Favorite all-time Christmas special. So poetic, so authentic and so lovely. Geraldine Page embodies Sook with a realness that is unmatched. One of the all-time great performances. Donnie Melvin is amazing too. Truman Capote created a masterpiece with this. Just wish it was available in more mainstream form. Want to share this with the world!.
I purchased the DVD of this beautiful film (featuring an Emmy winning performance from the incomparable Geraldine Page) years ago and still watch it every Christmas.
I haven't seen this touching little film in many years, and all the family members I watched this with - when it was first on TV - are now gone. A bittersweet memory, and the end is just as moving now as it was the first time I saw it. And in many ways ? Even more so.
" She is still a child " ... What a beautiful , descriptor , of his favorite relative . Capote is such a lyrical writer . I love everything about this " memory " . Thank you , for the upload . 😘
One should never lose their childlike sense of wonder. When that happens is when one becomes bitter, hateful and angry. Or, as the younger generation would call it, a 'Karen.' I LOVED Truman's description of her at 10:52. And when she said "a person my age shouldn't squander their eyes; when the Lord comes, let me see him clear" I don't mind telling you I teared up.
Always makes me think of my mom who said it was the most accurate description of the world during her childhood. Thank you so very much for posting. It’s the one film that for me truly captures the Christmas spirit.
Thank you so much for uploading this…it is one of my favorite Christmas movies. It used to be on PBS every year and my mom and I would look forward to watching it. We never see it on TV anymore and missed it very much.
The south of my great grandparents. Hard to imagine such a simple world. Even my mother made dozens of Christmas cookies to distribute and exchange with others.
My family is from the northeast. Close to New York City. Even in the '60's when I came along the world was simpler and kinder than it is today. MY mother, like yours, also made dozens of Christmas cookies to distribute. Everyone LOVED her cookies. She wasn't a well woman. Now in upper middle age and having health issues myself, I wonder how she was able to do it all.
Absolutely wonderful ❤️ I remember watching this when it first came out and whenever it came on after. One of my all time favorites. Geraldine Page is incredible
What a TREASURE - a story I first read in high school months after my grandfather died. I read it to my mother and grandmother around our kitchen table, and we all wept at that last line.
I can't recall the last time I watched this beautiful film with Geraldine Page, narrated by Truman Capote, when it was shown on tv. I have read the book, but have missed it. My friend and I talk about it around November, it's fruitcake weather, we remember. I was so happy to have found your video on you tube, I shared it with my friend in NC. I watched it on you tube this evening. Just as wonderful as I remembered it. This one, the original has to be the best version. Watching it felt like having received an early Christmas present. Thank you so much, PatnSteve2. Bless you. Merry Christmas to you, too.
This is about Truman Capote, who grew up with his aunts in Monroeville, Alabama. His fav was Aunt Sook. His neighbor and lifetime friend was the famed Nelle Harper Lee, author of To Kill A Mockingbird. His mother sent for him when she and Joe Capote, Truman's stepdad., got an apt on 5th avenue. Trumans given name was Persons, not Capote. He was born in New Orleans, but lived in Alabama.
Thanks SO MUCh for preparing and sharing this!! It is one of my all time favorites - Truman Capote and Geraldine Page - and a beautiful, tender story of a relationship. I tried watching the old black and white version of this not too long ago - but it was too old and worn. This is magnificent - that you took the time to colorize this and revive and rediscover a treasure that I though was lost forever.
ABC, who produced this in 1966, failed to archive the original film print, which is why all we had left was a black and white recorded copy that was broadcast for only the second time 20 years later in 1986.
Thank you so much for making this available. I first heard this story read by a story teller. IT captivated me and have always wanted to see this film. Could not find it streaming. I love Truman's writing. Fans might want to watch Truman and Tennessee about the writers lengthy friendship.
"Miriam": Miss Miller has spent her life as a governess for children in some of the most fashionable homes in New York. She is shocked one day to learn that one of her "babies" is expecting a baby of her own and rejects Miss Miller's offer to be the nurse for the forthcoming child. That night, Miss Miller meets Miriam, a strange young girl who resembles Miss Miller when she was a child. Miriam, critical of everything Miss Miller has or does, constantly taunts her about a loveless existence, leading to a violent confrontation and chilling denouement. "Among The Paths To Eden": Mary O'Meaghan, a spinster, strikes up a conversation in a Queens, New York cemetery with a widower who is putting flowers on his deceased wife's grave. After establishing a modest rapport, Mary reveals to the bemused man that she had come to the graveyard specifically looking for a lonely widower, inasmuch as a friend of hers had found two husbands in a cemetery. "A Christmas Memory": As Christmastime approaches in rural Alabama, a young boy and his best friend, an elderly woman distantly related to him, prepare for the holiday by gathering ingredients for their annual batch of fruitcakes for 'people who've struck our fancy'. On Christmas Eve, they talk with great anticipation of the next day, but underneath is the sad, almost unspoken knowledge that the boy is growing up and his cousin is getting older and more frail. -Richard
Spoiler alert here. At the end, as we hear of the letters Sook sent to Buddy after his departure, the camera turns from one tree in the far left of the frame, partly hidden over a ridge top, to an even larger tree to the far right, closer, grounded in a swale, near, but still apart from the other and less significant trees, and bent toward the first tree in the retreating distance and now far out of view. Such meticulous cinematography, reflecting the meaning of the ending. Home is where my friend is, and there I never go.
