"Ebenezer Sanford" was the show's only Christmas episode, and surprisingly had to wait until the fifth season to do it. Aunt Esther has 'the spirit of Christmas' when she arrives: "and the face of Halloween!" Eric Laneuville, who later appeared twice as Aunt Esther's adopted son Daniel in "Aunt Esther Meets Her Son" and "The Will," knocks on Fred's door as Ronnie Small, looking for a job to buy his parents a gift. Lamont balks at his father taking advantage of the teenager, going so far as to call the old man Scrooge: "what the Dickens are you talking about?" Tired from 'over-resting,' Fred takes a nap and dreams himself into the story "A Christmas Carol," with Lamont representing the Spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Future. The first stop is Fred's childhood home in Missouri, prompting him to call Lamont 'The Spirit of St. Louis!' From deceiving his own mother to the way he insults Aunt Esther, he looks into the future and sees himself alone and unloved. Making amends proves to be heartwarming and expensive, a worthwhile addition to television's yuletide traditions, capped by Redd Foxx rasping "The Christmas Song" from 1944, which ironically was composed during a summer heat wave.
4 Reviews
Uncredited guitarist
jamesm54-112 September 2018
"Chestnuts roasting on an open fire" - musician not credited
dalerwhite9 May 2017
Fred sings "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire" at the end of the episode. A gentleman sitting on the couch is playing electric guitar as Fred sings. This gentleman is not listed in the film credits, nor on IMDb. This gentleman is, I believe, none other than Les Paul, creator of the Les Paul guitar. What do you think?
Guitarist in las scene
salsax223 December 2019
The Guitarist was Herb Ellis the late jazz great ! ... I was in the studio audience when they taped that show in 1975. Herb and the cast were great and played more Christmas tunes for the audience after the taping in November of 1975.
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