Tracy Stratford Movies

As incredible as it seems, CBS head man James Aubrey originally vetoed his network's presentation of the animated A Charlie Brown Christmas on the grounds that Charles M. Schultz's round-headed protagonist was a "loser" who wouldn't attract an audience! The story proposes that Charlie Brown is convinced that the true meaning of Christmas has been forgotten by his Peanuts friends, not to mention the rest of the world. "Psychiatrist" Lucy advises Charlie Brown to get into the holiday spirit by directing the kids' upcoming Christmas play. Despite his utter lack of control over his cast, Charlie Brown takes his job seriously, even setting out to find a genuine Christmas tree to decorate the set instead of the usual aluminum job. But Charlie Brown's tree is a scrawny, pathetic thing, and all seems lost. That is, until the rest of the Peanuts gang decide to pitch in and decorate the woebegone tree. An instant hit when first telecast December 9, 1965, A Charlie Brown Christmas has been rebroadcast virtually every year since. It was produced by Lee Mendelson and Bill Melendez, the latter providing the squeals and growls of Charlie Brown's hyper-intelligent dog, Snoopy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hardly the best of Hammer Studios' Frankenstein epics, The Evil of Frankenstein is too much the mixture as before to be truly memorable. Back in business once more is Baron Frankenstein (Peter Cushing), who finds his fabled monster (Kiwi Kingston) frozen in a block of ice. Once the creature is thawed out, the Baron, worried that the big lug might develop a mind of his own, engages the services of a hypnotist (Peter Woodthorpe). Instead of keeping the monster docile, the hypnotist decides to use old "Frankie" for his own evil designs, and we're off and running again. At 84 minutes, Evil of Frankenstein was too short for a two-hour network TV slot, so Universal (the film's American distributor) tacked on 13 minutes of pointless additional footage, featuring timorous villagers Steven Geray, Maria Palmer and William Phipps. The film was followed by a vastly superior sequel, Frankenstein Created Woman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Though credited to Charles Beaumont, this Twilight Zone episode was actually written by Beaumont's associate Jerry Sohl. Telly Savalas heads the cast as Erich Streator, whose life becomes Hell on Earth when his stepdaughter Christie (Tracy Stratford) is presented with an expensive "Talky Tina" doll. It seems that the doll doesn't like Erich, and it has expressed this dislike by making such chirrupy pronouncements as "My name is Talky Tina. . .and I'm going to kill you." June Foray provides the voice for the doll, as she had previously supplied the voice for the once-popular doll Chatty Cathy. "Living Doll" first aired November 1, 1963. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Though the title suggests that this film is a musical romance built around the song hit of the same name, Second Time Around is actually a comedy western. Debbie Reynolds plays a young widow who in 1912 moves with her children to a wild and wooly Arizona town. At first having trouble coming to grips with frontier life, Reynolds adjusts quite well--to the extent that she is appointed sheriff. She is courted by Andy Griffith and Steve Forrest, both of whom ride to the rescue when Reynolds bites off more than she can chew and she is captured by outlaws. Sheriff Reynolds marries Forrest, while Griffith, presumably, moves on to a new job in Mayberry. The big selling angle of Second Time Around was a very brief farcical scene involving Debbie Reynolds and a bathtub, which ended up plastered all over the advertising material for this film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide