Jean and Sister Catherine are busy creating Christmas cards. As a terrible thunderstorm rages outside, they see a young shepherd named Lucas struck by lightning while wandering the countryside with his animals, his faithful dog Waggles and a small flock of sheep. When the Sisters reach the top of the mountain, they rescue the boy and take him back to their abbey nearby. There, they and Father Thomas, the priest, learn that Lucas is not only blinded by the accident, but he is also an orphan. Despite Thomas’ objections on Lucas making the abbey his home, nevertheless, he allows Lucas to stay while he recovers from the accident. Sister Theresa becomes a mentor and mother-figure to him and nurses the boy back to health, though he remains permanently blinded. She tells him about snow, something neither he nor anyone else in the abbey has ever seen (since their village is “much too close to the sea”). Lucas is fascinated and begins dreaming of a “white Christmas.”
Later on, during Lucas’ recuperation, he overhears Father Thomas telling Sister Theresa will have to be put in an orphanage when he recovers, and is heartbroken by the news. In the meantime, Sister Theresa organizes a Nativity play in which Lucas plays the part of an angel, along with some other children from the village. There, he meets a girl named Louisa, another one of the angels who immediately befriends him. He shares his dream of seeing snow for the first with her, and they start to develop feelings for each other.
On Christmas Eve, Lucas realizes that he won’t be able to take his sheep and Waggles to the orphanage with him after Christmas. So he decides to give them to Sister Theresa as a Christmas present. But three mischievous boys who are in the pageant eavesdrop on him and lock the sheep in a shed as a prank. Unfortunately, the sheep inadvertently get out and run into the wolf-ridden forest nearby, and Lucas sets out to find them. The remorseful boys admit to Sister Theresa what they have done before following Lucas into the forest to help him. When they arrive, he has found all of them, except Woolly, who has fallen into a deep hole. Lucas and the boy work together and rescue Woolly from the hole, much to the relief of a grateful Lucas, and just in time for the pageant.
At the pageant, after the children sing their song, “The First White Christmas,” it finally starts to snow. Louisa excitedly explains this wonderful phenomenon to Lucas, who is so happy that he cries. Miraculousy, as Sister Theresa explains, “those tears of love have restored his sight, not jst for the moment, but for good.”
After the pageant, a small Christmas party is held, where Lucas gives Sister Theresa his sheep and Waggles. She is flattered but explains to him that she wouldn’t be fit to care for them, and invites him to stay and live with her at the abbey to watch over them instead of going to the orphanage. Even Father Thomas finally comes around and agrees, saying that he feels that “the best place for a boy with no parents is with people who love him.” Lucas is thrilled and remarks that this Christmas has been the “first real, happy Christmas of his life.”
Songs[]
- “Save A Little Christmas for Christmas Day”
- “Christmas Snow is Magic”
- “White Christmas”
- “The First White Christmas”
Cast[]
- Angela Lansbury as Sister Theresa
- Cyril Ritchard as Father Thomas
- David Kelley as Lucas
- Dina Lynn as Louisa
- Iris Rainer as Sister Catherine
- Joan Gardner as Sister Jean
Additional voices[]
- Greg Thomas—Trickster Boy #1
- Sean Manning—Trickster Boy #2
- Dru Stevens—Trickster Boy #3
- Don Messick—Waggles
- Hilary Momberger—Octavia
External links[]
The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow on Dailymotion