Please note. I realized, when I went back to the title page, that I had mispelled your name above, as Stev instead of Stephen. Please excuse. I wanted to correct that here. My thanks and wishes above are meant for PatnStephen2.
As good as the 1997 remake is, especially because they do more with the relatives that live with them which shows the contrast between their nastiness and Sooks goodness, this original is still the best version. I love the scene when they drink the whiskey and Buddy (Truman) says it makes him feel 'sparky' inside. That must be how he first developed a taste for the stuff! And 40 years later he'd be getting snoots full in Studio 54! 🤣 Since this is pretty much based on a true story, I wonder if the Roosevelt's ever DID actually see the fruitcake? Doubtful though as they used to spend Christmas in Hyde Park New York where their family estate was located.
Geraldine Page was one of my favorite actresses..
Ours too - she was tracendant
What an absolute jewel! There are no movies made with this charm. I will watch it again and again.
I too love this movie so sweet and of a time past and long gone...
Favorite all-time Christmas special. So poetic, so authentic and so lovely. Geraldine Page embodies Sook with a realness that is unmatched. One of the all-time great performances. Donnie Melvin is amazing too. Truman Capote created a masterpiece with this. Just wish it was available in more mainstream form. Want to share this with the world!.
I purchased the DVD of this beautiful film (featuring an Emmy winning performance from the incomparable Geraldine Page) years ago and still watch it every Christmas.
It is a classic and a constant in our home for the holidays
I haven't seen this touching little film in many years, and all the family members I watched this with - when it was first on TV - are now gone. A bittersweet memory,
and the end is just as moving now as it was the first time I saw it.
And in many ways ? Even more so.
Makes me cry, every time. Surely the most beautiful, authentic, profound and moving story of friendship ever told. God bless you Truman. XXX
Me Too!!! Love This!!!
@@VernaCunningham-sz9uz I'm about to enjoy it again, 'A Christmas Memory' has become a Christmas tradition in my home! Merry Christmas my friend. X
"Home is where my friend lives and there I never go".
See... now... you quote that line and we have to cry!!
When we get to heaven Ms.Page will be there to welcome us with a warm hug and a kind words.
One of my favorite Christmas films!❤️
Ours too!
" She is still a child " ... What a beautiful , descriptor , of his favorite relative . Capote is such a lyrical writer . I love everything about this " memory " . Thank you , for the upload . 😘
One should never lose their childlike sense of wonder. When that happens is when one becomes bitter, hateful and angry. Or, as the younger generation would call it, a 'Karen.'
I LOVED Truman's description of her at 10:52. And when she said "a person my age shouldn't squander their eyes; when the Lord comes, let me see him clear" I don't mind telling you I teared up.
Always makes me think of my mom who said it was the most accurate description of the world during her childhood. Thank you so very much for posting. It’s the one film that for me truly captures the Christmas spirit.
A truly great and wonderful story and production. I miss the Christmas’s of my youth.
This is for sure a real Christmas story not the soap box junk of today.
Thank you so much for uploading this…it is one of my favorite Christmas movies. It used to be on PBS every year and my mom and I would look forward to watching it. We never see it on TV anymore and missed it very much.
Yes, I remember when it used to be on PBS.
This was a favorite of my mom. Love it!!
The south of my great grandparents. Hard to imagine such a simple world. Even my mother made dozens of Christmas cookies to distribute and exchange with others.
My family is from the northeast. Close to New York City. Even in the '60's when I came along the world was simpler and kinder than it is today.
MY mother, like yours, also made dozens of Christmas cookies to distribute. Everyone LOVED her cookies. She wasn't a well woman. Now in upper middle age and having health issues myself, I wonder how she was able to do it all.
my fave movie in the world. yay geraldine & truman & the whole cast....
Indeed. The ending breaks my heart every time.
Wonderful movie!
i love this movie so much. its homey and sweet.
It is, for sure
Wonderful .. the best Christmas gift! I love it.
Absolutely wonderful ❤️ I remember watching this when it first came out and whenever it came on after. One of my all time favorites. Geraldine Page is incredible
What a TREASURE - a story I first read in high school months after my grandfather died. I read it to my mother and grandmother around our kitchen table, and we all wept at that last line.
