Paul Lynde’s Xmas TV Work

1956        January 3               IMOGENE COCA SHOW

                                                A post holiday hazard – exchanging Christmas gifts at the store where they were purchased – provides the subject for a comedy sketch. Miss Coca’s guest performers are Bibi Osterwald and Paul Lynde (Washington Post)

1961        December 20          PERRY COMO’S KRAFT MUSIC HALL

1962        December 19          PERRY COMO’S KRAFT MUSIC HALL

1963        December 22          GRINDL … ‘Twas the Week Before Christmas “…and in the store these creatures were stirring: a cashier plotting a robbery, a Santa who needs a loan, a suspicious manager—and Grindl, who’s all tied up in the gift-wrap department” (TVG). Imogene Coca plays Grindl, Paul plays Purvis Inchbock

1967        December 14          BOB HOPE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL (Miracle on the Freeway)

                                                Host: Bob Hope. Guests: Don Adams, Ernest Borgnine, Wally Cox, Phil Silvers & PL as Santa’s prison psychiatrist

                                                ‘Professor’ Jerry Collona makes his first TV appearance since he suffered a major stroke in August 1966 when he plays the role of a zany judge. Theme of the special will concern the Yuletide season, with Santa Claus (Bob Hope) running into a terrible traffic jam on one of the California’s Freeways and ending up in jail for talking out of turn.

                                                Variety: “Claus was then hauled before the prison psychiatrist (Paul Lynde) who himself was as nutty and fluttery as a bat. However, poking fun at the head shrinkers isn’t the fun and games it once was and this segment dawdled…” (12/20/1967)

1968        December 17          THAT’S LIFE

                                                “Bobby and Gloria are besieged by a host of Christmas problems…the annual gift life, myriad Christmas wrappings, a disgusted store clerk (PL singing ‘Bah, Humbug’), an office party where secretary Liza Minnelli defends herself singing ‘A Secretary is Not a Toy,’ and the cajolery of their neighbor Guy Marks” (TVG).

1969        December 21          GLEN CAMPBELL GOODTIME HOUR

                                                Guests: Andy Griffith, Cher & Paul Lynde, who plays a depressed Santa

1976        December 17          DONNY & MARIE

                                                Their first Christmas special, with guests Andy Williams, Osmond Brothers, Jimmy Osmond & Paul Lynde, who plays a reluctant department store Santa Claus and reads his version of “Twas the Night Before Christmas.”

                December 20-24     HOLLYWOOD SQUARES

                                                Robert George, the White House Santa Claus during the last five presidencies, joins Pat Boone, Will Geer, Robert Fuller, Wayland Flowers, Karen Valentine, MacKenzie Phillips, Florence Henderson, George Gobel, and Paul Lynde as this week's celebrity players.

1977        December 7            ‘TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS

                                                What Does Paul Lynde Really Think of Santa Claus? It’s laughter all the way as Paul celebrates his own special brand of Christmas with guests Anne Meara, Martha Raye, Alice Ghostley, George Gobel and “Happy Days” star Anson Williams! (TV Guide)

                                                Executive Producers: Raymond Katz, Sandy Gallin. Producers: Joe Layton, Ken Welch, Mitzi Welch. Writers: Dick Clair, Jenna McMahon.

                                                Cast: Anne Meara, Foster Brooks, Martha Raye, Alice Ghostley, Howard Morris, George Gobel, Anson Williams, Susan Page, Tiffany Ann Francis, Rachel Jacobs, Sparky Marcus, Tommy Krebs.

                                                LYNDE STARS IN YULE TALE … ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas," an ABC Television Network holiday special starring Paul Lynde as the head of an old-fashioned household where absolutely nothing is quiet, not even the mice, will air Wednesday at 8 p.m. Lynde stars as Clark Cosgrove in the humorous story of one American family celebrating Christmas in the 1890s. Starring with him are Anne Meara as his wife; Foster Brooks, Martha Rave, Alice Ghostley, Howard Morris, George Gobel and Anson Williams. Clark Cosgrove is a nervous man at best, and after a long, hard day at work he is in no mood for Christmas Eve with noisy children, gabby in-laws, uninvited guests and an irksome cat. As his patience grows thin it seems likely that be will trade "ho-ho-ho" for a loud "Bah! Humbug!" Finally, the question becomes: Will his frazzled nerves shatter the visions of sugar plums, or the magic of "Twas the Night Before Christmas" revive the flagging Yule spirit?

                                                Los Angeles Times … PAUL LYNDE HAS A HUMBUG YULE … ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, yet another in television’s seemingly inexhaustible roll call of holiday specials, turns out to be a pretty fun time – a good old-fashioned sitcom with music, mistletoe and Paul Lynde in rare form. (12/7/77)

                December 23          DONNY & MARIE

                                                Guests include Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Paul Lynde