I love this special.
My very favorite Christmas movie.. I feel like I've made two new friends.
I can't recall the last time I watched this beautiful film with Geraldine Page, narrated by Truman Capote, when it was shown on tv. I have read the book, but have missed it. My friend and I talk about it around November, it's fruitcake weather, we remember. I was so happy to have found your video on you tube, I shared it with my friend in NC. I watched it on you tube this evening. Just as wonderful as I remembered it. This one, the original has to be the best version. Watching it felt like having received an early Christmas present. Thank you so much, PatnSteve2. Bless you. Merry Christmas to you, too.
So happy to have made you (and your friend) happy and so - HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Just a beautiful film and story.
This is about Truman Capote, who grew up with his aunts in Monroeville, Alabama. His fav was Aunt Sook. His neighbor and lifetime friend was the famed Nelle Harper Lee, author of To Kill A Mockingbird. His mother sent for him when she and Joe Capote, Truman's stepdad., got an apt on 5th avenue. Trumans given name was Persons, not Capote. He was born in New Orleans, but lived in Alabama.
And another of his Aunts appeared quite regularly on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno as the very acerbic Fruitcake Lady.
Thank you for uploading this!
You're most welcome
My Christmas is complete. Thank you for posting this gem. It's been a long time.
Just finished reading Follies of God and this was a curious coincidental discovery. Thanks for the upload.
Thanks SO MUCh for preparing and sharing this!! It is one of my all time favorites - Truman Capote and Geraldine Page - and a beautiful, tender story of a relationship. I tried watching the old black and white version of this not too long ago - but it was too old and worn. This is magnificent - that you took the time to colorize this and revive and rediscover a treasure that I though was lost forever.
ABC, who produced this in 1966, failed to archive the original film print, which is why all we had left was a black and white recorded copy that was broadcast for only the second time 20 years later in 1986.
Thank you so much for making this available. I first heard this story read by a story teller. IT captivated me and have always wanted to see this film. Could not find it streaming. I love Truman's writing. Fans might want to watch Truman and Tennessee about the writers lengthy friendship.
Trilogy1969 ....1970 Winner NBR Award
Best Actress
Geraldine Page
"Miriam": Miss Miller has spent her life as a governess for children in some of the most fashionable homes in New York. She is shocked one day to learn that one of her "babies" is expecting a baby of her own and rejects Miss Miller's offer to be the nurse for the forthcoming child. That night, Miss Miller meets Miriam, a strange young girl who resembles Miss Miller when she was a child. Miriam, critical of everything Miss Miller has or does, constantly taunts her about a loveless existence, leading to a violent confrontation and chilling denouement. "Among The Paths To Eden": Mary O'Meaghan, a spinster, strikes up a conversation in a Queens, New York cemetery with a widower who is putting flowers on his deceased wife's grave. After establishing a modest rapport, Mary reveals to the bemused man that she had come to the graveyard specifically looking for a lonely widower, inasmuch as a friend of hers had found two husbands in a cemetery. "A Christmas Memory": As Christmastime approaches in rural Alabama, a young boy and his best friend, an elderly woman distantly related to him, prepare for the holiday by gathering ingredients for their annual batch of fruitcakes for 'people who've struck our fancy'. On Christmas Eve, they talk with great anticipation of the next day, but underneath is the sad, almost unspoken knowledge that the boy is growing up and his cousin is getting older and more frail.
-Richard
Spoiler alert here.
At the end, as we hear of the letters Sook sent to Buddy after his departure, the camera turns from one tree in the far left of the frame, partly hidden over a ridge top, to an even larger tree to the far right, closer, grounded in a swale, near, but still apart from the other and less significant trees, and bent toward the first tree in the retreating distance and now far out of view.
Such meticulous cinematography, reflecting the meaning of the ending.
Home is where my friend is, and there I never go.
Beautifully Outline!
Frank Perry was a very underrated director...
Please note. I realized, when I went back to the title page, that I had mispelled your name above, as Stev instead of Stephen. Please excuse. I wanted to correct that here. My thanks and wishes above are meant for PatnStephen2.
No Worries !
As good as the 1997 remake is, especially because they do more with the relatives that live with them which shows the contrast between their nastiness and Sooks goodness, this original is still the best version. I love the scene when they drink the whiskey and Buddy (Truman) says it makes him feel 'sparky' inside. That must be how he first developed a taste for the stuff! And 40 years later he'd be getting snoots full in Studio 54! 🤣
Since this is pretty much based on a true story, I wonder if the Roosevelt's ever DID actually see the fruitcake? Doubtful though as they used to spend Christmas in Hyde Park New York where their family estate was located.
Now that I watch this again after all these years I think the Patty Duke version was better
I dont expecsily care for truma. N compote. But a movie well done